I could feel my body being crushed by hundreds of thousands of tonnes. The surface of the Earth was blown up; I am forbidden to escape this timeline from reversing time, so I cannot do anything to prevent my cruel, unworthy death.
I am the God of Order and Time, the one who ensues that the laws of the Cosmos are all followed. This includes the normal flow of time.
It has been many a year since someone came to disturb such a perfect reality. One of them, and perhaps the most powerful of them, is her. This "Evil Princess". Vespertite Bernadotte. I think she'd make a great duo with my brother, Chaos, the personification of disorder.
She's but a jester, a clown, an unintelligent, dumb idiot who would do anything for the pursuit of immediate and shallow goals, only to find herself between a rock and a hard place in the long-term.
She's crazier than any being that I have encountered. Ever since the birth of time, never have i seen someone who throws a freaking meteorite half the size of Earth on you just so they could kill you!
The Evil Princess disregards even her own life, if that means a manifestation of her malevolence.
"Oh, don't tell me you have already given up."
That voice! She's mocking me!
At once, I opened my eyes. I saw her, standing on top of a mountain of rumble and debris, of stone and blood, gazing down right at me. Or, I guess at where I'm supposed to be.
One of her knees was bent, just so she could rest her elbow on her thigh, watching me from above. The Evil Princess doesn't know where I am, but she probably feels my magical energy, so that's that.
Even if I could pull one last stand, which is impossible, given my current status, she would most likely counter it by knowing exactly where I am.
I couldn't breathe, so a numb hand of mine moved its tendons to push some rumble away, all for the sake of tasting the air for a little longer.
This is...impossible. If she defeated me, imagine what she can do to the rest of the Pantheon. It'll turn from a battle, to a rout. No, not even a rout. A massacre.
But the Princess seemed...stunned as I moved from inside my stone tomb. She probably was thinking that I wasn't alive.
"Tsk...curse you..."I murmured, moving my exhausted body out of the destroyed surface of the Earth.
This Vespertite then proceeded to smile more wide than any other time I've seen her smug and smirk, sure for my defeat.
"Hey there...I didn't know you were this pretty. Jeez, remember to tell me sooner! If you did, I'd spare you the meteorite!"
"What? What are you talking about?!"
I tried to talk back to her, but in the blink of an eye, she teleported in front of me.
"Ah, that's more like it..."
I lost my footing, as she was inches away from me.
"What? Not satisfied with your victory yet, you bastard?!"
"Pardon me, pardon me...you're just so pretty I couldn't help it. I wanted a...tastier angle."
"You...!"
"Should have said to me sooner that you're a Goddess. I would have given you special treatment."
"Oh, really? Let me get that special treatment then. First of my wishes: go drown in a river."
"Aw, such harsh words. I like it."
Bernadotte examined my face, her fingers running across my cheeks. I was furious, but i couldn't do anything. One of my arms is broken, my muscles have tensed up to the point of them ruining themselves, and I'm haemorrhaging from basically everywhere. I'm shattered and battered.
"Can I please reverse the time now? I am itching to give my sister a piece of my mind..."
"Go...fuck yourself."
Bernadotte just let out a laugh. I...have a bad feeling about this.
" 'Woe to the vanquished.' Have you ever heard of something along those lines, dear Goddess?"
Her eyes glittered in the darkness. They were bloody red, locked right on mine. I felt a chill down my spine. "Woe to the vanquished".
"Piss off!"
"Why not 'piss off' together then? If you want it that much."
"What?!"
And just then, my world turned black. A remote, cold place. The first time I've ever experienced...true fear.
●●●
The clock ticked backwards.
"Bang!"
With a stretch of my an arm, I was back at my original time. Where Aristea was standing in front of me, as the match had started.
"Alright! First things first!"I said, raising my Surger up against the Moon.
"Let's have a 'fair' fight, please."
A beam exploded from my Wand, disappearing in the stratosphere.
Suddenly, the Moon lit up in a million places, blowing it in thousands of pieces.
Aristea gasped in terror. The whole audience watched panicked as the whole Moon was now in pieces, floating in space.
"Oops."
"You're...crazy! Why did you do that?!"
"Because I can. Bitch."
Aristea could only see me move with the speed of light next to her, kicking her from behind, bringing her to the ground.
"Any. Last. Words~?"
My Surger was dangerously emanating an ominous red glow from its tip, the referee running to end the match. The ground shook around me, small rocks and gravel levitating in the air, with my eyes now filled with anger and ecstasy.
Kill her! Kill her! Kill her right now! I'm going to bathe in her blood!
"W-wait! Wait, Vespertite!"
My sister was looking at me nervously.
"What...what are you doing? Vespertite?"
You fucking...hypocrite! Why are you looking at me like that! Why?! How does defeat taste, you cur! Mongrel!?
Just then, a familiar face touched my hand where I held my Surger. Her delicate hands took my cold ones and embraced them.
The referee split the two of us, with Aristea, humiliated, standing on top in her two feet.
I looked at the two hands. A smiley Aurelia had...rescued me from imminent destruction. If I killed Aristea in front of these hundreds of thousands of spectators, it would be exactly how it went when I nearly died from Aristea.
"Hanging well in there, Vespertite?"
I smiled back at Aurelia, awkwardly scratching the back of my head.
"Thanks. I nearly lost it there."
"It's fine. That's why I'm here. Because I love you."
"Hey, let's not get sappy now, alright?
I looked face to face at the audience, with the referee walking just next to me, extending both of his hands at my direction.
"...aaaaand, the win goes, without a doubt, with a lightning fast elimination, to Her Highness Vespertite Bernadotte, Duchess of Longnor! An applause!"
Many of the spectators weren't happy with the outcome, but at least lots of them praised me for my extraordinary feat today. Today, a Duel was expected, but it wasn't anything spectacular; just me obliterating Aristea in two moves.
The assassins she had in place didn't even take their positions to murder me in cold blood.
I bowed at the spectators. Yes, witness my elegant magnificence! You don't see the "best" Duelist in this country get rekted this hard everyday. Everyone was still at this initial shock as to what had happened there.
"Excellent as always, Your Highness."
Behind Aurelia, stood Artemisia with Hybris next to her.
"Uh, yeah, but what about the Moon? Was that really necessary?"
"Oh, I'll fix it tomorrow. Probably."
"Fix it? You have the power to fix it?"
The rest, were supposed to be history. But it seems that not everything goes as intended in this life. At least, not as you originally intended your life to be.
Trumpets and banners were going all around me, with my friends and partners surrounding me, the people and supporters cheering me on, Aristea retreating onto Father's side on the balcony...
Everything seemed to be just as I intended them to be.
Perhaps I miscalculated on that part. I forgot something very important. Or rather, someone really important.
"Hey, Vespertite! We ain't done yet, you arrogant fool!"
This voice. This voice which screamed my name, was a familiar one. And then, it came to me. The Goddess!
My partners turned around to see who it was.
A girl of unparaller beauty was standing amongst the crowd, emerging from the fans.
Her arrogant, playful gaze, her hazel hair, her radiant blue eyes...
"Excuse us?"said Aurelia, obviously offended by her casual tone at me.
Play it cool! Play it cool! There is no need for others to learn that some minuted earlier I reversed time and fought off a God, or I guess Goddess, so that I could kick Aristea's ass.
"O-oh! Hey Octavia! Long time no see!"
I tried to play it cool, walking right next to her for a hug.
"Octavia?! I'm the God of Ti-!"
"Ha, ha, very funny! You're such a goofball! Guys! Let me introduce you!"
I forcefully dragged the Goddess by her hand, despite the piercing, angry looks she gave at me. Plus the shoves with her elbow. Her protests died out as soon as she was in front of the other girls.
"Vespertite? Who...is this?"
Uh-oh, Aurelia sounds skeptical. She may be onto something here!
"She's...uh...my...?"
Oh no. I hit a wall. What can I say here?! What can I say to salvage the whole situation I got myself into?! What do I do?
"...i-i'm her childhood friend!"
My partners raised an eyebrow, looking at me. Aurelia was clenching her teeth, a vein popping from her forehead.
"Huh. Childhood friend...eh? Bah. As if someone as weak and ugly as you could be friends with Vespertite. Don't make me laugh. Now, what kind of farce is this, my dear?"said Aurelia, sounding pretty agitated.
"Haaaaaa?! Ugly? Weak?! Let me enlighten you then, how 'weak' I am. Veevee, who is she? I find it hard to believe that this...thing is your friend."
"Veevee?!"I whispered to her, trying to sound as less surprised as I could.
"Hey, I'm trying to make this believable! You should grovel at me for playing along.", she whispered back.
" Thing?! Let me inform you, I am Vespertite's girlfriend, just to 'enlighten' you."
"Really? What, you? Ha, the best one so far."
"What, you don't believe me? Come on, Vespertite. Kiss me."
"Do what?! H-hey, Aurelia...we're in public..."
"I said kiss me. Just do it."
For some reason, the Goddess' cheeks were reddening uncontrollably.
"It looks like Vespertite does not wish to show you her love and affection. Oops. How unfortunate."
"Listen here...!"
"Come on, Veevee. Let's get away from these peasants. We have to catch up, don't we? I bet we have loads of things we want to tell to each other."
The Goddess just escorted me beyond the crowd, leaving Aurelia and the others paralysed there, not able to utter a simple word. I looked pained at Aurelia behind me, giving her a warm smile. I hate to see her so sad, but this intervention was needed.
I am now standing between a rock and a hard place. What the hell is even happening?! And what the hell is going to happen next?!
Whichever should I choose to divert my attention to? To the Goddess and figuring out what to do with her? To my victory over Aristea and the things my father wants to talk with me? Or maybe my plans for succeeding to the throne? Or my Syndicate?
Gosh, they are so many!
What...what am I going to do? I'm swimming in my own ambitions; believe me, it is fun, but staying too much and too deep in the water will make me drown.
One step at a time, Vespertite. One step at a time. Everything will unfold at their own pace, at their own moment. Soon...my ambitions will become clear, and my road to the throne will open wide for me to just waltz upon and seize the day.
"Carpe Diem", as they say. Carpe Diem.