He was ██████, King of Giants and the Monarch of beginning. He was captured at some point by the rulers after the absolute being was ousted and murdered. I was stripped of his dignity and his strength
The annoying chains that strip him of my mana. Alas—At some point He was found by a fellow monarch. The Shadow Monarch. He could only laugh at his own circumstances. But that new Shadow Monarch was untrusting.
Thus He used a simple skill. The Pledge of Trust. He would be unable to lie to Him and so would He be unable to lie to Him. Everything was going smoothly. Very smoothly yet—
"Are you on Humanity's Side?"
And he was killed—Well at least he thought he was.
"Hm?"
No pain.
That was wrong. There should have been pain. There should have been the shadow's blade splitting him from crown to core, the weight of the Beast Monarch collapsing atop him, the taste of ash and defeat filling a throat that had never once known defeat.
No blade.
No shadow.
No dying breath in a ruined throne room.
Instead—
Grey sky. Cold air. The distant smell of something burning t
"…"
He rose slowly, unfolding a body several stories tall, joints groaning like collapsing stone. His hands—still his hands, still armored in blackened plate, still marked with the sigils of a Monarch who had ruled since before the Rulers drew their first breath
He was whole.
That, more than anything, was what did not make sense. He had felt himself die. He had felt the Shadow Monarch's blade kill him,
Yet here he stood.
"…Where."
His voice came out as a rumble that cracked the pavement beneath him. He looked down—down,
Small things. Everywhere.
Small, soft, fragile things in strange clothing, walking between structures too uniform to be anything but built by hands too weak to shape stone the way stone was meant to be shaped.
He turned his head. The buildings did not burn. The ground was not soaked in the blood of his enemies. There was no war here. No Rulers. No Hunters. No towering Gates spilling monsters into the dark.
Just—
People.
He watched them. Some stopped to stare up at him, mouths open, phones raised. Most did not understand yet what they were looking at. Most had never seen a King before.
For one long moment, Legia simply stood there, and something almost like curiosity moved through the wreckage of what remained of his mind.
Then the Command arrived.
KILL.
ALL.
HUMANS.
He staggered. His hand rose to his skull without his permission, claws digging into blackened plate as something in him screamed to obey and something smaller, quieter, almost forgotten screamed to stop.
The quiet part lost, as it always did.
"…Humans." The word left him like something between a growl and a prayer.
His gaze swept the street. Small things scattering now, finally understanding, finally afraid as he raised his weapon and.
BOOM.
Screaming. Running. The small, satisfying chaos of a species remembering, all at once, that they were prey.
He took a step. Then another. The Command did not need direction. It simply needed bodies, and bodies were everywhere, and—
He stopped.
Something in the crowd was wrong.
Not fragile. Not small in the way the others were small. A figure standing motionless while everything around her fled—purple hair, black and white clothing, a blade sheathed at her hip that should have meant nothing, should have been laughable in the face of something his size.
It was not laughable.
he had ruled a world where power had a smell, a weight, a shape you learned to read before you learned to speak. Every instinct honed across ten thousand years of war told him the same thing at once, cutting through even the Command's screaming certainty:
That one can kill me.
He did not know how. He did not know what she was, what she carried, what slept coiled beneath that stillness. He only knew, the way a King always knows the one thing in a room that could end him, that if he let her draw that blade, if he let her decide anything—
He would not rise a second time.
The rational half of him, small as it was, understood this was not how the Command wanted him to think. The Command wanted human blood, indiscriminate and endless. It did not care about threats. It did not care about survival.
But some habits outlived even a Ruler's leash.
Kill the strong one first.
His gaze locked onto her across the burning street, past the fleeing crowd, past the wreckage of a world that had never asked to have a King of Giants dropped into it.
"…"
She hadn't moved.
Good.
Legia raised his weapon, and for the first time since waking in a world that was not his own, something that might have been satisfaction moved through him.
BOOM.
—Acheron's POV
BOOM.
The ground disappeared beneath my feet.
One moment I was standing there.
The next—
CRASHHHHH
My body flew through the air before slamming into the side of a building.
"Ugh—"
Concrete exploded around me.
I dropped several meters before landing on the street.
BOOM
The pavement cracked beneath my feet.
"…"
I slowly looked down.
Nothing.
No broken bones.
No blood.
Not even a bruise.
"…Huh?"
[Are you alright?] Raiden Mei asked.
"I think so."
BOOM.
"—!"
I barely had time to look up as the giant's fist came toward me. Instinctively I tried to block it with my arms—To no avail
CRAAAAAAAAASH!
My body was launched through another building.
"AAAAAAAAAH—!"
CRASH!
I bounced off a wall.
CRASH!
Then another.
CRASH!
Then finally—
BOOM.
I landed on the street.
For a few seconds, I simply laid there, motionless.
"…Ow."
[You aren't hurt.] Raiden Ei observed.
"I know."
I pushed myself up.
"This body is really strong huh…." I thought myself as I looked infront. Across the street, the giant stared at me. He didn't look surprised. He simply raised his weapon.
"…Oh, come o—"
BOOM
I jumped sideways.
The weapon smashed into the road where I had been standing.
KRAK!
A shockwave tore through the street.
Cars flipped and windows shattered as I stumbled backward.
"Okay, okay, okay…"
I looked at my hands.
"Lightning."
Nothing.
"Come on…"
I concentrated.
ZZZT—
A tiny spark appeared between my fingers—Then vanished.
"…Really?"
[You're eternity is clearly unstable.] spoke Raiden Ei.
…
What the hell does that even mean??
BOOOOMMMM
Step Step Step
"I'm being chased by a giant!"
[…]
"Then help me!"
[You possess my power.] the 3 Raiden's said simultanoeusly
"I KNOW!"
The giant charged at me
BOOM BOOM BOOM
Each step shook the street.
Step Step Step Step—
[Your running too slow.] spoke Raiden Ei
"I'M TRYINGGGG"
[You are already moving quickly.] Raiden Bosenmori Mei spoke
"I DON'T FEEL FAST!"
Glance
He was catching up.
"That's bad."
BOOM!
His hand swept toward me.
I ducked.
Barely.
The wind alone sent me tumbling across the street.
CRASH!
I hit the ground.
"…"
I slowly lifted my head.
"…Did he just slap me?"
[Essentially.]
"That's humiliating."
BOOM!
He stomped.
The ground beneath me shattered.
I was thrown upward.
"AAAAAAAAAH—!"
CRASHHH
I spun through the air before landing on the roof of a nearby building.
CRACK.
The roof collapsed beneath me.
"—!"
CRASH!
I fell through three floors.
Dust filled my vision.
Cough Cough Cough
"…I really don't like this."
[You could always run.] Raiden Bosenmori spoke
"I tried that!"
[Then fight.] Raiden Mei said, her tone resolute
"How?!"
Silence.
"…You don't know either, do you?"
[…]
"Great"
Crumble Crumble
As I climbed out of the ruined building and the giant was just there waiting as his weapon rose once more. I looked around. People were still running. Some hadn't gotten away. A car was overturned nearby. Someone was trapped beneath it.
A child was crying.
A woman was desperately trying to pull them free.
The giant raised his weapon again.
"No."
WHOOOSH
I didn't think.
I didn't hesitate.
I simply moved.
Step.
I placed myself between him and them.
I didn't know how to use this power.
I didn't know how to fight.
I didn't even know who I was.
But—
"I won't let you hurt them."
There is no price too high to pay to save your loved ones
—!!!!
The giant's weapon descended without mercy—At least it should've have
Silence
I opened my eyes, The weapon stopped. The rubble stopped. The smoke stopped. The screams stopped. Even the dust hanging in the air—
stopped.
I stared.
Nothing was moving.
"…What?"
My eyes widened.
The entire world had become still.
…
"Guys?"
[This feeling.] Raiden Bosenmori Spoke.
[…] Meanwhile Raiden Ei was silent, and Raiden Mei spoke only one word.
[Origin?]
"Origin?" The word itself seemed oddly familiar yet unfamiliar.
[You know our names, and history yet you don't know what origin means?]
"Nope."
[…]
[The power of origin, is… hard to explain but one of it's ability is to stop time.]
Glance
I stared at the scene in front of me. The giant's weapon was still suspended above me. A piece of shattered glass hung in the air beside my face. Even the smoke had stopped moving.
"…I did this?"
[Not exactly.] Raiden Mei's voice was strangely quiet.
[We did.]
I looked down at my hands. Nothing, No lightning. No strange glow.
Just my hands.
"…So I can stop time?"
[Apparently you do]
[You wished to protect them.] Raiden Bosenmori Mei continued.
[That was enough.]
I looked behind me.
The woman.
The child.
The people who had been running.
All of them were frozen.
Safe.
For now.
"…I see."
I turned back toward the giant. He was still frozen in the middle of his attack. A massive weapon hanging only a few meters above my head. I slowly walked forward.
Step
Then another.
Step
I looked up at him. He was enormous, but that didn't matter. I simply knew one thing.
He was going to hurt them.
I looked at my hand again.
"…Origin."
I closed my fingers, a single thought appeared in my head.
I'll protect these people.
Eternity is to uphold your principles through change
BZZZT—
A tiny spark of purple electricity appeared.
It didn't disappear
"So you finally decided to work."
I looked toward the giant again. The enormous figure hadn't moved an inch. I could simply leave. Run. Get away from this place***. But then what?***
Eventually time would resume.
That weapon would fall.
People would die.
I didn't know who these people were.
I didn't know this city.
I didn't even know if this was even earth.
Yet—
They were still people.
That was enough.
Step step Step
The woman was still frozen beside the overturned car. The child was still trapped underneath it.
"…Okay."
Step
I then crouched down and grabbed the woman.
Nothing.
She didn't move.
"…Right."
Time was stopped. I carefully lifted her. She was surprisingly light. I carried her a few meters away before placing her against the side of a building.
"There."
I looked at her. Then at the child.
"Now you."
I walked back.
Step Step
I crouched down and lifted the child from underneath the car. He was frozen in place, his face still twisted in fear.
"…Don't worry."
I carried him over to his mother.
"There."
I looked around.
There were more. A man lying beside a damaged vehicle. Two people trapped underneath fallen rubble. A group of civilians who hadn't managed to escape the street.
I stared.
"…There's still more."
[Yes.]
Raiden Mei sounded almost amused.
[Quite a lot, actually.]
"Don't remind me."
I walked toward the next person.
Step
Then another.
Step
I moved them one by one.
Some I carried.
Some I dragged.
Some required me to move pieces of rubble out of the way.
It was slow.
Painfully slow.
And strangely quiet.
No screams.
No explosions.
No cars.
Nothing.
Only my footsteps.
Step.
Step.
Step.
After what felt like several minutes, I finally stopped.
I looked around.
"…Are they all safe?"
[Most of them.] Raiden Mei spoke
"Most?"
[There are still people further down the street.]
I stared.
"…Of course there are."
I sighed.
Then started walking again.
Step.
[You don't have to do this.]
"Hm?"
Raiden Bosenmori Mei spoke.
[Moving every person away individually is not—.]
"I can't exactly move a building now."
[You don't need to.]
Stops
"…What do you mean?"
There was a brief silence.
Then—
[Cut it.]