Chương 3: A fated encounter

Hazriel had chosen to stay a few thousand kilometres away for safety, to avoid undue interference.

She'd known it was a risk, but now that the event she was waiting for was finally upon her, and the werewolves had already torn Max apart limb for limb, she realised that she couldn't arrive in time without tearing the atmosphere of Earth apart.

She could bend space to transport directly in, but if she distorted space there was a high probability that some other tier 6 being may notice the turbulence and turn their eyes towards this event. Even so, she wasn't truly concerned with the Milky-Way being far from the dark lands.

Even before arriving, Hazriel dilated the flow of time around Max's soul to give her the few extra seconds she needed to reach his dead body and reconstruct it.

To Max who was dead, the dilated flow of time felt like a distinct memory from when he was just a child.

As a child he had once nudged a table carrying a ceramic vase, an heirloom from previous generations of the Rajput family. The table shook, and he looked up to see the vase teetering on the edge. That moment had seemed to stretch, a single image imprinted on time so that it seemed to last forever before the vase at last began to fall.

At first, he thought that was happening now. The world seemed frozen around him, as though time had stretched once again. Although at the moment there was only an endless darkness across him but soon a golden light enveloped him and in that light pieces of the world began to change.

The severed limbs of his body tumbled across the bloody floor, gathering blood as they rolled, bouncing off the dinner table and rolling towards his body.

His own legs slid across the floor, as though his own red blood had become an elastic rope pulling his body together. Panic tightened his chest, and he tried to struggle, but much to his surprise he couldn't even move a muscle, nor blink his eyes.

No part of him responded to his control, and he had to wait and watch as his flesh pulled itself together.

It was extremely painful, and felt as if the blood in his body had become boiling hot oil, an uncomfortable squirming below his ribs as muscle and bone reassembled themselves.

All the while, the golden glow grew brighter and brighter.

Max felt his body reconstructed as his soul was pulled back inside his body and immediately he gasped for air as he fell to his knees.

Max half expected his body to hurt like hell, the few moments before his death were the most painful of his life, however to his relief there was no pain whatsoever in his body.

When Max looked up again he saw a woman covered in golden light, slowly descending from the night sky through the gaping hole in his roof and for a moment he was struck speechless.

From the second he laid eyes on her he knew she was an heavenly angel, because of her radiant white wings and shining silver armour. However, that was not the most striking thing about her.

She was the epitome of beauty in Max's eyes as, a divine being who was beyond perfection with a smooth blemish free skin and a perfect body that was neither too tall nor too short, neither too thick nor too thin, neither too pale nor too tanned, just perfect.

Her eyes were compassionate yet her expression was cold, it was a disparity that made Max's reforged heart wrench in despair as he watched her gracefully land on her feet in front of him.

Max thought he was dead for sure and now the angels were here to guide his dead body to heaven. He put a stupid smile on his face and closed his eyes, he was ready to be escorted to heaven if such a beauty was here to take him.

Looking at Max's half lewd and half conceited face, Hazriel frowned a little before shaking her head as she said "Max Rajput, I am Hazriel and I am here to repay the debt the angel race owes to your elder brother Rudra Rajput.

Should you accept, I will send you back in time to one day before the start of 'Sigma' and you will live your life as a regressor.

Do you accept? ".

Max opened and closed his mouth several times as finally the reality of the situation sunk into his brain.

He had been saved by this angel only because of his brother and now they were offering him a second chance at life.

After a while Max said " What if I refuse?"

Max did not really want to refuse, however he wanted to know if he had the luxury to do so, or was he being coerced into something a higher power wanted him to do.

Hazriel shrugged her shoulders as she said" I will leave you alone after wiping your memories of our encounter. Saving your life will also count as the debt to Rudra Rajput being repaid".

Max's thumping heart raced faster after he heard this, overwhelming emotions surging inside him. He had been a trash his entire life, but now he had a chance to re-do it and live it again!

He finally had a chance to right all the wrongs he had done…..

The hazy expression from his eyes was replaced by a determined one as he looked at Hazriel and said " I'm ready ".

For a moment even Hazriel was moved by the conviction she saw in Max's eyes, her impassive face showing a gleam of emotion but she soon recovered as that gleam disappeared and she said " I will do you one more favour before sending you back in time which is to show you, how you can change your fate and the fate of your planet this time around.

I know all about your manaless condition and your past life and I can see the threads of fate that bind you.

Consider it as my gift for you choosing the path of a warrior rather than being a coward and choosing to forget".

Max bowed deeply in front of Hazriel, he was truly in awe of the magnanimity of this angel and swore in his heart to repay her kindness someday should he become capable enough.

But, one word that Hazriel spoke caused a million questions to spawn in his mind as he asked " Change My fate and also of my planet?"

Hazriel nodded as she flicked her palms and showed him a vision of his brother consumed by madness from the death of Max.

Hazriel spoke " Following your death and the abduction of his children, Rudra Rajput sheds his inner kindness and becomes the destroyer of galaxies.

In the next two years he wipes out 17 planets inhabited by werewolves and destroys two galaxies before finally falling prey to the demon sovereign.

After his death the milky-way and earth is overrun by the dark forces".

Max felt his chest tighten as he heard this, of everyone he had wronged in his past life he had wronged his brother the most and he knew that if anyone truly loved him selflessly in this selfish world it was his brother.

Hazriel continued " No matter the iteration I see, Earth collapses after the death of Rudra Rajput whether you live or die. Because without him this planet and humanity in general is pretty pathetic.

Only if you become a strong enough pillar capable of surpassing your brother will you save earth from guaranteed destruction".

Max stuttered as he spoke " H-how can I do it? How can I change this fate? ".

Hazriel said " The odds of you changing this fate are highly unlikely. Out of one hundred million fates, the likelihood of your success is one".

Max felt like he had just been dunked by a tub of ice cold water, as he realised just how unlikely and hard it was going to be for him to change the fate destined for him.

Hazriel continued " However in all of the fates where you do perform well enough and the one where you reach your goal eventually, you have three keys to your success.

I will show you these three visions and after that you will be reincarnated into the past and this life will become just a memory".

Max instantly shouted " NO WAIT ".

Hazriel was startled as her eyes widened a bit.

Max looked into her eyes and a deep blush formed over his cheeks as he said " How will I contact you again? Will you not forget me in a different timeline? I wish to repay your kindness when I am able to".

Hazriel wanted to laugh out loud and while she was doing so internally, externally she remained as expressionless as before.

She found Max's attitude to be extremely cute and adorable, but she could not show it. Hence with a stoic face she threw him a pendant.

" If you have this on you, no matter the timeline i would know that you are one of my chosen".

Max looked at the smooth green pendant with the two winged angel shape and he kissed it long and hard before wearing it around his neck.

This time a small smile escaped Hazriel's lips as she said in what seemed like a bright tone" See you on the other side ".

A blinding golden light covered Max's body as his mind was shown three visions.

-------

[ VISION ONE ] : Max dreamt of a girl running through dark alleys, two bloody daggers in her hands and a murderous glare in her amber colored eyes.

A voice then whispered in his mind " Save her ".

[ VISION TWO ]: Max saw a god, covered in a sea of flames as he ripped a planet apart from its core using his flames.

Max then saw the same god many years later as he was killed by his own brethren. His soul condensing into a weapon and breaking into three pieces before scattering through the universe.

The voice showed him the three pieces and said " Obtain it ".

[ VISION THREE ]: Max saw himself, sitting on a throne with Red Azure eyes and a pale white visage.

When he smiled he saw the unmistakable sharp canine teeth of the vampire race as a thousand tier 5 vampires knelt before him in submission.

Their collective voices saying " Long live the king".

As the three visions ended, Max was jolted awake only to find himself back in his old bed. Back in the body of his 17 year old self, the only memory and the surety of his past life being the green winged pendant on his neck.

Max had been reborn once again!

-------

///A/N - This chapter of the book is a homage to Unsouled by Will Wight, do check that book out if you liked it///

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Raj_Shah_7152

Please be patient with this story, it has many layers

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Chương 4: Rebirth

[ 14th June, 2111 , Earth]

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Max was sitting on the edge of his bed, feeling his racing heartbeat as he heard his old mobile phone buzz in his pockets.

[ Sophie calling ]

His heartbeat quickened for a second to see that name before returning to normal as his eyes turned cold.

' That's right , I'm still dating that bitch at this point in time '.

It was his ex-girlfriend, the girl who completely manipulated and destroyed Max's confidence in his past life and one of the biggest reasons for his downfall.

Max cut the call off without a care as a small flashback reminded him of the painful past.

He had started dating Sophie when he was just 17, while Sophie at the time was much older at 22.

Their relationship lasted over 9 months and the duo did spend a lot of time together as Sophie slowly manipulated Max into believing that his brother was actually holding him back and how he needed to ditch his family to grow truly strong unobstructed.

She promised him that the two of them would never separate no matter what and that she loved him truly with all her heart, however it was all but an ugly façade and a conceited lie.

While he was the Earth's chosen one, she used to fill his ears with sweet words and make him feel like a king, until the day he finally fell from grace as that was the day she coldly left him for a better prospect.

Max distinctly remembered coming back home dejected from losing the fight against the 'A' rated prospect Benedict Divinorum, only to find Sophie passionately kissing the guy in their own bed without a care for the watching Max.

Benedict acknowledged his presence as he said " Yo, looser, your bitch is mine now " , while although Sophie looked at him, her eyes were cold as if they were disgusted upon seeing him.

Sophie pulled Benedict in for an even more passionate kiss as she did not even spare Max a second glance, much less a reason for breakup.

Since that day Max had hated the both of them deeply, however while Max kept falling down hitting new lows in his life and career, Benedict kept rising higher and higher becoming a star of humanity's younger generation.

For Max to see his rise was painful, however looking back at it now he had an odd satisfaction to know that it had not yet happened in this timeline and this time around he would have the chance to ditch Sophie instead of things happening the other way around.

There were a lot of wrongs that Max had to correct in this life, and the two of them were not even his most serious offenders. In Fact the two of them were so insignificant compared to the grander goals Max had to achieve in this life that they could be ignored completely.

Once this thought came into Max's rational mind something in the other part of his dark mind snapped as Max gritted his teeth and said " NO! ".

" I have grander goals to achieve and I can't afford to be petty, but I will not spare those who have wronged me in the past.

This time I will return all the debts past and present fairly.

Kindness tenfold.

Betrayal a thousand fold!"

Max stood up and looked at himself in the mirror.

Max had almost forgotten that he once had this incredibly lean and muscular body that seemed like it was sculpted by a renaissance artist.

" Handsome " Max said as he looked at himself with a smile.

It was only now that he could truly understand the true worth of good looks, as when he lost his natural charisma and looks there was a serious loss in his self confidence as well.

Although looks were not everything, good looks definitely made one feel more confident.

Max looked at the green winged angel amulet on his neck as he clutched it tightly and closed his eyes, the three images shown by Hazriel imprinted in HD in his mind.

As his emotions from experiencing rebirth finally calmed down, Max got a moment's clarity as to what he needed to accomplish urgently and how he was to choose the immediate path ahead.

Sitting down with a paper and pen since he did not trust digital devices anymore, Max started to scribble down furiously all the important memories of his past life, lest it become hazy later on.

For two hours he wrote and wrote about all the important characters, all the important information and all the big events that were to happen and when they were going to happen and once he was done he formulated the first phase of his plan to rise to the top.

Since he had no idea as to where to find the weapon or the woman that Hazriel showed him, Max needed to first find a way to collect information on these things before actually pursuing them which meant for now he was on his own.

During his past life Max had not heard about the ' Grand University for Nourishment of Young Talents' until he turned 19 and was over the age limit for enrolment.

The university was a wonderful place to learn and grow in a protected environment and the biggest advantage of enrolling into that University was that upon graduation he could keep his assessment by the Universal Queen a secret.

He could learn from the best professors with the best resources and an extensive information library at his disposal, while at the end managing to avoid the public humiliation he faced in his past life when the queen graded him as an ' F ' rated manaless trash.

Unlike the tutorial game Omega where one could choose their own class from the start and there was no individuality rating, in the Universal game Sigma when an individual reached level 30 they were assessed by the universal queen and given a rating ranging from F to SSS.

The rating was extremely important as only certain job classes were available for those with a low rating to choose as career paths and only with a high rating could one have the unique class paths to choose and have an edge over the masses.

For Max who was rated ' F ', he only had five options that included foot soldier and street sweeper as it's most lucrative two choices. It was due to this that Max had to choose the foot soldier class and face the humiliation of the world and the start of his downfall.

Although Max could not alter his manaless state yet and hence not improve his assessment by the queen, instead of going through the ceremony in the open human association testing sites where his results would be shown to the world, at least in the University they would be kept private sparing him his dignity.

The enrolment criteria for the university was simple.

Individuals of any race could enrol into the university as long as they belonged to the light faction.

There was no admission test and anyone who could afford the fees could be enrolled.

The individual needed to be under the race's maturity age rating, which for humans was 18 years of age.

Max fulfilled all these criteria, however the problem was that the fees to enrol in the university was exorbitant at a whopping 1 million universal gold a semester.

To put that number into perspective, Max's one year's salary in his government job in his past life was 25,000 universal gold a year and at the initial stages of the first awakening maybe the entire human race combined would not possess the 1 million gold required for him to enrol.

With Max's birthday fast approaching in August he had about 45 days to gather the required money and enrol before the semester began.

For a normal human this would have been an impossible feat to achieve however thankfully Max was a regressor! Armed with the knowledge of the future he knew the perfect way to make the money he needed to pay his fees for the university, but he needed to act on it quickly as today was the last day of the tutorial.

Excited Max quickly found his old VR POD and logged into the tutorial game Omega for one last time.