Chapter 177 - It All Resets...

Age 1991...

"Yes, I can be rather dangerous." A voice commented. There was a bright orange flash as a beam of fire exploded through Okane's chest blowing a hole through the man. Okane stood there for a moment before slowly starting down at the hole.

"Heather... I... Hero, please. Save-" He fell forward collapsing into the snow as a silence filled the air.

"Looks like I finally managed to catch up." Kaen slowly dropped down as the fire began to surround him...

Hero and Shelly stared in shock as Okane hit the ground either unconscious, or dead.

"I think that we might be in just a little bit of trouble..." Shelly muttered.

"Oh, you think!" Hero asked rolling his eyes. He shook his head as he brought his arm back. "Well, no matter! I'll finish him off with-"

'Hero No!'

Hero froze as he heard the voice of Labby, the living, and talking Labcoat, that lives in his head, voice.

'This man's power is far greater than anything we've faced yet! You need to leave while you still have the chance. Grab the girls and run.'

"Geez, now you want to help me?" Hero asked making a face. "You're so weird?"

"Uhh? Who are you talking to?" Shelly frowned?

"The voices in my head."

"Oh... So my teammates gone insane." She turned over to Heather. "You might want to run. Hero and I will try and buy you some time."

"Try being the keyword!" Hero announced unhelpfully.

Kaen let out a short dropping down to their level. He raised his hand up as red hot flames danced off of it. "You there Seraphin. I had a question for you?"

"Me?" Hero asked slightly confused. "What about it?"

"Are you aware that your existence brings on a negative force to others?" Kaen asked. "Or do you just not care? And when I say a negative force I am of course talking about those from other worlds?"

"Oh so he's gone insane too," Shelly muttered her pink flames beginning to dance off of her body.

"I don't know?" Hero said speaking in a serious tone once more. He had a weird look on his face as he rubbed his head. "That actually sounds kind of familiar... I think that Master Strom brought up something similar? And Labby mentioned something too?"

"A Seraphin draws powers from themselves and the person they are connected to." Kaen went on. "For exam, you draw power from Hero Otoko, and from the girl who's organs were placed within you. But the Hero Otoko you draw power from isn't yourself. It's why I despise people like you. You're literally forcing the power of other versions of yourself to work for you. The same goes for you to girl."

"M... Me?" Shelly said startled.

"All you two do is steal." Kaen let out a growl as he raised his hand. "It makes me sick!"

A beam of red hot heat fired out flying towards Shelly who stood there in shock. Right before it hit her, she felt a powerful hand slap her away causing her to crash into the nearby building.

"Oww..." She groaned. "Thanks for knocking me out of the way He- Hero?" She stopped when she looked up and saw Hero.

He was staring down at his chest where the hole that hit him was. It had burned cleaned through him. He dropped to his knees as the hole began to get bigger and bigger, as part of his body broke away into ash.

"Rest young Seraphin." Kaen laughed giving a sadistic laugh. "That attack was made to fight people who can regenerate. In an ear instant, all your Molecules have been reduced down to ash. When you get to hell tell them they'll need to make some room."

"Hero!" Shelly yelled horrified.

But it was too late...

Hero's body broke away into nothing becoming less than ash. His molecules scattered and burnt up. Reduced down to a state no Seraphin, or any living creature could come back from.

Hero just died...

***

Year 2031

Everything began to go white as Hero slowly stumbled up to his feet.

"Whoa, this is weird!" He said looking around with wide eyes. "Is that the planet!' He asked concerned.

He didn't understand where he was. He was seemingly standing on space? Above Ava. Only Ava was far smaller and a lot more blue? It also wasn't covered in ice.

"It's called the Earth." A voice said casually causing Hero to jump and let out a squeak.

Hero turned to see who had spoken and his eyes went even wider. Standing on space, much like him was... Something?

It was a tall figure who seemed to be made out of metal? Like he was just a bronze figure. He didn't seem to have a nose, eyes, ears, mouth, hair, or really anything. The metal skin suit thing, that he was had lines on it that pulsed with a white energy but that was it. In his hand he had a weird tattoo carved into the metal. It looked almost like an angelic being. It had twelve wings?

"It's so weird how the rules always change..." The man muttered. "Oh well. What are you going to do about it?" He shook his head slightly?

"What?" Hero asked even more confused.

"Oh. Where are my manners?" The figure turned to look at Hero as he let out a bit of a laugh. His voice sounded so reassuring... "My name is Orion. The man who broke time."

"You... Broke time?"

"Ok yes. Several times in fact." He laughed. "It seems my battle with Storm, is always fated to lead to this."

"I'm so very confused..."

"Oh? Let me put it this way." Orion turned back to the Earth and held his hand out. The image of a dragon appeared behind him radiating with power. "I call on the power of Perses. God of Destination. Obliterate my target."

'Boom!'

In a single instant Hero stared in shock as the planet below exploded.

And then it didn't.

It was like he blinked and it was all of a sudden back?

"Now I'm even more confused. And terrified!"

Orion let out a bit of a laugh. "Sorry. It's a time loop. You see while we are in affected by it the Earth is resetting every second. In order to prevent me from blowing it up of course." Had chuckled. "Clever tactic they had. Stop from fixing it all."

"What?"

Orion brought his hand up as it glowed. An image of Hero Otoko reappeared suddenly. In the image, he was being blasted by Kaen over and over again. Again and again. Some of the poses he was in were different, sometimes the beam hit him somewhere else, but the end results were the same... He died. "Hero, what do you know about Mantra?" Orion asked curiously.

"Uhh? Not really anything?"

Orion let out a chuckle. "Well. To put it bluntly. It's kind of impossible to know. Mantra is tricky in the fact that it changes constantly with each loop. Some loops don't even have Mantra. Others don't even have the Attributes. But to explain, Mantra is the Equation Of Life. Literally. It is a mathematical formula. Why does two plus two equal four? Well, why does someone die, when they do? Mantra is Destiny itself. Lady Fate if she had a form. It flows through all of time and will always exist. No matter what. The Universe is always connected to time. You have died because Mantra said you did."

"Oh... I am dead." Hero said slightly bummed. "I figured as much but still..."

"A reset has occurred," Orion said once more. "Every time you die I always jump in. And everytime I pull you hear and send you back you always save that damn girl."

"What?" Hero asked. "You mean you've been sending me back to my battle with Kaen?"

"No. I've been sending you back even farther. I've sent you back to the beginning, countless of times. But each time we get to this point all versions of you save her. All versions of Hero Otoko, no matter how I try and tweak it, are always a God damn Hero..."

"Nice!"

"No not nice!" Orion let out a sigh. "You always die. And I'm back to square one. So this time we're gonna try something different. The Seraphin nature is what has been keeping me connected to you. But I wonder if that's what causes the problems? A Seraphin is always fated to meet a tragic end after all... It's risky but... It's the only way?"

"What?" Hero asked confused.

"You being a Seraphin is what allowed me to bring you here. It's what allowed us to do everything we've done so far. But that's the problem... You always die. No matter what I do. So... What if I just... Don't do anything. And let it okay out how the world intended it to? What if Hero Otoko is never a Seraphin?"

"You... You can do that?" Hero said in shock.

"I guess. Though it isn't so simple. When you mess around with Time it bites back. I wonder how such a massive change will result in. Who will live and who will die? I'm excited for the first time in months! Remember Hero. Don't die this time. After all. What is the story without our Hero?"

Orion brought his hand up placing it over Hero's face as everything began to go white once more.

"Wait! But what's happening? I'm super lost! Who are you?"

"Oh, all will be explained with time, my boy. Give it a few thousand chapters and it'll be explained. But if we were to be so blunt, and give me a real name. I guess... You can call me God."