A change in time

Everything was dark, and from afar, a drop of water broke the silence and, with the arrival of a faint light, gave rise to the slumbering souls, abducted from their homes and sent here by the mastermind. Yet all the hearty and brave few screamed in terror like the masses, for their kidnapper was no mere mortal, but a diabolical creature of unknown origins to test whether they were worthy of their title. This was the beginning of what could be a living hell as not after they were informed of their circumstances a trial was held in place, dividing them from their peers and placing them on their very own personal struggles.

"For your hurdle my dear candidate, what will you do if you're stuck in a maze of traps? Better think quickly or else you'll lose your life,"

"Yawn... this part always gives me sweat. There's nothing like an obstacle run to start your day. On your marks, get set, in three... two... one!"

One particular individual was oddly the least bit terrorized by his reality and even joked at the mere sight of a deadly maze as no more than a mere activity to pump a few sweats in. As arrogant sounding as he may be, the lad displayed a keen sense of timing, a movement in sync with the shifting walls, the swaying axes, the rising spikes, and the collapsing floor hardly made him break a sweat. Even as dozens of javelins were hurled to claim his life, his only response was to sway his body and gamble that each turn from both of his sides would grant his life's continuation. 

"Going up!!!" He deflects the last javelin by kicking its shaft which alters the trajectory of the tip to point upwards and catches it before he leaps off of the collapsing floor launching him near the edge of the exit

"Now here's the fun part,"

Although he could not build enough momentum to reach the exit in time, the floors collapsed; with the javelin in his possession, he lodged its sharpened tip at the wall's ruinous cracks. It turns the javelin into his makeshift stepping stone allowing him to reach the end of that long and gruesome maze, and what lies in front of him is the gateway leading to his secondary challenge. The moment the gate opened, he swung his right hand at the shadowy corner, landing a clean blow to someone's throat. The figure lost the strength in its grip, and a cutlass slipped from its grasp only to fall into the hands of the young man.

"Goodbye!" This lad spared no second and in a swift execution his oppressor's head fell to the ground

"Hah! That never gets old. Now where was I?"

A mystery lingered in this man; even when faced with death dozens of times, he never once flinched and remained calm; even if he was accustomed to such threats, he shouldn't be this overly carefree. Even if he was a genius, there was no explanation for his degree of battle knowledge, nor was he built like a hardened soldier, and his attire depicts his past as nothing more than a scholar with a thick cloak paired with a monocle. From his past actions of being abducted, he showed no fear, easily navigated through a deadly maze, showed no remorse for taking a life, and even went as far as laughing at their swift end.

"Sorry for the intrusion. I've been knocking at the door for so long, so I let myself in. I'm here to give y'all a little something. Dinner's serve!!!" He tosses the head of the fat, greasy slob who tried to kill him right at their dinner table, where they feast upon their freshly hunted people. "What's wrong? You cannibals are supposed to be happy, Is it because he used to be your friend?" 

"Kill him-" The leader was then cut off by the young lad. 

"Okay, I get why you're mad, but you want to do this. One against all of you, isn't that a little unfair, for your side? Tell you what, give me all your gear and we can call it quits, and nobody has to die,"

The crowd laughs at his arrogant declaration as if it was the funniest joke they've ever heard, as they knew it was nigh impossible. "Ahahahahaha... I never laughed this well in ages. He's right don't kill him,"

"Now that's more like it-"

"Cut off his limbs. I'll slowly eat him alive; I'll make his last moment a living hell. I love the mouthful curs who likes to bark," Upon hearing the leader of the rogue's final choice he closed his eyes and sighed as dozens of his men rushed to tear his limbs anew.

"Still haughty as ever. You know, I would've thought persuading you lot would be possible if I grew up to be more charismatic and eloquent. Guess I'm the only one changing in this nonstop loop,"

Once he opened his eyes the movement of his would-be killers was at the pace of a snail at their highest speed, a ticking rattled at his pocket, a broken pocket watch that turned the opposite. Everything slowed down in his perception; in this state of accelerated time, his movement came to be fluid in the eyes of his foe, and if he skipped, he'd leave an afterimage in place. The cut he executed was precise. For a single swing, it tore through the thickness of flesh and hardened bones, yet an attack has masterfully done swift, deadly, and painless, an attack both powerful yet merciful. 

"There's still a lot of them. I need to make this quick. Or else I wouldn't beat my record. I almost forgot I was doing a speed run. It's been fun, but I'll end it quick, I have no time to brutally murder every one of you,"

He kneels to the ground, retracting his legs inward to crouch whilst his left hand holds his form and the cutlass at the clutches of his right limb, and with a single breath, he sprung up. He launched himself to the ceiling and thus began the culling of the rogues; on his way up, he slashed two men suspended in the air, and as he reached the ceiling, gravity seemingly slowed its effects on him, and he used the very ceiling to leap once more. He vaulted across the room dozens of times but in the eyes of the leader, all of it occurred in a flash, and with each leap, he created a streak of blood till he appeared at the back of this group's biggest dog.

"R.I.P,"

The leader stood daze at the massacre that ensued at a second's notice and later realized the man's puzzling words before he departed to the path that led to both the exit and their vault. A series of cuts suddenly appeared one by one, and each arrival caused him unimaginable suffering as he suffered death by a thousand cuts, whereas his minions suffered a less painful end. Later, he was put to rest right after he was cut to a thousand pieces, befitting the death of someone who caused unspeakable atrocities to face an end of countless suffering.

"Oh, heavens I forgot! I never once introduced myself, how rude of me. The name's Zayn Houren, your friendly neighborhood regressor- And you're dead, well isn't this quite awkward,"

In light of his embarrassment, he grabs the torch and tosses it to the ground, setting the whole room on fire whilst he retreats to the vault, but the craziest thing he does is his declaration as a regressor. But everything came to place, his familiarity with the place, his calm demeanor, and even his weird perception of time, all the while coming into possession of a useless watch that doesn't tell time. Suddenly a figure unbeknownst to him lunges from the shadows, he foils its attempts as the cutlass he wields pushes it aside and there he notices a peculiar monster

'So where should I start? It's been a long time since I talked to myself in the third person, my name is Zayn Houren. A once-known scholar turned regressor, and for the last, I don't know how long it's been, but I think I spent millions of years regressing. I can't die until I save the world, and every time I regress, the world and its people, including the concept of power changes, due to free will,'

"You look a little familiar? But how? In this timeline? How could there be a monster that shouldn't have existed here of all places?"

Once the creature was finally unveiled, he noticed it glitching, as if the more it closed in on him, the less it occurred. A monster that should've been a thing of the past had arrived in the present. And its stability being tied to his presence meant he was the cause of such temporal stress. But such a thing never once occurred in his previous regression, so why now did everything change?

"Veron what the hell is happening!?" He calls for someone but never did he hear a reply, this regression was different, even his guide was nowhere to be heard of

"Graaaagh!!!" As the monster squeals a flicker in its mouth begins to grow till it expands and bursts forth a fiery breath