Spawn Camping

At first, everything proceeded perfectly like normal. The final day of the preparatory period passed without any incident whatsoever. Not only on Theodore's end was there peace all around–every single Heaven's Chosen was blessed with that same week-long, well-deserved rest.

Due to the Heavenly Dao's protection, all of the competitors could relax for a time. No matter what kind of scheming that they got up to, and irrespective of how desperately they tried to hurt their peers, it all was for naught.

Naturally, some had been very well aware of this beforehand and therefore had not even wasted their time, resources and energy on attempting to see any sort of success before this period was over. Instead, they focused all of their efforts on beginning the second round with a bang.

Theodore currently had no way to harm his foes from afar, so he elected to brace himself for whatever might come his way once he entered the next, bigger stage. That was what a fair chunk of the Array Disks which he had been working on were for–to protect him and his people from many a potential danger that he was currently capable of warding off.

While he couldn't ensure their invincibility, he felt quite confident in facing most of the attacks that could come his way. With his nerves taut, he and his Subordinates witnessed the minutes turn into seconds–and then, they were finally transported to the next round's event venue.

There was no bright light accompanying this 'teleportation'. Instead, it was as if all of them had been plucked out of their spacetime of origin and immediately been placed into a new one, remarkably gently. Even Theodore couldn't perceive any part of the process.

In front of his opened eyes, the scenery suddenly changed entirely, and everyone who should be there had arrived at his side. This was also the first time that he actually met Kjartan personally, and not just the Fly Slave that he had been inhabiting to facilitate their communication. Speaking of those minions of his, it appeared that they had been put into a kind of 'storage' for him by the Heavenly Dao.

Those like Kjartan who could create or permanently control some beings via their Talents would be allowed to bring them with them into future rounds. However, due the oftentimes terrifying numbers involved, they weren't made to flood these new worlds alongside their owners.

Later on, they could decide to release their creatures or people wherever and whenever they wanted–they could even choose how many of them to let out at a time. However, it was a one-way trip. They could not be put back into the 'storage'.

This information had been shared with the people it concerned well in advance. As soon as Theodore decided to have Kjartan come along, the latter had been briefed on the matter via a notification. This of course meant that their Fly Slave Breeding Project could continue in the rounds to come!

Right after he had shot a polite, satisfied nod at his hard-working Attribute Point supplier, Theodore felt an odd sensation and blanked out momentarily. An overwhelming sense of danger threatened to strangle him. In front of his eyes, he saw a grey beam of light descending from the heavens, landing squarely on him and enveloping him, no matter how hard he tried to dodge. Then, everything faded to black.

As he came to again, he realized that he was still standing in the same spot: He and his entourage were on a massive plaza. He could make out some regular people peering at them from afar, worry and despair written all over their faces. Out of the corner of his eye, he even noticed a young boy amongst them holding up some sort of sign showing a drawing.

Unsurprisingly, the sudden arrival of beyond 100 people alarmed the locals, yet their reactions seemed more exaggerated than he would have expected. Still, there was no time to dwell on all of this right at this moment.

'That just now was clearly a prophetic vision–Improved Threat Perception is finally pulling its weight! But when will this occur? I could have sworn that the surroundings seemed to be exactly the sa–'

Before he could even finish that train of thought, he abruptly looked up at the sky, every single one of his cells desperately screaming at him to escape. He had no more instants to waste. As he witnessed a grey light ray appear, his perception had already spread across vast swathes of this unfamiliar world–without hesitation, he teleported repeatedly like mad, trying his hardest to shake this pursuer off.

Yet, nothing worked. His time ran out before he knew it. All of the barriers of Eternal Ice that he had set up and reinforced with the entirety of the Energy that he could muster barely put up any resistance. Everything was futile.

When the light touched, suffused and eventually enveloped him like a cocoon, every aspect of him–whether that be his body, his mind or his soul–they all met their end. More absurdly, even the utmost nucleus of the soul that should have been claimed by the cycle of reincarnation was about to be snuffed out.

Before his senses faded, he witnessed the grey glow rapidly spread across what he suspected to be the entire world–certainly farther than he could make out. Whether it be the indigenous life, his lovers and Subordinates, the structures abounding or the very building blocks of the world itself–they all met the same fate as he did.

When he too was on the brink of extermination, that last part of his soul–which also served as the final bastion of his mind–witnessed a notification appear before itself. And as soon as it did, the overwhelming sense of peril vanished into thin air.

[ You have died.

Regression (Mythical) has activated.

To which point in time do you want to regress to?

• 'Where it all began': 100 years ago.

• 'One day before round 2': 1 day ago. ]

Being the one who had named these save points, he didn't feel the need to comment on them. Without hesitation, he chose the second option. By the time that he opened his eyes once more, he finally had the luxury of taking in all that had just occurred, his mood souring as a result.

"... when did it happen?"

Detecting a familiar hand grab his own and having Cheong Suhyeon's soothing voice enter his ears, some of his tension dissipated. Still, her question made him feel a little bit awkward, especially considering how optimistic he had been about his chances to make it through the expected ambushes.

"Right after the second round began. I died immediately."

At first a bit distracted, he eventually managed to recount the events of a future now past.

"It's hard to say whether that was a direct attack by a powerful expert–possibly not even a Heaven's Chosen–or the result of a curse."

Pondering the matter deeply, Vigdis eventually presented the product of her speculations, earning her agreeing nods from pretty much everybody around.

"I concur. However, I suspect that the likelihood of it being the consequence of a competitor's actions is far higher than the alternative. The timing is simply too suspicious."

Adding his own line of thought into the mix, Kjartan–via his Fly Slave–voiced his personal conjecture.

"We can't ignore the possibility of some local hegemon detecting our appearance and choosing to eliminate the threat we posed in the cradle, though. It's not like it hasn't happened before–remember the Enki Imperium?"

Gesturing at their surroundings, Cheong Suhyeon brought up a valid point of her own.

"But Yeonnie, if that is really the case, then why eradicate that entire world as well?"

Finally grasping an opportunity to be of use, Xie Mei shared the slight flaw in her sister's argument that she had picked up on, earning her a surprised yet relieved smile from the lady in question.

"Mei'er, we can't be certain that this hegemon is truly from that world or originates from beyond it. Perhaps in their eyes, that location isn't of importance–or the danger that we could develop to be is simply too terrifying. Therefore, we can't outright discard this theory."

Ruminating over these words, Xie Mei eventually nodded, only to feel a deep sense of helplessness creeping in. No matter how they tried to evaluate and analyse the data at hand, they simply couldn't come to a satisfying conclusion!

Everyone's arguments went back and forth, until finally, Theodore spoke up.

"... let's leave it at that for now. I'll simply go through it all again, but pay far better attention this time. I also have some ideas that I want to try."

Rising to his feet, he placed his hand against Cheong Suhyeon's forehead, before shooting a calming gaze at his people.

"For safety's sake, I'll now be erasing any memory you have about my ability to return to the past. Don't resist–I promise it won't be an issue. I'll also leave you with a vague memory of having been informed of this process, so that you won't wonder about why a chunk of time is suddenly missing from your recollections."

With that said, he carefully went from person to person, doing exactly as he had announced. This way, he could ensure that nobody would be gaining any meaningful information from the souls of his inner circle. By the time that he was done, everyone shot him partially confused glances, but didn't ask any questions.

'... admittedly, my chances of surmounting this obstacle in just one more try are vanishingly slim. But walking towards my death is nothing new to me.'

Not letting any of these thoughts show on his face, he had the others excuse themselves, then went about making a few more Array Disks in the time that he had remaining.

He did not yet have a particular plan–instead, he created absolutely every single possible one that he currently had the materials for. Perhaps, one of them would come in handy, or have any sort of impact on the upcoming situation whatsoever.

'... oh well, here I go again!'

Just like once before, a day later, he and his people found themselves in a wholly unfamiliar world. This time, he instantly spread out his perception to its utmost extent taking in all possible information. What he needed the most now was additional data to base his 'future' actions upon.

Previously, he had already felt that something was off about the general populace around, but he saw it far more clearly now. The majority were deeply depressed and had given up on life, a number of them going so far as committing suicide. Corpses of those who had ended it all could be seen far too frequently. A select few individuals had even resorted to engaging in some of the most vile acts imaginable, not caring about the consequences whatsoever.

'It's as if they know that their doomsday is approaching. But how did they find out?'

Before he could investigate this matter more, that odd sensation arrived again, and he spaced out. His Improved Threat Perception was allowing him to practically experience the same world-ending event twice–once from the perspective of an observing bystander, and afterwards in person.

'I can't make out any particular point of origin, just that it comes from beyond this world–from the Lesser True Void. But that's as far as this prophetic vision allows me to see.'

Witnessing himself utilize all of the new means at his disposal without seeing any result, he didn't lose heart. At the very least, he would now not have to waste any time in reality on setting up all of those Arrays.

'Let's see if escaping to the Lesser True Void is a viable option.'

As soon as everything returned to normal again, he teleported multiple times, until he arrived at the border of this world. The grey light was already hot on his heels, but he didn't let that bother him.

Reinforcing himself as much as possible, he stepped into the beyond, feeling his Energy getting drained very rapidly. He could only survive here for a couple of hours at most–but he would never get to use up all of that surplus time.

Not hindered by the Lesser True Void or his efforts to avoid it in there at all, the light beam enveloped him. Exactly like before, he soon met his end.

All that was different this time was that he could see the glow eradicate the world which he had just left from the outside. Right after 'capturing' him, all that remained of it aimed directly at this world, making it join him on his journey to the other side.

Clearly, this was an intentional act by whoever had it out for him.