The Clock Starts Now

Chapter 1: The Clock Starts Now

The dungeon was eerily silent, save for the distant rumble of growling monsters and the occasional hiss of steam escaping from fractured pipes lining the walls. Rei Kaizen could barely see past the crimson blood dripping from his brow, his vision swimming with the aftereffects of a brutal attack. He was on his knees, broken, bruised, and barely clinging to life. The blood oozing from his body mixed with the thick smoke and sulfur in the air. His arms trembled as he tried, and failed, to lift himself off the cold, damp stone floor.

"I don't want to die."

The words rang in his mind over and over, but his body refused to listen. His limbs felt like they were made of lead, his once ironclad resolve now shattered. The feeling of defeat weighed on him, sinking deep into his chest. A hunter, betrayed and abandoned, left to die in the heart of a dungeon by his own comrades.

His team had started strong, brimming with arrogance and confidence. They had seen the mission as nothing more than a mere formality, a way to gain easy rewards and notoriety. But the dungeon had proven too much.

When the Time Eater appeared—an anomaly that no one expected—everything had gone to hell.

C-Rank dungeon? His ass. The moment they had entered, it became clear this was a trap. The beasts inside weren't ordinary; they were mutations, twisted versions of reality itself, warped by some force beyond comprehension. They had fought hard, but the Time Eater had slaughtered them one by one.

Rei was the only one left. His teammates, his so-called comrades, had abandoned him, retreating into the shadows of the dungeon to escape, leaving him to face the monster alone. He remembered the words they had said.

"You're too weak, Rei."

"Just stay back."

"This is your fault."

The last was from his so-called best friend, a man named Juno, who had always claimed Rei was too weak for real combat. His betrayal stung more than the blows he'd received from the Time Eater. Juno's words echoed in his ears, louder than anything.

The beast loomed over him now. Rei could barely make out its shadowy form, its glowing eyes burning with primal hunger. Its large claws scraped the stone floor as it approached, each step sending a shockwave through the air. The creature's form wavered and flickered, as though it didn't quite belong to this reality.

"It's over." Rei thought. "I can't fight this. Not anymore."

But then, just as the claws were about to descend upon him, everything stopped.

The world, once filled with noise and chaos, came to a sudden and unnatural silence.

The roar of the Time Eater froze mid-sound. The flickering shadows around the creature paused, caught in a perfect moment of stasis. Rei blinked, confused, as his body—too broken to respond to commands—remained still in the same position. A deep, resonating hum echoed in the distance, and before he could react, a voice filled his mind.

[System Override Detected.]

[Restoring Lost Authority...]

[Initializing Temporal Core...]

Rei's eyes widened. What was happening?

Suddenly, a blinding light erupted from his chest, and for the first time in his life, he felt something inside him stir—something powerful, ancient, and almost alien. Time seemed to stretch in every direction, pulling and warping, crashing through his awareness. It was as if the very fabric of reality was unraveling before him.

[Temporal Core Initialization Complete.]

Before him, reality split open, and in an instant, Rei found himself standing in a vast and endless realm. The ground beneath his feet felt unstable, shifting, as if it were made of shifting sands. Around him, enormous clock faces spun erratically in the air, their hands ticking forwards and backwards, seemingly defying the laws of time. Strange glowing symbols floated in the void, and the very air hummed with power.

Rei felt dizzy, his knees threatening to buckle beneath him. This wasn't just some vision. He was no longer in the dungeon. He wasn't even on Earth.

A voice echoed through the void, deep and commanding, though it felt like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"You… are the one. A mere mortal who dares to inherit what should be mine," the voice said, dripping with both amusement and condescension.

Rei tried to speak, but his throat was dry, and no words came.

The light before him shifted, and in a moment, a figure appeared. He was tall and regal, dressed in silver-black armor that gleamed with an unnatural, cold brilliance. His face was hidden by a mask, but his eyes shone bright like stars—silver and infinite. The figure regarded Rei with a strange mix of pity and disdain.

"I am Chronos," the figure intoned, his voice echoing with the weight of millennia. "The Monarch of Time. The one who controls the very ebb and flow of existence itself. And yet, here you are—weak and dying—chosen by fate to inherit my power."

Rei swallowed, struggling to comprehend what was happening. "W-what… what are you talking about?" he finally managed to croak.

Chronos sighed, a deep, resonating sound that seemed to reverberate through the very fabric of time itself.

"You are not meant for this. You are not meant to stand before me, to inherit my mantle. You are a mere mortal. Weak. Useless." The Monarch's voice was laced with scorn. "But, it seems fate has decided that you will be the one to wield the Temporal Core."

Rei's mind was reeling. Temporal Core? What did he mean? He was just a C-Rank hunter—nothing special.

Chronos stepped forward, the ground beneath him shifting and warping as if in response to his presence. "Your potential is limited. You are mortal, but you still possess the spark. I can see it." He extended a gloved hand, and golden threads of time unraveled in front of Rei's eyes, shifting, twisting in impossible ways. "I grant you this—**a chance to rewrite your fate. A chance to seize the power of time itself. But be warned, for with great power comes great responsibility."

Rei's heart pounded. Was this some kind of dream? A hallucination?

Chronos paused, his voice growing somber. "You will face a choice. Burn the past or rewrite the future. Your decisions will shape the world. But be careful… even time can betray you."

Suddenly, everything around Rei collapsed, and he was once again standing in the dungeon—this time, the air was different, charged with power. The Time Eater, still frozen in place, now seemed insignificant. Rei's eyes glowed with a silver light—the power of the Time Lord, an ancient force that flowed through him.

Rei clenched his fists. For the first time in his life, he felt the urge to fight. To change everything.

He lifted his hand. Time resumed.

The world around him flickered, and the Time Eater lunged with a savage roar. But Rei was no longer the same.

He stepped forward, his body moving faster than the eye could follow, his form shifting and rewinding with every step. The Time Eater's claws sliced through the air, but Rei was already gone, rewound to a moment before.

This time, he was in control.

And he would not let anyone, not even time itself, stand in his way.