A Forgotten Memory, Godlike Power

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It was a world that headed to the path of ruin, filled with clusters of energies scattered about the land disorderly. Within this chaotic zone, in a region surrounded by mountains, there was a cliff as large as the sky.

At its peak, which seemed like a sharp sword cut through it to create a flat surface, two figures faced a deadly battle. It was as if they were fighting a decisive battle with the fate of all lives. With each wave of their mighty weapons, several flashes of light would lay waste to the entire range of sky-shouldering mountains surrounding their peak.

These blows left devastating craters many kilometers wide across the already destroyed land, creating a sight that would fill any creature with dread. This scene showed that their weapon play and personal power had reached the zenith of their respective fields.

Following the sounds of three heavy blows with their weapons, the sword in the hand of a green-haired figure dressed in divine-looking armor glowing with golden lights started to shake as if he’d succumbed to severe injuries. A stream of blood flowed underneath his body armor, flowing onto his hand that grasped the sword, before trickling down its blade and dripping onto the flat rocky ground of the mountain peak.

“Haa… haa… haa…” The green-haired man panted for breath as he grasped the right side of his face with his injured right palm while looking towards a man in front of him. He was a figure dressed in a dark cape with a hood that covered half of his face leaving only his straight nose, broad lips, and chin, which had a stubble of beard exposed.

“I shall end here… I’ll stop you, even if I must squander what remains of my life!” The green-haired man yelled as a steady light shone in the depths of his eyes.

The man with the hooded cape chuckled as he replied, “No, on the contrary, our battle has only just begun. It is pointless to challenge…”

As he spoke, a dark wind rose around his form, lifting his hooded cape further as it revealed a glowing red eye that shone with an ominous light. He then continued to speak again, “Your faaaateeee!”

When he shouted, he gripped onto a massive halberd that emitted dangerous energy as a terrifying pressure filled the mountain range.

“We’ll see about that!” The green-haired man roared as he switched his stance by separating his legs, one stretched out to the side and the other placed behind him. He then leaned forwards and gripped the hilt of his sword with his right hand putting the sword behind him as one would do with a dagger; he moved his left arm in front of him, opening his fingers wide as if trying to lock the form of his opponent.

With a thunderous bang, a terrifying aura rose from his body, lifting his green hair above his head, dancing about as if a stormy wind was blowing it. Instantly, he leaped forward and slashed his sword toward the man in the hooded cape. In response, the man in the hooded cape shouted as he brandished his halberd toward the green-haired man.

Like two beams of light, they rushed towards each other breaking the distance in only a spark of time. When their attacks collided, a flash of white light overcame both forms.

During this clash, the dark-hooded man’s sinister laughter echoed as the green-haired man’s vision faded. A few words could be heard from the man in the cape, but before the green-haired man could listen to any of them, there was a loud disturbance.

A ‘bang’ had sounded as a loud explosion resounded everywhere, causing the entire world the shatter, and the green-haired man had abruptly awoken from his dreams arriving back in the ancient forest. As he placed one hand on his head, he looked around the area, noticing that a boulder that was 20 meters tall and 8 meters wide from the open field was broken into bits of pieces, creating a dust cloud within the area.

After a moment, a few silhouettes began to appear from within the dust cloud. It was a group of men, each with a distinct trait, but they carried an analogous manner of speech.

An intimidating man with a bald head with a red snake on his surface walked out of the group. He was more muscular than everyone gathered and possessed unimaginable might. He wore a shirt with no sleeves exposing his powerful arms to the world, and had a blade that was 2 meters long, and 12 feet wide on his back.

“Oh, what do we have here? Finally awake now, aren’t we, Mister Keeper? I’d like to introduce myself; my name is—” Before he could finish speaking, the green-haired man furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke.

“Vermin of non-kin, how dare you disturb my recollection and blabber before my existence? Human Spawn, it would be in your best interest to vanish from my sight!” The green-haired man coldly said as he looked at the man in front of him with a sharp light in his eyes.

The leader hearing his words, was stunned; the gang seeing the leader’s expression and recalling the words of the man before them, became solemn.

“Haha! You guys hearing this? Vermin? He called me a vermin, we sure have a tough one here!” The leader said in laughter as he held his belly, trying to hold back his anger.

The muscular man beside Rufallus laughed as he spoke, “Boss! Let us teach this guy a lesson! It does not matter what kind of legacy he had been protecting for so many years; we should let him know that our Red Snake Adventurers will not yield and withdraw!”

The leader felt pride as he looked at the green-haired man and roared, “Damn right! We will show this bastard what it means to be a Red Snake Adventurer! Kill him!”

“Die!” One of the Red Shark Adventurers rushed forwards quickly like a blur using a strange set of movements while attacking with a chain ball. Another rushed from the green-haired man’s side, flanking him as he pierced his spear outwards, shouting, “Taste my spear!”

The green-haired man looked towards all the Red Shark Adventurers with an indifferent gaze as he spoke, “How foolish…”

As the man said this, he tilted his body to the side, easily avoiding the chain ball that went for his head as he twirled his body gracefully as if dancing, causing his long hair to spin with his body.

In a flash, he had easily avoided every attack launched by the adventurers. He easily blurred in and out of the attacks with light movements and a slight body twist. Suddenly, he took a step and vanished before he appeared atop a tree branch.

The leader looked around frantically before finding his location; he pointed at him angrily as he shouted, “What are you doing? Strike him with your strongest attacks; he’s no amateur!”

“Yes, leader!” The men replied as their bodies and weapons began to glow before they struck them out, unleashing colorful rays in the night scene.

The rays beamed towards the green-haired man, no different from arrows in-flight lighting up wherever they passed. Yet, before they could even reach him, he glanced towards them with indifference as he spoke, “Spawn of humans, though you had drawn my fury, I did not wish to harm you. Yet here you are striving to summon my wrath upon yourselves, such a pity…”

Rufallus looked towards the man with a suspicious expression; feeling strange energies gathering from the air, he backed away quickly while holding his spear before him as it started to glow in a mystical light.

The green-haired man raised his right hand slowly, which, oddly enough, was still at speeds much faster than the beam attacks of the men. They could only watch as if in slow motion as his hand slowly reached above his head.

He then placed his middle finger together with his thumb, following which a group of mysterious energies started to gather towards both fingers, soon they became bright gold as a terrifying power filled the area.

Feeling this powerful energy, the leader of the Red Snake Adventurers became stunned as he exclaimed in shock, “Oh crap! He’s a — ” Yet, before he could finish his statement, the end had already arrived.

A ray of golden light erupted, surrounding the open field and spreading outwards for ten kilometers in the blink of an eye. After a moment, the voice of the green-haired man echoed throughout the ancient forest.

“Dragon Pulse!”

In an instant, following the sound of a snapping finger, the area the light occupied became a sea of golden light that exploded toward the sky. Moments after, the light faded, revealing the aftermath of its wake.

A massive crater formed within the ancient forest occupying a region of ten kilometers. The green-haired man stood at the center of this desolate region, unaffected by its destruction, with a lonely and distracted appearance. He looked at the stars in the night sky and whispered to himself, “What was that memory? What is this strength? Who am I?”

After looking into the sky for a moment, he gripped his fists tightly as a firm light entered his eyes. He thought to himself, ‘How silly of me? I will find nothing if I question the wind. I must venture on a journey. These powers of mine are also unstable as my body is in a state of weakness. I’d best refrain from using these mass destruction arts at the core of my memories. Hmm… a survivor?’

As he made up his mind and accessed his body’s situation, he saw that a few hundred meters away was a man with a bloodied body with his clothing reduced to ashes. He tightly held onto a spear that seemed odd as it glowed with a bright light before it dimmed and showed cracks on its shaft.

Rufallus, who had used some secret method to survive, coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood as he looked at the green-haired man in fear.

“Human Spawn, consider yourself lucky, for I am not in the mood to wantonly slaughter. I have decided to start a journey, a quest across this land. Somewhere in this world, I’ll be able to acquire that which I’ve long forgotten,” The green-haired man said as he reached for his sword on the ground, resting it atop of his shoulders. He then walked away at a calm pace, his silhouette fading into the darkness of the night.

Moments after he vanished, a chilly wind blew across this region, and Rufallus, who had stared at the man’s back, fainted after spitting out blood. Soon, a strange scene occurred.

Tick. Tick. Tick-Tok-Tick.

A strange clock sounded across the night scenery as if following an odd sequence. Eventually, a man appeared covered in darkness, wearing a large mage hat. This figure looked in the direction that the green-haired man went with an interested gaze and then followed. As he walked forward, the clock again echoed as it synced with each step the strange figure took.

Tick. Tick. Tick-Tok-Tick

The night faded as dawn rose anew, and the scene revealed here would later become known to many as – the Nightmare of the Ancient Forest. Yet, as the story of this unknown man was about to unfold. So was the tale of another, a peculiar young boy from a distant land.