Hazriel had chosen to stay a few thousand kilometres away for safety, to avoid undue interference.
She'd known it was a risk, but now that the event she was waiting for was finally upon her, and the werewolves had already torn Max apart limb for limb, she realised that she couldn't arrive in time without tearing the atmosphere of Earth apart.
She could bend space to transport directly in, but if she distorted space there was a high probability that some other tier 6 being may notice the turbulence and turn their eyes towards this event. Even so, she wasn't truly concerned with the Milky-Way being far from the dark lands.
Even before arriving, Hazriel dilated the flow of time around Max's soul to give her the few extra seconds she needed to reach his dead body and reconstruct it.
To Max who was dead, the dilated flow of time felt like a distinct memory from when he was just a child.
As a child he had once nudged a table carrying a ceramic vase, an heirloom from previous generations of the Rajput family. The table shook, and he looked up to see the vase teetering on the edge. That moment had seemed to stretch, a single image imprinted on time so that it seemed to last forever before the vase at last began to fall.
At first, he thought that was happening now. The world seemed frozen around him, as though time had stretched once again. Although at the moment there was only an endless darkness across him but soon a golden light enveloped him and in that light pieces of the world began to change.
The severed limbs of his body tumbled across the bloody floor, gathering blood as they rolled, bouncing off the dinner table and rolling towards his body.
His own legs slid across the floor, as though his own red blood had become an elastic rope pulling his body together. Panic tightened his chest, and he tried to struggle, but much to his surprise he couldn't even move a muscle, nor blink his eyes.
No part of him responded to his control, and he had to wait and watch as his flesh pulled itself together.
It was extremely painful, and felt as if the blood in his body had become boiling hot oil, an uncomfortable squirming below his ribs as muscle and bone reassembled themselves.
All the while, the golden glow grew brighter and brighter.
Max felt his body reconstructed as his soul was pulled back inside his body and immediately he gasped for air as he fell to his knees.
Max half expected his body to hurt like hell, the few moments before his death were the most painful of his life, however to his relief there was no pain whatsoever in his body.
When Max looked up again he saw a woman covered in golden light, slowly descending from the night sky through the gaping hole in his roof and for a moment he was struck speechless.
From the second he laid eyes on her he knew she was an heavenly angel, because of her radiant white wings and shining silver armour. However, that was not the most striking thing about her.
She was the epitome of beauty in Max's eyes as, a divine being who was beyond perfection with a smooth blemish free skin and a perfect body that was neither too tall nor too short, neither too thick nor too thin, neither too pale nor too tanned, just perfect.
Her eyes were compassionate yet her expression was cold, it was a disparity that made Max's reforged heart wrench in despair as he watched her gracefully land on her feet in front of him.
Max thought he was dead for sure and now the angels were here to guide his dead body to heaven. He put a stupid smile on his face and closed his eyes, he was ready to be escorted to heaven if such a beauty was here to take him.
Looking at Max's half lewd and half conceited face, Hazriel frowned a little before shaking her head as she said "Max Rajput, I am Hazriel and I am here to repay the debt the angel race owes to your elder brother Rudra Rajput.
Should you accept, I will send you back in time to one day before the start of 'Sigma' and you will live your life as a regressor.
Do you accept? ".
Max opened and closed his mouth several times as finally the reality of the situation sunk into his brain.
He had been saved by this angel only because of his brother and now they were offering him a second chance at life.
After a while Max said " What if I refuse?"
Max did not really want to refuse, however he wanted to know if he had the luxury to do so, or was he being coerced into something a higher power wanted him to do.
Hazriel shrugged her shoulders as she said" I will leave you alone after wiping your memories of our encounter. Saving your life will also count as the debt to Rudra Rajput being repaid".
Max's thumping heart raced faster after he heard this, overwhelming emotions surging inside him. He had been a trash his entire life, but now he had a chance to re-do it and live it again!
He finally had a chance to right all the wrongs he had done…..
The hazy expression from his eyes was replaced by a determined one as he looked at Hazriel and said " I'm ready ".
For a moment even Hazriel was moved by the conviction she saw in Max's eyes, her impassive face showing a gleam of emotion but she soon recovered as that gleam disappeared and she said " I will do you one more favour before sending you back in time which is to show you, how you can change your fate and the fate of your planet this time around.
I know all about your manaless condition and your past life and I can see the threads of fate that bind you.
Consider it as my gift for you choosing the path of a warrior rather than being a coward and choosing to forget".
Max bowed deeply in front of Hazriel, he was truly in awe of the magnanimity of this angel and swore in his heart to repay her kindness someday should he become capable enough.
But, one word that Hazriel spoke caused a million questions to spawn in his mind as he asked " Change My fate and also of my planet?"
Hazriel nodded as she flicked her palms and showed him a vision of his brother consumed by madness from the death of Max.
Hazriel spoke " Following your death and the abduction of his children, Rudra Rajput sheds his inner kindness and becomes the destroyer of galaxies.
In the next two years he wipes out 17 planets inhabited by werewolves and destroys two galaxies before finally falling prey to the demon sovereign.
After his death the milky-way and earth is overrun by the dark forces".
Max felt his chest tighten as he heard this, of everyone he had wronged in his past life he had wronged his brother the most and he knew that if anyone truly loved him selflessly in this selfish world it was his brother.
Hazriel continued " No matter the iteration I see, Earth collapses after the death of Rudra Rajput whether you live or die. Because without him this planet and humanity in general is pretty pathetic.
Only if you become a strong enough pillar capable of surpassing your brother will you save earth from guaranteed destruction".
Max stuttered as he spoke " H-how can I do it? How can I change this fate? ".
Hazriel said " The odds of you changing this fate are highly unlikely. Out of one hundred million fates, the likelihood of your success is one".
Max felt like he had just been dunked by a tub of ice cold water, as he realised just how unlikely and hard it was going to be for him to change the fate destined for him.
Hazriel continued " However in all of the fates where you do perform well enough and the one where you reach your goal eventually, you have three keys to your success.
I will show you these three visions and after that you will be reincarnated into the past and this life will become just a memory".
Max instantly shouted " NO WAIT ".
Hazriel was startled as her eyes widened a bit.
Max looked into her eyes and a deep blush formed over his cheeks as he said " How will I contact you again? Will you not forget me in a different timeline? I wish to repay your kindness when I am able to".
Hazriel wanted to laugh out loud and while she was doing so internally, externally she remained as expressionless as before.
She found Max's attitude to be extremely cute and adorable, but she could not show it. Hence with a stoic face she threw him a pendant.
" If you have this on you, no matter the timeline i would know that you are one of my chosen".
Max looked at the smooth green pendant with the two winged angel shape and he kissed it long and hard before wearing it around his neck.
This time a small smile escaped Hazriel's lips as she said in what seemed like a bright tone" See you on the other side ".
A blinding golden light covered Max's body as his mind was shown three visions.
[ VISION ONE ] : Max dreamt of a girl running through dark alleys, two bloody daggers in her hands and a murderous glare in her amber colored eyes.
A voice then whispered in his mind " Save her ".
[ VISION TWO ]: Max saw a god, covered in a sea of flames as he ripped a planet apart from its core using his flames.
Max then saw the same god many years later as he was killed by his own brethren. His soul condensing into a weapon and breaking into three pieces before scattering through the universe.
The voice showed him the three pieces and said " Obtain it ".
[ VISION THREE ]: Max saw himself, sitting on a throne with Red Azure eyes and a pale white visage.
When he smiled he saw the unmistakable sharp canine teeth of the vampire race as a thousand tier 5 vampires knelt before him in submission.
Their collective voices saying " Long live the king".
As the three visions ended, Max was jolted awake only to find himself back in his old bed. Back in the body of his 17 year old self, the only memory and the surety of his past life being the green winged pendant on his neck.
Max had been reborn once again!
///A/N - This chapter of the book is a homage to Unsouled by Will Wight, do check that book out if you liked it///
