[FLASHBACK - AFTER THE WORLD END]
"I—I... S-Sophie, why?... why did you do that?"
Ziel's voice cracked. His hands trembled as he held Sophie, her fading warmth the cruel reminder of everything slipping through his fingers.
Her breath came in shallow gasps. Her body heavy against him with each passing second.
"Ziel... I—I'm sorry... for leaving you..." Sophie's voice was barely audible, weaker with every word.
"I don't know what happened to me... but... but—"
Her trembling hand brushed his, pressing something into his palm.
A pendant. Green, faintly glowing in the firelight.
Ziel's chest twisted. He didn't even need to look closely. He knew it well—the pendant.
The one he gave her when they were twelve. The one they had sworn would always bind them together.
Their little promise.
His fingers closed around it, and a searing grief tore through him.
Sophie's hand moved, brushing his cheek. A fleeting touch, but it felt like it burned into his skin.
"Don't cry, Ziel..." Her voice was soft, but there was a finality to it.
"I want to give you... one last gift."
She pressed her lips against his. Soft. Fragile.
All the things they'd never said, poured into that kiss.
A delicate smile formed on her lips as she pulled back, her last words hitting him like a thunderclap.
"I loved you, Ziel."
The world stopped. Her breath faltered.
Then, nothing.
Ziel buried his face in her hair.
"Sophie... we promised…" He whispered through his tears. "We would live and die together."
He brushed her hair back, pressing his lips to her forehead.
Tears slid down his face.
The weight of her absence crushed him.
His hands shook as he gripped the pendant.
There was no need for words.
His eyes flickered to the revolver on the floor.
Without hesitation, he picked it up, cold metal pressing against his forehead.
Sophie's face danced in his memory.
The way she had saved him from falling timber when the fire broke out, her voice full of panic.
She had saved him. Not Leon. Him.
"I love you too, Sophie."
His chest tightened, as her face flickered in his mind—her smile, her touch.
And then—
BANG.
The shot rang out. Final. Loud. The blood pooled at his feet.
Ziel collapsed into Sophie's lifeless arms. Their hands intertwined.
Silence swallowed the room.
But fate?
It wasn't done with him yet.
~~~~~~
[PRESENT- AFTER THE PROLOGUE]
"Quite the emotional display, no?" A voice murmured, cool and calm.
The goddess sat on her throne, her hair like snow, eyes like dying stars, her presence watching him with unsettling amusement.
She shut the screen showing his death, but the weight of it lingered in the air like a suffocating cloud.
"Why did you save me? You should've just let me die." Ziel's voice trembled. Watching Sophie again. Like this.
Khaelystra smirked, eyes glinting with something darker, something possessive.
"Why? Hmm...let's just say you broke something even I couldn't foresee. That intrigued me."
She tilted her head, studying him. "But isn't it strange? She saved you, even after leaving you for Leon?"
Ziel's stomach churned. His mind spun.
The seashore. He could still taste the salt in the air and the desperation as he begged her to stay.
Her voice cracked when she said it. "I love Leon."
And then, she was gone.
Why had Sophie saved him? Why had she chosen him over Leon after she had left him?
"W-what are you trying to say?" His voice wavered.
Khaelystra's fingers brushed his cheek. A chill ran down his spine.
"The threads of fate…" She snapped her fingers, and glowing strands appeared, connecting people to their destinies.
"These threads connect people, bind them to their fate, to their destiny."
She traced one of the broken threads.
"But yours..."
With a flick of her wrist, the thread turned to ash like dry twigs, crumbling into dust.
"They're gone."
He blinked. "Gone?"
"In 1,282 timelines, you died. But not like this. Not with Sophie's death twisting your soul. Not with your decision to burn everything. And that choice broke it all."
Ziel was stunned. He had broken fate?
Khaelystra was as stunned as he was. This had never happened to anyone in any timeline.
In every timeline Khaelystra had witnessed, Ziel's death had been a certainty. In nine out of ten timelines, he died.
In the remaining one, there was no Ziel at all.
Sure, there were infinite timelines, but even gods couldn't watch every world.
And Khaelystra?
She had no time to idle like mortals binging mindless stories.
"But what does it have to do with Sophie and... me?"
His frustration bubbled. The puzzle pieces weren't fitting.
"Mortals. So slow," Khaelystra sighed. "Normally, I'd just hand you off. But not this time."
She snapped her fingers.
A chair materialized behind him, and Khaelystra settled on her throne.
Ziel blinked. Magic? In his world, there was no such thing
His world was modern—just like Earth, but ruled by aristocratic nobles.
And him? The prince of the largest kingdom in the land. A title that meant nothing now.
Why?
Because he had just died.
And.
He'd been exiled, cast aside by a father who favored his younger brother. But there was no anger.
There was only one thing on his mind—Sophie.
She had been his anchor. His childhood friend. His heart.
But then... she left.
His world shattered.
In the silence, the only thing that remained was the cold, calculating desire to destroy everything.
Except for Sophie. And her family.
They would be the only things left untouched.
Khaelystra's voice, soft but chilling, sliced through the chaos of his thoughts.
And after what felt like an eternity, she spoke—Each word unraveling a truth he never wanted to hear.
His exile. His father's favoritism. His mother's death shortly after his birth. Sophie leaving him. All of it had been spun by fate.
But then came the twist.
Ziel's decision to destroy the world after she left him, and Sophie's choice to save him.
Those had broken their fate.
She paused, letting the weight of the moment settle.
"You were meant to die, yes. But not like this."
Her eyes sharpened. "Your brother was supposed to be the one to end you."
Ziel's blood ran cold. "My brother…?"
His heart stopped. Leon. His brother. The one who took everything from him. And now, it seemed, he was the one fated to end his life.
"B-but does that also mean my love for Sophie was just... a part of the plan?"
Khaelystra's smile twisted with cold amusement. "What do you think?"
The words cut deep. If even his love had been manipulated, what was left of him?
Ziel thought of Sophie. Everything she meant to him.
"Don't you remember her last words?"
How could he not?
"You shattered fate itself... and still chose to die, clinging to broken promises."
"She loved you. And you loved her."
Those words hit like a wrecking ball. But they didn't heal the wound.
Because Sophie... was gone.
He gripped the pendant tightly, his knuckles white.
"Can you bring her back?" The words came out almost like a prayer, desperate and broken.
"Please... I'll do anything."
Anything to bring her back.
Anything.
Khaelystra's eyes sparkled.
She snapped her fingers, and in an instant, she was behind him. Her cold breath ghosted against his ear.
"I can."
Ziel's heart leaped at the offer. She could bring Sophie back?
"But..."
His breath caught.
That word—the dreaded "but"—never meant anything good.
"I need you to do something."
"W-what?"
Khaelystra's smile widened.
"You will be reincarnated. In the body of a boy. With the same name. But from a different timeline."
Ziel's mind buzzed. "A different timeline?"
"Yes," Khaelystra replied. "He will die before his class is summoned by a Saintess."
"You mean like in those cliché novels? Summoned heroes?"
After his exile, he had nothing but time. His allowance came every month, and he spent it reading novels, killing his boredom.
Khaelystra chuckled darkly. "Not like that. You won't be a hero. You'll be the destroyer. Just like you've done to your world. But this time..."
She paused, locking eyes with him.
"You need to destroy those chosen ones"
Chosen ones? Like those main characters?
"What do I have to do?" His voice low but burning with determination.
"You will have to tear apart their lives, destroy the bonds they hold most dear. Take away the love they take for granted, and leave them with nothing."
What th—?
Khaelystra had grown tired of the same old story. The chosen ones always got everything—power, love, admiration. It was predictable. Boring.
But with him… It would be different. He had burned his entire world for one girl. Now that was worth watching.
"But... Sophie..."
Khaelystra's gaze hardened. "You do this, and I'll bring her back. Fail, and she stays gone forever. Your choice."
Ziel shivered. Bring her back... but at what cost? Could he betray her love to save her?
The thought twisted in his gut like poison, but he couldn't let her go.
Ziel's breath caught as he stared at Khaelystra.
The decision has been made.
His voice dropped low, savage, hands clenched around the pendant as his gaze hardened.
"I'll fucking do it."
For Sophie...
He will do anything. Even if it meant catching girls like Pokémon, until the world was his, and Sophie was the only one left to claim.
Khaelystra's smile widened, cold and triumphant.
"Good."
She snapped her fingers.
"Then good luck"
The world around him fractured.
Ziel's body collapsed, his soul slipping further away.
Then—
"Sophie..." Khaelystra's soft voice lingered in the void, heavy with meaning, "She's waiting for you... there."