The head of the monstrous overlord exploded in a fiery burst of destruction. The once-mighty beast, now utterly defeated, met its end in a blaze of glory, its roars silenced forever.

Terry’s smirk of triumph was short-lived. Just as he was about to celebrate his hard-fought victory, the entire body of the silver dragon erupted in a violent explosion. The force of the blast was so immense that it disintegrated the dragon into countless fragments, leaving nothing behind for Terry to salvage.

But the ordeal was far from over. The explosion continued to expand, its shockwaves and energies radiating outward like a relentless tempest. Terry, caught in the path of this devastating force, was sent hurtling through the air, his body battered and broken. The relentless energy engulfed him, and for a moment, it seemed as though Terry’s valiant journey had met its tragic end.

Terry descended like a meteor, his body hurtling through the sky at incredible speed. As he descended, he passed through numerous floating islands, their landscapes and ecosystems flashing by in a blur. Each island had its unique features, from lush forests to barren deserts, and even some with strange and exotic creatures roaming their surfaces.

The rush of air around him was deafening as he plummeted further, and the force of his fall created sonic booms that echoed across the expansive expanse of floating islands. Terry knew he needed to find a way to control his descent before he collided with something catastrophic, but for now, he was caught in a breathtaking freefall through this mystical world of floating land masses.

The explosion triggered by the demise of the silver dragon expanded with a cataclysmic force, radiating for dozens of kilometers in every direction. It was an awe-inspiring display of raw, destructive power, engulfing countless floating islands in its devastating wake.

As the shockwave rippled through the air, islands shattered and crumbled, their ecosystems and landscapes obliterated in an instant. Trees, rocks, and flora were reduced to ash, and the strange creatures that inhabited these islands were consumed by the fiery inferno.

When Terry finally came to a halt in his tumultuous descent, the impact was nothing short of excruciating. It felt as though he had been crushed and battered, as if he had been subjected to the relentless force of a speeding truck, not once, but ten times over. Every breath he took sent waves of pain coursing through his battered body, and even the simplest movements were accompanied by a sharp, throbbing ache.

When Terry opened his eyes, he only found the biggest blue sky free of clouds and floating Islands. There wasn’t even a sign of the body of the silver dragon... it was such a waste that Terry felt so depressed that he considered not fighting anymore.

Still, Terry eventually got up since he couldn’t let that faze him. He got a ton of experience to his weapons and his leg was almost healed... he could keep going, other chances will come.

"You pulled off, it is time for you to be rewarded for your hard work," Louis’ voice echoed in the area. "Can I appear without having to worry about my life? I can’t make Rebecca and her siblings return without doing that."

"Just do it already, your voice is too unpleasant," Terry said.

"Ouch, that cuts deeply," Louis said and then a portal appeared and he came from it.

Louis was the same as ever, but he was wearing a suit now. That kind of clothes disappeared decades ago, so Terry couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows. Before long, Louis opened another portal and then from it, Rebecca and her siblings came out from it, visibly confused.

"Terry? You already returned? How did you come here first?" Rebecca asked while blinking in confusion. "You look like a mess."

"It is a long story... care to explain, Louis?" Terry asked.

"I can only explain that beginning," Louis replied. "First of all, I have to admit that all of the recent problems were caused by me. I made Francis and her guild find the relic. I was the one who caused the deaths of the guild masters by making them become targets of other overlords. I also have been moving around causing the arrival of random portals to make humans keep fighting and getting stronger."

Rebecca was left astonished. She didn’t like Louis either, but what she heard didn’t make any sense. As if a single human could do that. Terry believed in him, though. Since he knew that he could see the future and probably learned a lot from it. In any case, it looked like Louis wanted to hide that from Rebecca for some reason.

"How? Why?" Rebecca asked while her siblings were hiding behind her.

"You probably wouldn’t want to hear that since that will cause more problems for you and your siblings," Louis said. "All that you need to know is that I missed a lot of deaths and soon I will pay for my crimes. You should return to New York now because you can’t hear more before getting involved."

"Why not?" Rebecca asked. "We are close to the truth now, right Terry?"

"... what will happen if she listens to this conversation?" Terry asked.

"She won’t be able to return to Earth," Louis replied. "The chances of you returning are also quite small. The chances of you returning in their lifetime is even smaller."

"... I see," Terry said. "You said that you did this for the human race, right? What will happen now? Did you reach your goal?"

"Yes, for as long as you live, Earth will be free from monsters," Louis said.

"All right... I will leave things to you there, Rebecca," Terry said. "We can’t explain more, but you should know that this is our Golden chance. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to fight for long, but I guess this can’t be helped."

"... You are saying some scary things," Rebecca said.

"It is time to make your choice, do you want to risk a peaceful life with your siblings by being dragged out in a long fight with me?" Terry asked. "Things will be hectic from now on, and Vanessa will need your help. The last six months were fun, but it is time to say bye, you are the guild master now."

Rebecca didn’t know what was going on, but she could tell that Terry was being serious. Before long, she let her tears flow and then hugged Terry. Rebecca wouldn’t go as far as to say that she loved him, but he was someone that she didn’t want to disappear from her life... and it seemed that he was going to bear a too big burden for a single human.

"We will be waiting for your return," Rebecca said. "You’d better not take too long."

"Don’t wait for too long, but I guess I am worth the wait," Terry said while smiling. "You brats, keep her in line and don’t cause too much trouble to her as well. Uncle Terry is going on a journey to make sure that you won’t live in a world where you constantly lose things. I am the coolest guy alive."

Chris and Ruth had no idea what Terry was saying, so they couldn’t help but keep showing a confused look. They were in an unknown land, after they had been captured by shadows, so it truly couldn’t be helped.

"Do it," Terry said.

Louis nodded and then he opened a portal that engulfed those three. To confirm that he didn’t do anything suspicious, Louis showed the other side of the portal and then Terry saw Rebecca, Chris, and Ruth appear in the middle of the destroyed New York and looked around in confusion.

"Well now... what is next?" Terry asked.

"Well, we are in for a long talk," Louis said. "I convinced them to give you the details of the situation after you survived enough, which you did."

"Who are they?" Terry asked.

"No who, but what," Louis replied after he sat down on the floor. "It is hard to say, all I know is that they began to contact me after they realized that I am an anomaly in the universe. You probably think that my trait is that I can see the future, but actually, my spirit is sent back to the past the moment I Awakened my trait with my memories. So, it isn’t like I can see the future, but I know what might happen."

"Are you stuck in a time loop?" Terry furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought that our powers were connected to our bodies... that is why some overlords try to eat us, some of us aren’t like that. My trait is connected to my spirit, I don’t know why. As for yours, you your body and spirit are connected to your trait. You can absorb the mana of your foes by eating them when they are alive or when they die and their mana is sent to your weapons."

"My body isn’t a weapon..." Terry said.

"It can be, you just didn’t train enough for that to be the case," Louis explained. "If you had killed some monsters without weapons, you would have realized that."

"That was impossible...when I didn’t have powers, I couldn’t face even the weakest type of monsters," Terry said. "No one would be insane enough to fight a monster several times stronger than a human without weapons."

"I suppose that is logical, in any case, while I am saying this, I just learned that recently, when you began to drink then blood of the dragon," Louis said. "So, I can’t say much about that."

"Why? Didn’t you experience this?" Terry asked.

"Yes, but just like me, you are an anomaly as well," Louis explained. "I have looped more than three hundred times, and you haven’t been in the other loops. Not as a hunter at least."

"... Why?" Terry furrowed his eyebrows.

"I don’t know, you tell me," Louis replied. "I always awake in the same period of time, fifteen years ago, so the past never changes and I tried numerous times to change the future. Sometimes I managed to survive for fifty years, sometimes I made mistakes and made the end come two years later. As far as I know, your past didn’t change, so I don’t know why the current you is different from others."

Something was off, Terry wondered if the coming and going of Louis from the future changed the reality... still, he should have considered that. Since he didn’t mention it, it was hard to say.

"No one ever had this kind of trait before?" Terry asked.

"No, that is why I am taking the risks now," Louis replied. "You have the potential to protect Earth, but it might be dangerous if you fight the biggest enemies too soon, which they will eventually... once I realized your power, I did somethings to make you to get stronger faster and face the right overlords."

"For you that seems justified, but not for me considering the deaths of everyone," Terry said.

"They would die anyway, and their deaths were determined to happen in the near future, so I decided to use that to make your stronger," Louis said. "If the guild masters Hadn’t died, you wouldn’t have the strength to face some enemies as the silver dragon. That creature was going to show up on Earth in one month and it would have destroyed the whole South America before reaching our territory and doing the same."

"That doesn’t make any sense, that doesn’t look like the kind of overlord that would invade another world," Terry said.

"As you can see, this world isn’t conventional and it will collapse in less than one month," Louis explained. "The silver dragon would be forced to leave and it will come to Earth after destroying three other worlds. Our population would be decimated and only a few humans would survive."

It could be that Louis was telling Terry that just to make himself look good and be free of further suspicions, but Terry couldn’t say that for certain. There were too many things that Terry wasn’t aware of.

"After the last run, I managed to survive for fifty years on my own in a destroyed world, thanks to that, they contacted me this time once they realized that I was doing things behind the scenes to increase my chances of survival," Louis said. "They didn’t give me many details, but they told me that I can work with them to spare Earth for a couple of years. As long as I find someone strong enough to participate in this experiment, they will stop the portals appearing on Earth.’

"I am still waiting for the answer, what are they?" Terry asked.

"Probably beings that have lived for a long while and they know how things will be in the future," Louis replied. "It is just my guess, but they began to connect the worlds through the portals to prevent something. Their idea to bring someone strong to face the strongest beings of other worlds to test their strength and make them stronger confirms that."

Terry didn’t like that... Louis was working for someone or some things that caused who knows how many Deaths. What could be worse than that? Terry could only think of the destruction of the universe, so maybe those beings wanted to prevent that since that would cause their deaths as well.

It was basically a very annoying plan to save their own skin... maybe they were sacrificing the present to safeguard the future, but it was annoying. Still, was that the wrong thing to do? Terry couldn’t say... he was also an anomaly who only lived for a couple of years. He couldn’t judge those who had the power to do whatever they wanted, he had to obtain that power for himself and change the rules instead of bitching about it.

"So, I have to keep fighting and get stronger for them to recognize my strength and eventually give me the information that I want?" Terry asked.

"I am not a fighter, my trait can only help me survive for so long, but yours potential is truly endless, I am sure that they will eventually recognize your strength," Louis said.

Terry didn’t want to fight for the sake of those beings, but it was the quickest way to gain power and true knowledge, so he didn’t have any other option. After a deep breath, he got up and then got rid of the dust on his clothes.

"You said to Rebecca that soon you will die, but you will just return to the past with your memories," Terry said while frowning. "You can only truly die by old age and you want that, don’t you?"

"As expected of you, you are quick to understand things," Louis said. "That is exactly right."

"A peaceful death like that isn’t something you deserve... but it is the only end that you can truly have... how annoying," Terry said and then looked away, displeased. "Open the portal, I will face the next target."

"I as expected that you would say that, I wish you good luck," Louis said and then smiled.

Terry sighed again... he was in for a long journey and the last thing that he needed was to hear that from Louis. Still, at least he was serving his purpose. When the portal opened in front of Terry, he wondered what would be waiting for him on the other side and what would happen to him.

Terry wondered if he was up for the task, and if he would see the others eventually... but that was up to him. He had to get stronger faster, learn more powers and use his trait better and faster as well. He was determined to accomplish all that.

With determination, Terry stepped in the portal and took another step in his endless journey as guardian of Earth...