A large wide blue circle could be seen, with numbers and patterns written all over it. After giving it closer look, anyone would have been able to tell that it was a clock.

It spread out throughout the sky, covering as much distance as it could, being nearly as wide as the whole village. 

“Advanced Sacred Treasure Art: Regressus” Muttered John / Translation: Regress.

Everyone witnessed what happened next, and no one could believe their eyes.

—————————————

“Mum… What’s going to happen to us…” A young boy asked his mother while crying.

“Don’t worry… We’ll be fine… We’ll find a new home… And…”

“But I don’t want a new home… I want our home…” He muttered

The mother’s hands wouldn’t stop trembling as she held her son. She didn’t know what to tell him.

They were one of the countless families in the refugee just outside of the village. The refugee was being protected by countless adventurers, and had been created by Earth Magicians in the last moment. 

It prevented anything from getting in from around, however it wasn’t perfect. They weren’t going to be able to last much longer. 

As they stood and rested confined in that shallow filled space. They noticed a large blue magic circle appear a moderate distance away from and above the village. At first it looked like a regular magic circle, however, after getting a closer look they realized that it resembled a clock.

*Tic* *Toc* *Tic* *Toc*

The sound of ticking could be heard as the second hand, moved along the clock. The minute hand followed behind with each minute that passed. It was a properly functioning clock.

“What the hell is that thing doing there?”

“What’s that clock doing above the village?”

“Mummy, is that safe?”

Questions began to raise themselves amongst the villagers, however, after the final tic. They were all speechless.

*Tic*

The hour hand on the clock, along with the minute hand and second hand, began to move anti-clockwise. The hours were going back, and as this happened, the villages structures, buildings and flames all began to fan out and move in reverse.

It was hard to understand what was happening at first, but after a while, the village had appeared to be fixing itself on it’s own. Reverting everything back to normal.

Construction which would take years to fix, fixed in mere seconds. It seemed almost like a divine blessing or miracle from god as the buildings reconstructed themselves. 

“My god…”

—————————————

“Hey… As if that beam of light wasn’t enough… What the hell am I even looking at?” Satire asked as she stared down at the village before looking at John who floated in the sky with his hand in the middle of the magic clock circle. 

‘Construction magic? Is that even a thing? No… Wait, the way the buildings are constructing themselves… It’s almost as if it’s moving in reverse…’

Upon realizing this, her eyes widened. 

“No… He couldn’t have…” She muttered in disbelief

‘A clock, moving backwards and the village is moving in reverse… He’s rewinding time…’ 

The moment she considered this fact, she could feel her curiosity grow once more, she absolutely had to find out how he did it. Hell, she was tempted to fly over to him right now just to see how he was doing it.

“Argh… Why did I call back phoenix!?” She shouted in regret

She then let out a sigh before looking down, as she muttered. “It was for the better…”

Phoenix was an Emperor Class Summon. She could only control around ten percent of it’s full power, any more than this and she’d lose control. Not only would that have endangered the entire village, the phoenix could probably rampage throughout the continent. 

This was why she was reluctant on using it at first, but after seeing what John was capable of, she doubted that even at one hundred percent of it’s power. It would be able to handle him.

“That guy… What do you have to do to reach that level? He’s long surpassed the strength of the Average S Ranker which is the highest known rank, even though officially it’s the third highest.”

‘Not that it matters as you can only count the number of people above the third highest in one hand. And there’s only been one to reach the first highest rank which made so many people unaware of it.’

“Argh… Why is life so complicated? If he’s this strong why does he always look like he’s suffering…” 

John was the weirdest person she had met, by far. Weird because he lived outside of the realm of common sense. Even with all of his power, he never abused it nor arrogantly swayed it around. A strange person indeed.

———————————————

“Hm?”

After realizing that it was all over, the toxic fog dispersed and Shera emerged from the inside of it. Only to watch as everything around her, began to move in reverse. 

The buildings around her, they all began to fix themselves. The village was returning to it’s former glory.

No corpses could be seen as they had all been devoured whole by the lesser demons. Even the blood which had been spilled across the walls and roads had mostly disappeared. 

Shera then stepped to the side, only for the rubble and debris which she was standing on, to raise itself and move return itself back onto the building it had broken off of,

She then looked up at the sky and noticed John, floating in the sky, in the middle of a large magic circle which resembled a clock. She watched as the minute and hour hand, moved anti-clockwise. 

Upon seeing this, she quickly covered her head with the hood of her cloak and formed a small smile as she walked towards the village entrance.

Maybe she’d find the Guild master, Bright sword and Hexo there. That was her aim at least. She could tell that Satire was still on the large floating platform in the air above the village. 

————————————

“Looks like the fight is over.” Said the Guild Master as he got up.

The instant he said so, there was a quick change in the mood.

“It’s over? Really…?”

“The guild master was able to take care of the Chimera, the beam of light is gone and the ground stopped shaking, I’m guessing the fight in the city is over.” One of the adventurers who was also sat down on the cold floor asked.

Short brown hair spiky above his orange eyes underneath the scar on his forehead. He carried a large sword on his back, and wore light Armour. 

He was worn out, and didn’t seem at all scared in regards to what had just happened. After all, the guild master had explained to everyone that an S-Rank adventurer, stronger than himself, so he and the other adventurers were all reassured. 

There were around thirty adventurers there. Ten were unconscious, fifteen were injured and currently being treated as they spoke by any available healers and holy mages and the last five including the guild master were just getting some rest after having exhausted themselves.

They watched the city fix itself as there was nothing else to do. It was strangely relaxing.

“Yeah. The fighting is over. You see that large magic circle up there? It’s what’s fixing the city as we speak.”.  He muttered calmly.

“I’m glad to have had you guys fighting by my side… You all did a great job…” Said the guild master 

“G-Guild Master…” Muttered one of the injured adventurers who laid on the floor. He was starting to tear up.

“It’s all thanks to you… Boss!” Said Another adventurer who was also injured, he too had started to tear up.

Adventurers who were just as big as the guild Master, were tearing up. Not because they were afraid or scared, but because they had just survived another strong fight alongside their comrades. The guild-master’s words had struck deep.

A scout which the guild master had sent out, had then finally returned, bringing him great news.

  The guild master then got up before raising his right hand and pointing it to the sky before suddenly shouting.

“TONIGHT WE DRINK, IT’S ALL ON THE GUILD! THE CASUALTIES WERE KEPT TO A MINIMUM AND MOST OF THE VILLAGERS WERE SAFE!!! IT’S OUR WIN!!”

His voice resounded throughout the area around them, making it’s way throughout the village. He had a truly loud voice, yet somehow it didn’t pierce their ears and instead, motivated and strengthened them.

“YEAAAAAHHH!!!” They all simultaneously shouted as they raised their hands.

—————————————

*Tic* *Toc* *Tic*

The ticking had then suddenly stopped, before the magic circle disappeared. As he floated in the same spot, John gave a quick scan of the village, making sure everything was back to normal.

Once he realized it was all back to normal, he was about to cancel out his spell and descend, when suddenly.

*Thump*

Mountains of unthinkable pain, followed after a single heart beat, surged into John’s body.

“Argh…. AAAAAAARGH!”