"Where….am...I?"

Max found himself lying on a bed. The place seemed very familiar to him. He couldn't possibly forget his own bedroom can he?

"What's going on? I was going to enter the trial. This…"

Max couldn't understand the situation. At this moment, Max heard a voice.

"You really don't understand anything, Human?"

Max immediately jumped down the bed and rolled around before taking a defensive figure.

"Who are you? Show yourself." Max commanded.

The air distorted and a black colored miasma emerged out of thin air. It soon formed a blurry face with two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

Max looked at the floating head and felt something off.

"You should have several questions in your head. I will answer you for them."

"First if you are wondering, whether this is reality or not? Then this is a reality. As for why you are here?"

" Because you are dead."

"What do you mean?", Max asked with a frown.

" You don't remember? You died in the Trial. After going insane, you lost your spirit and with years passing, your body rotted away." The floating face said as it revolved around Max.

"How is that possible? I can't die without my life force-"

"Don't be foolish? Did you think that it granted you immortality?" The floating face asked.

Max frowned. It was true. Being immortal was a bit too much. But did he really die?

"If I am dead, then why am I here?" Max asked. He still didn't believe the floating face but he wanted to hear what it got.

"Well, you have been reincarnated." The face replied with a smile.

"It's too good to be true. I don't know what kind of good deeds I do to be granted this opportunity." Max replied without batting an eye.

This type of stuff only happened in anime and novels; not in real life.

"You must be thinking 'This type of stuff only happens in anime and novels; not in real life'."

Max froze.

'Is he reading my mind?'

"Well, I am not reading your mind. So don't give me that face. This is another life granted to you. The reason, there are many. But for you, it's your regrets."

"What regrets?" Max asked.

"How am I supposed to know? I can't read your mind. But it's due to your heavy regrets in this world that you can't pass to the other side. Hence, this time live the life you want to have."

"This time, there will be no gods, no demons."

"What to do you mean?" Max asked in surprise.

"Well, you died because of your encounter with God. Don't you think that you could have led a much better life if it never happened to you?" The floating face slowly spoke as it circled around Max.

"Don't play with words...speak clearly.." Max said with a hint of seriousness.

"Well, in simple words, you won't be meeting any God in this life."

"Then is there no danger to this world?" Max asked in surprise with a hint of joy.

"Haha...you are asking for too much. Nothing has changed except for you. The fights will still occur, the danger remains. But you won't die like last time."

"B*stard! Who told you to change anything? I will still choose to live the same life an-"

"And die…is that what you want to say?" The floating face interrupted Max with a smirk on its face.

Max couldn't come up with an answer.

"I can't let you die with regrets again, Max. Won't you end up in the same situation? My job is to make sure that you don't end up in the same situation again. For that, I omitted out the main cause of your death."

Max fell silent. It was true, if he didn't meet that fake God, nothing like this would have happened.

But Max still couldn't accept it. Even if the previous incidents never occurred, it still didn't mean that this world was safe.

"Don't worry Max...who knows the person selected this time will do better than you? Let them do what they want. You should just take it easy."

'Is it really alright….'

As soon as this thought appeared in Max's mind, an evil grin leaked out on the floating face which was just behind Max.

But Max soon snapped out of it and turned around to look at the floating face which had already turned back to it's original appearance.

"But if I don't do what I want, I will still end up with regrets," Max said with a serious expression.

"What is done, can't be changed. I will help you so that you won't end up with regrets." The floating face replied.

Max didn't said anything else and walked out of the room leaving the floating face behind.

'It is still too bizarre to believe. I will confirm it with my own two eyes.'

"Slam!"

The door closed and silence covered the room.

The floating face soon revealed a hideous face. This face would really make people creep out. Its breathing seemed to be getting disoriented and soon it spoke.

"Ah! It's been so long since I got another toy! Ahhh!!.. I can't just help but feel excited imagining how it will look when broken...hahaha!!!!!"

With the evil laughter, the ceiling suddenly caved in and darkness descended.

…..

Higher Realm, Unknown Location.

The God, Hephaestus looked at the screen with a heavy frown on his face.

"Haha!!! Old Gramps...I think you really are done this time. There is no way that guy will survive. You totally forgot about that thing." Vali laughed in joy.

"But it's really gotten stronger after all this time. It can even interfere with the first trial." Vali said with a curious expression.

"Sigh! Out of all the past challengers that appeared, more than half of them died in the first trial itself. The remnants of their spirit took onto that form. I totally forgot about it." Hephaestus said with a troubled expression.

"Why don't you just wipe it out?" Vali asked.

"I tried once, but it escaped all the way to the inner region of the trial."

"The Ancient Cemetery has already existed for a long time. It doesn't have much power left. If I use it to wipe out that thing, it will crumble away too. What would be the point of doing it?"

"Well, whatever it works in my favour," Vali grinned and Hephaestus had an urge to punch the ill-mannered kid's face.