1. Across the Sea of Time

In the floating city high above the clouds, deep within a magnificent palace:

“Have I returned?”

Arian opened his eyes.

There were no stars extinguishing one by one, no heavens and hells collapsing step by step, no giant serpent devouring the sun, no grotesque flesh masses corrupted by twisted maternal love consuming nations, no planets growing eyes and mouths, no fleets of mind-stealers almost covering every corner of the endless star sea.

The apocalypse had not yet come.

He found himself in a luxurious chamber. The walls were adorned with vivid murals, mottled candlelight flickered across a painted domed ceiling, and an obsidian throne pressed down on a dark red cushion.

—This was the royal bedchamber of the ancient human magical empire, Eldoren.

“I succeeded…”

Arian smiled with relief as he took in his surroundings. The immense stone hanging over his heart finally fell away.

“My magic has reversed time—I have returned twenty thousand years into the past!”

For a moment, Arian was overwhelmed with emotion.

Just moments ago, he had crossed back from the apocalypse, the terrifying scenes still vivid before his eyes.

Countless memories surged through his mind.

This was Arian’s second time traveling through time.

The first time he arrived in this world, discovering it was a fantastical realm of genuine supernatural powers, he was once full of youthful vigor.

He became a mage, passionately pursuing the truth of magic, integrating knowledge from his past and present lives, continually exploring the limits of magic, using supernatural means to attain immortality. After thousands of years, he finally became the greatest legendary mage in history.

At that time, even the gods above the heavens often descended in avatars to visit his mage tower, seeking guidance from this mortal on the mysteries of magic.

His achievements in magic earned him recognition from the cosmic will, granting him the divine office of “Magic,” allowing him to ascend to a godly throne.

Later, after spending thousands more years studying the flow of time, he mastered the divine office of “Time,” becoming the most powerful deity.

Yet, what use was all that?

Recalling the disaster still echoing before him, Arian sighed softly.

Then came the apocalypse.

The invasion came from another universe—a dimension far stronger, more terrifying, and more twisted than theirs.

The “Distant Realm.”

This was the name later scholars gave to that Ktosi universe.

The instigators of the war were the Outer Gods from the Distant Realm.

These ancient evils beyond time and dimension led their minions in a sweeping invasion across all planes of existence.

The Outer Gods’ minions—mind-stealers, star-born, and other grotesque aberrations—piloted fleets that blot out the sky, instantly annihilating the kingdoms of the prime material plane.

These kingdoms, stuck in a medieval era, were helpless against technology, psychic powers, and magic hundreds of times more advanced, falling completely within a short time.

Without mortal faith, the gods of the divine realms lost their former strength and swiftly fell to the Outer Gods.

The heavenly kingdoms burned in raging fires, the bottomless abyss and nine layers of hell collapsed one by one, the gears of the mechanical realm corroded and broke, mountains of divine corpses piled up in the astral plane, all beings were corrupted into hideous monsters by the Outer Gods, and the very sources of the various planes were devoured by the Distant Realm…

They were defeated.

Only then did Arian realize:

This fantastical universe was too divided, its civilizations too weak.

This universe was filled with countless opposing forces.

For example, the universe classified every creature’s alignment by morality (Good/Neutral/Evil) and order (Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic), dividing it into a 3x3 grid of nine distinct factions.

From Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil.

Each faction had its own planes, gods, and fantasy races.

Demons, devils, and chromatic dragons were inherently evil; celestial beings and metallic dragons inherently good.

Opposing factions’ planes, races, and deities fought endlessly, perpetually warring and consuming each other in infinite internal strife.

When the Outer Gods’ legions arrived, would a seraph living on the Mountain of Heaven and a demon lord dwelling in the abyss suddenly set aside their grudges to fight side by side?

Civilization was also far behind.

Long before the apocalypse, for tens of thousands of years, the civilizations of the prime material plane had stagnated completely, stuck in a “medieval age.”

Until fleets from beyond the world arrived, easily crushing these weak mortal kingdoms with their vastly superior technology, magic, and psychic powers.

Arian realized he had been too obsessed with “self-improvement” in the past.

He had neglected the power of “civilization.”

Though this was a supernatural universe, it was not the kind of cultivation world where individual power was absolutely invincible and one could ignore numbers by simply leaping a few realms.

It was more like an RPG game encouraging teamwork and coordination to defeat stronger bosses.

For any level of strength, there existed opponents several times more numerous, just slightly weaker individually, but who could defeat you by banding together in groups of three or five. From the humblest peasant to the mightiest god, this law held true continuously.

Moreover, mortal kingdoms were the core providers of faith, sustaining the gods’ powers…

If earthly kingdoms collapsed at a touch, the gods above could not maintain their might.

“What a pity.”

“If only we had united earlier…”

“If only there was a force strong enough to unify all the races of all planes before the apocalypse…”

“If only we had forgotten those disputes and pointless debates from the start, focusing solely on development…”

“If only I had devoted myself to advancing civilization instead of letting the mortal kingdoms collapse instantly under the assault of the Outer Gods’ minions…”

“Perhaps the outcome would have been different!”

Arian sighed softly.

At the final moment of the stars’ extinction, as the god of time and magic, empowered by the dying wills of every plane in the universe, he sacrificed all his power to cast the ultimate spell:

To rewind time twenty thousand years, back to an age when human civilization was just emerging, and mythical races like elves and dragons ruled the earth!

He would possess a random person from history and start anew.

Thus, Arian returned.

“So, who have I become in history?”

Arian observed his surroundings.

Beneath him was the obsidian throne and a woven golden carpet. Mottled candlelight shone upon epic murals.

Fragments of memory flooded his mind.

“I see now.”

“This is the first nation founded by human civilization: the ancient magical empire, Eldoren.”

“I am now, the last emperor of the empire—Arian I.”

Yes.

Arian was his name in this life.

His previous name, sacrificed as the price for reversing time with the ultimate magic, had long been erased from history, forgotten even by himself. The original version of him would never appear in this timeline.

One fewer in the cycle of reincarnation.

“Directly transmigrating into the ruler of an ancient human empire—quite lucky.”

“Much less effort than starting as a lowly commoner.”

Arian believed this was no coincidence but the cosmic will’s protection.

Twenty thousand years.

Twenty millennia, two hundred centuries, a thousand generations.

This was his time.

He had enough time to develop civilization, build his magical empire, unify the mortal realms and other planes, and face the final apocalypse.

The only question now was:

“Arian I is the name of the last ruler of the ancient nation Eldoren.”

What did it mean to be the last ruler?

In other words, according to original history, the empire would perish during his reign!

Arian rose from the obsidian throne, his palm gently sweeping over the exquisite murals on the wall, gazing at the flickering candlelight on the desk as he carefully recalled the historical knowledge of the “decline and destruction of the ancient magical empire.”

...

(In this narrative, the term “universe” refers collectively to the prime material plane (the mortal realm), Heaven, Hell, the spiritual realms, the astral plane, and other planes of existence.)