Chapter 442: Second chance.

By now, the fabric of the grand conference tent had been completely shredded and burned away by the fight. The outer clearing was exposed, and emergency response teams were arriving from every direction as news of the disaster in Cornsaw disaster spread like wildfire.

Nero was out in the field, waving his arms dramatically to hold back the crowds. "Stay back! Everyone stay back! Give her space!"

"Only the first responders should be let through!" Derek Kaelion shouted, "find anyone that is still breathing even if slightly."

The soul maidens rushed through the crowd, forcefully pushing their way to the front.

"Out of the way, Zyra needs me." Tessi barked, shoving past Nero.

They rushed straight into the bloody clearing, desperate to pull out anyone who might still have a pulse.

Zyra shook her head weakly, turning her face away from their pitiful, horrified stares. She couldn’t bear to look at them and she that look of pity like the one she had given Malia. At the time, she never thought she would become a widow so quickly, just like her. Hot tears spilled from Zyra’s eyes. No matter how she tried to hold them back, they just kept falling.

"This wasn’t supposed to happen," she muttered. "This wasn’t supposed to happen." She repeated, louder.

Tessi’s warm palm touched her back, and Zyra shrugged it off. "Don’t touch me. Nobody should touch me." She screamed.

Tessi and others backed away, looking at each other with uncertainty. Zyra remained still--like a pole planted in the ground. She didn’t react to everything that was going on around her for one long hour.

Then, a sudden thought struck her brain like a lightning bolt.

The blank checks!

Zyra wiped her bloody face with her sleeve, her dark eyes wide with sudden hope. She slammed her hands onto the ground.

’System! Use one of my blank checks!’ Zyra cried out internally, her voice hysterical. "Use a check to bring them back! Heal Hunter! Heal the Grand Elder! Bring everyone back right now!"

[Host... I cannot do that,] Beauty replied, her voice soft, dropping its usual cheerful tone. [The blank checks cannot overwrite absolute death once a soul has departed. I’m sorry.]

"NO!" Zyra let out a desperate, heartbroken scream that shook the air around her. Tears streamed down her cheeks, pooling on the dirt. "Do something, Beauty! Do anything! You have been bragging to be the most powerful system so prove it. Fix it. I will give up all my wealth.... please."

Beauty went quiet for a long second before sighing gently.

[Host... I cannot bring them back from the dead... but I have a way to reverse time by using two lives belonging to Kitty, your cat. I can pull you back at least a few hours before all this happened.] Beauty paused, her tone growing very serious. [However, the process will drain half of my energy. And it is extremely painful for you to bear. If I do it, it can only be done once and never again. Are you sure you want to use it now? You don’t know what the future holds after all.]

"DO IT!" Zyra screamed without an instant of hesitation. "Do it right now! I can handle the pain, just DO IT!"

[Reversing time will consume all four of your blank checks and leave you with a debt of 10 billion.] Beauty warned. [Are you completely sure?]

"I don’t care about the checks and money! Take them all!" Zyra yelled, her knuckles turning white as she squeezed her eyes shut. "Just give them back to me!"

[Understood, Host. Initiating Temporal Reversal in 3... 2... 1...]

Zyra closed her eyes and waited.

A blinding white light erupted from her chest, expanding outward in a massive sphere that swallowed the ruined clearing, the first responders, and the bodies.

Zyra threw her head back as an excruciating, burning agony ripped through every single cell in her body. It felt like her soul was being pulled backward through a tiny straw, her energy draining into nothingness as the universe began to spin violently in reverse.

[Temporal reversal complete!] the System’s voice rang cheerful and crisp inside Zyra’s head.

Suddenly, the violent, dizzying spinning stopped. The world slammed back into place with the force of a runaway freight train.

Zyra didn’t even have time to orient herself. Her stomach did a complete backflip, and she sprinted straight toward a nearby oak tree, leaned over, and aggressively threw up her morning breakfast.

"Whoa, hey! Easy there!" a familiar, warm voice called out.

A hand reached out and gently patted her back while she gagged. Hearing that voice made Zyra’s stomach churn even harder, but tears of pure shock immediately sprang to her eyes.

She was back! The System had actually done it! They were back in time before the Somnivores turned the peace talks into a bloody meat grinder!

Zyra wiped her mouth, stood upright, and turned around. Hunter was standing right there_ completely alive, warm, and holding a small plastic bottle of water. He patted her head with his free hand, looking at her with deep concern.

"Are you sick or something?" Hunter asked, tilting his head. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

Zyra didn’t take the water. Instead, she let out a choked sob and launched herself forward, throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him so hard his ribs cracked. She buried her face in his shoulder, crying like a toddler who had lost her favorite toy.

Hunter staggered back a step, completely caught off guard. "Whoa! babe? Hey..." Gently, he pulled her back by her shoulders to look at her. "What happened? Why are you crying?"

Zyra squeezed her eyes shut, her voice trembling violently. "Everyone died, Hunter! Everyone!"

Hunter frowned, completely baffled. "What do you mean, everyone died? We’re literally just standing here waiting for the meeting to_"

He froze. His eyes widened as he stared at the center of her forehead. The fiery red mark was glowing faintly, and her aura was completely different.

"Wait... your bloodline," Hunter stammered, pointing a finger at her face. "You... you awakened? How?"

Zyra took a shuddering breath, wiped her nose on her sleeve, and quickly spilled the whole nightmare. She explained how Holly betrayed them, how Erik ripped his father’s core out, how the Grand Elder was beheaded, how Hunter died while she was at beast valley, and how Beauty had used all four blank checks to rewind time.

Hunter stared at her, his face turning pale. "I am sorry that you went through that my love. I now understand why you look like this."

He checked the time on his link band, his fingers tapping nervously. "Okay... so if your time reverse worked, how long do we have before the total disaster starts?" Hunter asked, biting down hard on his bottom lip.

"About three hours," Zyra said, her voice finally steadying.

Hunter chewed on his lip for a second, thinking hard. "Okay. Listen to me: we cannot tell the others about this."

"Agreed, I have a plan but..." Zyra nodded immediately. "If we tell the human delegates or Almeida’s guys, someone will give us away. I can’t reverse time again. We can’t mess this up."