He failed again.
He had to take down the mechanical Overlord by himself again. He was so close... The Sovereign had decided that it was enough, and restarted his progress again.
"I won't stop until they make it out alive... Even if I, myself, must bear this eternal cycle..."
He met the same four people he encountered many times before: Rajani, a Protector. Naomi, a Troubadour. Shadya, the Medic. And Cherilyn, the Survivalist.
They went through the same ordeal before, but this time, as they entered the labyrinth and engaged in a battle, something surprised him.
He was no longer the powerful Sovereign that he was many times before. It surprised the others, as much as it surprised him. The others were aware of his ability to reset time. They were confused at first, obeying the same lines they spoke before. On the fourth or fifth reset, almost everyone had accepted the fact that the reason was that he resetting was to save them from the Overlord's final attack before Taro struck him down.
Here, however, it seemed like something went wrong. "I don't... understand it..." Taro fretted, looking at his hands tremble as the others took care of the monsters before them.
The others arrived to Taro's side. "Taro, what the bloody hell happened? I thought we maintained our power with each reset in time!" Rajani yelled, quite frustrated at the sudden change that happened when they stepped into the labyrinth. Taro looked at the Protector, his brow furrowing.
"I don't know, Rajani! I swore I reset the timeline like I did many times before, so why is this happening?!" Taro explained, perplexed by what was happening.
"Well you better fix it! We can't fight the Overlord like this!" Cherilyn ordered, not wanting to waste time training to re-fight the ruler of heaven.
"This isn't something thou can fix... Not anymore."
The guild looks to their right when they heard a feminine voice, and saw something they definitely did not see on their first few resets in time. There stood a female with white skin, with what seemed to be lime green hair, as some of her ends were turning red. Her red eyes easily caught everyone's attention, and her leafy clothing looked similar to a female Sovereign.
"Thou cannot undo thy mistake anymore. It's time to take repercussion for thy action." She addressed Taro specifically. And for some reason, the male Sovereign was not gonna take that standing down. Not after an insult like that. Not after everything he had suffered to get to this point...
"Who the hell are you to dare insult me?! No one insults me and gets away with it!" Taro barked, as the woman approached them. Although the others didn't seem to raise their weapons, Taro was the only one who raised his staff, clutching it in his hand.
"I am Princess Hibiki of the Forest Folk. And thou best listen, cause I won't repeat myself again." The Forest Folk woman retorted, as Taro was seemingly ready to strike her. She simply smacked Taro with her own staff, surprising the angry Sovereign as he reeled back in pain.
"Prince Taro!" Shadya yelled as she approached him and casts Heal on him. The Sovereign got up and looked quite annoyed at the Forest Sovereign. "Thou should heed my advise instead of recklessly unleashing thy rage."
Although he didn't like the situation they were placed in, Taro lowered his staff. "...Fine. Tell me why my power isn't working. Why is my opportunity to save them from the Overlord gone?" He growled, his patience running thin.
"My homeland's god, the Yggdrasil Core, Primevil, has finally been slain by the Highlander sent to find the cause of the earthquakes in Etria. Since thou appear to have activated thy power around that time, thou were simply reset into a new timeline, stripped from thy powerful selves. Thus, thou was reset to thy natural state when thou entered the labyrinth."
Hibiki began, as everyone in the Gaila Guild gasped in surprise. "But... that shouldn't be possible! I was promised a lifetime of opportunities to save my guildmates! I was-"
Taro was stopped when Hibiki halted his rant, before she continued. "Thou does not understand that such actions have consequences. It was simply fate that time would not shift until Primevil had been eliminated. Though then again, thou might have been lied to a false sense of security and hope."
"And this is thy mortal reminder. Thou are merely human, not gods."
Silence befell the guild. Taro started trembling after Hibiki delivered her speech. Had he really been lied to? Was it really just false hope?
A part of him wanted to believe it, but at the same time, he didn't truly want to believe it. He was granted this power from some force on high. He was a prince! He was DESTINED to save his guildmates from the Overlord!
"I... refuse to believe a damn thing you say! I WILL obtain my power again! I certainly WILL save my guildmates, and I will only be satisfied when the Overlord is defeated by the Gaile Guild's own hands!"
Hibiki stared in annoyance at Taro. The fool simply thought himself to be immortal after all. A being who won't stop until every living being has known his name. And she can't exactly fight them by herself. She had to wait until fate would tell her what to do.
Turning her back to them, she left one final message for the guild behind her.
"Thou may think thy are gods. But heed my warning, when the Highlander will arrive along with a Knight whose power will come to fruition soon enough. Thou cannot win with high hopes to become gods. Once thou understands thy lesson, only then, will you be saved."
Hibiki walked further into the labyrinth until she vanished from Taro's perspective. He really did not like that woman. Taro felt a tug on his cape, and turned to Shadya, who was looking up at the prince with worry.
"What are we going to do, Taro?"
What were they going to do? Taro's brow furrowed, clutching his staff as he turned to his guild. "What we're going to do... is find that Highlander, along with that Knight, and kill them. Only then, will your salvation be reopen."