Pause System: Harem In The Apocalypse-Novel

Throughout corners of the cities, strange occurrences began to take place.

Small tiny holes began forming on the ground all over and little pets emerged from it. Animals ranging from cats to dogs, were pushed out of the ground.

They were soundly asleep. A strange warm aura radiated around them as they did so.

However, at the same time, much larger holes began to form. They were much larger in comparison to the smaller ones.

But had a much more sinister aura radiating from them too.

*Growl…*

The bones of the creatures which came out of these larger holes, could be heard crunching as their bodies changed shape.

The growl grew larger and one of the monsters vanished.

The head of a nearby zombie which had been roaming around was suddenly dragged off its body before being consumed by said creature.

As the moonlight shone upon the creatures, their figures became visible.

Beasts, that's the word anyone would naturally think if they saw them. They all looked different. Some had a reptilian appearance while others resembled pets which had mutated.

This began happening not only in America but all over the world.

"What was that…?" Ruby asked as she zoomed past one of the buildings in the city.

Through the corner of her eyes she saw a strange reptilian beast enter into the sewers, dragging a few zombies with it.

But she was on the constant move, so she wasn't sure whether she was actually seeing it or if it was all in her head.

Without saying anything, she continued to move on out of worry that she could be caught or chased if she stopped.

-

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[Bloodline quest.]

[Stage 1: Complete]

[Quest: Discover more about your origins.]

[Stage 2: Uncomplete]

[Quest 2: Experience Your Origins.]

[Stage 3: Uncomplete]

[Quest 3: Defeat Your Origins.]

"Defeat your origins?" Gray asked.

[That is correct.]

[Would you like to begin stage 2?]

'What could it mean? New bloodline ability… Another ability like pause?'

This time the system did not reply to his thoughts.

"Begin." He said.

-

Gray felt the hair on his neck rise as the scenery around them changed once more.

This time he was standing in the middle of a calm and peaceful village. Kids could be seen running around and a fresh breeze blew by.

The villagers could be seen working diligently as they completed their tasks and did their chores.

The sight ahead of him seemed like nothing short of a fantasy or something that happened a long time ago.

"So this is my origins…?" Gray asked.

The reason he asked was because they all had one thing in common. Gray hair.

[Affirmative. These are your ancestors,

Without saying anything else, he walked through the village, doing his best to understand how they lived their lives.

But before he had a chance, the scenery changed once more and he could be seen levitating in the air, thousands of meters above the island.

[The Chronos are a race which can live up to countless tens of thousands of years.]

[They are stronger, faster and more much resilient than humans.]

[They've existed in the earth since before the humans so you could call them high-humans as they're a much better species over all.]

[They've existed for countless thousands of years, and if the case is that they could, where is all the ancient technology they could have come up with, you might ask.]

[How comes no one has heard of them, you might also ask.]

[It's lost because they're extinct. They were all wiped out.]

From the top of the island, Gray saw a large hole suddenly form in the ground, sinking down to the earth's core.

But it wasn't just one island, it was countless continents all around.

[Although they were powerful, their population was few, every year only 2 were born out of a hundred active couples aiming to conceive. The highest recorded population of a Chronos in existence at a time was slightly under a thousand.]

,m [It's because their population was few, that they couldn't deal with what came after the Labyrinths.]

[And so, another race had invaded earth. And was on the verge of claiming it. They would have done so if it wasn't for the Chronos King.]

[He commanded time itself as he desired, An Authority of time.]

[Using his powers, he undid the occurrence of the labyrinths and pushed the earth forward countless millions of years whilst keeping the Labyrinths at for all that time.]

[During that time, a new race came to existence all on it's own. This race became referred to as humans.]

[The Chronos who were left behind the earth as it was pushed forward, aged and died.]

[And the Chronos King was never heard from again.]

[Quest 2 has been completed!]

[Origin experienced]

[Received + 4 Status Points.]

[Received + 100 XP]

[Gained 1000 Coins.]

Gray's eyes widened as he returned back into the white room.

He didn't say anything but seemed genuinely lost in thought.

"So he was able to save the world but not his people… Why couldn't he just do everything he did whilst also taking his people with him?"

[He probably lacked the power. Pushing the earth millions of years ahead probably took everything he had. I would assume he was not able to take the others with him as it would exhaust the little energy he would already have.]

"Isn't that just another way of saying he gave up…? Instead of fighting off the invaders, he retreated. Instead of dealing with the Labyrinth he hid and used his time moves, to save his own skin instead of staying with his family and people and fighting for them.]

[Isn't that something which the User too has done? Can you really blame him? At one point in life, did you too not give up and try to kill yourself?]

Gray clenched his hadn into a fist before shouting.

"I had nothing! No family, no people who were relying on me, nothing! Even my sister has died! The last thing I had, gone without me even being able to say goodbye… Of course, I'd blame him!"

[…This chronicle doesn't show that he took anyone with him, but that doesn't mean it's guaranteed that he didn't take his family with him.]

[There is also a chance that he was just like you and has no family. Even then would you still call him a coward? How would you have done things differently?]

[What would the user have done in that situation?]

"I… I-"

[Perhaps you should tell him yourself.]

[Commencing the third and final stage of the bloodline quest.]

[Defeat your origin.]

The scenery changed again.

Ahead of Gray, stood a man sitting alone in his throne.