A man stood in a ruined castle. Dozens of corpses littering the ground, their bodies crushed and limbs missing. He himself was no better, with shattered armor and a broken sword, covered in blood and wounds all over.

He stood there, gazing at a malevolent creature across. It is a terrifying monster as if a patchwork of many creatures gathered together. With its half-wolf half-fish head, it grinned maliciously with its densely packed sharp teeth at the man.

"Khikhi khikhikhik! It is futile you foolish low-life! No creature in this world can defeat me! The great lord Harushkah! Ants like you should know your place! Bow down now and I will let you be my slave! Khikhikhikhik!!"

The man tightly gripped his sword. His body trembled but his eyes shone with a cold light, seething in anger.

He had exhausted the last bit of his mana, only determination and the unwillingness in his heart that kept him standing. He knew he has no hope of defeating the monster in front of him. But he is unwilling. He wanted to avenge his friend's death, bringing down the monster even if it cost him his death.

But he can't fall here. He needs to realize his companion's wish, the wish of the inhabitants of this world. He needs to live up to their trust.

Inhaling a deep breath, he took out a golden piece of paper. A rare life-saving item that only drops on one in a million chances. The only piece of it kinds left.

"Ernest, we leave the return card to you. No matter what happen you have to escape."

With this item, he can force an exit from the Arena.

"Khikhikhikhik want to run away? So the warrior in this world only amounts to this much khikhikhik."

The monster slammed its lizard-like tail to the man. But before it reaches him, the man already tore the paper and vanished.

"Khikhik what a coward."

Stepping on the body littering the ground, it climbed onto the altar where a palm-sized crystal floated. One of the two treasures awarded to the winner of the Arena.

Grabbing the crystal, it searched for the other treasure. An item that contains a sealed entity that is the guardian of this world. Beings created by the elements and rules of this world, people called them elemental spirits. Every spirit possessed great power, and the winner of the Arena had the right to draw that power to themself or in other words, use it.

At the thought of enslaving another higher being, the monster grinned showing its sharp teeth. But that grin was soon replaced by an angry roar. The place where the treasure was supposed to be is empty, taken by that man.

___

A blond man in tatters leaned on a massive and majestic door, the entrance to the Arena. In his hand is a sphere, like a water droplet the size of his palm.

The sphere is what his companion uses their lives to get, in the chaotic situation they manage to take the ball unnoticed. They knew that victory is unlikely, that's why they pin their hope to the spirits. In hopes of a chance, somehow.

There isn't much time. The monster must be in the process of summoning its brethren to this area by now.

He looked into the sphere, where the silhouette that gradually became clearer revealed a fairy of black and purple, with transparent wings.

“Human,” said the fairy, “I am Rustcha, with time and space as my domain. And I know what you want, but I can't grant it. There is no way to take over the territory taken by the invaders, hence no chance to save this world."

"With your domain, you can send me back in time. Then I can change everything," the man said urgently.

"The power I can use in this state is limited. With time as my domain, all I can do is send you back to the time before the invasion. But even so, saving the world is impossible. Defeating Harushkah? Sure, but after that? Those who came after will only get stronger and stronger. Even if you take advantage of every power in this world, you still can't win against their overwhelming absolute power."

"You can grant me power. It doesn't have to be before the invasion and in return, you can grant me power."

"No power strong enough to change the tide can be given, or it will be detected by those invader's king."

The man's eyes darkened, "There must be a way. You are elemental spirits. You have great power. Please... their belief, their wish, I want to make it happen.. no, I MUST make it happen."

This is their only hope. Even now, in their last settlement, there were still people waiting. They all believe in him. He couldn't just give up. Even though they finally succeeded after countless failures.

"I'm sorry. Truly. Their world is far superior to ours. Gathering all the power in the world to the last drop will still result in failure."

"Then can't we seek help? From the other worlds. Maybe, there are kind ones."

"We spirits have tried it without any success."

"Then.." he gritted his teeth, "JUST WHAT CAN YOU DO!!" He is screaming. His eyes were bloodshot, gasping for air as everything felt suffocating. Despair, that's how it is.

She understands him. She too is desperate. But wars between worlds are no small matter. Those in charge of their world will not take the risk. Especially if the losses outweigh the benefits. Which is the case for this world.

She can of course summon champions from other worlds as individuals, as many other beings in charge of their worlds often do. However, in this situation, a person's strength is insignificant and even if they could make a difference, her strength is not enough to summon such people.

And with the cost of travel back in time, she could only summon a weak person from a weak world. What can a weak world do? Even searching for one would be difficult with how little presence they had.

...wait.

The weaker the world, the harder it is to detect. The stronger the world, the harder it is to connect to the weaker world.

For example, there is a martial arts world, this world only supports the law of martial art. Then there is a powerful witchcraft world that has magic, supernaturals, and all kind of laws. This world doesn't match each other's frequency at all. Their road doesn't intersect.

And even if some bored high world dwellers purposely seek out the lower ones, when they invade they can't use their fancy power at all. The martial arts world simply does not support the laws of magic at all.

A certain world appeared in her mind. A world that only has technology. Apart from science, the world has no other form of power.

This world left a deep impression on her with the various forms of entertainment they had. She could use this world as a transit point, secretly taking advantage of the obscurity of this world to channel her power in a roundabout way without being detected. A perfect camouflage!

It can work! Gosh, she was so grateful to be a fairy who had an innate love for fun and games and was bored enough to search such a world.

"Human, I have an idea. But there's no guarantee this plan will work."

The man was immediately excited, "Yes, as long as there is a chance."

"Alright, now look here," a bunch of cards appeared in front of him, "this is a list of gamers who might be able to help us. Pick one, preferably someone persistent."

She decided to use games as a medium, as it is something she somewhat familiar with. But of course, she has no experience making one. Thus the need for someone persistent that won't quit a game once they started it, in case the game is too shitty.

"Gamer?" He looked at the card in front of him, there was a lot of data in it, everyone's specifications were explained clearly and concisely, he read it seriously.

Watching the man take his sweet time one by one, Rustcha was getting impatient. She could sense that the summoning that Harushkah had been doing was almost over.

"Just pick this one!" She keeps one card and removes the others.

"Wait.. this is important."

"There is no time. Don't worry, that person is strong. I will start now."

Rustcha closed her eyes and light started to pour out of her. At the same time, the ground began to crumble, and the sky darkened. An ominous pressure comes upon the land. Harushkah's summoning must have been completed. Fortunately, before the sky was torn apart with the arrival of the invaders, she had completed the spell.