The Sword Saint and the Saintesses: A Second Chance LitRPG Progression Fantasy

The Bellum Existentiae, Book 1

By: D STAHL

Narrated by: Nikki Lyons, Conner Blackwater

Aaron Hueber witnessed the rise of demons from below and the invasion of horrors from beyond. He saw monarchs slain, champions betrayed, and worlds fall until reality itself was unmade.

And then he began again.

For this was the curse of the Saint of Time. While other saints shattered mountains or led armies, Aaron’s gift was more subtle and far more cruel. When the end came, he didn’t die. He returned to the beginning, memories intact, condemned to rewrite the failures and fight anew.

Armed with a lifetime of regrets, Aaron spent his second chance gathering strength not just in magic and swordplay, but in the quiet arts: perception, persuasion, and understanding the world as he never had before.

Last time, the Saintesses of Space and Life fell first.

This time, he will trade patience for fury, and despair for hope delivered on the edge of his blades. As the Saint of Swords, Aaron will carve out a future that no power in reality can deny, for himself and those he loves.

______________________________

Expect gritty, detailed sword fights and world-hopping adventures that span realms and realities. The story features a stats-light LitRPG system woven into a classic progression fantasy, following a limited set of point-of-view characters.

©2025 D STAHL (P)2026 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Really good original first book

I loved the characters and world building of the book and I liked the original magic system...well was original to me anyway...its a fun story and im looking forward to more books from this series

Hidden gem

This book was surprisingly entertaining. It was a bit rough at the start due to differing audio levels between narrators. Not only that but through the first few chapters the male narrators microphone sounds like it’s underwater. It cleans up by like chapter 9 or 10 thankfully and continues to be good for the rest of the book. I think there is a repeating paragraph in one of the chapters, it’s pretty noticeable but nothing crazy.

Some of the “cuts” to different pov’s between characters and timelines can be confusing, just keep listening because the book will fill in context later. It was a bit annoying at first, being like “wait what is even happening right now” to “Ooooh they were in a dream the whole chapter, gotcha”.

The fights were easy to track and didn’t run on, which I really liked. I’m excited for the next book in the series. This first book is definitely a set up for the main plot, so no cliff hanger technically. Overall worth a listen if you’re on the fence. No smut in this one by the way, just hints to what may come in later books.