Ch.447The Selected NPC. (3)

“Don’t fuck with me.”

The single phrase I managed to squeeze out upon seeing the vision before my eyes wasn’t directed at the dragon who created this situation, but rather at myself.

Ira and I being taken in by father, growing up together. Nurturing our feelings, then being tossed around by the village, nobility, country, and religious nation, and me dying ‘first’ at the hands of a demon.

Sometimes I die pathetically to monsters, sometimes poisoned by villagers, sometimes crushed under the power of pig-like nobles, and sometimes the country itself executes me as a war-inciting traitor. And it always happens right before or after Ponia’s destruction. When the holy maiden of the religious nation appears and meets me, I die by a demon’s hand 100 percent of the time, and when she doesn’t come, I sometimes die by monsters. As if my death is inevitable. And after those endless deaths…

“Jack, did you die again? It’s okay. We’ll keep trying until we succeed.”

A form of Ira I don’t recognize. Yet a form of her I’ve always wanted to see. This Ira stands before my brutally murdered or skeletal remains and says those words.

An adult woman with red hair like the word “beauty” made flesh and violet eyes like the Milky Way slightly dimmed, by Ira’s hand my death becomes undone and ‘we’ start again. Like that, when I thought I’d counted a hundred times, suddenly it became five hundred, and when I thought it was five hundred, it surpassed a thousand, and after a thousand I started telling myself not to believe this was brainwashing, but after so many deaths and repetitions, I couldn’t tell if this was reality or n—

“Snap out of it. I told you that you cannot be killed yet.”

“HUAAAH?!!”

A boy’s voice. No, the voice spat out by the golden-eyed lizard made me realize I’d been holding my breath while watching the flowing scenery, causing me to inhale sharply. Fuck, fuck!!

“Stop it right now. You want to fight me, right? Well, I’m furious to the tips of my hair just as you wanted, so right now…!!”

“You still don’t understand. I gain nothing from fighting you. If I fight you now and break something or kill you, the world will reset again. ‘That one’ has such power. Moreover, now that one will infinitely repeat everything until the world’s cycle and fate are completely twisted to reach the ending they desire…”

“Don’t fuck with me!!! Ira, my little sister, couldn’t possibly do such things!!”

When I scream out, an excruciating pain assaults my heart. I feel as if something intangible, some named emotion, is breaking apart. I glared at the creature floating beside me like a ghost, shifting all responsibility to it, and it snorted at my gaze, letting out a quiet voice.

“No, you understand but refuse to accept it. How pitiful, you twisted one.”

“I told you to stop spouting bullshit. How could Ira possibly do such things? Rewind the world? Repeat infinitely?! Are you saying Ira originally grew up with me?! Then why is she my little sister now? Father is MY father!! Ira is MY little sister!! If everything resets infinitely as you say, how do you explain the current situation…!!”

“It must be the exit that one found after thousands, tens of thousands of repetitions. After confirming through eons that infinite repetition as it was yielded no answer, they derived a method to change things. That’s all there is to understand.”

“Ha, haha!! Fine, let’s say you’re right. Then you’re saying when Ira grows stronger and reaches her twenties, she’ll be able to do this again?! Then!! If my companions die, I’ll just ask Ira to turn back time again!!!”

I feel like I’m going insane. I don’t even know what I’m saying after shouting it. Even while thinking I’m just barking desperately like a defeated dog because I don’t want to believe it, I keep lashing out, and the creature continues with eyes full of pity.

“It won’t work this time. It seems that one considers this their final opportunity.”

“…What?”

“Now, for the last time. The memory at the edge of your soul. It would be easier to understand if you saw it directly rather than having me explain.”

With those words, the creature showed me the end of her who had rewound the world countless times after my deaths—the ‘before’ of this time.

*

“…I thought I’d succeeded this time. But it was another failure.”

She says we managed to travel together, defeated three of the Seven Deadly Sin demons, and this time I survived until my mid-twenties. But in the very end, Jack died ‘for me’ again.

“Ah, I really thought I could carry your child this time. Why, why did it end up like this again? Hey? Jack? Answer me. What did I do wrong this time?”

There’s no way I could answer. With only my head and neck remaining, having lost everything below and died with eyes open, my head now rests on her thighs, staring blankly into space with unfocused eyes. Yet even those lifeless orange eyes of mine are so lovely to her. Indeed, she cannot stop here.

“No matter how many times we save the world, how many of the Seven Deadly Sin demons we kill, even with the ‘cheat’ of knowledge from another world called ‘past life memories,’ I still can’t save you. Jack, honestly, I’m so tired now.”

But even if she doesn’t want to stop, the world is now forcing her to. Just in this religious nation, how many attempts were there to violate and rape her when she was young? And what about the more than 100 ambushes and plots against her every year?

Now, if she doesn’t somehow stop going to the religious nation’s lands, she might die before returning to Jack. Then it would be impossible to rewind everything and start again like now. Our lives would truly become irredeemable.

“…Haah, Jack. But this time I saw possibility. Past life memories. Cheats from another world. And all the women who came to love you. Well, in the end they all died and only I remained, but that’s right. I need to remain so I can meet Ragni, Rei, Miho, and Chikuyo again when they die.”

Thinking about how Jack staggered and shook each time they died, suffering as if he himself were dying, she honestly wondered if keeping those women by his side was right. But thanks to them, Jack lived this long. Survived this long. That’s all that matters.

“Phew. Well then, I’ll be going now. Jack, next time, let’s definitely live together until the end.”

With those words, the red-haired woman leaned his head against a tree and rose, heading toward the massive chaos. Without companions or anyone by her side. She pushed herself into the darkness to defeat the ‘last of the Seven Deadly Sins.’ And then.

[…Will you again—refuse and twist the cycle.]

“Aren’t you tired of asking every time from the beginning until now? My answer is fixed. Turn it as I wish. Jack is my world, and the world is Jack. I ‘failed to save the world.'”

[This makes 1,132,199 accumulated distortions. The next world will not be as easy as this one…]

The entity addressing Ira, who spoke with impossible calmness after a battle that tore apart heaven and earth and half-destroyed the continent, dragged its voice as if resigned. Hearing this voice, she—

-Smirk.

“We haven’t even repeated 1.2 million times yet, so you can’t talk like you’re dying from just this much. Anyway, if you think you’ve saved the world with this, add the conditions I want.”

[…Speak.]

“The basic conditions remain the same, and additionally…”

She calmly continues with additional conditions beyond those added during previous repetitions, and her unseen opponent responds. Repeatedly saying no while accepting her demands. 1.2 million times. A number that would be entirely possible if it were just about her determination, but now the world won’t allow it. The world has already been twisted too much.

[Then, with these conditions, again…]

“No, one last thing. I want you. You don’t need to show yourself to me, just… help Jack.”

[That condition cannot be accepted.]

“No. You can accept it. Even if not yourself, you can help with a personality that copies your ‘intelligence.'”

[How? I am—. I cannot have a physical form in the current world…]

“Since we passed 900,000 repetitions, it’s been for this purpose. I’ve attached past life memories, cheats, and a status window to Jack. Attach your personality to it. You can do that much, right?”

[I can bestow a personality, but it won’t be ‘me.’ It won’t be able to move while telling ‘what’s next.’]

“That’s enough. After all, you’ll become an entity more desperate than anyone to save Jack.”

[……]

The entity did not answer her confident declaration that seemed to take success for granted. But most of the conditions Ira proposed were partially accepted and…

“…Jack. Finally, this is the next ending.”

The world rewound once more.

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– One. Forfeit all holy power accumulated through 1,132,199 repetitions and convert it into Jack’s physical abilities and life force.

– One. In the next life, be transformed into a being unable to manifest holy power, with mountain keeper Setan as biological father and Jack as biological brother.

– One. Make it easier for women who have built connections with Jack through repetitions to feel basic attraction toward him.

– One. Based on the overlaid memories of ‘another’s’ past life, make Jack unaware that he is a human born in this world.

– One. Implant the personality of — into the [Status Window] obtained from previous repetitions. This is confirmed to be a different entity from —.

– One. Jack’s physical abilities accumulated through repetitions will be unleashed only for the ‘trials’ of Ira’s contract spirit, a being that can remember everything.

– One. ‘Ira,’ who has saved the world through repetition, can convey her true feelings to him once without revealing her identity.

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– One. The subject ‘Ira’ will love Jack eternally, even if the world changes or time distorts.

*

[Added by — authority. – One. Cancel the memory succession of subject ‘Ira’ and fully open all talents built up to her current hierarchy for this iteration only. …With this, our debt is settled, ‘Failure.’]