chapter_0187

“Just step back to the other side of the wall. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to explode, but just in case.”

“Huh? Oh, okay. The other side, right? Got it.”

With that reply, the overlapping footsteps gradually moved away.

I closed my eyes and focused my consciousness. I could feel the flow of power that was being sucked away somewhere. It was something I had come to sense as the fragments of absorbed memories fell into place.

I gathered my nerves even more. At the same time, as I changed the flow, there was a crunching sound as if something had burst, and the energy that had been sucked out seemed to stop for a moment before flowing back.

“Ugh?!”

A clump of something warm and chunky came up my throat and into my mouth. I coughed, and red blood dripped down.

Seeing the blood, I knew it had worked. The tent twitched and then began to flutter along my palm.

I wiped my mouth roughly and covered the bloody dirt before lifting the cloth. On the other side of the wall, I saw four people huddled together, their eyes wide with surprise.

It hadn’t been long since we had set out for the domain of the Demon God, but with all the incidents along the way, it felt like it had been a while since I had seen them.

“Mira!”

Priscilla was the first to dash over and hug me. She buried her face in my chest and took a deep breath.

“……?”

Priscilla blinked a few times and then sniffed again, detecting the scent of blood. I deliberately covered my head with my hands and buried it in her chest to avoid getting caught.

Rosalia was about to do the same, but she stopped and awkwardly smiled as she realized she was late. As always, Elysier and Laura were calm.

“I’m not surprised anymore. What trick did you use?”

“It’s complicated to explain, but simply put, I changed the flow. I redirected the power that was flowing out of me.”

“Flowing out? To whom?”

“Aria.”

“……Aria? I don’t understand why that name came up.”

Laura frowned, puzzled. It was understandable. Who set Aria’s personality? The original Aria in the novel was so kind, and the author herself knew it best.

“I never imagined that woman could be the culprit… There must be a reason for this. Do you know why?”

“I do.”

I hesitated for a moment before answering. I was choosing my words carefully to make sure it didn’t sound like Laura’s fault.

Aria had blamed Laura and vowed to take revenge, grinding her teeth in anger. But it was never Laura’s fault. Who would have expected the characters to gain self-awareness after the author completed the novel?

“After you finished the novel… For some reason, everything else stopped, but Aria woke up alone in this world. So, this is Aria’s recreation of the world as it was when she first woke up—a world where all time has stopped.”

As soon as I finished speaking, everyone’s gaze turned to one person. Even Priscilla, who had been happily rubbing her cheeks against mine, was startled and looked back.

Laura shook her head frantically.

“I, I don’t have such power! How could I have done that?”

“Calm down, I’m not blaming you. No one knows why it happened. It could have been a simple coincidence, or there might be some other mastermind we don’t know about. Anyway, in that stopped world, Aria was alone. For over a thousand years. Can you imagine what she thought during that time?”

“Revenge… or hatred, I suppose. So, does that mean she brought me here for that reason?”

“Yes. It was all part of her revenge. She deliberately repeated the regression to the same time, and with each regression, she slowly took away your freedom. She wanted to watch you despair.”

As Laura heard this, a myriad of emotions played across her face. It was only natural that her thoughts would be complicated, knowing that she had been trapped here because of the hatred and revenge of a character she had created.

The shock must have been immense, too.

“Wait a minute. What about us? I can understand that crazy woman bringing Laura here for revenge. But why us? There was no reason to bring us here.”

“There was. To keep the time in this world flowing, she needed readers from the real world, not these fabricated novel characters. After Laura gave up herself and became a character in the novel, the world stopped again, so she brought new readers here.”

“……So, our suffering, our pain, it was all just to maintain this world?”

Elysier’s teeth ground together.

“Exactly. She used you to keep time flowing, and when your minds started to break, she brought in new people. Over and over again. From the beginning, she only saw you as disposable tools. If I hadn’t read the prologue, Rosalia, you would have repeated the regression until your mind broke, and Aria would have brought in someone new.”

“That woman is truly unforgivable. To pretend to be innocent and deceive us from the start… I can’t believe it.”

Elysier gritted her teeth, remembering the deaths she had experienced as the Demon King.

“……”

Rosalia’s expression was far from pleasant. Her already pale skin had lost all its color. She had almost suffered the same fate as them.

On the other hand, Priscilla looked thoughtful. I didn’t need to ask why. It was obvious. Unlike the other two, she was too broken to be angry.

I would need to take some time later to explain things to her. I tightened my arm around her. Priscilla paused for a moment, then smiled and hugged me back, her arms around my neck.

“Where is that woman, my lord? Did you already take care of her?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just… it might sound a bit strange when I explain it.”

As I hesitated, question marks appeared above their heads. Priscilla, still buried in my chest, did not show her expression.

“She’s still fighting the Demon King. The one I first possessed. He’s stalling for time, which is why I was able to come and rescue you.”

The question marks above their heads grew even larger.

“The Demon King is here. Did someone else become the Demon King? Is it that succubus?”

“It’s not like that……”

I glanced at Laura. I wasn’t sure if this was the right time to reveal the truth. I could guess how shocked she would be.

I hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke. There was no turning back now.

“……The Demon King of the first world I possessed is here. That’s why.”

“What?!”

“Wait a minute. What do you mean by that?”

As expected, they were all extremely shocked.

“……”

Laura was the only one who didn’t react that way.

Her eyes held a mixture of fear and desperation, as if she didn’t want to understand what I was saying.

“Is there only one reason why the Demon King of the first world I possessed is here… Is it… is it what I think it is?”

Laura’s eyes pleaded with me, as if she already knew the reason why the Demon King of the first world I possessed had appeared.

But it was a truth that had to be revealed eventually. That time had simply come sooner than expected. I nodded.

“Yes.”

“Oh……”

Laura’s knees buckled, and her body swayed. Elysier caught her as she was about to fall to the ground.

“Why…… why……”

“Wait. What’s going on? What does Mira being helped by the Demon King of the first world have to do with Laura……”

As she spoke, she realized what was going on. Her eyes darted between Laura, who was leaning on Elysier, and me, who stood there calmly. Then, realizing that this wasn’t her place, she backed away.

“Aria stopped the regression because of you. As you know, I’ve been possessed before and survived. She wanted the power that was within me. With her own power, Aria could only maintain this world, but with me, it would be possible to overthrow it.”

“……Was that even possible?”

“It must be, or Aria wouldn’t have gone to such lengths.

“What the hell……”

I stepped away from Priscilla and approached Laura. Elysier moved her arm slightly to make room for me. Laura leaned against me, her breath ragged.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry…… If it weren’t for me……”

“It’s not your fault, so calm down.”

I smiled bitterly. I remembered the conversation I had with Latina in the place where my memories were sealed.

Back then, I was the one crying, and Latina was the one comforting me. But now, our roles had reversed. Latina was also a character in Laura’s novel, so there were a lot of connections.

“But… because of the novel I wrote, you……”

“It’s all in the past now. In the past, I might have reacted differently. I might have gotten angry or blamed you. In the past, I was so focused on ignoring and running away from my past.”

Yes. If I were the old me, I wouldn’t have been able to comfort Laura like this. Even though I seemed fine on the surface, my past traumas were rotting away inside me.

“But now, I’m different. I have people to protect, and I’ve made new connections. Who knows? Maybe I was brought here to save you.”

The phantom pains and the pain of remembering the past were gone, all thanks to these four people. Conversely, they had been freed from the regression because of me.

There was no need to be bound by the past anymore. All I had to do now was accept it and move on.

“You just have to accept it, like me. If you can’t, you have someone to lean on.”

Now it was Laura’s turn to accept the past, just as I had.

Laura hiccupped and buried her face in my chest, her body shaking with suppressed tears. Inaudible mumbles and hiccups continued, her breath hot against my skin.

“So, what do we do now? Do we have to defeat Aria to get out of here?”

“Just say kill. Why are you trying to soften your words for that bitch?”

“Ahem. Well, yes. Do we have to do that?”

Rosalia coughed awkwardly.

“I’m not sure. Maybe. I think if we defeat Aria, it should work. The Demon God and the Goddess might be able to help us if we do.”

“……Can you defeat her, Mira?”

“I’ll try and let you know. Speaking of which, she’s coming.”

As soon as I finished speaking, a dimensional door opened nearby.

Or rather, it was torn open. Space was forcibly wrenched open, and from within stepped a furious-looking Aria.

I saw a red hand holding a demon sword, severed at the wrist. Aria was holding the blade of the demon king, and it was clear what fate he had met.

‘It’s not fair to Aria.’

After all, he wasn’t at full strength as he had been whenshe fought me in the first world. Even taking that into account, she had been almost completely overwhelmed.

In the end, it was a repetition of the question I had asked when I met the Demon King. Could I defeat Aria without healing magic and with my full strength? It was the same as asking if I could defeat the Demon King, only with Aria’s name instead.

“……It’s really you, Mira.”

Aria, who had appeared with a grudge-filled face, forced a smile when she saw me. But it was very different from her usual bright smile. It was a much more forced expression.

“I’m curious what you did to make that Demon King think so romantically of you.”

“Ah, I’m curious too. I’m being serious.”

“……That’s annoying.”

Aria crumpled the demon sword in her hand. The compressed demon sword, now the size of a ping-pong ball, rolled away.

“Everyone but you is disgusting, Mira. Why do I have to go through all this? I’m just trying to fix what’s wrong.”

Her blue eyes turned to Laura, who was in my arms. For a moment, a flame ignited in them. I gently set Laura aside and took out the Eternity.

Aria looked back and forth between the four of them, then smiled a very different kind of smile from before.

“I’ve been thinking about what to do. And I came up with a really good idea. I just have to rewind everything.”

Tick, tock. It sounded like a clock ticking.

“Everything will start over from the beginning.”

The scenery began to change. The sky turned black and swirled, then became blurry as if a motion blur effect had been applied. It wasn’t just the sky. The nearby scenery and the ground beneath their feet were also becoming blurry.

“Aria, what are you doing?!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Priscilla’s scream made me flinch. Everyone was in a panic, screaming. Even Elysier and Laura were no exception.

“I don’t want to go back! I don’t want to go back!”

“I’m sorry, please forgive me, I don’t want to die again, so please……”

“Ah, ahhh… Ahhhhhh……”

From their reactions and Aria’s words, I understood what was happening.

It was regression.

The kind of regression they had endured countless times, except this time, Aria was the one doing it. In the distance, I could see Aria laughing like a madwoman.

“That’s right! If we start over from the beginning, no one can interfere! Watch me, Mira! I’ll come for you, unlike those women who are bound by the original novel!”

“Mira! What do we do?! If this continues……!”

Fortunately, Rosalia was still sane. She hadn’t regressed many times, so she was able to maintain her sanity.

“First, we need to cut off Aria’s head…… Ugh?!”

The gust of wind that blew towards them made them stumble, but they managed to stand firm. I narrowed my eyes. Then, I realized that it wasn’t just the wind.

It was time itself, flowing backwards and engulfing everything. The people who had been frozen in place began to move in reverse, their actions rewinding like a film played backwards. All the results were undone, returning to their causes.

I had to try everything I could. As I was about to draw a magic circle with my left hand, I felt the last piece of the puzzle fall into place.

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“Do you know what the last step is to awaken the divinity?”

“Uh… No, I don’t know.”

“It’s faith.”

“It’s a bit underwhelming, isn’t it? Isn’t that obvious?”

“That’s why it’s the last step. Divinity is given to those who do not believe with all their heart. Hey, where are you looking? Keep your eyes on me and listen carefully. You might need this someday.”

“I don’t know why I would need this, but… Okay. So, why is it that divinity is given even to those who don’t believe?”

“Because then they can believe in themselves.”

“……I’m getting more and more confused. You said to believe in divinity, but why does believing in ourselves give us divinity?”

Latina smiled.

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“……Is that what you meant when you said I might need this someday?”

I raised my left hand. A radiant light appeared in my palm. In the flowing time, a solid rock appeared, unmoved by the currents.

The rock soon turned into light, and the light became divinity. The divinity became faith, and faith took the form of a spear that rose from my hand.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t been able to use the spear before. The spear had been waiting for me to answer its final question. It had been waiting silently for me to answer.

“Now…… I can answer your question, Latina.”

I plunged the spear into the ground with all my might. The exploding light spread like branches, and the world itself was ‘caught’ in its grasp.

The rewinding time stopped once again.