The Author's POV

'What did I just see?'

Kevin felt his heart grow cold.

'T...that can't be real, right? Re..n would never do that...'

He was in a state of complete denial. But, it was at this moment that he suddenly recalled his past flashbacks of what Ren had done with Emma, and it was from there that he was able to calm himself down.

'That's not the Ren I know. It's a different Ren.'

He repeatedly told himself. Recalling the conversation he had with Ren in the past and connecting everything with his visions, things were slowly starting to make sense.

'Why is it dark?'

Following his death, the scene once again shifted. This time, the world was dark. However, upon paying close attention, he could hear the sound of birds chirping in the distance.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

'Birds? What's going on?'

Kevin could faintly feel the warm, gentle sunshine enveloping his whole body.

It was then that Ren opened his eyes and Kevin found himself inside a one-bedroom apartment.

Rubbing his eyes, he blinked a couple of times and once more looked at my strange surroundings.

'This place...'

It looked familiar. Kevin couldn't just quite remember where he had seen this room before.

The room was furnished with the basic necessities that comprised a clean white bed, an old wooden spacious desk, a tall wardrobe, and a small bathroom. It was neither too big nor too small, but it seemed to have all the necessary facilities one might need when living.

'...Just why is this so familiar to me?'

Kevin thought to himself as he continued to stare at the room. It was strange, but Kevin knew for sure that he had seen this room before.

...But no matter how much he tried to think about it, he couldn't exactly remember where he had seen it.

'How odd.'

Shifting his body, Kevin's head turned to face the nearby window.

Reflected on it was a familiar face.

Jet black hair

Pale white skin

Blue ocean-like eyes

It was Ren's face...but younger. A lot younger.

'What memory is this?'

Kevin wondered as Ren's body shifted and he pressed his foot on the ground to help his body up.

"...Another failure."

Ren muttered while he stood up, and headed for the nearby desk where he sat down.

Opening the drawer beside the desk, he took out a small notebook alongside a small pen.

Grasping the pen beside him, Ren's body froze for a small second. With his eyes locked onto the pen, he slowly brought it next to his neck.

Click—!

Pressing onto the top end of the pen, the sharp tip came out.

Ren gently pressed it against his neck. Slowly, he began to put more pressure.

'What is he doing?'

Kevin wondered as he felt the sharp tip of the pen press against Ren's neck. His actions didn't make sense to Kevin at all.

'Don't tell me that he's...'

"Haaa..."

Before Kevin could come up with an assumption, Ren let out a long sigh and lowered the hand that held onto the pen. The pressure on his neck disappeared.

Casually tossing the pen on the desk, Ren reclined on the chair and emptily stared at the white ceiling of the room.

Grasping his chest with his hand, he mumbled.

"...What's the point? It's not like anything will change."

Though his words were casual, they were enough to alarm Kevin who was watching everything.

At this point, no matter how much he tried to feel the emotions Ren was experiencing, he couldn't feel anything. He basically felt like an empty shell whose sole reason for living was something that Kevin was still unsure of...but from his earlier actions, Kevin had an inkling that perhaps, just maybe, Ren didn't really want to be alive.

It was as if something was stopping him from dying. Or maybe he was just overthinking.

...but as he thought back at the moment he pressed the pen against his neck, Kevin was left uncertain about his theory.

Leaning his body forward, Ren grasped the pen he had thrown on the table and opened the book.

He then began to write something.

held dear, he fell into a state of emotional turmoil. Assessing the situation, I decided to terminate the loop.

freeze. Chills ran through his body as he had a hard time processing what Ren was

'I..it can't be, right?'

to remain in a state of denial, but...he knew that everything he was seeing

already figured everything out after connecting the dots from his vision...yet, a small

was only wishful

but he was still nonetheless Ren. A stinging pain started to quickly

'...Why? Just why?'

[Trial 210]

words with his pen, Ren continued to

close to in the previous loop before he comes in contact with them in this loop. Same

paper, the world

and debris appeared everywhere as corpses and limbs sprawled all

enshrouded the

"Haa...haa..."

himself standing on top of a broken building, as the

'Where am I?'

was also then that he noticed that his right hand was missing and a long

scene. It looks

note of what he was seeing, Kevin suddenly had

head and his eyes laid on a figure who had

down from his mouth, and his body laying down on a broken building, the figure blankly stared toward the sky as

you won't be

world

standstill as demonic energy gathered towards the palm

"Stay put."

Kevin felt his hand

Crack. Crack.

the ground crushed against his body, resulting in a crater to

the impact was, the red-eyed figure was completely unfazed as

smile only deepened as their gazes met. Opening his mouth,

with your useless struggle.

"Shut up."

The gravity around him started to warp, and

Rumble. Rumble.

His power was overwhelming.

was once again shocked to see a figure resembling himself standing in the distance, and it was right there that it finally

'This scene...'

"Your turn."

motioned downwardly, Ren kept the other figure in check while he looked toward the

painfully obvious to Kevin that his power wasn't enough to contain the other figure for long as he felt

waiting for?

open once again as he urged his other self who was standing in the

Kevin's lips trembled after glancing at the red-eyed figure and then

this the outcome that

are you

His brows furrowed tightly, and his

teeth, the other Kevin

the world. It's completely destroyed! Almost all of humanity has

other Kevin's fists clenched tightly, his voice rang throughout the

sacrifice the whole of humanity! What's the point of killing him when there's no one left? What's the fucking

listening to the other Kevin's words, Ren slowly opened his mouth to say something. Matching his mouth, Kevin spoke inside

'Because I don't care.'

"...Because I don't care."

this point that Kevin finally understood why felt a sense of Deja

same scene that he saw in his vision. He could clearly remember each word that was about to be

"You don't care?"

red hue suddenly erupted from Kevin's body. While the hue that sprang out of his body was very faint and

fact that because of your

"What are you doing?"

voice echoed

pressed his palm to the space next

that I should've done the

Clank.

the

time in a long time, Kevin felt Ren's face crack when he looked at the other

do you

to move, but no matter how much force he applied, he couldn't move. A complete seal had been placed around

a predicament he was,

did you do to

turned to look at the other white figure who was watching the scene with an amused look on his face. Although he was also on the verge of death, there was a triumphant look on

it's going

his teeth, the other Kevin proceeded to

"khh..."

hue around the other Kevin's body slowly started to fade as his

time in a while, Kevin suddenly started to feel emotions spring out inside of Ren's body as he opened his

know full well that you're the only one

'Desperation.'

as he

always the same

to a

Clank. Clank. Clank.

the chains wrapping around his body become more and more numerous, before they completely

that his words couldn't reach the other Kevin, Kevin realized that Ren had stopped shouting and the

head and glaring in the other Kevin's

be

"I don't know."

other Kevin

we will find out soon. At least for now, you won't be able to