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.

he fell into a state of emotional turmoil. Assessing the situation, I decided to terminate the loop. Based on my calculations, the possibility of him defeating the Demon

felt his blood freeze. Chills ran through his

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

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

anything. He had already figured everything out after connecting the dots from

knew that it was only wishful

knew, but he was still nonetheless Ren.

'...Why? Just why?'

[Trial 210]

those words with his pen,

he comes in

paper, the world started to shift, and a red sky enshrouded

everywhere as corpses and limbs sprawled

enshrouded the

"Haa...haa..."

standing on top of a broken building, as the sound of his rough

'Where am I?'

wondered to himself as he looked around him. It was also then that he noticed that his right hand was missing and a long

scene. It

of what he was seeing, Kevin suddenly had

and his eyes laid on a figure who had white

a broken building, the figure blankly stared toward

no use, you won't be able

the world as he proceeded to raise

a standstill as demonic energy gathered towards the palm

"Stay put."

fully form, Kevin felt his hand

Crack. Crack.

cracks formed as the ground crushed against his body, resulting in

red-eyed figure was completely unfazed as he gazed in his

as their gazes met. Opening his mouth,

useless

"Shut up."

as the area around him pulverized into bits. The gravity around him started to

Rumble. Rumble.

His power was overwhelming.

a figure resembling himself standing in the distance, and it was right there

'This scene...'

"Your turn."

of his hand motioned downwardly, Ren kept the other

Kevin that his power wasn't enough to contain the other

waiting for? End

who was standing in the distance. His

lips trembled after glancing at the red-eyed figure and then looking

the outcome

you

His brows furrowed tightly,

other

a look at the world. It's completely destroyed! Almost all of humanity has been

clenched tightly,

him! You decided to sacrifice the whole of humanity! What's the

opened his mouth to say something. Matching his mouth, Kevin spoke

'Because I don't care.'

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

point that Kevin finally understood why felt a sense of

vision. He could

"You don't care?"

sprang out of his body was very faint and almost invisible,

the fact that because of your

"What are you doing?"

voice

Kevin pressed his palm to the space next to him

should've done

Clank. Clank.

suddenly sprung up from the ground and

time, Kevin felt Ren's face crack when he looked at the other Kevin who was looking back

you think

felt his body try to move, but no matter how much force he applied, he couldn't move. A complete seal had

how much of a predicament he was,

you do

the other Kevin turned to look at the other white figure who was watching the scene with an amused look on his face.

it's going to

teeth, the other Kevin proceeded to ignore

"khh..."

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

the first time in a while, Kevin suddenly started to feel

You know full well that you're the only one that can stop him!

'Desperation.'

what Kevin felt as he felt

the same with

Kevin's feet came to a pause a couple of meters away from Ren.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

chains wrapping around his body become

realized that Ren had stopped shouting and the previous emotions that were

other Kevin's

this will be enough

"I don't know."

other Kevin

soon. At least for