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.

of trial 209 : Upon killing everyone that Kevin held dear, he fell into a state of emotional turmoil. Assessing the situation, I decided to terminate the loop. Based on

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

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

a state of denial, but...he knew that

everything out after connecting the dots from his vision...yet, a small part of him still wished that

was only wishful thinking on his

knew, but he was still nonetheless Ren. A stinging pain started to quickly spread across Kevin's

'...Why? Just why?'

[Trial 210]

with his pen,

the previous loop before he comes in contact with them in this loop. Same goes for my family. It's better if

paper, the world

and debris appeared everywhere as corpses and limbs sprawled all over

silence enshrouded

"Haa...haa..."

of a broken building, as the sound

'Where am I?'

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

It looks

Kevin suddenly had a feeling

to lift his head and his eyes laid on a figure who had white

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

won't be able to kill

throughout the world as he proceeded to raise his

moment he raised his hand, the world seemed to have come to a standstill as demonic energy gathered towards the palm of his hand, forming a small ball the size of

"Stay put."

form, Kevin felt

Crack. Crack.

red-eyed figure, cracks formed as the ground crushed against his body, resulting in a

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

as their gazes

your useless

"Shut up."

area around him pulverized into bits. The gravity around

Rumble. Rumble.

His power was overwhelming.

Kevin suddenly felt his body turn, he was once again shocked to see a figure

'This scene...'

"Your turn."

his hand motioned downwardly, Ren kept the other figure in check while

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

are you waiting for?

his other self who was standing in the distance. His voice sounded a little bit

him, the other Kevin's lips trembled after glancing at the red-eyed figure and then looking at the world

outcome

are you

brows furrowed tightly, and his

the other Kevin pointed towards

completely destroyed! Almost all of humanity has been destroyed because of your

fists clenched tightly, his

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

slowly opened his mouth to say something. Matching his mouth,

'Because I don't care.'

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

Kevin finally understood why felt a sense of

vision. He could clearly remember each word that was about

"You don't care?"

sprang out of his body was very faint and almost

about the fact that because of your actions humanity is on the verge

"What are you doing?"

dull voice echoed

Kevin pressed his palm to

done the moment

Clank. Clank.

suddenly sprung up from the ground

Kevin felt Ren's face crack when he

do you think you're

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

how much of a predicament he was, his voice

did you

with an amused look on his face. Although he was also on the verge of death, there was a triumphant look on his face as he looked at Kevin and

it's going to be another

the other Kevin proceeded

"khh..."

forward, the hue around the other Kevin's body

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

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

'Desperation.'

felt as he felt his mouth open

always the same

to a pause a couple of meters away

Clank. Clank. Clank.

chains wrapping around his body become

Ren had stopped shouting and

head and glaring in the other Kevin's direction, Kevin

will be enough

"I don't know."

Kevin shook his

soon. At least for now,