The Author's POV

Coming out from beneath, the black threads gently wrapped around the white orb.

Opening his eyes, Kevin felt his mouth open.

"How should I start?"

Ren's voice echoed throughout the dark void.

After looking at the orb and seeing the reflection, Kevin felt his brow furrow as Ren fell into contemplation. He seemed to be thinking about the current circumstances.

"...Let's see if it's possible for me to completely replace my memories with his."

After uttering those words, Kevin watched as the black threads flung around like wild snakes and attempted to wrap around the orb as quickly as possible.

"Khh..."

Kevin let out a short groan as his hand pulled away from the orb.

Tsss.

What followed after was a sizzling sound. Lowering his head, Kevin caught sight of Ren staring at his hand which had become transparent.

Taking a moment to raise his head again, he gazed at the orb's reflection.

"Looks like I can't do that. Whatever Kevin put on me sealed some of my powers..."

Silence ensued after he uttered those words. After which, Kevin watched as Ren kept his gaze on the orb, and the same scenario from before replayed.

Time seemed to have passed by in the blink of an eye as the memories shifted, and it was now the fourth time that Kevin was staring at the same image of Ren standing up from his bed, in what seemed to be the Lock's dormitory.

"Hm?"

This time, a change to the scenario happened.

Ding Dong.

The door suddenly rang.

'What? Why did the bell suddenly ring?'

Taking aback by the sudden events, Kevin was unsure of how to react. Having watched the scenario well over four times, he had never seen this happen in teh past.

Kevin's attention was soon taken away by a subtle pull of his lips.

Opening his mouth, Kevin spoke through Ren's mouth.

"...As expected, you can't let this happen, can you? Without me, all hopes of defeating the demon king are null."

What followed after his words was the sudden appearance of a man in a blue jacket. He was holding onto a small box which Ren took and brought with him inside of the room.

After which, he looked through the contents and eventually pulled out an unfamiliar red book.

'That...'

Kevin instantly recognized the book in Ren's hands.

How could he not? It was the same book he had used back when Ren was in danger in the past.

"Oh? What an interesting book."

Focusing his attention back on the reflection, Kevin was able to see what was written in the book. It was his life.

'As expected, it's the same.'

...and it was from there that Kevin was able to confirm his suspicions.

Time moved forward, and now, with the aid of the book, Ren no longer died during the Hollberg incident as he did in the past. He managed to survive.

Kevin felt interest arise from within his body.

"Can this be enough to stop the loop?"

Kevin mumbled out loud through Ren's body.

But...

"Doesn't look like it."

Time passed, and Ren once again died. This time, he died during the inter-academy tournament. He made it a bit further, but he still died.

"...This won't do."

The same scene repeated itself once again. This time, the red book appeared in each scene.

Clank. Clank.

Reaching out for the orb once more, Kevin felt his mouth open as he muttered.

"I think I've got an idea of what I should do..."

Black threads once again started to form around the white orb upon reaching out for it.

This time, they were a lot less than before. Nevertheless, they were still many.

"A red book, huh? Is this the only thing, or have you left more?"

Kevin mumbled through Ren's mouth.

Locking his eyes onto the red book, the black threads gently wrapped around the white orb.

"...This might work."

Thinking of something, Kevin felt Ren's brows relax. After that, he stared at the reflection on the orb.

"Since you've received a book that outlines exactly what Kevin is doing, it stands to reason that his altered memories have to do with a book. How about an author entering his own book? This would reduce the possibility of you discovering that your memories have been tampered with, and I won't have trouble giving him the power of foresight..."

Trying to wrap around the orb, more black threads emerged from beneath it with each passing second. Soon, a black cacoon formed in front of Kevin's vision.

"Since I have only a limited amount of power, I can't add too many details to his memory. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be a problem. Right now, my priority is making sure that he does what I want, and that is...have Kevin kill the Demon King."

Removing his hand from the orb, Kevin felt his body take several steps back.

Carefully observing the orb, Kevin once again felt his mouth open.

"Trial one. Begin."

Following his words, the black threads revolving around the orb started to scatter and Kevin was once again able to see what was reflected inside of the orb.

'It's different.'

from this point that Kevin noticed that compared to

too different from that of the Ren

'...What is he doing?'

in the past such as the Hollberg incident, the inter academy tournament...Kevin

in the world,

everything to go dark and

'What happened?'

he continued to gaze at

did the loop suddenly restart? Ren

"Another failure."

the top ends of his

Ren's voice echoed throughout the

meddling resulted in Kevin becoming weak and eventually dying.

'What?'

hand on the

too much resulting in Kevin and the others becoming too weak and inevitably

once again rose from beneath

I need to make a change in the subject's personality. If he is too smart or ambitious, he will derail from the plotline I have set up for him like the last trial. For that

by society. His only ambition will be to live a happy life and in order to do that, he must make sure that he thoroughly follows the plotline. Having him adopt this mindset, I will be able to better control his

his mouth speak, the more

Clank. Clank.

the chains became more intense as time

in the plotline. A pawn is necessary. One that would

Clank! Clank!

with each passing

without magic, he will be inexperienced and will have a high chance of dying. When the time comes, I need something to make him more decisive.

CLANK! CLANK!

of nowhere, the chains that were rattling shook with a wild force and

the black threads that were wrapping around it, dissipated till only a few

which, the familiar scene began to replay on

'It's once again different.'

see the scene change. However, if there was

to the

way he talked and

a lot like the

black market. After that, he came into contact with what seemed

Clank. Clank.

then that Kevin felt

Clank. Clank.

the rattling sound, Kevin felt his hand press against the

"Red desolation."

was

the name of one of the ranked dungeons on the

watched as Ren chose

and

seemed to be

their bodies eventually start to convulse and they

'Mindbreaker curse.'

with the symptoms the mercenary group experienced, Kevin was able to tell with a glance how they died, and it was then that

before he could do anything about it, a sandstorm engulfed him. The only

only after Ren entered the eye of

'What is he doing?'

as Ren

he enter the

"Good."

he felt his mouth open as Ren's

'What good?'

words caused Kevin to

Kevin spotted a black humanoid figure sitting on a throne. Staring at Ren with an amused look on his face, he began to toy with him. Ren did try to put on a struggle, but it only ended in enraging the demon

'This...make it stop.'

his eyes away, but he

watch as the demon toyed with Ren

repeated once more, and Kevin watched the same thing happen again. Training in the dungeon

five more times. Fortunately for Kevin, as this was a memory, he only saw short

you

same scene of Ren

'Do something!'

as Ren was once again about to die, Kevin finally felt

a total of five loops in order for me to recuperate some of the energy

black threads shot into the air and wrapped around

Kevin saw

pretend you don't work anymore and attack his core right

Kevin watched as the same scene

torture, Ren pretended to no longer move, and exactly as the demon lost interest, he put up a last-ditch effort and cracked

as

last for long as he

CLANK. CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.

chains that were binding him shake even more

there, more sprang from beneath the ground, and

his body, Ren was pulled away from the

was even more stunning to Kevin was the fact that he felt his lips curl

"I've succeeded."

eyelids close, darkness

"Aaahhhhhh!"

heard a

'What's going on?'

them up again, Kevin found himself

he

down on the ground before him

"Ahhhhh!"

the room as he desperately

"Quiet."

that his words rang out, the demon that was lying down on the floor stopped

his eyes meet with the

'This demon...he feels familiar.'

the demon, Kevin realized that he looked somewhat familiar. He knew that he was the same demon from the orb, but the familiarity actually

to dwell on

"It's you!"

went right through Kevin and before he could react, Kevin

The demon froze mid-air.

don't have much time to waste. I've already used most of the energy I had trying to get a small fraction of my soul to enter

a white glow suddenly enveloped the

yourself lucky that

"Ahhhhh!"

faded, the demon let

'What did he do?'

watched the demon scream for

the only thing Kevin could do was watch. The memories didn't allow him to understand what Ren was thinking or doing. He had to figure everything