The Author's POV

Fear.

An unpleasant and inescapable emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

It begins with your hair standing up. Next, your palms begin to sweat, and your body experiences a wave of nausea, making it difficult for you to comprehend what lies before you.

The world feels foggy. Everything that seemed so clear the previous moment becomes blurry, and in an instant, your entire body begins to tremble, and your heart beats so loudly inside of your head that it feels suffocating.

Fear starts off as an instinctive and primitive response designed to help us avoid dangerous situations.

…But what would happen when you're in a situation where you can't avoid this so called danger?

Helplessness.

That was what they would feel.

A wave of helplessness would wash over the individual as they find themselves in a situation where they could do nothing.

"Don't tell me you're planning on leaving right as I arrived?"

Jezebeth's words echoed inside of my ears, while the hair at the back of my neck stood up.

Fear was slowly starting to permeate my body.

"Haaa…haa…"

Unknowingly, my breathing became heavier.

As I slowly lifted my head up, my eyes met Jezebeth's, and my heart stopped for a moment.

'S..shit.'

I was overcome with a wave of helplessness as his presence completely enveloped my body, stopping me from moving at all.

"Hm?"

In the midst of my struggle, Jezebeth frowned.

Coming a little closer to me, he tilted his head a little.

"You…"

He pointed his slender finger in my direction, as his glaring red eyes scrutinized my body up and down.

My body felt completely naked as his eyes scanned it. It was as if he knew every secret inside my body.

Gradually, as he continued to stare at me, his eyes dropped and his head shook.

"…You're not him, again."

There were hints of disappointment in his voice as he turned his head to look away from me.

Right as he turned, I was able to hear his soft whisper.

"He would never make such an expression…"

Taking a step away from me, he looked around the room and continued to whisper to himself.

"This is strange…I'm sure I detected his presence before coming here. I don't think I'm wrong."

For the next couple of seconds, he didn't say anything and just quietly walked around the room with a pensive look on his face.

Coming to a sudden stop, he turned around to look at me.

Once again scanning my body, his brows jumped and a thin smile formed on his face.

"I see…"

Tap.

Taking a step closer to me, it didn't take long for him to arrive before me.

Extending his hand, my vision darkened as his plan covered my face.

I tried with all my might, staring at the hand that was snatching at my face, but it was all in vain; he stopped me without any effort on his part.

"Don't move. I'm trying to check something."

His voice loudly echoed inside of my ears.

As soon as his words vanished, I experienced an electric shock throughout my body. My body began to tense up in response to what he did, and my eyes rolled to the back of my head.

I wanted to scream, but it was all futile effort on my end as my mouth was sealed shut. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't say anything.

"Mhh! Mhhhhh!"

The only thing that came out of my mouth were low muffled shouts.

"Ah, it makes sense now."

Taking his hand away from my head, Jezebeth once again turned away from me.

He had a satisfied look on his face.

"It's just like I predicted. You were the ones that resulted in Magnus's death, and it doesn't look like an accident either. As expected of you…"

Turning his body around, our eyes met. This time, his smile faded a little.

must be

he said

I began

"Oh?"

brow raised at the sudden

say that you bear striking resemblances to this demeanor at times.

his head and slowly lifted his head.

served your purpose. How about you disappear and let the real you take over? I have no interest in playing around with

manner, every word he spoke thundered in

a result. Even though it pained me to be reminded that I was a fraud, I was gradually accepting

with a slow

"I'm good."

"You're good?"

me with a strange look

"Ha."

let out one single burst of

long, as his complexion crumbled

you have

the room as he snapped his head to gaze at me, and a dreadful pressure

"Khurk!"

instantly dropped on both

I slowly raised my head to look

Tap. Tap. Tap.

slow and rhythmical footsteps echoed throughout the room before they paused in

right at that moment that the pressure

"Khuak!"

disappeared, my body reflexively gagged

for air while

"…My bad."

heard Jezebeth's voice echo

pathetically weak you are at the moment.

crossed legged on the ground, Jezebeth placed both

a talk? There are lots of things I want to say, and even though you might

finger, my head

"How should we start?"

his head and pondering for a bit, Jezebeth tapped his head and

hard time remembering certain things. Don't mind

his head,

seem like you have much time till he takes over. I'll say a couple of

with one hand while extending the other toward me until his palm was directly in front

caught a whiff of death lingering

takes over? There have been several

smooth speech echoed in my thoughts like many whispers, resembling the hissing

I kill you right now, a lot of my problems would

in my head became, sending me into this weird phase that made it hard

I've got a

the palm of his hand away from me that the hissing sound stopped and he appeared in my vision

did he

looks were similar to that of a human, and the way he acted was also similar to how a human acted, I

was a complete enigma in my

was what made

on your face, you must be

I was jolted out of them by Jezebeth's

thin smile on his face, he slowly stood up

he started to walk around me in circles. The sound of

Akashic records are weakening. No, the

swallowed a mouthful of

body started to

you don't have the power of the

me, you...or the records, meddling with time doesn't come cheaply. Whatever the case, unlike me and you, the records don't use that much energy to reset the universe. Every reset is just a fraction of their power and thus

his head to

lose their powers like a fighter running out of stamina, and what if they get so desperate that they start to use even more of their powers to help the one they chose to kill me? The one who threatens

I could feel my heart beating

His words…

to experience a sudden feeling of dread as I

as regressions took place, I became aware of the previous regressions within my mind with each new regression that happened. The records could no longer expend any energy in trying to

white glow enveloped Jezebeth's hand and his face

"This power…it's so addicting."

so powerfully inside the room that it

the glow on

from your looks, you've already guessed it. This is the last loop.

body grew more intense with each word he said, and my

to why I kept

hissed loudly inside of my head, and my view of

tried my best to keep myself from

wanted to say. I wanted to know why he

don't need

blanked, and my eyes blinked several

glaring red eyes stared at me. No, he was

the loops. You want the suffering you've experienced to end, right? Then carry it out. Kill

Jezebeth halted himself mid-sentence.

over

doesn't look like you can kill yourself just yet.

pondering, it didn't take long for his brows to relax. The

in my direction, his smile became even more

might be even more

was looking at me, not the other

to live don't

while he looked straight into my eyes. Before I

wants to