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 his fake

said these

I began to

"Oh?"

brow raised at the sudden turn

can say that you bear striking resemblances to

his head and slowly lifted his head. His

disappear and let the real you take over? I have no interest in

manner, every word he spoke thundered in

pained me to be reminded that I was a fraud, I was gradually

a

"I'm good."

"You're good?"

mumbled while he looked at me with a strange

"Ha."

hand, he let out one single

laugh didn't last for long, as his

you

enveloped the room as he snapped his

"Khurk!"

instantly dropped on both knees

hands, I slowly raised my head to look at

Tap. Tap. Tap.

throughout the room before they paused

moment that the

"Khuak!"

disappeared, my body reflexively gagged and a wave of

the ground, I began to heavily gasp for air while a single string of saliva

"…My bad."

I heard Jezebeth's voice

pathetically weak you are at the moment. For a moment, I thought that you

Jezebeth placed both of his

a talk? There are lots of things I want to say, and even though you might not be him, he should still be able to hear every single

my

"How should we start?"

his head and pondering for a bit, Jezebeth tapped his

having a hard time remembering

his head,

he takes over.

toward me until his palm was directly in front of my

moment, I caught a whiff of death lingering in the

kill you before he takes over? There have been several instances when he's brought me quite a bit of

like many

you right now, a lot of my

into this weird phase

I've got a

was only after he removed the palm of his hand away from me that the hissing sound stopped and he appeared in my vision once more. He kept the

he spare

I looked at Jezebeth before me. Although his looks were similar to that of a human, and the way he acted was also similar to how a human acted, I couldn't read his expression nor understand

was a complete enigma in

what made him especially

look on your face, you must be wondering why I did

I was jolted

face, he slowly stood up from his

me in circles. The sound of his soft footsteps echoed through my

Akashic records are weakening. No, the Akashic records

I swallowed a

body started to tremble as a

not know this since you don't have the power of the Akashic laws, but

entity you are. Be it 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

turned his head

over and over again? What if it happens so many times that the records slowly start 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

my heart

His words…

a sudden feeling of dread as I began

aware of the previous regressions within my mind with

a white glow enveloped Jezebeth's hand and his

"This power…it's so addicting."

reverberated so powerfully inside the room that it

the glow on Jezebeth's

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

inside my body grew more intense with each word he

to why I kept

whispering voice hissed loudly inside of my head, and my view of the

tried my best to keep myself from passing

what he wanted to say. I wanted to know why he wasn't killing me. I wanted to know what was going

don't need

blanked, and my eyes blinked several times, unable to comprehend

filled Jezebeth's face as his two glaring red eyes stared at

want the suffering you've experienced to end, right?

Jezebeth halted himself mid-sentence.

hand over

kill yourself

his

in my direction, his smile became even

this might be

was looking at

want to

asked while he looked straight into my eyes.

part of you wants to die, while