The Author's POV

'Why did it happen again?'

While sitting on the curb in front of the bus with a perplexed expression on his face, Kevin mused to himself about the situation.

Why did they die again?

He did everything that he was supposed to do.

He didn't go toward the inner city and lead his parents away from home, yet, they still died.

This time by a road accident.

The demons weren't even responsible for their deaths.

Kevin's gaze lifted toward the clouds in the sky. Staring at the clouds that were moving ever so slowly in the sky, he had a sudden thought.

'...I wanted to spend more time with them.'

***

Bang―!

"Watch out, Kevin!"

Once more, Kevin watched as his parents threw their bodies over to protect him. This time, their bodies were completely severed in half, and blood spilt all over Kevin.

The expressions of helplessness and anguish that they displayed just prior to passing away left an indelible mark on his mind as he could only watch them die in front of him.

Crash―!

"Get behind me, Kevin!"

Booom―!

"Ahhhh!"

Unbeknownst to him, the same events kept happening over and over again with each and every one of his regressions.

Before Kevin even realized it, he had reached his twentieth regression, and for the twentieth time, both of his parents had passed away right before his very eyes.

This time, it was due to an explosion that occurred outside of the city.

'...Why?'

Kevin never managed to muster the required strength to come to the aid of his mother and father, no matter how many times he tried. Each time, they would suffer a horrible death, and he would be left all by himself once more.

The heaviness in his heart, which had been barely noticeable at first, became increasingly obvious with each and every one of his regressions, and it intensified with the passing of his parents in all of the regressions.

Over the course of those twenty regressions, he would have an immeasurably better chance of defeating Jezebeth, but despite his best efforts, he continued to fall short in every single one of his endeavours.

Kevin understood that it was only a matter of time before he could beat Jezebeth.

Be it one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, or a million regressions...

Kevin had all the time in the world to accumulate experience and become stronger.

Jezebeth was still ahead of him by quite a lot, but Kevin knew that his time would come very soon.

...In those times, with each regression, he would spend more and more time with his parents. By the time the twentieth regression happened, he had spent at least a century of his life with them.

He pretty much knew them like the back of his hand.

...and it was because of this that he found it more difficult to part ways with them every five years since his birth.

After each of their deaths, he would experience a sharp pain, and the colour that had been slowly developing in his vision would slowly fade away.

indefinitely, with no

It was their fate.

bastards! Come

forget about me!

and scream at the top of their lungs, doing their best to divert the attention of the demon away from him, Kevin's chest began to feel as if it were being crushed

'Why? ...Why?'

his eyes drawn

your needs above mine is how I show you that I love you.

told him during his fourth regression rang in Kevin's head,

his eyes, trickling down the side

time that he finally better understood the meaning of his mother's

toward where his parents were,

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

a particular word

who are lonely often crave human contact, but their state of mind makes

on the area around him, and he traced his finger across the definition that was in front of him with a light

some reason, he felt that the words strangely

that the world, which seemed already to be devoid of meaning to him, had taken on an even

always been to better understand the sensations

600 years old if one counted

was eating away at his body gradually became worse, to the point where every

he was

so that he could better understand what he

flipped the book over and looked at the cover

Johnson's guide to

for the records to have birthed me

of him and gently placing his

of all of his problems at the moment was his identity. The identity of

he would never be forced to deal with such pointless issues; however, as more time passed and regressions

experienced in the immediate aftermath of the passing of

he understood that he could

much he might try to distance himself from the world or ignore whatever was happening around him, like the death of his parents

was this realization that made Kevin realize that he could no longer ignore the

better understand this

Clank―!

out of his chair and grabbed the book that was

"Hm?"

the verge of turning around to return the book when he suddenly became

someone else

and it was very strange to see someone still in

considering that exam season has

turning around, saw a young, skinny man with jet-black hair

face was currently glued to a large book, and beside him

[Demon anatomy]

out for

what

found himself staring at the books that were piled up

his hair was covering his face, it was obvious that the young man was showing signs of

it? ...where is it? ...There must be a way ...There has to be a

for the cure to the mind breaker

of the young man and startling him out of

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

deafening crash. It was a good thing the librarian wasn't around because nothing good would've come of

changed dramatically the moment his

"You...you're Kevin Voss."