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.

continue indefinitely,

It was their fate.

Come and get me if you

forget about

scream at the top of their lungs, doing their best to divert the attention of the demon away from him, Kevin's

'Why? ...Why?'

his eyes drawn toward the scenes

the needs of someone else before their own. Putting your needs above mine is how I

his fourth regression rang in Kevin's head, even though

trickling down the side of his cheek before softly landing on the hard

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

where his

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

came to a stop near a particular word as he paged through a

Loneliness causes people to feel empty, alone, and unwanted. People who are lonely often crave human contact, but

on the area around him, and he traced his finger across the definition that was in

that the words strangely resonated

quite get it, but ever since the passing of his parents, he had the impression that the world,

been to better understand the sensations

old

time, the sensation of emptiness that was eating away

he was

what he was feeling and find an

flipped the book over and looked at the cover

Johnson's guide

the records to have birthed

front of him and gently placing

his identity. The identity of a human. A social being that thrived on what was known as

be forced to deal with such pointless issues; however, as more time passed and regressions took place, Kevin realized that he

sensations that he experienced in the

could

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

Kevin realize that he could no longer ignore the issue at

understand this so

Clank―!

of his chair and grabbed the book that was on the table

"Hm?"

the book when he suddenly became aware of a faint light off in

was someone else

was very strange to see someone

exam season has

saw a young, skinny man with jet-black hair

to a large book, and beside him was a stack

[Demon anatomy]

out

and what

the books that were

fact that his hair was covering his face, it was obvious that the young man was showing signs of anxiety, given the rapidity with which he was turning the pages of the books and the low mutterings

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

for the cure to the

front of the young man and startling him out

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

in a deafening crash. It

dramatically the moment his eyes landed on Kevin, nearly unable to hide his

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