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 means of

It was their fate.

you bastards! Come and get me

forget about me!

divert the attention of the demon away from him, Kevin's chest began to feel

'Why? ...Why?'

his eyes drawn toward

own. Putting your needs above mine is how I show you that

that Kevin's mother had told him during his fourth regression rang in Kevin's head, even

corners of his eyes, trickling down the side of his cheek before softly

this time that he finally better understood the meaning of his

forward toward where his parents

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

particular word as he

it. Loneliness causes people to feel empty, alone, and unwanted. People who are lonely often

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

some reason, he felt that the words strangely

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

goal had always been to better understand the sensations

about 600 years old if one

all that time, the sensation of emptiness that was eating away at

also why he was

that he could better understand what he was feeling and

and looked at the cover of the

Johnson's guide to human

was a mistake for the records to

at the book in front of

root of all of his problems at the moment was his identity. The identity of a human. A social being that thrived on what was known as

believed that he would never be forced to deal with such pointless issues; however, as more time passed and regressions took place, Kevin realized that he was not an exception to the natural biological system of the being known as

he experienced in the immediate aftermath of the

that he could not run

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

was this realization that made Kevin realize that

had to better understand this

Clank―!

chair and grabbed the book that was on the table

"Hm?"

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

was someone else

very strange to see someone still in the library

that exam season has already

upon turning around, saw a young, skinny man with jet-black hair covering the front of his

large book,

[Demon anatomy]

to watch out for

what is known about

books that were piled

that the young man was showing signs of anxiety, given

...where is it? ...There must

for the cure to the mind breaker

young man and startling him

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

front of him fell back and hit the floor, resulting in a deafening crash.

moment his eyes landed on

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