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.

would continue indefinitely, with no means of

It was their fate.

bastards! Come and get me

forget about me! Go

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

'Why? ...Why?'

his eyes drawn toward the

above mine is how I show

his fourth

of his eyes, 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 parents were,

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

near a particular word as he paged through a book about

who are lonely often crave

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

it, but ever since the passing of his parents, he had the impression that the world, which seemed already to be devoid of meaning to

been to better understand the sensations

was about 600 years old if one

all that time, the sensation of emptiness that was eating away at his body gradually became worse, to the point

was also why he

better understand what he was feeling and find an answer

looked

Johnson's guide to human

was a mistake for the records to have birthed me as

staring at the book in front of him and gently placing his hand

identity of a human. A

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

the fleeting sensations that he experienced in the immediate aftermath of the passing of his parents

he could not run away from

around him, like the death of his parents or his own death, the

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

to better understand this so

Clank―!

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

"Hm?"

the book when he suddenly became aware of a

someone

approximately three in the morning, and it was very strange to see someone still in the library at that

that exam

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

currently glued to a large book, and beside him was

[Demon anatomy]

out for

curses and what is known about

that

that the young man was showing signs of anxiety, given the rapidity with which he was turning the pages

is it? ...There

looking for the cure

in front of the young man and startling

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

of him fell back and hit the floor, resulting in a deafening crash. It was a good thing

dramatically the moment his

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