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.

cycle would continue indefinitely, with no means of

It was their fate.

here, you bastards! Come and get me if you

about me! Go

and scream at the top of their lungs, doing their best to divert the attention

'Why? ...Why?'

of his mind, his eyes drawn toward

your needs above mine is how I

mother had told him during his fourth regression

to form in the corners of his eyes, trickling down the side of his

time that he finally better understood the meaning

toward where his parents

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

stop near a particular word as he paged through a book about human

it. Loneliness causes people to feel empty, alone, and unwanted. People who are lonely often crave human contact, but their state of mind makes it more difficult to

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

some reason, he felt that the words

that the world, which seemed already to be devoid of meaning to him, had

been to better understand

was about 600 years old if one counted all of the

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

was also why he

he could better understand what he was feeling and find an answer

over and looked at the

Johnson's guide to human

a mistake for the records to have birthed me as

of

identity. The identity of a human. A social

pointless issues; however, as more time passed and regressions took place, Kevin

that he experienced in the immediate aftermath

he could not

to distance himself from the world or ignore whatever was happening around him, like the death of

realization that made Kevin realize that he could

had to better understand this so called

Clank―!

book that was

"Hm?"

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

was someone else

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

when considering that exam

saw a young, skinny man with jet-black hair

was currently glued to a large book, and beside him

[Demon anatomy]

watch out for

what is

books that were piled up in

showing signs of anxiety, given the rapidity with which he was

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

looking for the cure to

young man and startling him out

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

back and hit the floor, resulting in a deafening crash. It was a good thing the librarian wasn't around

dramatically the moment his eyes landed on Kevin, nearly unable

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