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

It was their fate.

bastards! Come and get me if you

forget about

divert the attention of the demon away from him, Kevin's

'Why? ...Why?'

repeatedly wondered inside of his mind, his eyes drawn toward the

own. Putting your needs above mine is how

words that Kevin's mother had told him during his fourth regression

down the side of his cheek

time that he finally better

toward where

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

hand came to a stop near a particular word as he paged through a book about

and feeling sad about 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 form connections

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

felt that the words strangely

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

had always been to better understand

years old

sensation of emptiness that was eating away at his body gradually became

he was now in the

what he was feeling and find an

flipped the book over and looked at the

guide

mistake for the records to have birthed me

book in front of him and gently placing

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

however, as more time passed and regressions took place, Kevin realized that he was not an exception to the natural biological

that he experienced in the immediate

he understood that he could not run

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 he was born

Kevin realize that he

this so called thing known

Clank―!

his chair and grabbed the book

"Hm?"

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

was someone

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

exam

young, skinny man with jet-black hair covering the front

book, and beside him was a stack of

[Demon anatomy]

to watch out for from a

and what

books that were piled up

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 that he was

curse... Mind breaker curse... where is it? ...where is it? ...There must

looking for the cure to the mind breaker

in front of the young man and startling him out of his

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

the floor, resulting in a deafening crash. It was a good thing

man's expression changed dramatically the moment his eyes landed on Kevin, nearly unable

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