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.

cruel cycle would continue indefinitely, with no means

It was their fate.

bastards! Come and get

forget about me!

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

'Why? ...Why?'

his mind, his eyes drawn toward

puts the needs of someone else before their own. Putting your needs above mine is how I show you that I love you.

during his fourth regression rang

eyes, trickling down the side of

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

where

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

stop near a particular word as

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

he traced his finger across the

reason, he felt that the words strangely

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

goal had always been to better understand the

old if

emptiness that was eating away at his body gradually became worse, to

was also why he was now

was so that he could better understand what he was feeling and find

flipped the book over and looked at the

Johnson's guide to human

mistake for the records to have

in front of him and gently placing his hand over

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

would never be forced to deal with such pointless issues; however, as more time passed and regressions took

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

could

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

that he could no longer ignore the

had to better understand this so called

Clank―!

of his chair and grabbed the book

"Hm?"

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

someone else

the morning, and it was very strange to see

when considering that exam season has already

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

face was currently glued to a large book, and

[Demon anatomy]

watch out for from

curses and what is known

unknowingly found himself staring at the books that were piled up in

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

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

you looking for the cure to

front of the young man and startling him out

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

crash. It was a good thing

changed dramatically the moment his

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