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,

It was their fate.

Come and get me if

forget about

Kevin watched his parents yell and scream at the top of their lungs, doing their best to divert the attention of the demon away from him, Kevin's

'Why? ...Why?'

his mind, his eyes drawn

Putting your needs above mine

fourth regression rang in Kevin's head,

form in the corners of his eyes, trickling down the side of his cheek before softly landing on the

he finally better understood the

toward where his parents were,

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

stop near a particular word as he paged through a

state of being alone and feeling sad about it. Loneliness causes people to feel empty, alone, and unwanted. People who are lonely often crave human

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

some reason, he felt that the

of his parents, he had the impression that the world, which seemed already to be devoid of meaning to him, had taken on an even more hollow

to better understand the sensations

about 600 years old if one counted all of

emptiness that was eating away at his body gradually became worse, to the point where every breath

was also why he was now in the

understand what he

the book over and looked at

Johnson's guide to

mistake for the records to have birthed me

book in front of him and gently placing his hand over

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

to deal with such pointless issues; however, as more time passed and regressions took

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

that he could not

or ignore whatever was happening around him, like the death of his parents or his own death, the biological

realize that he could no longer ignore the issue at

better understand this so called thing known

Clank―!

got out of his chair and grabbed the book that

"Hm?"

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

someone else

and it was very strange

exam season has already

man with jet-black hair covering the front of

book,

[Demon anatomy]

watch out for

and what is known

at the books that were piled

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

is it? ...There must be a way ...There

you looking for the cure to the mind breaker

front of the young

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

fell back and hit the floor, resulting in a deafening crash. It was a good thing the librarian wasn't around because nothing good would've

expression changed dramatically the moment his eyes landed on Kevin, nearly unable to hide

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