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,

It was their fate.

you bastards! Come and get

about me! Go

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

'Why? ...Why?'

repeatedly wondered inside of his mind, his

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

his fourth regression rang in Kevin's head, even though they were barely

his eyes, trickling down the side of his cheek before softly landing on the hard

time that he finally better

his hand forward toward where his parents were, Kevin

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

particular word as he paged through

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

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

felt that the words strangely

since the passing of his parents, he had the impression that the world, which seemed already

goal had always been to better understand the sensations

years old if one counted

all that time, the sensation of emptiness that was eating away at his

he

better understand what

flipped the book over and looked at the

guide to

mistake for the records to

book in front of him and gently

identity of a

passed and regressions took place, Kevin realized that he was not

sensations that he experienced in the immediate aftermath of the passing of

that he could not run away

like the death of

realization that made Kevin realize that he could no longer ignore the issue at

had to better understand this

Clank―!

and grabbed the book

"Hm?"

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

was someone else

the morning, and it was very strange to see someone

when considering that exam

young, skinny man

glued to a large book, and beside him

[Demon anatomy]

out for from

curses and what is known

the books that were piled

face, it was obvious that the young man was showing signs of anxiety, given the rapidity with which he was turning the pages of the books and the low

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

looking for the cure to the mind

of the young man and startling

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

crash. It was a good thing the librarian wasn't around because nothing good would've

the moment his eyes landed on

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