After all, he was a being who could not die even if he died.
It seemed that concentrating on something while he was still alive would at least give some clutches to his crippled mind.
So he decided to do what he was good at.
…Funny enough, what he did best was to save the world.
From the 94th to the 98th round, he saved the world five more times.
Even though he wasn’t born to be a hero, he was one who had to die to be a hero, so he did his job very well.
It took less than 5 years to save the world in the 98th round. That was the 10th time he was successful.
It was thanks to pushing forward thinking only about efficiency, without caring about human life.
It was a boring and uninspiring act of salvation.
At least, the method of death given after that was quite colorful and new.
As soon as the salvation of the world was over, the Church tried to kill him as if they had been waiting for it. Caught in arson, pushed off a cliff, hanged, surrounded by paladins, pierced by their swords in turn…
He was put in a coffin while he was asleep after drinking a cup of poison, and was buried after experiencing all the glory of a grand state funeral.
Of course, it was only a very small problem for him to be thrown away.
In the first place, the human beings he saw through his eyes were also beings who took on such a role.
99 times.
‘This time…’
Thesilid, who woke up in the ‘Sculptor’s Atelier’ as usual, decided to pursue a little change.
He walked into the battleground against ‘Chaos and Evil’ by himself.
You could say that he just went to die.
The humans of this round would be in trouble because he abandoned the mission to save the world ahead of the final battle.
However.
The huge black sea was swirling with its mouth wide open as if hoping for a human sacrifice.
Spoke.
To him.
<Here we go again. How many times is this? That you came to seal me.>
“……!”
<As expected. My guess was correct.>
Something happened in the 99th round.
Timeline multiplied by repeated regressions. Did the accumulated causality finally create a singularity?
‘Chaos and Evil’ had recognized this regressive world.
The sea roared with joy as if dancing.
Voices like a crowd of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children flowed out of the vortex again.
<Would you like to talk with me for a moment, ‘Clock Axis of Strict Order and Goodwill’?>
“……Clock Axis?”
<Yes. That is the word that best suits your role. You are the only working part that turns the old and broken clockwork of this abandoned world.>
“……”
Indeed, for the first time after long years, Thesilid’s heart beat desperately. He was not unaware that the Devil’s specialty was to deceive the human mind.
But what is the difference between Devil and God?
In his life, God was the crueler one.
“Do you want anything from me?”
<Of course.>
“What is it?”
<For you know the truth of this world that I have realized.>
“Is that all?”
<Because that would be enough to corrupt you.>
“……”
‘Chaos and Evil’ knew very well that he could not refuse.
<Go to the library of all things and ask about ‘why the world is going to end’.>
“Didn’t you say it was the truth you realized? Why do you want me to hear it through the Bible of Truth?”
<The law that you will hear was originally not of this world, but at some point, it became the basis of this world. It’s necessary to make the Bible bear the price for a heavenly leak.>
Thesilid left behind the swirling waves, got out of the dungeon, and as ‘Chaos and Evil’ said, he found the library of all things.
It’s been five lives since the 94th round when he last wasted his right to ask questions.
<Those who have come to seek answers that cannot be obtained from God, what are you curious about?>
His lips repeated the words ‘Chaos and Evil’ told him.
“Why is the world ending?”
<That’s because…>
The humming voice that seemed to be submerged in the water contained the truth.
The explanation went on for a very long time and each time a sentence was formed, the pages that made up the Bible of Truth were burnt by divinity.
Pasut, Passut…
By the time the Bible of Truth finally turned into ashes and disappeared.
“Ha…”
Even if it was distorted, a man with a beautiful face laughed, as if out of his mind.
“Ha ha ha ha ha……”
The slave of a God, who had been deceived for nearly a thousand years, fell to his knees.
“Ha ha ha ha ha……!”
He sat down on the ground and burst into a wet roar. He had to watch a very funny clown play.
Of course, the clown was him.
“God abandoned the world? A world abandoned by God has no power to draw a future? So this world is barely keeping up while being stuck in the same timeframe? And it’s my return that plays the rewinding role of this broken clock…?”
After a half-conscious retelling, there was a heavy silence.
He fell on his stomach and scraped the floor with both hands.
His final prayer had begun.
“Ha……Is this it?…… Is this the mercy you give to the world you left behind……”
Fingernails broke and he painted ten long lines of blood on the stone floor.
“God, gentle, merciful, ‘Strict order and Goodwill’. What about me? Have you no mercy on me? Why me? Did it have to be me?”
There was a burst of heat in his eyes.
Dip-dip-dip.
Red bloodstains were stamped on the floor.
“Damn God, you could’ve just let it perish! Why! Why! Why are you trying to keep this world going!? Why does it have to be my endless returns that hold the cracks!”
He cried, howled, and begged.
“Please show me that petty mercy too……please……”
✠
One life was over.
It was a very pious and faithful life where he only prayed until the moment his breath stopped.
And at the next life, the 100th episode.
He went to ‘Chaos and Evil’. There was no need for a long conversation…
“……”
Thesilid, whose soul was completely dried up, stood at the edge of a steep cliff.
The sea of chaos swirled wildly beneath his feet.
He murmured with an emotionless face.
“I’m done saving the world.”
<Well thought.>
The whirlpool was delighted and opened its black mouth even wider.
Lurking in it was the abyss. But now, the sea-blue eyes looking down on it were deeper and darker.
“’Chaos and Evil’, what will happen to me if I accept you?”
<You will be branded as a Sinner, stripped of your holy power, and banished to the dimensional rift.>
“Is that so?”
<Don’t worry. The Sinner’s Stigma will be a medal, and instead of divine power, you can learn other powers. The dimensional rift where the flow of time has stopped is a good place for training. If you roll there for a few hundred years, you will be able to break through the dimensional rift yourself.>
“Regression.”
<……>
“Is the regression the same?”
<Perhaps, it is.>
“……Right.”
His hot right hand swept drily across his face.
There was no more hesitation.
His legs immediately stepped over the cliff.
While falling from a great height, a change occurred in his body.
The holy sword belonging to him was transformed into a demonic sword.
As a result, Thesilid’s silver hair was dyed black and grew long. His eyes which resembled the sea were stained with blood.
His fall and corruption came together.
At last, his body reached the mouth of the abyss. The huge whirlpool, the ‘Cradle of Chaos and Evil’, gobbled up the sacrificed human vessel.
From now on, it was a long, long time of incubation.
✠
“……It didn’t take me as long as I thought. I guess I was pretty talented at magic. It took less than a hundred years to rip through the dimension and come out on a normal timeline.”
“……”
He and I were sitting in worship chairs across the aisle.
From our respective frontal positions, we occasionally turned our heads to the side to look at each other.
“It didn’t matter which timeline it was, but it was a bit cumbersome to find the desired point. I wanted to arrive before I awakened my ability to regress. Can you guess the reason?”
I felt a tenacious gaze on my cheek and got a stab. He gave me the looks that he was sure I’ll get the right answer.
“…You thought that if you killed yourself before starting the regression, you might be able to end the regression.”
“Excellent.”
He gave a low-pitched laugh, as if genuinely happy.
Every time I heard it, my chest throbbed.
“Even as soon as I came out to this timeline, you welcomed me.”
He felt the Descent of Divinity.
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