< Location: System Space >
" Grrkkhhh... " Ragna is dreaming, a dream so intense that it makes his body shaken.
" Carla... " Ragna says during his dream time.
...
( Inside the dream. )
" Grandpa... " Carla calls Ragna as he sits on his chair.
"( This moment... )"
"( Hmmm...? )" Ragna is shocked for the System suddenly pops inside his dream.
< Player Ragna Kent is in the dreaming state. >
< Location of the dream... >
< Expected place and time... >
< 12th Timeline >
Ragna sees the notification, he then decides to see the window to see its mirror that reflects his face.
"( I'm Twelve now. )" he says as he sees himself in Ragna Twelve's face, meaning that his dream is based on Ragna Twelve's memories.
He then looks at Carla in front of him, he sees her smiling while looking at her 'granddaughter' full body.
"( So this is why they want to protect you, huh? )" Ragna says as he sees his full-grown 'granddaughter'.
"( Your body is goddamn great followed by your beautiful appearance and... )" Ragna sees Carla offering him his tea and cookie.
" Grandpa, I made this for you! " she says while offering the dishes she made for Ragna.
"( She's good at cooking, what a great woman... )" Ragna smiles as he thinks of this, while thinking about Carla in front of him, he suddenly remembered his grandmother Rory who happens to be beautiful and good at cooking.
"( To think I will have a 'granddaughter' that had my grandmother's specs within her, this is truly paradise. )"
"( Right, Twelve... and my other Previous Timeline Incarnations? )" Ragna accepted what he was offered with, he was pleased, for the meal Carla gave him is delicious.
< Happiness +1.000.000.000 >
< Player Ragna begins to receive Ragna Twelve's memories before this moment. >
< Receiving Memories >
Ragna slowly receives the memory, he now knows when this moment happened.
It happened after this Carla, the one in front of him is having her break after doing her Divine Hero duties, she asked the Diviners, the gods for a break simply to visit him in this very hut he had right now.
"( To think while I'm being Ragna Twelve had a granddaughter like this, I'm envious... )"
"( But still, if I succeed in stopping the Universal Reboot, then this will happen to me someday, right? )" Ragna thinks about this, and he smiles that he enjoys this very moment.
"( To have someone biologically related to you to visit and treat you in your old times, what a great cherished moment for a person to have before they died. )"
"( For most old people, the old neighbors I had in my place, in my Timeline, had lost their children fighting monsters in the Dungeons simply because the gods, the Diviner wants them to do. )"
"( Resulting in those old people having to die alone in their house, with no descendants to be with them before their death. )" Ragna thinks about it, for he took a deep thought on how the humans, especially the younger ones had to leave their beloved ones and deal with the bastard monsters, while the gods, the Diviners are busy increasing their fame and influences or having orgies with the other pantheons.
"( I've seen many around me, like my grandmother's friends that often visit our house. )" Ragna thinks of it while sipping his drink.
"( I forgot her name, was it Beth or something, but based on what grandma told me... )"
"( Her kids are killed inside the Dungeon and she tried to ask the Hunters, the gods, her own god who gave her Gift for compensation. )"
"( But instead, her Gifter god denied her plea and stripped her from her very Gift, making her Ungifted in an old age, vulnerable. )"
"( Hence why, I think weeks before her death, she visits my grandma as she cries in front of her, I remembered it as I see her after I finished doing my school back then. )" Ragna reflects this.
"( What an ironic thing to have in your old age... )" Ragna thinks to himself, he definitely does not want this to happen to him.
" I must stop that thing from happening again, I... "
" Grandpa...? " Carla interrupts him, she hears his leaked thoughts.
" Um, yes Carla, what is it? " Ragna replied to her, being startled as he suddenly lets out what he thinks.
" What are you saying just now? " Carla asks.
" Saying what now? " I replied, trying to avert her but.
" No, I just hear you saying that you must stop that 'thing' from happening again... "
" What are you thinking right now? Are you okay? " Carla asks, concerned about her grandpa's condition.
" Uh yes, Carl... I " Ragna sips again another of his drink and eats again his meal, finishing it so fast.
" Wow, that's fast Grandpa...? " Carla asks as she sees Ragna eating so fast.
" I thought you hate sweets. " Carla says as she looked at Grandpa Ragna eating a chocolate cake so fast while drinking chocolate milk, the thing is, in the previous Timelines, Ragna in every version of it, hates sweets, those kinds of meals that had been inserted with sugar.
But sadly, the Ragna in the Current Timeline, the one we're seeing inside this dream despite Ragna Twelve's appearance, loved sweets, he could eat as many cakes as he wants for that is the main reason he worked out in the first place, not for fame, charm or money back then, but in order for him to eat more cake.
( This includes him being a 'Bait' for the Hunters back then, 10% of his poor income is spent for him buying cakes. )
" Oh no, it's nothing, Carla...! "
" If it's from you, Grandpa would eat it as much as I like... " Ragna wipes the cake's remnants from his mouth.
" By the way, Grandpa is grateful that you decided to take a break to visit me. "
" Is it bothering you, after all, you still had your duties, right? " Ragna asks Carla Carla responded with a sad expression, she looked down as if she felt down at that very moment.
" Grandpa, I... " Carla says as her hands are shivering.
Tears began to flow from her eyes, while her fingers are gripping her own leg.
" Carla? " Ragna asks her for he then gets a memory, this time a memory of the moment afterward after this moment.
"( You gotta be kidding me? )" Ragna says as he sees the future time that will happen in the 12th Timeline.
"( This moment, is just months before her execution!? )"* Ragna sees it which made him pissed.
" Carla, you... "
" Grandpa... " she sobs.
" Can I quit being a Divine Hero? " she asked Ragna if he will let her quit while explaining what happened to her in the past few years at that time.
Ragna hears all this, and it really pisses him off after Carla finished explaining to him, all of her problems with the Divine, she also mentions Indura, the Divine Vixen, telling her problem with her as she told Ragna that Indura.
" She did what...!? " Ragna was so angry after Carla told him that Indura grape her in her private chamber.
Ragna is so furious in his thoughts after hearing the one that tortured him and killed his parents (including his dog) is also harassing his 'granddaughter' in the Previous Timelines, not once in the 12th Timeline even.
< Player Ragna receiving future memories from the 69th Timeline and the 100th Timeline... >
" Stop it! " Ragna gets pissed off as he then approached Carla.
" Carla, just quit it already, don't continue to be their bitch! " Ragna holds Carla and shakes her, while Carla continues to cry despite her great strength, even for a Divine Hero, she still can't hold so much burden.
" I'm sorry Grandpa, I'm not sure anymore! " Carla cries in front of Ragna.
" It's alright dear, grandpa is still with you, grandpa is- " Ragna startles as Carla whom he holds suddenly changed, her body is instead sprouting blood as he then sees his surroundings are changed as well.
For he sees, the Diviners who are responsible for making his 'granddaughter' like this around him. Marticorax, Indura, and many others.
" You, you all did this, you! "
" GODDAMN IT, ALL OF YOU! " Ragna shouts as he cries for this. while he received many visions.
...
( Back to the real world. )
" Dreaming, huh? " Ragna Twelve says as he sees Ragna is currently having a nightmare.
He sees him, seeing his condition and he concluded that in the next seconds, Ragna will wake up in 3, 2,...
" 1... "
" ARRGGGHHHH!!! " Ragna awakens from his dream, sweats are flooding his skin.
" Welcome back. " Twelve tells him.
" Which dream are you having right now? " Twelve asks Ragna which Ragna only replied by staring at him.
" You saw...? " Ragna asks him.
"You're dreaming often comes from my memories, including from 69 and 100's. "
" We are your previous lives, after all. " Twelve simply explains it which Ragna replied by being silent.
" No reply, huh? fine! "
" Suit yourself, for we're going to our next destination, okay? " Twelve tells him.
" Destination? " Ragna asks.
" Really now? Do you forget? " Twelve reminds Ragna which quickly reminded him.
" Oh yes, that place, wasn't it? " Ragna replied as he prepares himself.
" I'll be ready in a minute, wait for me. " Ragna tells Twelve while the last scenes from his dream quietly affect him.
" I won't have it again! Not again! " Ragna vows to himself.
...
Hello guys this is the opening chapter of Volume 4: The White Shadow.
This Volume will tell you the story regarding the tales of the 'White Demon' stage of Ragna Kent, our MC. Please Enjoy.
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Extra:
If you still forget who Carla is...
Carla is Ragna's granddaughter, she exists from the 12th Timeline to the 1.011th Timeline before the 1.111th Timeline, the Current Setting of this story's time even starts which means she is not existed yet based on the time.
She first appeared in Chapters 1-8 ('The Reboot'-'Chrono Jump') and thoroughly being constantly mentioned or given flashbacks ever since.
Next is Indura, who first appeared in the first Chapters of the Novel in Chapters 2-8 ('The Fall (1)'-'Chrono Jump') being the one who is responsible for killing Carla back in the 12th Timeline and further Timelines afterward before the 1.111th (Current) Timeline of this story starts.
As an author, I will tell you that this character is the one who owed many debts of sins to Ragna Kent and some of his related ones like Carla in the previous Timelines for example. Even in the Current Timeline, she is the one responsible for killing Ragna Current's parents, butchering his dog, and torturing, and raping Ragna in his 6-year-old human life.
This happened on September 6, 2015 (1.111th Timeline), on Ragna's 6 y.o birthday, thus giving him heavy trauma ever since before Grandma Rory decided to ask a psychiatrist to hypnotize him and make him forget all of the things that happened at the time ( I didn't mention this, I'm sorry).
The Events of September 6, 2015, is being referred to in Chapters 133-135 (Thunderous Trauma Part 1-3).