Chapter 14 Starting Over Again
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"Aghhhhhhhh!!!". A scream that pierced the sky rang out. The sound was filled with despair, pain, agony,...and regret.
A young boy with pale skin and messy black hair was writhing on the floor. The boy's hoarse scream sounded as if he had just experienced an extremely painful death.
He screamed until his voice could no longer be heard. His thin body was shaking violently like the last leaf struggling against the cold wind. He curled up, his two hands clutching his own biceps so tightly that the skin was peeling off. His eyes were bloodshot, looking extremely ferocious.
He stayed like that for a while and then passed out from exhaustion.
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"Ugh...". My head hurts so badly, it's like being hit by a hammer.
Blurry images surged into my mind, overwhelming me like a tidal wave. It was a nightmare so vivid, it felt like reality. No, it was a memory of my "past life"
"Fuck!". I cursed out loud in anger, my hand hitting the floor hard.
A sharp pain shot through my fist, jolting me back to reality.
"Did I really die like that?"
Vague memories of my death in the final battle, the battle I thought Karen would win. And I'm also certain that the world was destroyed right after the Demon King snapped his fingers.
A one-sided battle with the Demon King's overwhelming power...
'Demon King...'. I remembered that moment, the only moment that I would never forget in my entire life, the moment when everything around me was engulfed in flames. I was also burned alive in that destructive fire.
The feeling of that fire licking my skin and spreading endlessly throughout my body. Something that I could not extinguish with all my efforts. I witnessed myself dying in the sea of fire with the utmost agony. The burning sensation still exists very clearly in my memory.
I looked down at my body, the image of my body covered in bright red burns with no intact skin left, blood continuously flowing over my current body. My pupils shrank like a needle hole. My whole body trembled uncontrollably, cold sweat pouring out like a shower. My mind at this moment was like a crumpled piece of paper, I could not think clearly at all. My body and soul were in a mess at this moment.
My breathing became more and more rapid as I recalled that moment. My heart was also beating at an extremely fast speed. The veins in some places on my body began to appear on my already pale skin, looking extremely scary.
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It took me a long time to regain some composure, I dragged my still trembling body into the bathroom. Poured a bucket of cold water over my head to cool down my negative thoughts. Only now, my thoughts became a little clearer.
My eyes accidentally fell on the mirror, reflecting on it was the image of a pale face with bloodshot eyes. Messy hair like a straw nest. Arms with numerous wounds. At this moment, I was like a homeless person who had been beaten on the street.
"Ah..."
As my eyes scanned the wounds, my hands started to quiver uncontrollably. I gently placed my pallid hands over the lacerations. The eerie correspondence between the shape of my hands and the claw marks caused my heart to miss a beat.
"Did I do this?" I muttered, my eyes staring blankly at my own arm.
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"Ha ha...". I let out a hoarse laugh.
Looking at myself in the mirror once more, I couldn't help but let out a self-deprecating smile with my eyebrows furrowed. I was disgusted by my own misery.
I leaned my hand on the sink, not daring to look straight and lowered my head. The drops of water on my hair fell drop by drop.
"How pathetic...". I muttered. Negative thoughts began to flood back.
"One lifetime... and what have I actually accomplished until the very moment of death?"
Why... Why did I ever have such naive thoughts? Why did I decide to just stand by and observe without helping the main character? I was the one who held the original plot, knew the future, something that could help myself or the hero group grow stronger than ever. Yet I ignored it and didn't care.
I was too confident, too confident in the protagonist's power. And most of all, I underestimated the Demon King...
If I had acted differently from the beginning...if I had helped the protagonist's group...would the outcome have been different? Would the Demon King have been destroyed if I had made a different choice?
I don't know...But I'm certain that if I had intervened in the plot and accelerated the development of the hero group. Things wouldn't have ended so simply.
It wasn't until I had passed through a lifetime that I realized my fatal mistake. For what? If I hadn't been regressed, I wouldn't have realized my mistake...
"Ah..." A thought flashed through my mind, and my eyes lit up with a strange gleam.
"That's right...I've been regressed." I muttered with my lips trembling slightly.
'That's right, I've been regressed to before it all began. If I start interfering with the plot from this moment on, the future will change!'
That thought was like a thunderclap in my head. A small ray of hope shone brightly amidst the negative thoughts. It felt like a ray of sunshine breaking through the dark clouds after a big storm. A sense of security and warmth began to spread.
"Don't be subjective!" I slapped my cheek, pulling myself away from those unrealistically bright prospects.
I can't let myself be so overconfident anymore, I know what kind of bleak future lies ahead. Those unrealistic dreams will only prevent me from moving forward quickly. I can't make the same mistake as before, being too subjective and leading to destruction. I need to be prepared for every possible situation within my ability.
And it seems that it's not a coincidence that a useless person like me was brought into this world. I know in advance that there are many things that can accelerate the development of the world. Was my coming to this world and being regressed to help prevent it from falling into destruction?
"Is that my mission?" I muttered in disbelief.
"No." I quickly shook my head and denied the thought.
I knew my limits. I wasn't great enough to shoulder something like a mission to save the world. I was just an ordinary person with an ordinary potential limit. Something like a mission to save the world was more suitable for Karen and her gang than me. I could only do my best to survive longer. I'm afraid of death. I didn't want to experience the feeling of dying again.
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After a while, I finally calmed down. I sat on the bed, my elbows resting on my knees, my chin resting on my tightly clasped fists. I began to seriously think about what had happened.
First of all, I had been regressed after my death in the last war. The reason is unknown.
I looked at the calendar on my BracePhone. It showed {August 27, 305th Elmanar}.
Second, I regressed to the first day I came to this world. Based on the clothes I was wearing and the position I was lying in before, I could conclude that I regressed to the moment my body and soul experienced their first synchronization.
And third... my memories were missing in many places, I could only remember the general outline of what had happened, but I couldn't remember the details. Even the knowledge I had learned was missing in many places. I tried to recall those missing parts, and a headache would strike every time I tried. It seemed that the loss of some of my memories was a side effect of the regression and the mental damage from my previous death.
In my previous life, I lived the life of an NPC as I had always wanted. And in the end, I died at the hands of the Demon King. The world was destroyed right after that. And now I regretted my choice.
"Ha... I should focus on the future rather than dwelling on the past." I couldn't help but let out a long sigh. I rubbed my forehead with furrowed brows.
Organizing my thoughts, it didn't take long for me to decide what I needed to do next.
'I need to improve myself more!'
Karen and her group were already overwhelming in the early stages, there was no need for me to interfere with their development at this time. Besides, they were all focused on developing themselves in the academy at the beginning, and I couldn't help them at all. So what I needed to do now was to improve myself. I needed to have enough power to defend myself if I wanted to stay close and intervene, supporting the main characters when they needed it.
The only thing that gives me a headache is the limit of my potential. That fucking C-rank limit.
In a world where potential is determined from the moment a child was born, there was no way to change it. No matter how hard I tried, that limit couldn't grow. I needed an ability that would allow me to surpass my level and defeat my enemies if I wanted to survive any longer. And just in time, I knew something I could use.
"Alright, I should use this time before school to find that skill." I stood up, looked out the window at the clear blue sky, and made my decision.
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