In a well-known restaurant in Osaka, Japan, there was an unusual group of three old men, all 100 years old, quietly chatting over coffee.
"Haha... I can't even laugh out loud anymore... afraid I'll have a stroke. (coughs)"
"Shut up, old man, I'm listening to the news."
In front of them was a TV. The old men were watching the evening news.
The journalist's voice was on high alert.
["Dear viewers, we ask that you avoid confronting them as much as possible. Leave the members of the... Ahhhhhh bzzzzzzzzzzzz. No, no... Ahhhhhhh... bzzzzzzzz... (cut off)]
This was the first reason why these three old men were far from ordinary .
While they were peacefully sipping their coffee in an almost destroyed, empty restaurant, outside—no, across the whole world—it was chaos. Everyone shared the same thought about the situation: "Illogical." "Absurd." Even those two words weren't enough to describe what was happening.
Out of nowhere, supernatural beings or things had appeared, starting to attack all forms of life on Earth.
Ghosts, Yokai, demons, zombies, modified animals, superdeveloped machines, giants, etc.
It was as if all the fictional creatures used to scare children had now become reality.
Humans were caught between despair, fear, madness, and all sorts of extreme emotions.
However, there was a group of people facing these abominations with equally supernatural abilities.
They had taken control of world administration because, apparently, these people had been fighting these creatures in the shadows for centuries. Thanks to them, humanity had held on for over two years.
They were humanity's hope.
"Hahaha... (cough cough) After living through 996 lives, I really thought nothing could shock me anymore." It was Hiroshi Girard speaking, one of the old men.
"..."
There was a brief silence, then another old man, named Daiki Anderson, broke it:
"There's no doubt now. This is exactly what those bastards have been warning us about for nearly 1000 years."
Given his wrinkled face and advanced age, no emotion showed on him, but his hand, holding the teacup, trembled slightly.
Then the third old man, who stood out a bit from the others because, despite his old age, he was in the best shape among them, looked like an old Shaolin master.
"(smiling) Hey, seriously, is this what those bastards want us to face?!"
After his question, everyone closed their eyes, seemingly remembering something terrible—and they were right to.
Until yesterday, humanity had fought and regained hope thanks to the Bureau of Strange Affairs, who fought the abominations, but it turned out to be a false hope.
For in the center of the Earth (the Gulf of Guinea), something indescribable appeared, sitting as if it were doing yoga, but its head was not visible. It was so gigantic that the whole Earth could see it.
It appeared without warning, and when it arrived, not only did the abominations' powers double, but the demons' powers quintupled.
At that moment, the world was doomed. The agents of the Bureau of Strange Affairs continued to fight, but deep down, they knew: "The moment that giant moves, we're dead."
The restaurant and everything around it began to shake. It was a giant walking and casually crushing everything in its path.
It was ten steps away from the restaurant where the old men were.
"Finally." Strangely, they all now wore an indescribable smile on their faces.
"I guess we're starting to lose our minds, hahaha," said Shaolin master Akira, speaking joyfully.
Daiki Anderson:
"It'd be weirder if we were still sane after living nearly 1000 years, right?"
"You're right... My buddy."
The three old men downed their coffee in one go.
"You ready?" asked Akira.
"....."
"....."
Daiki and Hiroshi answered Akira's question in sync:
""If we have to, even a god will be screwed!!!!""
Akira said, with a grin as wide as his friends:
"These aren't the kind of expressions old men like us should be using, but hey, from this regression (smiling), we're smashing everything!"
0 steps (the giant crushes the restaurant)
The old men are dead.
The second reason these old men were anything but ordinary was that they had lived exactly 996 lives.
Every time they died and their lives ended, they always returned to being 15 years old.
They weren't childhood friends or classmates. No, they lived in completely different countries: the United States, Japan, and France.
It wasn't until their 72nd life that they met online, through an international community dedicated to researching supernatural phenomena. They were desperately looking for a way to escape their cursed fate.
Since then, they've coordinated their actions in every new life, clinging to the hope of breaking free from this time loop.
But they had one clue.
Every time they died, before regressing, they found themselves in a completely empty, white space. In that void, words would appear in an unknown language on a gray platform resembling a game interface. Strangely, they could always understand it:
[Personal Quest: Destroy a Supreme Entity, enemy of time, so your time may flow again.]
[Difficulty: ∞]
They had seen this message 996 times but never understood it.
But now, it all made sense.
Interestingly enough, in all their 996 lives, this was the first time they had reached 100 years old.
These bastards... Seriously? What kind of insane difficulty is this?
Once again in that empty space, standing before the gray platform, something was different. This time, they wore crazed smiles.
"No matter how many regressions, no matter this stupid void or that damned system—we're going to make you cry!"