༺ I Hope You Remember Some Day ༻
“I knew it would come to this!”
Mane had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
While blocking the attack, she shouted angrily, glaring in my direction.
“This is why you should have listened to me back then!”
“…”
“Kill your comrade covered with that damn magi right now, If you do so, you’ll gain enough strength to somewhat be able to match the being in front of you.”
Even now, she was constantly spouting incomprehensible nonsense.
Despite my attempt to retort against her irritating words, I could only continue to cough up blood. Barely managing to hold back the flow of blood pouring from my mouth, I shouted at her to provide an explanation.
“I… I need you to explain what the hell you’re even talking about.”
I opted to listen, hoping that she could provide a solution to overcome this situation.
“That’s right. I should explain what’s going on first.”
We were currently being bombarded by a massive attack.
Although a power beyond anything I had seen before was attacking her, Mane continued her explanation with only a slight frown on her face, indicating that she could continue to withstand the onslaught.
“As I told you before, devils become stronger in solitude. You, I, and the being in front of you, we are all devils.”
“What nonsense are you say-”
“Have you ever seen something strange written on people’s status windows? No, I don’t even need to explain that. Do you happen to have any memories of when you were young, or of your parents? You don’t, right?”
“…”
“It’s natural that you wouldn’t possess such memories. From the start, you are an existence not of this dimension.”
“Are you expecting me to believe that?”
“Does it even matter if you believe it or not? We’ll all die here at this rate, but there’s a way for some of us to survive. As a devil, the more alone we are, the stronger we become. In other words, you mustn’t have any bonds with anyone. I don’t know if it will be enough, but if you kill those girls, you can become far stronger than you are now.”
As she spoke, Mane’s expression became increasingly strained, making it clear she couldn’t last much longer.
Seemingly at her limit, she reiterated her request.
“Please, kill them quickly. If you don’t do it right now, you’ll be the one who ends up dying. I can’t last much longer either.”
Pointing at Ha-eun, Seo-ah, and Hyun-a, Mane continued to relentlessly plead for me to kill my comrades, reiterating that she couldn’t hold on for much longer.
“…”
All of them had already lost consciousness, with Seo-ah and Hyun-a going first, accompanied by Ha-eun due to magi exposure.
Since they couldn’t even resist, it wouldn’t be difficult to kill them.
But would it be enough to kill that bastard?
“What are you doing?! Hurry up and kill them! You don’t want to die, do you?!”
Mane continually pushed me forward, yelling for me to kill or be killed.
“Fine.”
“Wonderful! Hurry an-”
Before she could even finish speaking, I used [Large Explosion].
Not on my comrades, but on her.
-BOOM!
Mane, who had been stopping the onslaught of attacks, was forced to terminate her barrier, allowing the attack to hit her directly.
“C-Cough… Wh-What do you think you’re doing?…”
As soon as the attack hit, Mane’s face contorted in pain, but the surprise on her face remained.
“Have you resigned yourself to death?!”
“Yeah, I have.”
“…?”
Kill or be killed. If those were the only two options, the answer was simple.
I would rather be killed.
“Are you giving up? How amusing.”
The devil laughed at me mockingly.
Thinking I’d given up, he looked at me as if I were a fool.
“When did I say I was giving up?”
“What are you saying?”
Would I give up in a situation like this?
Never.
If I gave up, all of my comrades would die.
“Death is an old friend.”
I would never abandon them. That was the reason I attacked Mane with my full strength.
She mustn’t die, but merely be pushed to the brink of death.
In other words, she had to feel defeated.
Following my attack, a system window appeared before me. However, there was no hesitation, as I already knew which skill I wanted.
The skill I would copy had already been decided.
I chose the ability that would let me turn back time upon my death.
Grade: ??
-In case of death, the player returns to a time a few seconds before death. Continuous use makes the player return to the moment right before they die.
-This is a passive skill that does not require the use of mana.
-Caution: Upon acquisition of this skill, the player’s level is fixed to 1. Skills above grade D cannot be acquired.
-[This skill is still in an unreleased state.]
That was the original skill I had. Normally, it forced my level to remain at one.
Now, though…
Grade: S
-In case of death, the player returns to a time a few seconds before death. Continuous use makes the player return to the moment right before they die.
-This is a passive skill that does not require the use of mana.
-Level restriction has been lifted.
-Skill acquisition restriction has been lifted.
-The skill will activate automatically, regardless of what may occur.
-Caution: As usage of this skill increases, the player will eventually forget everything.
The skill description had clearly changed.
‘So that was why Mane had said that.’
She had screamed that Return by Death would inevitably lead to solitude.
Mane had acted as if she knew me, but I had no memory of her.
This skill may be the root cause of this situation.
“Now that it’s come to this, let’s keep going. Let’s see what will happen if we continue regressing forever.”
“…?!”
Perhaps I might have had ties to this girl.
Her differing skill description of [Return by Death], and her attitude toward me led me to that conclusion.
I couldn’t remember a thing, but we may have shared a history.
‘Well, that’s not really important anymore.’
Going back in time no longer meant that my level would be reset, meaning I could continue to grow forever.
I would likely have to go through an uncountable amount of regressions compared to my past self, but what did it matter?
By doing so, I could kill that bastard, and save my comrades.
“It’s a shame, but I think your strategy ends here. It appears the only people who can remember regressions are me, you, and this girl, so feel free to pointlessly turn back time.”
Slowly, I brought my sword up to my neck.
As I did so, I smiled victoriously.
‘Go fuck yourself.’
“W-Wait…”
Realizing something was amiss, he moved to stop me, but it was too late.
-Slice!
Accompanying the noise was a familiar message.
***
“Now, we will begin the academy’s entrance exam!”
Numerous people were gathered within the academy to take the entrance exam.
Naturally, their goal was to pass the entrance exam and gain admission to the academy.
“Ha-eun, I told you this kind of behavior isn’t acceptable!”
“It wasn’t meeee!!”
“Are you planning on denying it even though we found evidence? Hyun-a, you should scold her too!”
“Ahahah…”
The three women currently teasing each other appeared very close.
They demonstrated a sense of familiarity, almost as if they had known each other for a long time.
“The first exam will be an aptitude test involving a magic orb. Please get in line based on your number.”
Among the murmuring of the students, the woman on the podium continued to guide the prospective students.
At that moment, one man ascended to the podium.
“Huhu, let’s see who gets the highest score.”
Not paying attention to the person standing at the podium, Ha-eun continued to prattle on.
It was natural, as the person on stage should be someone they didn’t know.
There was no reason to pay attention to every prospective student.
However, what happened next drew everyone’s attention.
-Shatter!
Shocked by the noise of something breaking, everyone present turned toward the podium.
“Did he just break the magic orb?”
“That’s crazy… How does that make sense?”
“How strong is he…?”
Just by placing his hand on the orb, he shattered it into fine powder.
Watching his actions, the three girls, who had seemed completely disinterested, turned toward the stage.
As they did, their eyes met.
They definitely shouldn’t have shared any connection to the unknown boy on stage, and yet, their faces lit up with recognition.
As they continued facing each other, a system message was shown to each of them, stating a singular sentence.
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