“…..”
Gasp!
It was shocking.
I cursed, blamed, and damned countless gods for letting this happen.
Yet, nothing changed.
Only the cracked voice, the searing pain in my neck, the throbbing headache, and an unbearable, sharp sense of nihilism remained.
The girl’s cry, filled with countless emotions, yielded no results beyond that. Ares and Hare, who were beside her, expressed their concern, but she didn’t even want to look at them.
She wanted to see Daniel.
She wanted to see his gentle smile right away, so Rin searched for Daniel in this era. An ordinary student who didn’t remember anything and had overwhelming strength.
And so, Daniel McLean appeared.
But the boy was now lying on the health room bed, his eyes unfocused.
“Why?”
Why!?
Why?
At this time, Daniel had just been expelled by the dean and was in a state of despair. So why was he like this now? The dean’s troubled voice whispered in Rin’s ear.
“Ha, was the expulsion that shocking? What’s going on?”
“It doesn’t look like just fainting. Did he have some illness?”
They were discussing Daniel McLean’s condition with the health teacher. They glanced at Rin and, sensing something, gave her some space, leaving the girl to slowly reach out to her childhood friend.
“Why? Daniel… why?”
As far as she knew, Daniel had never been like this before.
Not in her past life, nor in this life.
He had never collapsed like this in the health room.
In that moment, Rin’s hand, filled with compassion and lost, touched Daniel.
–It is the curse of the sun god.
An unfamiliar female voice echoed in her head. Unlike the Goddess of Death, it had a light tone, but at this moment, it felt strangely clumsy.
Before Rin could be surprised, the voice introduced itself.
–Hello, I am the Goddess of Time. I am the one who resurrected you, the last survivor in your past life.
“You…!”
–I know it’s confusing. I certainly didn’t expect to resurrect the apocalypse either. But this is the rule I set…
“It doesn’t matter.”
Rin clenched her fist tightly and asked.
“What does the curse of the sun god mean?”
–You’re in a rush, just like a childhood friend, aren’t you?
Could this situation feel like a joke?
In an instant, Rin felt her rising anger almost leak out. Normally, she couldn’t use her power at this time, and her imprint wasn’t activated either.
Yet, the darkness wriggling in her hand was ready to bare its teeth for its master at any moment.
Not only did she possess memories from her past life, but she also had experiences and memories from the time she had destroyed a continent. It wasn’t exactly pleasant power, but if she needed to use it, she wouldn’t hesitate.
–Remember what the sun god said in the end.
Rin slowly revisited the memory fragments, even though it was something she didn’t want to think about, as the Goddess of Time spoke like a professor posing a question.
“Specifically, Daniel was mentioned. There’s no next time.”
–It’s a simple story. The Goddess of Death forced you to awaken to the apocalypse. Other gods now have a sufficient justification to intervene. And at the crossroads of that choice… the sun god chose Daniel McLean.
“Choice…”
–Even if the following apocalypse destroys the world, it’s over if I just rewind time. The Goddess of Death has effectively been eliminated from the apocalypse game, and now only the ‘following apocalypse’ remains to overturn the world…
“Daniel must have been scared.”
–That’s right, he was a monster that transcended human limits. The sun god, unaware of how I select regressors, needed to suppress Daniel, and so a curse was cast.
Here, Rin had one question.
“If time has been rewound, shouldn’t the curse disappear too?”
–Hmm? I reversed human time, not the time of the gods.
For humans, reversing time sounded like a grand deal, but for gods, it felt like merely flipping the game board and moving on to the next one—Rin felt very displeased.
–In that sense, the Goddess of Death can no longer intervene. She exhausted everything in the last timeframe to forcibly awaken you. Honestly, if it weren’t for the power granted by Kurika, it would have been dangerous. The curse continuing means…
“The Goddess of Death forcibly evolved me into the apocalypse.”
–Yes.
Even though there was potential for time to be reversed, Rin began to understand why the Goddess of Death had exerted so much power in that timeframe. If time had reversed without the dagger’s seal, she would have begun her activities in the state of being the apocalypse from that moment.
–Anyway, it’s unfortunate. This way, I also end up failing.
Silence…
–No matter how much I might want to, I can’t keep reversing time, and there’s no one to stop the following apocalypse. I didn’t expect Helios to be preparing something like this.
Ugh!
“Can you really speak so lightly about it?”
–The result has turned out this way, hasn’t it? Gods tend to agree quite quickly, you know.
Her head was painfully hot. Rin took a deep breath and asked.
“Why do I have the memories of the 0th round, the round when I destroyed the continent?”
If we were to divide them by rounds, this was the 0th.
She asked about the reason why she had the memories of when she destroyed the continent and killed Daniel McLean.
–It’s not something that can be cut up so neatly. How do you differentiate 0 rounds and 1 round? Just reversing time gives you all the memories.
…
In that moment, Rin felt a soft glow in her heart, like a candle flickering to life. She pondered and contemplated, confirming with the goddess.
“Do you really want to stop the world’s destruction?”
–Yes, I’m quite skeptical of the new world they will create.
A voice that was pure and honest.
Rin felt for the first time that someone’s innocence could even evoke a sense of rejection, and she began to scrutinize everything.
“Daniel is the closest person who can create the outcome you desire.”
–He’s unique. Even someone like Daniel McLean ultimately failed. I can’t see how any other human would bring about a better outcome.
“The dagger sealed the power the Goddess of Death had, but why do I still possess the power of the imprint?”
–That’s the promise. When I rewind time, all gods must have a chance. Everything that the Goddess of Death forcibly did has vanished. That’s why the meteor hasn’t fallen from the sky.
If the earliest apocalypse fails, or if time drags on, the following apocalypse will arrive immediately.
Rin, realizing this, carefully asked Daniel.
“Can you lift this curse?”
–I can, but it requires a lot of power, and it leaves the future regression uncertain and meaningless. After all, healing Daniel now is just the naive version of Daniel from the 0th round who was expelled.
“If so…”
Looking down at Daniel, who lay on the bed, Rin slowly raised her head. There was nothing visible there, yet strangely, it felt as if she was locking eyes with the Goddess of Time.
“Please make a contract with me.”
From within the girl, now.
How heavy was the resolution being forged? Who could possibly know?
–A contract?
To the innocent rural girl, a plan and outcome she had never imagined unfolded.
“First, can you fulfill my request? In the next regression, will you change the timeframe? Not when Daniel was expelled, but to the point I specify.”
–…
“Is it difficult?”
–A little? But since the Goddess of Death has been forceful, I think I can afford that much pushback.
But the Goddess of Time, adding on, was sure Rin’s questions were all suspicious.
–What on earth are you thinking?
“You said that when I regress, memories come back no matter if it’s the 0th round or the 1st.”
–What you’re saying sounds like…
She knew.
It seemed absurd for a mere country girl to say, and it could be dismissed as absurd, but—
“I will regress Daniel again.”
She knew it was possible; she had already done it before.
Starting from the darkness hidden underneath the infirmary bed, to the shadows cast by the curtains in the window, even to the round shadow forming under the girl’s feet.
Everything began to ripple and respond to the girl’s call.
–Do you understand the weight of those words? Right now, you’ve declared that you’ll kill everyone in this world except Daniel. Starting from complete strangers to friends and family.
“Either way, the following apocalypse will come as time passes. If that happens, everyone will die just the same.”
Silence…
“You said that if even someone like Daniel failed, no one else could succeed.”
–Yes, that’s right.
“Daniel couldn’t stop me when I first destroyed the world. But afterward, once he learned the truth about me, he succeeded. The same goes this time. I will enlighten Daniel about the truths of the next apocalypse.”
–I can only regress one person. To regress Daniel McLean means you will completely be forgotten.
…I know.
Even taking a deep breath was challenging.
She felt as if the world was pushing her away, as if it didn’t want her existence.
“But even so.”
The hem of her dress curled tightly in her clenched fists.
She already felt suffocated in her chest, overwhelmed with sorrow, fear, and loneliness. Yet, she forced herself to continue speaking while looking at the fallen Daniel.
“I will, once again, destroy the world.”
The writhing darkness gradually reached for Daniel McLean. This time, it cautiously began to absorb the boy, and soon, only warmth remained on the bed, leaving nothing behind.
And thus, exactly one year later.
In the end, only one boy began to remember the world that began to move.
