The Author's POV

'What did I just see?'

Kevin felt his heart grow cold.

'T...that can't be real, right? Re..n would never do that...'

He was in a state of complete denial. But, it was at this moment that he suddenly recalled his past flashbacks of what Ren had done with Emma, and it was from there that he was able to calm himself down.

'That's not the Ren I know. It's a different Ren.'

He repeatedly told himself. Recalling the conversation he had with Ren in the past and connecting everything with his visions, things were slowly starting to make sense.

'Why is it dark?'

Following his death, the scene once again shifted. This time, the world was dark. However, upon paying close attention, he could hear the sound of birds chirping in the distance.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

'Birds? What's going on?'

Kevin could faintly feel the warm, gentle sunshine enveloping his whole body.

It was then that Ren opened his eyes and Kevin found himself inside a one-bedroom apartment.

Rubbing his eyes, he blinked a couple of times and once more looked at my strange surroundings.

'This place...'

It looked familiar. Kevin couldn't just quite remember where he had seen this room before.

The room was furnished with the basic necessities that comprised a clean white bed, an old wooden spacious desk, a tall wardrobe, and a small bathroom. It was neither too big nor too small, but it seemed to have all the necessary facilities one might need when living.

'...Just why is this so familiar to me?'

Kevin thought to himself as he continued to stare at the room. It was strange, but Kevin knew for sure that he had seen this room before.

...But no matter how much he tried to think about it, he couldn't exactly remember where he had seen it.

'How odd.'

Shifting his body, Kevin's head turned to face the nearby window.

Reflected on it was a familiar face.

Jet black hair

Pale white skin

Blue ocean-like eyes

It was Ren's face...but younger. A lot younger.

'What memory is this?'

Kevin wondered as Ren's body shifted and he pressed his foot on the ground to help his body up.

"...Another failure."

Ren muttered while he stood up, and headed for the nearby desk where he sat down.

Opening the drawer beside the desk, he took out a small notebook alongside a small pen.

Grasping the pen beside him, Ren's body froze for a small second. With his eyes locked onto the pen, he slowly brought it next to his neck.

Click—!

Pressing onto the top end of the pen, the sharp tip came out.

Ren gently pressed it against his neck. Slowly, he began to put more pressure.

'What is he doing?'

Kevin wondered as he felt the sharp tip of the pen press against Ren's neck. His actions didn't make sense to Kevin at all.

'Don't tell me that he's...'

"Haaa..."

Before Kevin could come up with an assumption, Ren let out a long sigh and lowered the hand that held onto the pen. The pressure on his neck disappeared.

Casually tossing the pen on the desk, Ren reclined on the chair and emptily stared at the white ceiling of the room.

Grasping his chest with his hand, he mumbled.

"...What's the point? It's not like anything will change."

Though his words were casual, they were enough to alarm Kevin who was watching everything.

At this point, no matter how much he tried to feel the emotions Ren was experiencing, he couldn't feel anything. He basically felt like an empty shell whose sole reason for living was something that Kevin was still unsure of...but from his earlier actions, Kevin had an inkling that perhaps, just maybe, Ren didn't really want to be alive.

It was as if something was stopping him from dying. Or maybe he was just overthinking.

...but as he thought back at the moment he pressed the pen against his neck, Kevin was left uncertain about his theory.

Leaning his body forward, Ren grasped the pen he had thrown on the table and opened the book.

He then began to write something.

[Conclusion of trial 209 : Upon killing everyone that Kevin held dear, he fell into a state of emotional turmoil. Assessing the situation, I decided to terminate the loop. Based on my calculations, the possibility of him defeating the Demon King was beneath 1%. It wasn't worth continuing.]

Reading through what Ren was writing, Kevin felt his blood freeze. Chills ran through his body as he had a hard time processing what Ren was writing.

'I..it can't be, right?'

Kevin wanted to remain in a state of denial, but...he knew that everything he was seeing was real.

There was no point in his denying anything. He had already figured everything out after connecting the dots from his vision...yet, a small part of him still wished that this was not true.

But he knew that it was only wishful thinking on his part.

This may not be the Ren he knew, but he was still nonetheless Ren. A stinging pain started to quickly spread across Kevin's heart.

'...Why? Just why?'

[Trial 210]

Circling those words with his pen, Ren continued to write more words.

[Goal : Kill anyone that Kevin was close to in the previous loop before he comes in contact with them in this loop. Same goes for my family. It's better if they die early.]

Right as the last words etched into the paper, the world started to shift, and a red sky enshrouded the world.

Rubble and debris appeared everywhere as corpses and limbs sprawled all over the ground.

Absolute silence enshrouded the world.

"Haa...haa..."

Kevin suddenly found himself standing on top of a broken building, as the sound of his rough breathing broke the silence that was enshrouding the world.

'Where am I?'

Kevin wondered to himself as he looked around him. It was also then that he noticed that his right hand was missing and a long scar was tracing down Ren's well-built body.

'...This scene. It looks familiar.'

Taking note of what he was seeing, Kevin suddenly had a feeling of Deja vu'.

Slowly, Ren began to lift his head and his eyes laid on a figure who had white hair and red eyes.

With black blood seeping down from his mouth, and his body laying down on a broken building, the figure blankly stared toward the sky as a cruel smile sprung up on his face.

"...It's no use, you won't be able to kill me."

His playful words rang throughout the world as he proceeded to raise his hand.

The moment he raised his hand, the world seemed to have come to a standstill as demonic energy gathered towards the palm of his hand, forming a small ball the size of a basketball.

"Stay put."

Before the black orb could fully form, Kevin felt his hand rise before he motioned downward with it.

Crack. Crack.

Under the red-eyed figure, cracks formed as the ground crushed against his body, resulting in a crater to form.

It didn't matter how powerful the impact was, the red-eyed figure was completely unfazed as he gazed in his direction.

The red-eyed figure's smile only deepened as their gazes met. Opening his mouth, he muttered.

"...Stop with your useless struggle. I've already won."

"Shut up."

Ren replied as the area around him pulverized into bits. The gravity around him started to warp, and the buildings in the distance crumbled.

Rumble. Rumble.

His power was overwhelming.

While Kevin suddenly felt his body turn, he was once again shocked to see a figure resembling himself standing in the distance, and it was right there that it finally hit Kevin.

'This scene...'

"Your turn."

With the palm of his hand motioned downwardly, Ren kept the other figure in check while he looked toward the other Kevin.

However, it was painfully obvious to Kevin that his power wasn't enough to contain the other figure for long as he felt his hand start to shake.

"What are you waiting for? End him."

Kevin felt Ren's mouth open once again as he urged his other self who was standing in the distance. His voice sounded a little bit more rushed this time.

Staring back at him, the other Kevin's lips trembled after glancing at the red-eyed figure and then looking at the world around him.

"I...is this the outcome that you wanted?"

"What are you talking about?"

Ren replied back. His brows furrowed tightly, and his voice became even colder.

Clenching his teeth, the other Kevin pointed towards the distance.

"Take a look at the world. It's completely destroyed! Almost all of humanity has been destroyed because of your actions, and yet, you don't seem to care!?"

As the other Kevin's fists clenched tightly, his voice rang throughout the world.

"For the sake of killing him! You decided to sacrifice the whole of humanity! What's the point of killing him when there's no one left? What's the fucking point!?"

Quietly listening to the other Kevin's words, Ren slowly opened his mouth to say something. Matching his mouth, Kevin spoke inside of his mind.

'Because I don't care.'

"...Because I don't care."

It was at this point that Kevin finally understood why felt a sense of Deja vu' before.

This scene...it was the same scene that he saw in his vision. He could clearly remember each word that was about to be said.

"You don't care?"

A powerful red hue suddenly erupted from Kevin's body. While the hue that sprang out of his body was very faint and almost invisible, the pressure it released was nothing to laugh at.

"You don't care about the fact that because of your actions humanity is on the verge of extinction?"

"What are you doing?"

Ren's dull voice echoed throughout.

The other Kevin pressed his palm to the space next to him and replied.

"Something that I should've done the moment I remembered everything."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

To Ren's shock, black chains suddenly sprung up from the ground and Kevin felt them clasp onto his limbs.

For the first time in a long time, Kevin felt Ren's face crack when he looked at the other Kevin who was looking back at him.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Kevin raised his hand and felt his body try to move, but no matter how much force he applied, he couldn't move. A complete seal had been placed around his body's mana.

Realizing just how much of a predicament he was, his voice raised.

"What did you do to me!?"

Ignoring his words, the other Kevin turned to look at the other white figure who was watching the scene with an amused look on his face. Although he was also on the verge of death, there was a triumphant look on his face as he looked at Kevin and himself.

"...It looks like it's going to be another failure."

Clenching his teeth, the other Kevin proceeded to ignore the figure.

"khh..."

Stumbling forward, the hue around the other Kevin's body slowly started to fade as his figure paled.

Taking note of his sudden actions, for the first time in a while, Kevin suddenly started to feel emotions spring out inside of Ren's body as he opened his mouth and screamed.

"Kill him now, end this now! End it!!!! You know full well that you're the only one that can stop him! What are you waiting for!?"

'Desperation.'

That was what Kevin felt as he felt his mouth open and scream.

"It's always the same with you..."

Taking one more step forward, the other Kevin's feet came to a pause a couple of meters away from Ren. Their two eyes met.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

As he walked, Kevin felt the chains wrapping around his body become more and more numerous, before they completely wrapped his body.

Seeing that his words couldn't reach the other Kevin, Kevin realized that Ren had stopped shouting and the previous emotions that were erupting from within him completely disappeared.

Lowering his head and glaring in the other Kevin's direction, Kevin felt his mouth open.

"You think this will be enough to stop me?"

"I don't know."

The other Kevin shook his head.

"But we will find out soon. At least for now, you won't be able to do anything."

Spurt—!

Raising his hand, the other Kevin suddenly pierced right through his own chest. Instantly, blood leaked out of his body.

Staring at the other Kevin, Kevin felt his voice grow colder.

"How d—"

The moment Kevin's life slipped away, the world turned white and everything crumbled.

It wasn't long before darkness once again returned.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Amidst the darkness, the only sound that echoed was the sound of chains rattling.

'What's going on now?'

Kevin wondered to himself as he gazed into the darkness before him. The darkness continued to persist for longer than Kevin could imagine as he soon began to lose track of time.

'...Why isn't anything happening?'

'Am I still in Ren's body?'

'How much time has passed?'

'Why aren't you moving Ren? Do something!'

In the course of time, Kevin gradually lost himself as the silence and darkness became unbearable. The more he thought, the crazier his mind became.

'...Please...please stop this.'

In no time at all, Kevin's rationality started to crumble. In particular, Ren's feelings were synchronizing with his own.

The world seemed so dark and lonely.

A little more time passed, and Kevin had long since stopped speaking as he just stared at the darkness along with Ren. As far as he was concerned, it was all he could do.

Bzzz... Bzzz...

A buzzing sound echoed amidst the silence, and Kevin felt Ren's head raise.

'A..n orb?'

Coming into his sight, Kevin spotted a white orb in the distance. His mind, which was on the verge of collapse, re-animated a bit as Kevin kept his eyes locked on the orb.

'What's that orb?'

Slowly, the orb approached their direction. Kevin didn't know how long passed, but it wasn't long before the orb stopped before them.

Taking a glimpse of the orb, Kevin was suddenly taken aback.

'There's something inside of the orb.'

It was faint, but Kevin was able to see something reflected on its surface. Trying to take a better look at it, he was soon shocked by the scene that he saw.

'Ren?'

It was once again Ren.

This time, however, he looked normal. Too normal.

He wasn't anything like the Ren he knew. At least, demenour-wise.

Slowly, he began to watch as Ren's life unfolded.

It first started with him attending the Lock. Sama class as he was, same seating...but the way he acted was different.

He sat alone in the corner, never speaking with anyone. As time passed, Kevin was surprised to discover that some events he knew never happened. There was one instance where Ren mumbled out loud the solution to one problem scientists were struggling with.

Something about mana poisoning in beasts.

...That scene never happened.

Slowly, the scenes began to change, and it wasn't long before the Hollberg incident arrived. An incident that Kevin clearly remembered.

'That's the incident where I got a proper look at Ren's powe—eh?'

His words were suddenly cut short when he saw Ren get stabbed in the heart by a black-clad figure attacking their mansion.

'Wh..at?''

Staring at Ren's body which was lifelessly laying on the ground, Kevin had trouble processing the scene.

Before he could say anything else, the image on the orb disappeared, and Ren suddenly opened his mouth.

"Ha..Ha...Ha..."

A hollow laugh escaped from his lips as his fair covered his face, blocking Kevin's vision.

"I knew it..."

Seconds after his laughter rang out, the orb glowed once more and the scene restarted.

"He...he...he..."

Ren once again laughed in a brittle manner. The laugh didn't last for long as he soon stopped laughing and he proceeded to gaze at the orb.

"I..is this what the chains are about? Trying to stop me from regaining my memories while you continue to struggle to defeat the demon king?"

Letting out another laugh, a rattling sound echoed out.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

"....As if I'd let you."

Slowly, Ren brought his hand toward the orb.

Closing his eyes, he softly mumbled.

"Memory manipulation."

Immediately after uttering those words, Kevin watched as black threads sprang up from the ground before covering the entire orb.