Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

The seventh floor, the lowest floor of the megaruins.

There existed no place more desolate than the great hall.

Gloomy light illuminated the cold, gray walls, along with the cracks littered across the architecture, and even the remains of defeated golems.

A golem the size of a hill rolled to the floor with all three of its cores destroyed.

Allen calmly assessed the situation.

He had expected something related to the demons to appear. He just hadn’t expected it to be so significant.

Yeah, that was all there was to it.

Then, why did he feel so flustered?

‘Start first with what's in front of you.’

He suppressed his worries about his vanished team members. Worrying wouldn’t change anything.

There was still time, enough for Allen to examine his surroundings a little bit. 

'First of all, is this space related to those tremors?’

He wasn’t sure if the earthquake had occurred because of their shift into that location, or if the timing just happened to line up by chance.

However, judging by Alexius's knowing look, he assumed that the latter was correct.

'That doesn't mean the former possibility is irrelevant.’

There must have been a reason why the white book told him to escape.

Allen rid himself of those thoughts and examined the walls and ceiling. Engraved into them were murals. Unfortunately, though, the scratched traces didn’t provide him any useful information.

Allen turned his head while still looking at the murals.

"Do you have any ideas?”

⟬Well, it's probably a monster from before the Great Fall, from when I was still alive.⟭

Sensing that there were no wandering eyes in the area, she immediately rose into the air. The end of the sheath fluttered, perhaps glad to have finally moved after such a long time.

"Not even the ancient empire, but an earlier one?"

⟬Yes. I mean, I don't know for sure… but I have a little bit of a guess.⟭

The depictions in the remaining murals were somewhat recognizable.

A monster in the basement of a large stronghold, with soldiers standing above it. And a meteor shower descending from the sky.

After that, a picture of the underground monster going on a violent rampage.

The way the monster’s depiction was rather grotesque, as if to warn someone against releasing the monster by mistake.

The other murals were badly damaged, to the point of being unrecognizable.

⟬Its name is…⟭

“Vedrfolnir.”

⟬Vedr— How did you know that?!⟭ She jerked around, as if startled, and flew in closer.

Noting her reaction, Allen took a step back. He had to make an excuse. He had no intention of telling her the secret of the white book yet.

"I just remember reading it in a book that I found in the library.”

⟬Ah… from the library. So… do you know anything else?⟭

He felt the strength drain from her voice after he answered. Allen shook his head.

"No, I don't. Only its name was mentioned. And I only said the name because I remembered that it was related to an ancient monster."

⟬Well, we might be able to find other information around here somewhere.⟭ Seeming to have calmed down, she continued, her voice returned to normal. ⟬Then what do you want to do?⟭

"Well…"

There was still more time.

Maybe a little over 10 minutes now?

⟬I was surprised when I heard that real cry. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. It's been so long since I last heard it.⟭

The ruins continued to vibrate, and he could hear the occasional echoes of something taking place from afar.

But nothing ever came toward where Allen was.

⟬Why don't we get out of here already? I don't think it's a good sign that the tremors are getting bigger.⟭

"That’s a good id…”

Allen stopped talking.

In an instant he lowered his posture and seized Vestla.

⟬Allen?⟭

Someone had stepped into his sensing range. 

‘Is it one person coming our way? No, it's two. One is human—or at least, shaped like a human? What's the other one?’

Strength circulated throughout his body, as he released his threads from his pounding heart.

It was his first time properly holding a sword in a long time. He had become overly sensitive to the feeling of it, unfamiliar with the touch. The sensations stung his skin, so concentrated he was on his built-up senses.

'Our opponent has an enormous amount of magic.’

Not quite on the same level as himself, but easily several times that of the typical Academy student.

The foe began to accelerate in speed, as if it felt Allen's presence.

His threads wove together. It was enough to just keep his eyes on the new enemy for a while. The threads instantly wove into green-blue blades, flying through the passage.

At that very moment, a storm of lightning bolts flashed.

Boom!

The blades that had pierced through the darkness of the passage were crushed in an instant, shattered by dark blue thunderbolts. As they scattered into clouds of debris, he felt his body, rooted to the hard floor, begin to lose strength.

‘Mental warfare? No way…’

The escape artifact would have been triggered unless in a special place like this. It wouldn't be possible to avoid—not unless his opponent had foreseen this situation.

Seeing his opponent approach, Allen wanted to escape from the reality of his situation for a moment. However, the second he saw his opponent come into view, he had to stop fleeing. 

"…Julius."

The opponent also looked confused for a moment, immediately lowering his sword.

"Brother!"

Gyaho!

Dongdong cried, as if to not be forgotten.

* * *

* * *

He looked at Julius as he approached.

Across top of the Academy uniform, he wore a large bag, bulging as if he had packed something inside.

"How did you… No, I won’t even ask. There must be a reason you’re here, right?"

It was obvious.

There was a Quest related to this.

Allen stopped himself from frowning at the realization.

'…There wasn’t anything like this in the black book.’

Julius, as written in the black book, was meant to be on his own in the ruins.

There was nothing to say.

The future had changed, and thus, Julius had received a Quest that hadn’t been included in the original story.

'…Now it’ll be more difficult to predict his moves.’

Allen felt uneasy and disappointed at the fact.

He could still get a rough read of situations since Julius was typically fairly predictable in his way of thinking. Plus, Allen still understood his overarching motives. But there was a difference between having a rough idea and being certain. 

Of course, having access to information through the black book still gave Allen a great advantage. Knowing what someone would do before they did it meant being able to stay one step ahead.

Recognizing his growing dependence, he tried to look back on his memories from the first time around before regressing, but he realized that he was still unconsciously relying on the black book.

"Oh, that… Yes, that's right, Brother."

Julius nodded hurriedly, mentally throwing away the excuses he had prepared.

There was no need to make lame excuses if the other person understood the situation.

"Then why are you here, Brother?"

"I was moving toward the seventh floor with the goal of getting through in the shortest time, and then, something happened."

Allen made no secret of the events that had taken place. After all, any lie he told here would be exposed when they met up with Milred and Alexius later.

"As the ruins were shaking, a space-shift suddenly occurred. It didn't trigger the artifact, though. Only a few from my team escaped. I don't know if the other members of my team are alive or not. I’m fine, though, as you can see."

Julius had a slight grasp of Allen's abilities, so he didn’t doubt him. "What are you going to do, then?"

"Escape, of course. Is there any reason to feel all these tremors and still stay here?"

The tremors shaking the ruins were gradually increasing in magnitude.

Rumble, rumble.

"Then… how?”

Allen couldn't answer.

His escape artifacts hadn’t been working since he was transported. 

That was the problem.

It took dozens of hours to get down here.

But they only had about a dozen minutes left.

Or at least, that was his estimate. 

"Julius, do you have an escape artifact on you?"

Julius shook his head. They would have no choice but to deal with the boss once it appeared. Even then, he only thought of taking advantage of the confusion to find the Hidden Piece.

His artifact should be somewhere rolling on the floor next to his bed.

But he couldn’t just say that.

"My artifact isn’t working either… haha."

"Well, in that case…"

Should he just raze his way back up through the ruins?

Allen compared the strength of the floor where he stood to that of the floor he’d seen and examined earlier. Even if the walls and the ceilings of the ruins were fractured, they could definitely withstand Allen’s force, even with the added power of the giant. 

The passing of thousands of years could not weather the ruins.

'Of course, it might be possible with an attack using my time-manipulation magic at full power, but…’

Did he need to go that far?

The uncontrollable force would surely startle Julius, and there was a possibility that his attitude would change as a result of witnessing that.

That would form a crack in his perception of and relationship with Allen. That was the last thing Allen wanted.

'A relationship without a single moment of suspicion.'

One that was ideal, altruistic, and entirely artificial.

A brother who would go as far as sharing a single bean, like in those moral-building nursery rhymes.

That was the image Allen was trying to build for Julius.

"Brother, if there is no way, why don't you try to break through the ceiling and go up that way. If you stay here and the ruins collapse…” Julius shook his head as if he didn't even want to imagine it.

"Certainly, but that’s too dangerous. Wouldn't it be better to try to find another way?"

"Well, still…”

"Now that I think of it, was there nothing in the passage you entered from?”

Julius looked at the direction where he came in without thinking, and his expression morphed, as if something had suddenly occurred to him. He shook his head and pointed awkwardly at the direction from which Allen had appeared.

"There is no clear path in the direction I came from, and it's filled with monsters and guardians, too. It would be better to go the way you came."

Sensing something odd about his response, Allen extended his sensing range for a moment and scanned the direction in which Julius entered. Julius watched him with a nervous expression.

There were indeed rough traces of other monsters and guardians.

'…I don't think he lied.'

But why was he making that face?

Allen soon shook his head, focusing on the present situation.

"But if the ruins collapse, we’re as good as trapped."

"Like I said, I think it’d be better to try and break the ceiling to escape."

"Are you sure?"

"We have to try…”

Julius pet Dongdong for no reason in response to Allen's question. Dongdong pleasantly enjoyed his touch.

Allen was torn.

‘Is it right to reveal more of my hand? Or, how can I reverse the trap to manipulate it again, like how I got here in the first place? Why didn't I prepare for this?'

He’d had too much trust in the Academy.

They had two members of the Top Eight and hundreds of years of history. Allen let his guard down, lulled into a false sense of security, thinking they would be provided for by the Academy despite this being a real ruins site.

‘That said, they were able to deal with the attack by the Circulation.’

That would-be mishap was already in the past, but it still almost happened. Apart from that, the incidents and accidents that occurred every year at the Academy were still formidable. They were only settled by the Academy's quick response and appropriate compensation.

After thinking it over for a while, Allen began to formulate countermeasures.

'There’s no other way. I have to reveal my time-manipulation magic.’

He adapted his physical abilities to the level of an ordinary knight. Even that much was enormous, but it wouldn’t be enough to catch Julius’s eye.

His eyes were still focused on the original .

The moment Allen had made his decision and moved to speak, he heard dozens of footsteps. It was as though he had waited just long enough—the kind of perfect timing one only encountered in s.

"Allen, are you there?”

"Hey! Hey! Julius!"

Allen's head turned toward the familiar voice. Julius also murmured in a questioning tone.

"Rachael…?"

"Huh? Aveline?"

As if to erase away what had become too improbable of a situation, a solution had been plotted out in an instant.

As if it were destiny, they— No…

‘Julius.’

Julius had been saved by some kind of divine luck. Like the main character of a .

Julius waved his hand, face just delighted at the happy coincidence.

"Oh… Aveline, you're here?"

"You little shit! What are you doing here?"

Allen just stared quietly at the figure.

Like a hunter looking for his opportunity to shoot.

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