Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Discard Universal Currency
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1.
Incongruously.
A voice as pure and clear as a blue hydrangea at dawn echoed through the underpass.
"You're Sedric Montraven, right?"
Why?
Why the hell is that samurai bitch here?
Did you snitch again, Ceres? No, we didn't even cross paths this loop.
Then Isis? Nah, not her. She has rules. Or maybe those rules were fake?
That doesn't add up either. I confirmed the truth with the coin.
So how did she track me down faster than expected?
Enough.
These thoughts are pointless right now.
Prioritize what's important.
Survival.
That's the top goal in this situation.
But my body, which needed to move now, remained frozen stiff.
Truth be told, during that pretty cool week as John Wick, I'd entertained a fleeting thought.
With my Laplace's Eye and Big Magnum Revolver Hero, maybe I could pull off an escape somehow...
A ridiculous delusion like that.
"Huh? You're with your big sis? Perfect. Makes this easier."
But facing this psycho bitch again made me realize just how delusional that was.
Impossible.
Ad-lib my way out? Improvise on the spot?
That only works if you're on her level.
I knew it instinctively.
This hundred-meter underpass was entirely her 'Sword Domain.'
"Huu, huu..."
My skin didn't just crawl—it prickled with electricity. My breath came in gasps like hyperventilation.
Just standing there opposite her, sticky sweat trickled down my jaw.
Trauma, probably.
No. Stay cool. You're John Wick.
Not trauma.
It was simply her horrific presence crushing me.
More like an avoidance defense mechanism screaming to die quick and regress to dodge this.
But...
Is that so bad?
I must've screwed up somewhere this loop. Just accept the failure cleanly and aim for the next one...
As my mind grew feeble, a black-and-white photo of Nietzsche appeared and sternly scolded me.
'Hey, you left your Universal Currency back at your place.'
Oh shit, right!!!
My precious Universal Currency!
I summoned it once and it wouldn't go back in my inventory, so I left four pieces at my apartment.
Die like this?
After rolling in shit to become J. Gatsby of Necropolis after just one hour?
No way in hell! I haven't spent a single coin yet!
Think think think.
Don't stop thinking. What I have. What I can do. Mobilize every possible variable to turn this around.
Right, the Universal Currency! Offer half to beg for my life?
Idiotic. 58,000% chance she'd kill me and just take it.
Okay, got the 「Mysterious Insect Scripture」. SR-grade Joker rampage card.
No guarantee I can control it. But right now's the timing to try anything.
Furube yura yura. Here goes.
"Furube..."
I slyly opened my inventory and reached in.
Or tried to.
"Pathetic."
"...Huh?"
A bizarre sight unfolded.
Why is my hand there?
My precious right hand, severed at the wrist, rolling in the mud.
Even with all my focus, Laplace's Eye detected 'nothing.'
Delayed agony slammed into my brain.
"......!!!!"
I stifled a scream and tried pulling out the Mysterious Insect Scripture with my other hand.
-Splat.
The opposite wrist flew off too.
Ah, fuck. Can't take this.
"Shiiibaaaal!!!!!! It huuuurts!!! You fucking bitch!!!!! No fucking Partial Transformation!!!!!"
My thrashing screams sent Arbel tumbling off my back.
Even from the impact, she still hadn't regained consciousness.
Not that it would've changed anything if she had.
Even when I kissed her and she flew into a rage, she never felt this overwhelming presence.
A mere human—no, maybe even another mage—could be squashed like an ant by this otherworldly monster.
That was the essence of the death that came for me.
"Your sister was boring... but I had high hopes for you."
Think. Think. Don't give up.
Laplace's Eye observes and predicts physical laws. So her attacks aren't physical?
Then what's the principle behind her strikes?
Why did the underpass lights suddenly go out? Right! Same as the mansion raid. It was night then.
What does this phenomenon mean? Countermeasures? Prep for her attack?
What rank is she? Name? Origin? Affiliation? Why target me? Anything I can get from talking? What did she expect from me?
"Still, doesn't seem hopeless. Shame to end it here. You feel the same, right?"
Her eyes, singing softly as she spoke her piece, drifted to Arbel rolling limply on the ground.
A smile crept to her lips, like she'd spotted something fun.
"I'm feeling generous. Last chance."
My racing thoughts, bubbling like a drowning man's final breaths, ground to a halt.
"I'll count to three."
A chill like ice in my gut froze my mind.
"Three."
"...Hey, don't."
"Two."
"Don't do it! You fucking bitch!!!!"
I knew instinctively what that cunt was about to do.
"One."
"Shiiiibal!!!!"
The countdown ended. I squeezed my eyes shut and hurled myself toward Arbel.
But without warning or omen.
Arbel's sprawled body twitched once.
My own body just slid late across the floor.
"Too bad, Sedric."
Blood welled thick along a red line on her torso.
Crimson spilled, spiderwebbing across shattered tiles.
All I could do was flop helplessly in the mud and stare.
"......"
Now the woman looked down at me with utter disinterest.
Dry as dust.
"......"
I crawled to Arbel on my belly.
Sorry, Arbel.
Looks like this is as far as we got again.
I bit the edge of her cloak in my mouth.
And at least draped it back over her bisected corpse.
That's all I wanted to do.
I stood up.
Dizziness spun the world.
Blood gushing endlessly from both wrists painted this loop's gruesome finale on the floor.
"Unlucky, Sedric."
I'll die soon.
My body bisected, dropped into that horrific space brimming with death.
But.
"Hey."
This won't be the last.
"Pray I stay unlucky next loop too."
Is it the blood loss messing with my head?
Amid the excruciating pain and terror, a feral grin crept out.
"Next loop?"
"If I have a Reality Alter app in hand when we meet again—"
I burned her face—tilting her head curiously, hand on her sword hilt—into my cornea.
"—you'll see hell."
I raised my severed wrist in place of my middle finger.
A scoff like she'd heard a lame joke, and silver flashed.
A momentary gleam.
My consciousness scattered into darkness.
Nietzsche said.
What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.
And in this goddamn world—
"See you next time."
Nothing can kill me.
======
『 ED 1. I Don't Know Your Name 』
Pathetically, you met your end in the most boring way possible.
A predictable conclusion born of your ignorance and sloth.
Well, not sure if this comforts you, but...
You've still got plenty of chances to fail.
[Loop Settlement]
▶ Achievements Gained: None
▶ Titles Gained: None
▶ Challenge Points: +26 pt
※ Death Penalty Applied ※
[ Delayed Response ]
[ One-Armed ]
- You start with your left arm severed.
- Applies until the end of this route.
The 「Ward Amulet」 blocks [ One-Armed ].
Remaining Uses: 4.
From the heights of hubris and folly, may you reach transcendence.
#
I was hurled once more into the heart of death.
Endless void.
Coming here always makes my thoughts spin like a gear with missing teeth.
Deep contemplation impossible, one second stretches to a year, one year shrinks to a second.
Leaving feels like an instant, with most memories gone—like pressing a 500-million-year button.
The 500-million-year button dumps you in nothingness.
Here, it's packed with creepy deaths—that's the difference.
"Fuck..."
Hated coming back here.
No mental room or time penalties—just give me the button-click regress!
Endless time passes.
Drifting like trash in a current at the bottom of death, through eons.
Lick.
A rough tongue lapped my cheek.
"No big sis at the academy."
"...What?"
"Can't be with her if you go there."
"You, you...?"
Loop 3 began.
...What was that just now?
3.
A vigorous, powerful Loop 3 start.
Thanks to the death penalty [Delayed Response], my body began its dull puppet show until dropping into Necropolis.
'Uwaaaah!!!! Uwa!!!! Uwaaaaah!!!!'
My inner self wept blood tears.
Some things a man never gets numb to, no matter how many repeats: one is reenlistment, the other is saleri saleri tchungsan-ae salerida.
If my body could move freely, I'd claw the floor, rip out my hair, and turn into James Bond.
'Euhuk!!! Fuck!!!! Fuck!!!! My money... my Universal Currency... my SSR....'
An SSR I somehow pulled!
Right on the verge of escaping Necropolis, chilling at the Aden resort with milk and suntan oil, Arbel in reverse bunny girl feeding me apple mango bingsu slurp crunch while becoming casino VVIP!
My mirage-like ideal vanished, ah my nostalgia.
At least Arbel revives.
The Universal Currency I left dripping at my apartment? No matter what! Absolutely! Not coming back!
Why!
Why the hell!!!
Why did that bitch show up right then, right there?
Even faster than last loop.
Didn't even meet Ceres this time.
Met Isis instead, but she had 'rules.'
The only common thread in both deaths.
Three hours after a mage saw Arbel, that psycho showed up.
Are all mages linked by some sacred collar?
Was revealing myself too reckless?
Too many variables.
World too damn complex!
My head's getting more complex.
Simplify with genre tropes then.
I regress to the choice selection point upon death.
From the [Delayed Response] clause 'applies until the end of this route,' I can guess the 'route' is set at choice selection.
[Death Game LV.0] loops you within the route until the next choice, right?
'Hold up, loop?'
A dizzying hypothesis hit me.
Route, loop, regression.
Infinite ring of repeating fate.
No way that psycho murder ghost is an inescapable fate? Worldline? Route boss or something?
An inevitable encounter regardless of my actions?
Within about a week?
Isekai as a count's wastrel often comes with a deadline cliché, but a physical deadline...?
'Fuck.'
That bitch isn't a death variable—she's a death constant.
Turns arms to jello before I can even pull the Mysterious Insect Scripture from inventory—that monstrous bitch.
No Reality Alter app, no chance—and she auto-spawns in a week?
Chewing over that turmoil,
In my now worthless shack where Universal Currency no longer shines, forced nap ended, eyes opened.
-Ding
A status window alert.
"What is it?"
「Dying Message from the Future」
- Rank: C
- Description: Receive a letter from future you. Not a love letter.
- Effect: Upon death, get a hint on prior loop's cause of death in five characters or less.
- Note: Auto-activates immediately on loop restart. One-time use.
"Oh, right."
Forgot I had this.
Joker I got with the Ward Amulet, my death insurance!
Sorry! Zero expectations, slipped my mind!
Unlike K thug insurance, they notify quick when customer croaks.
Situation's a total mess. Desperately need a clue.
Future me surely packed a good hint in five chars.
Believe it. Sedric.
Unfolded the note.
The worn, tattered paper bore five dark red characters, written vertically in what looked like blood.