Eternal Salvation

The white flash and the black comet collided head-on.

A shriek tore through the world as the view turned blinding white.

The entire temple shuddered as if struck by an earthquake. The floor split like a spiderweb, and massive chunks of the ceiling rained down like hail.

“Khack…!”

I rolled across the ground, coughing up blood. Without the Lion King’s barrier and Yuriel’s sanctuary, that shockwave would have killed me instantly.

Staggering to my feet amid ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the smoke-filled temple, I shouted.

“Adelia!!”

My voice echoed. Beyond the haze, two figures came into view.

Thud.

Both had dropped to their knees.

“……Ah.”

I held my breath.

The present Adelia had collapsed forward. Her left shoulder—the one that had held the sword—was gone. The Holy Sword lay far away, and blood gushed from the horrific cross-section where her shoulder to elbow had been, as though space itself had been carved out.

“Hngh……”

She groaned, clawing at the floor. The backlash from the Third Form of the Holy Sword’s secret art. The price of forcing an incomplete technique to unleash power her body could never contain.

And across from her—

Black Adelia sat slumped with a massive hole torn through her chest. Her black dress was shredded, black blood pooling beneath her.

‘Is it… over now?’

No, it had to be. At this point, both were combat-incapable.

But then—

Static crackled.

“……!”

It was an unbelievable sight.

Black Adelia’s body, chest pierced through, rose with a mechanical creak, like a puppet dangling from strings.

Her form was already at its limit. The collision of the Third Forms had burned even her soul; her very existence had begun to collapse.

Yet the world’s corrective force did not stop. Cruelly, it forced her tattered arm upward.

[“Holy Sword… Secret Art…”]

A mechanical voice. Stripped of all emotion—the sound of the system’s marionette.

[“Second Form…”]

Hundreds, thousands of black stars began to form in the air. It was not her will. Her red eyes trembled violently.

System commands poured across her retinas like rain.

[“…No.”]

Transparent tears streamed from her eyes, mixing with black blood as they traced down her cheeks.

[“This… isn’t my will…”]

[“My Roy… I’m sorry…”]

She wailed.

[“My body… won’t listen…”]

[“I can’t… stop it…”]

The black stars locked onto me. There was no escape. This time, it was real.

But I didn’t run. Instead, I charged straight toward her.

“Damn it… Please, just stop!!!”

I dove into her arms right before the stars rained down and pulled her crumbling body into a tight embrace.

Thud.

My body heat reached her—ice-cold, the body of a dying woman.

The system’s forced command faltered. With the target now in direct contact, the attack judgment glitched.

[“Roy…?”]

She looked down at me with trembling eyes. I wrapped my arms around her back and sobbed.

“Stop… Please…”

“Don’t hurt anymore…”

“It’s enough… You’ve already suffered more than enough…”

She had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠died tens of thousands of times just to find me. She had burned the world, dragged herself into hell. It was time to rest. Please—just be at peace.

That was when—

Hum—!

The Lion King’s crest on the back of my right hand vibrated wildly.

A brilliant golden light enveloped Black Adelia’s body—warm, gentle, like a sunset comforting a weary traveler.

In that instant, the dull chains wrapped around her entire body became visible. They were not the Hero’s Covenant. They were the world’s own curse—forced regressions across tens of thousands of loops, binding her here.

Cracks spread across the chains.

[“…Ah.”]

She touched the chains binding her body with trembling hands.

Crash—!

The chains shattered into countless fragments and scattered into the air. The world’s coercive force that had bound her was broken by my authority.

[“Freedom…”]

She smiled—the peaceful smile she had never once shown across tens of thousands of lives.

[“For the first time… I’m truly free.”]

But the price was merciless.

Her feet began to crumble into black particles and scatter. With the corrective force released, her forcibly sustained existence began to collapse—like dandelion seeds carried away by the wind.

[“Roy…”]

She whispered, looking at me.

[“Now… I will meet eternal rest.”]

“What are you saying…”

[“There won’t be… any more regressions for me.”]

Her voice grew fainter.

[“It feels like being deleted…”]

[“My very existence… erased from this world…”]

Tears streamed down her face.

[“I just…”]

[“Wanted to stay… a little longer…”]

[“With you…”]

“No… Don’t disappear…”

I held her tighter. I couldn’t let her go. I came to save her—I couldn’t let her die.

“If you… if you disappear…”

That was when—

“No!! Wait…”

The fallen present Adelia forced her blood-soaked body upright and reached out to me with a trembling hand.

A massive golden Lion King crest spread across the temple floor—a circular ring connecting the two Adelia.

“Could this…?”

My heart pounded wildly. Hope. In this desperate situation, the only way out had appeared.

“Th-there’s a way!”

I shouted to the present Adelia. She crawled across the floor, bleeding, her left arm severed, until she reached Black Adelia.

“What!?… There’s really a way?”

“Yeah… there is.”

I looked at Black Adelia.

“We’re going to make the two of you into one.”

Black Adelia’s eyes widened.

[“…Fusion?”]

[“Me… and that girl?”]

The present Adelia knelt with difficulty. The two Adelia faced each other—same face, same eyes, yet two beings who had lived vastly different times.

“…You.”

The present Adelia spoke first.

[“Yes. Me.”]

Black Adelia smiled bitterly.

[“Your future.”]

[“And… at the same time, your past.”]

She extended her fading hand. The present Adelia grasped it tightly.

[“Listen.”]

Black Adelia whispered.

[“I regressed 9999 times… no, countless times.”]

[“In all that time… I found Roy.”]

[“I burned the capital… killed people… destroyed the world… went mad.”]

Tears fell from the present Adelia’s eyes.

“…I’m sorry.”

“It was because I was weak…”

[“No.”]

Black Adelia shook her head and gently stroked the present Adelia’s blood-stained cheek.

[“That wasn’t your fault.”]

[“We were simply weak.”]

Her gaze turned to me—warm, sorrowful.

[“But now it’s different.”]

[“You have… the living Roy by your side.”]

[“A world where he fights together with you.”]

[“So…”]

Her voice trembled.

[“Take my memories… my experiences.”]

[“Tens of thousands of battles. Every technique. Every pain. All of it.”]

The present Adelia’s hand shook.

“But then you…”

[“I’ll disappear.”]

Black Adelia smiled brightly.

[“But it’s all right.”]

[“That person… is by your side. That’s enough.”]

She glanced at me, then back at the present Adelia.

[“And there’s one more thing I should tell you.”]

[“The Holy Sword’s secret arts… go up to the Seventh Form.”]

“Seventh Form…?”

“I thought the maximum was the Third…”

[“Yes. I never reached the Seventh either.”]

[“It was too dangerous… impossible alone.”]

She squeezed the hand she held.

[“But.”]

[“If it’s us… we can do it.”]

[“You—no, we. And Roy. If the three of us are together…”]

[“We can surpass even the Seventh Form… and this world.”]

The present Adelia wiped her tears and nodded.

“…Yes.”

The two Adelia slowly pressed their foreheads together.

“So…”

“Come to me.”

[“You are me… and I am you.”]

“In the end… we are one, aren’t we?”

Flash—!!!

A blinding golden explosion swallowed them both.

Boom—!!!

A colossal pillar of light pierced through the temple ceiling.

“Ugh… Aaaagh!!!”

The present Adelia screamed, clutching her head. The memories of the 9999+α regression—tens of thousands of agonies and despairs—poured into her mind. Suicides in flowerbeds. Violations. Massacres. World’s end. Emptiness.

But in the final moment—the warmth of the real Roy she met in the temple. That memory of salvation covered all the pain.

Hum—!

My gauntlet vibrated once more.

Golden and black light exploded from Adelia’s body simultaneously.

And a miracle occurred.

Her severed left shoulder—golden light surged from the cross-section, and bone and flesh regenerated at terrifying speed. Veins reconnected, nerves linked, mana circuits restored.

Flash—!

A perfect left arm was reborn.

“…!”

I couldn’t close my mouth. Adelia slowly clenched and opened her left hand.

“My… arm…”

“My arm came back!…”

At that moment, a transparent shackle appeared around her neck. This time, it was not Black Adelia’s. It was the shackle of the main scenario that had bound the present Adelia—and the original hero.

“This is…”

Adelia touched the shackle around her neck. With the memories of tens of thousands of lives now integrated, the shackle looked utterly insignificant to her.

[“Hero’s Covenant…”]

Two voices overlapped from Adelia’s mouth.

[“Now… break.”]

Without hesitation, Adelia grabbed the shackle and tore it off.

“Hraaah!!!”

Crash—!!!

The shackle shattered into golden fragments and scattered. Static.

The system window in front of my eyes flickered madly.

Rumble—!

The entire world screamed. But Adelia paid it no mind.

She opened her eyes. Red irises—but the depth was different. Her left eye held the deep sorrow of 9999 regressions; her right eye held the warm hope of 999 regressions.

Adelia looked at me.

“I…”

She smiled softly.

“I’m complete now.”

She walked over and hugged me tightly with both arms.

“Thank you… Extra.”

“Thanks to you… I was truly saved.”

Rumble—!

The temple began to collapse. The Time Disposal Ground’s function had ceased; space itself was crumbling.

“Ugh, let’s go! It’s falling apart!”

I grabbed her hand to run. In that instant, Adelia scooped me up in a princess carry and sprinted at superhuman speed.

‘This feels… weird, being carried by a woman…’

As my face flushed, light appeared beyond the collapsing walls.

“Roy!! Adelia!!”

Professor Cain’s voice came from outside the temple entrance. We hurled ourselves toward the light with all our strength.

Boom—!!!

Behind us, the massive temple fully collapsed and vanished into black smoke. In that moment, we were engulfed in light and flung outside the gate.

Outside the dungeon. Wind Hill.

We lay sprawled on the grass, gasping for breath. Iris, Scarlet, Priscilla, and Professor Cain surrounded us.

“Are you safe!?”

“Are you both okay?”

Iris and Scarlet ran over, voices trembling. I nodded, still panting.

“Haha… I’m fine…”

Professor Cain examined Adelia.

“Your injuries…? There was an enormous mana explosion…”

Adelia checked herself. Her clothes were torn, but there wasn’t a single wound.

That was when Professor Cain’s face turned pale. He stepped back. The alien aura emanating from Adelia—it was not merely “strong.” It was an overwhelming difference in rank.

“A-Adelia…”

His voice shook.

“You… something’s…”

“Completely different…”

Scarlet trembled behind her mana glasses.

“Sister… your mana…”

“It’s too strong… This isn’t the sister I know…”

Priscilla instinctively dropped to her knees, body shaking.

“This is… SSS-class…”

Static.

I activated Observer’s Eye (Causality).

For a moment, my mind went blank as if struck by a hammer.

‘The original Adelia was SS-class? SSS-class… Is this okay?’

But more than that, the change in her stats caught my eye.

‘Finally… 0%…’

‘She’s escaped negative madness!!’

I let out a sigh of relief. It was all over now. The blackened her had been saved.

Or so I thought.

Adelia slowly walked toward me. One step. Another. The air around us grew heavy.

She stopped in front of me and smiled softly.

“Extra…”

She tilted her head.

“…No.”

Her red eyes gleamed strangely.

“My Roy.”

She took one more step closer and nestled into my arms, hugging me so tightly I could barely breathe.

“My faith♡”

“…Huh?”

I tried to hug her back but froze. Something was wrong. Her mental fortitude had improved from negative to ‘zero percent.’ Yet… it felt even more dangerous.

Adelia buried her face in my neck and whispered, her hot breath chillingly sweet.

“Now… I’ll never ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠let you go.”

“Forever… by my side.”

“Forever♡ My god.”

A chill ran down my spine. The complete form that had integrated 9999+ regressions of obsession and regression. Her love had become an absolute faith that transcended madness.

‘60%…’

‘What the hell—11% jumped at once!?’

I remembered what happened when it exceeded 50%. Things were about to get truly dangerous.

But I held tightly to the woman in my arms—the strongest, most dangerous woman in the world—who trembled with joy.

‘Well… at least we’re together.’

‘It’ll be fine!!’

“Probably??”