Regression
The moment anyone laid eyes on it, the verdict would have been the same. Of that, I am certain.
It was a catastrophe.
The instant they saw it slowly emerging from the edge of those blackened crimson clouds, every soul on the battlefield could think of nothing else.
Pain, rage, sorrow, despair, depression… all the negative emotions a human could feel seemed to have gathered in one place and taken form. If one dared to give that murky, terrifying thing a name, it would be this:
Death.
The moment they witnessed the thing every living being fears most, everyone on that battlefield had no choice but to fall into despair.
We cannot win against that.
Even without crossing blades, even without ever fighting it directly, every last one of them reached the same conclusion.
All except for one man.
“Get lost.”
He had no connection to anyone there.
Or, if one looked from a slight distance, they shared the same academy, the same year, and the same class. But he had never been anyone particularly special.
Dull gray hair and golden-yellow eyes. A man with an unremarkable face stepped slowly forward while everyone else drowned in despair.
He stood before them all.
His gaze swept over the fallen with pity, then turned back to it. When he spoke, his voice burned with hatred.
Reckless.
Having no distinguishing traits meant his academy grades were not outstanding like the others.
So when he raised his sword, everyone thought the same thing. That tiny blade… from its perspective, it was nothing more than a toothpick. There was no way it could accomplish anything.
But he brought the sword down without the slightest hesitation.
Conviction burned at the tip of his blade, and iron resolve gripped the hand that held it.
And then—
KWAAAAAAAAAAA—!!!
The strike was so overwhelmingly powerful that even though they saw it with their own eyes, they could not believe it. The entity that should never have appeared in the first place vanished without a trace, as if it had never been there at all.
It was hope.
It was salvation. It was light.
But perhaps because it had come too suddenly, or perhaps because they had failed to see the light even while it stood beside them…
That light began to fade just as abruptly.
The sword that had pointed so straight at evil now hung limply, its tip buried in the ground. The legs that had firmly stood at the forefront of them all staggered as if their strength had given out.
The only thing that had not lost its light was his yellow… amber eyes.
Yet even those were slowly dimming.
Of course. He had faced death head-on. There was no way such a monstrous strike would come without a price.
Most likely, he had offered his own life as collateral.
“That damned rat!!!”
As the Salvation Sect Leader’s furious roar rang in their ears, they watched him approach the fallen man.
…No.
The same thought rose in everyone’s mind.
They had to stop him.
That light. That hero.
They could not let him die.
But no one could step forward to block the Sect Leader’s path.
After witnessing death itself, their spirits had hit rock bottom… and after a long, drawn-out battle, their stamina was completely spent.
No, to be honest, that was all just an excuse.
They were afraid.
If they stood in front of that thing, the ones who would die would be themselves.
They wanted to postpone death even a little longer. They wanted to survive.
Those perfectly natural feelings ruled their minds.
And in the end, that brief moment of hesitation led to—
Crunch…!!
With a sickening, skin-crawling sound of flesh tearing, the heart of the man whose name they did not even know was ripped out.
Everyone could only watch helplessly.
The heretical assaults they had believed they had successfully blocked until now, the cult’s secret schemes…
None of it had been stopped by them. They had only deluded themselves into thinking they had. The one who had truly stopped it all had been someone else.
And the moment they realized that truth, the person who had blocked every single threat was no longer in this world.
“……Ah.”
A short, broken scream escaped someone’s lips.
Thud…
His body collapsed powerlessly to the ground. It was far too shabby an end for a hero who had saved the world from crisis.
Everyone present could only bite their lips as they looked at him.
Yet no one could blame another. Because none of them had noticed his efforts or his sacrifice.
“This damned rat!! Even at the very end!!”
He was trampled.
The hero who had saved the world and everyone in it, if only for a moment, was crushed so miserably it was hard to believe.
Trampled beneath the foot of evil.
Yet no one there could save him. They could not even grant him a peaceful death.
As they all squeezed their eyes shut at the sight that seemed to foreshadow their own wretched future—
“……?”
The world stopped.
@
Catastrophe.
Disaster.
Doom.
And after time had frozen—
All regression targets have completed their regression. We wish the Player good fortune.
Ding…! Ding…! Ding…!
Listening to the church bells ringing as usual, she opened her eyes.
What greeted her when she opened them was a familiar ceiling.
The crimson-black clouds that had covered the sky, the entity writhing within them, the cultists desperately trying to summon it into this world…
The foul stench of fresh blood, the hot and unpleasant wind of battle—
None of it was there.
A peaceful, ordinary world so tranquil it almost felt as if everything had been a dream welcomed her the moment she opened her eyes.
She slowly sat up in her bed and looked around in a daze.
“……”
As she rose, her pure white hair cascaded down like silk.
Realizing her entire body was drenched in sweat, she let out a long breath and tried to clear her foggy mind.
A dream…?
She shook her head, rejecting the thought.
It had been far too vivid and clear to call a dream. But to say it wasn’t a dream…
It definitely happened.
She touched her own pale neck.
She had definitely died.
The faint lingering sensation of death on her throat refused to fade.
And moreover—
…That thing.
The terror she had felt when facing that hideous, horrifying existence known as the Demon God.
She could not forget it.
In that instant, the fear had been so intense it had severed her connection to the Lord she served.
If that was the case, then—
“How am I…”
After pondering for a brief moment, her eyes widened in realization.
Could this be—
“A divine revelation?”
A revelation that such an event would absolutely occur in the future.
A sign from God, given in advance to warn humanity and the entire continent of the coming crisis.
“Then…”
Staring blankly out the church window, she finally thought it.
“I must find him.”
The image of him standing alone against the unspeakable horror.
That was why the God she served was telling her.
To find him.
That he was the key to saving this world.
Having reached that conclusion, she drew in a sharp breath and hurriedly got out of bed.
“Maria!”
When she called for the nun who always attended her, Maria, who had been waiting nearby, opened the door and stepped inside.
“What is it, Saintess?”
Maria looked puzzled at the sight of her drenched in sweat and wearing only thin pajamas. But the next words made her eyes widen in shock.
“I must go to the Academy.”
“…Pardon?”
“Right now. Immediately.”
Her tone was urgent, her eyes shook violently.
Though she herself seemed unaware, even her body trembled faintly.
It was the middle of a warm spring. There was no way she would feel cold. Realizing the Saintess was clearly afraid of something, Maria tried to calm her, but it was useless.
“It is truly…”
“……”
“Truly an urgent matter.”
“Understood. I will prepare at once.”
From long experience, Maria knew that when the usually calm Saintess spoke with such urgency, there was always a reason. She quickly left the room.
Alone once more, the girl let out a long breath and placed her hand over her chest.
Even the loose pajamas could not hide her full breasts. She rested her palm there and tried to steady her breathing.
“I will definitely find you.”
The Saintess.
Serena Vieri.
It was the moment she, who had once refused the Academy’s offer of admission, set out for it of her own free will.
@
“……!!”
Her eyes snapped open.
The moment she regained consciousness, she bolted upright. Realizing her limbs were still attached to her body, she could only let out a sigh of relief.
Her head rang violently, a low whum, whum.
She clenched her trembling hands tightly, bit her lower lip, and looked out the window.
“What in the world…”
It was gone.
The tidal wave of monsters and demons that had surged forward was nowhere to be seen. Only the ordinary, tranquil scenery of the Empire filled her view.
When she lifted her gaze a little higher, the same blue sky, bright sun, and pure white clouds drifted peacefully as always.
The sky that had been dyed crimson-black.
The earth that had become a sea of blood.
The eyes that had glowed red and dark in place of the sun.
All of it had vanished without a trace. Yet instinctively, she could not help but feel terror.
Because she had felt its power in her very bones.
The Golden Knight Order, unquestionably the strongest military force in the Empire, the First Knight Commander of the Empire, even the Archmage of the Tower of Magic—
Before it, they had all been nothing more than frail… simply frail humans.
Even she, who had been called gifted and brilliant since birth, had been nothing more than one human being.
“…However.”
There was a way.
A single method to defeat that overwhelming— no, a being so beyond comprehension that even the word overwhelming felt insufficient.
I must find him.
The Second Princess of the Empire.
Michelle von Leonhardt.
Her eyes gleamed as she stared out at the scenery beyond the window.
For a very, very long time.