The 999th Life

"...Huh?"

I couldn't help the dumbfounded groan that slipped from my lips. Having sunk thousands of hours into the original game, I knew better than anyone what Regina Strelitzia was supposed to look like in Arcana Academy.

She was supposed to be a bright, cheerful girl who had vowed never to live a life full of regret again in her second chance at life. Even by a girl's standards, she had a remarkably petite frame, yet she wielded a greatsword as tall as herself—a gap-moe magic swordsman. Perhaps because of that striking contrast, Regina had been one of the game's most popular heroines.

In the unconquerable heroine popularity polls, she was always neck and neck with Yelena Frost. Where Yelena was an aloof, long-haired cool beauty, Regina was her exact opposite: a cute, short-haired bundle of energy.

The reason such an endearing girl was deemed an unconquerable heroine was simple: no matter what choices you made, Regina inevitably died in the latter half of the first-year story.

...At least, that was how it was supposed to be.

Muttering beneath my breath, I stared at the girl standing before me.

Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her navy hair looked as though it had grown out completely untamed. Her ruby-red irises trembled frantically in sheer panic. To anyone's eyes, she was a broken mess of a girl who clearly wasn't in her right mind. Yet beneath that hollow, exhausted demeanor, an undeniable loveliness remained—a testament to how gorgeous her original design truly was. After all, a truly beautiful person retains their charm even when thoroughly worn down.

Stunned by Regina's appearance, I momentarily forgot that the dungeon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠around us was actively crumbling to pieces.

"You're Student Regina Strelitzia, right?"

"Ah, uh... th-this wasn't... I didn't mean for this to happen..."

"...?"

I asked in an attempt to make sense of the madness, but her reply was nothing more than a flustered, incoherent whimper. Feeling my thoughts tangle into an even tighter knot, I adjusted my grip on my training sword.

Something had gone terribly wrong. The canonical Regina Strelitzia would never act like this. Pointing a blade at someone the very moment they first met? For that matter, how had she even brought a real sword into the midterm exam? The academy provided a wide variety of blunt training weapons, but sneaking in a live, sharpened blade should have been impossible.

My mind racing, I carefully appraised her posture.

Unlike moments ago, when she had aimed her blade straight at my throat, I couldn't feel a shred of murderous intent radiating from her now. Come to think of it, that dangerous final strike hadn't been meant to kill me—it had been aimed at disarming me.

"You don't look like you want to fight anymore," I noted with a skeptical squint. "Are you going to keep going?"

"N-No! I'm really, truly sorry...!"

"Then why did you draw your sword in the first pl—"

Rumble! Crash!

Before I could finish my sentence, a heavy tremor tore between us. A beat too late, reality slammed back into focus: this entire place was on the verge of total collapse. Shock flashed across both our faces. Damn it all. My mana was completely dry from using Blink, and the dungeon was already giving way?

"Oh, come on...!"

To be fair, getting sealed inside the Ancient Lich's Tomb didn't mean there was no way out. This place was a Double Dungeon. In the original game, there was even an intentional strategy where players deliberately collapsed the upper tomb to reap the extra rewards from the hidden catacomb beneath.

The problem was the difficulty. True to the dungeon's name, an actual ancient lich awaited in the double dungeon below.

My face drained of color as I yelled, "Let's get out of here first and talk la—gah?!"

BOOM!

Right then, the floor beneath our feet detonated.

The stone tiles fractured, and the ground split wide open. Beneath the gaping maw ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the earth lay nothing but an endless, pitch-black abyss. An ominous screeching echoed through the air as spiderweb cracks tore across the corridor walls.

Only one thought flashed through my mind: Getting out through the entrance is impossible.

Once the core was pulled, a five-minute countdown began, and the entrance to the double dungeon would only unlock after the main exit was permanently sealed shut. Even if we tried to run, the doors were already barricaded. Staying here meant getting buried alive in the collapsing corridor, which would leave us severely crippled at best.

And in a dungeon like this, severe injuries were practically a death sentence. At worst, you'd end up as a plaything for the monsters lurking in the dark.

"How could this... across every single cycle until now, this never happened...?"

"Snap out of it!"

Gritting my teeth, I wrapped an arm around Regina from behind. Our first encounter had been an absolute disaster, but there were still things I desperately needed to ask her. Her petite frame, standing nearly ten centimeters shorter than me, was surprisingly light.

The moment she was pulled against my chest, her face flushed bright crimson.

"Eeeek?! Sian?!"

"Follow me! We'll die if we stay here!"

"Wh-What do you mean...!?"

"Just listen to me! We have to reach the altar!"

Ignoring her protests entirely, I hauled her forward by force. A fraction of a second later, the very spot where we had been standing caved into nothingness.

RUUUUMBLE...

The deep, resonant grinding of ancient machinery echoed through the air, waking from centuries of slumber. Moss-covered stone tiles peeled away from the corridor one after another, plummeting into the dark.

"Ugh...!"

A massive boulder slammed down right beside us with a deafening crash, its impact drastically accelerating the collapse of the corridor. Damn it. At this rate, we wouldn't make it. If I still had enough mana for Blink, it would be another story, but I was completely tapped out. Our scuffle had pushed us far too far from the altar. If this kept going, both of us were going to—

"Whoa?!"

My thoughts were cut short. The ground beneath our feet vanished entirely, and a dizzying sensation of weightlessness gripped my body. Suspended in midair, my stomach dropped as gravity took hold. The terrible realization that we were falling filled my head, and my vision blurred ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into darkness. Instinctively, I squeezed my eyes shut.

It was right then that Regina's voice reached my ears.

"Ugh... I-I've got my head together now. I'm okay, so... could you let go for a second...?"

Regina, whom I had practically been dragging along, grasped my hand tightly. Her voice was remarkably steady now, and a vibrant crimson aura flared across her body. Clenching her teeth, she drew her greatsword and slammed it deep into the sheer rock face.

SKRRRRRRRRT!

Coated in dense magical energy, the blade sliced through the brittle stone like a knife through soft tofu. Our terrifying plummet gradually slowed to a manageable halt. As the rush of wind subsided, the rising panic in my chest gave way to calm reason.

When I opened my eyes, a translucent window hovered in the air before me.

"...If only I had that choice, trust me, I would," I muttered under my breath so Regina wouldn't hear.

Carefully, I peered downward. Beneath us, as we dangled precariously in the open cavern, stretched an abyss of bottomless dark.

"...Shall we... climb down?"

Instead of answering verbally, I reached into my belt pouch and pulled out an adventurer's match. Rather than relying on common chemicals, it was tipped with an enchanted fire-aspected magic stone—a staple tool for any serious explorer. Glad that I had brought it along, I channeled a thread of mana into the tip. The stone flared to life with a warm golden flame. Leaning out slightly, I dropped the match into the void.

It took several seconds before a faint clatter echoed from below, briefly illuminating the cave floor.

I calculated the distance in my head. By eye, it looked to be about forty meters. For a normal civilian, it would be a lethal drop, but for a Stigma Bearer, it was well within safe landing range.

"Ah, Sian...?"

Now accustomed to the gloom, my eyes scanned the opposite wall. Because this lower dungeon had been built atop a natural cavern system, the rock face was jagged and uneven, jutting out with numerous stone ledges. Without hesitation, I released Regina's hand and pushed off the wall.

Descending with nimble footwork, I tapped the ledges on the way down to bleed off momentum before landing lightly on the cavern floor. A heartbeat later, Regina touched down behind me with a soft thud.

Click.

With a crisp metallic click, she sheathed her massive sword. I pulled another match from my coat, struck it, and let out a tired sigh as I surveyed our surroundings.

"Whew..."

"I'm really, really sorry...! I swear I never intended for things to turn out like this, ah..."

Misinterpreting my sigh, Regina immediately scrambled to apologize again in a frantic flurry of words. Her nervous stammer only made my head ache worse.

This was the threshold of the Double Dungeon—an entrance zone where monsters wouldn't spawn unless we crossed past the threshold. With the immediate danger temporarily held at bay, my second concern naturally pushed to the forefront: the unsettling certainty that the canonical story was badly fractured.

Regina wasn't supposed to be like this. More importantly, the girl standing before me was noticeably stronger than she had ever been in the original game. On top of that, her mental state seemed perilously close to shattering.

Massaging my throbbing temples, I spoke gently.

"...I understand you didn't mean any harm, Regina. If you had genuinely swung your sword to kill me, you wouldn't have bothered saving my life just now."

"..."

"Still, why did you pull a blade on me in the first place? If you had something to ask, you could have just used your words."

"...I'm sorry."

"Haah..."

Regina couldn't bring herself to answer. She merely pressed her lips together and kept her head down. After waiting in vain for her to elaborate, I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed once more. What was done was done. Rather than interrogating her right now, figuring out how to survive and escape this place took priority.

Checking the edge of my training sword, I turned around to step past the safe zone. Just as I did, her voice called out from behind.

"W-Wait! Sian...!"

"...?"

"Th-The truth is... I just... I didn't know how to talk to you..."

"You didn't know how to talk to me, so you pointed a sword at my throat?"

"U-Usually, everyone always acts the exact same way... so I can just answer out of habit... but in this cycle, Sian, you're someone I've never seen before. It's the very first time I've ever laid eyes on you, so I wanted to ask you things. But it's been so long since I had a proper conversation with anyone that I completely forgot how to talk, and I didn't know what kind of person you were, or how I was supposed to approach you, but I felt like I couldn't let you slip away, and having an unknown variable appear terrified me, but at the same time it gave me hope, and it's been so terribly long since I felt an emotion like this..."

A desperate torrent of words poured from her lips like a burst dam—frantic, disjointed, and bordering on nonsensical.

Yet I couldn't simply dismiss what she was saying as the ramblings of a lunatic. Anyone else might have thought she was crazy, but I already knew the true nature of Regina Strelitzia's Stigma.

"...What?"

"Wait. Please, just wait...!"

"Regina, what are you doing...?!"

Whatever she thought my bewildered question meant, Regina clenched her teeth and began unbuttoning the collar of her uniform jacket. Before I could move to stop her, she pulled the fabric ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠aside with determined resolve, baring her pale shoulder.

There, on skin as white as though it had never once touched sunlight, rested an ink-black Stigma in the shape of a clock. And carved directly beneath the face was a three-digit number: 999.

Regina forced her violently trembling lips to part.

"I-I... the truth is, this isn't my first life...!"

The moment my eyes landed on that number etched beneath the clock face, a cold dread seized my chest. When I spoke, my voice was laced with disbelief.

"Then... which life is this?"

"It's my... nine hundred... and ninety-ninth life."

Nine hundred and ninety-nine.

That was a number I could never possibly forget.

Counting all my rerolls for ideal Stigmas, all my resets to hunt down obscure hidden achievements, every restart for speedrun records, and every wiped run pursuing no-hit boss clears... I had started Arcana Academy as a male character exactly 998 times.

The 999th playthrough was the very first time I had ever chosen to play as a female character.

And it was the exact run in which I was pulled into this world.