It was surprising that a blessing could have a limited number of uses, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Regression, also known as retrogression, or defying the laws of nature...
Such abilities that interfered with time were unheard of even among the fields of magic, sorcery, and blessings.
In other words, just about everyone considered it impossible.
—I didn’t send you to the past to simply improve your growth. You may find this hard to believe, but it’s tiresome even for me to regress someone.
Even my master, Baek Nogwang, who I believed was capable of doing anything, found it tiresome.
Maybe...
Second Senior Sister had been giving me advice in her own way?
For some reason, I imagined her sitting atop the rocky Spirit Mountain, fanning her iron fan while seated as if in meditation. In her characteristic calm voice, she would say to me, Not yet. The time has not yet come to use it.
“Kekeke...”I couldn't stop laughing.
To be honest, I didn’t really know how to take this all in.
If I had to describe it, I was feeling a mix of fear, from facing an overwhelming entity, and anger, from it trying to manipulate my body.
Could fear and anger coexist?
Deep in thought, I continued to busy myself with smashing through the Deathberrys.
Anyhow, now that I understood the situation, I began to slowly unravel the motive behind the demon lord’s action.
Its goal wasn’t to kill me.
It was trying to get me to regress.
In other words...
Death is not the condition for regression.
If death triggered the regression, then the demon lord wouldn’t have messed around and wasted its time on the third floor.
It could have just killed me.
Of course, I wouldn’t have just stood there and let it, but it would have at least shown its intent to kill me.
Even now, the presence of the Deathberry army surrounding me was certainly overwhelming, but it didn’t feel like they were particularly desperate to kill me.
Instead, it felt like they were slowly tightening the noose, forcing their prey to choose to give up.
...
But of course, I was one heck of a rebellious son of my mom, so the more forcefully I was bossed around, the more violently I became defiant.
I don't care if you're a demon lord, a god, a transcendent, or an absolute being. It really doesn’t matter to me.
What really mattered was that they were trying to manipulate me to shape the situation to their liking.
My nostrils flared and my eyes narrowed as the anger inside me bubbled up.
...I’m very close to losing my cool.
No doubt, as I faced many hardships ahead, I would end up regressing eventually.
Whenever that might be.
I would fail again, wallow in regret, and once more regress.
However, that time was not now—or at least not yet.
I will not regress, and I will defeat that demon lord here and now.
CRUNCH!
I smashed through the jaw of a Deathberry and thought, I don't have much time.
The Demon Lord of the Blood-Lit Moon doesn’t know me.
As in, it didn’t know when I would want to regress.
It was a race against time. What would happen first?
Would Deathberry figure me out?
Or would I be the one to find a way out of this situation?
Even though the situation seemed hopeless, I still believed I had a chance.
The reason was my second senior sister.
She believed I could overcome this crisis. That was why she’d rung the bell and made me turn back.
“...”
I went through the process of observing, analyzing, and contemplating. It was not easy to switch between that and fighting off a wave of enemies.
Thinking this hard had never really been my strong suit...
But hey, life wasn’t about doing only what you wanted to do.
I racked my brain to its limits, almost to the point that I was sure steam would start coming out my ears.
First, vision.
Eyes that could pierce through the darkness and see inside enemies... It sounded fancy, but I decided to call it golden fire eyes.
As I scanned the Deathberry army with my golden fire eyes, I listened attentively.
My hearing was complementary to my vision.
Unlike vision, which could be blocked by obstacles and only see what lay ahead, hearing was much more flexible in range.
In most situations, I could use it to keep tabs on everything happening around me.
Like now, as I focused on the sounds happening outside my line of sight.
As for smell and taste, I had no use for them at the moment.
Lastly, there was touch.
As I smashed through Deathberrys, I tried to feel for any differences between the seemingly identical puppet soldiers.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything.
Each of them felt largely identical when punched, as were their reactions and durability.
Is it just me, or are their numbers not decreasing...?
I had smashed through quite a few of them since the fight began, but as best I could tell, their numbers remained the same.
Suddenly, Sellen’s words made sense.
She’d said something about enemies that split and regenerate and how she found them annoying.
...Should I try cutting the threads?
The most obvious way to stop the puppets from moving was to kill the one controlling them...
But even for me, destroying the moon in the sky was a tall order.
I decided to try the next best thing: cutting the threads connected to all the Deathberrys.
I drew the Sword of Seven Sins and roughly infused it with ki.
The Sword of Seven Sins wasn’t really suited to cutting things, but those threads were as tough as wires, so I figured it might do better than the Dark Star Blade.
I dodged the onslaught of Deathberry claws and brought the sword down on the thread attached to one’s nape.
Snap!
The sound of the thread snapping was rather harsh, and my wrist ached like I had struck a steel bar.
Thud...
There I had it. As soon as the string snapped, the Deathberry collapsed limp and lay there completely motionless. It didn’t even twitch.
So this really is the best way?
I tightened my grip on the sword and began to cut every thread I could find as fast as I could.
After slicing through about twenty of them...
Clang...!
“...!”
The Sword of Seven Sins bounced off.
For a moment, my wrist throbbed, and I almost lost my grip on the hilt.
What the...?
Not only had I failed to cut the thread, I hadn’t even nicked it.
I had swung my sword with as much strength as usual, and my mental strength and internal energy were still in top shape, so there was no way I had failed to control my strength properly.
In other words...
This particular thread is insanely tough.
That could only mean the one attached to it was different.
I was certain; this was the only one with an unusually tough thread attached to it.
Which one was it?
My eyes darted around, and I soon found it.
This Deathberry looked similar to the others in appearance, size, and even behavior...
But there was definitely something different about it.
Is it the one with the black and white of its eyes inverted?
Just like the very first one I’d blown up.
In contrast, the eyes of the other Deathberrys looked normal. It was dark, so it had taken me this long to realize, but at least I’d caught on before it was too late.
I thought about what to do with what I assumed was the main body.
If it attacked again, was I confident I could cut it? If I used all my internal energy and swung with all my might?
...This is a bit hard.
I’d probably have to use the purple flame to have a chance, but even then, I didn’t know if that would be enough.
That was just how strong this thread was.
And on top of that...
I glanced at Charon and Sellen...
They were relatively trustworthy, but if they found out that I was a member of the Church, I wasn’t sure that they’d remain friendly.
The worst possible outcome was using purple flame but still failing to cut the thread.
I only had one chance, one strike.
I had to cut it, no matter what.
...Wait.
Suddenly, I was struck by a brilliant idea.
A way to for sure cut that thread without even using my purple flame.
With the hand that wasn’t holding my sword, I reached into my inner pocket.
It was slightly warm from my body heat, but I could still feel the coolness of the metal as my fingertips brushed over it.
This was it.
No matter how strong the thread was, this tool—no, this holy artifact...
Suddenly...
Ruuuumble...!
There was a loud rumble as the building shook.
The tremor was so intense that it felt like the ground itself was shaking, and I almost lost my balance for a moment.
“Keuk...!”
“What is this—”
Charon and Sellen staggered far more dramatically than I did, but judging by their voices, they weren’t out of energy quite yet.
“...Wait. Don’t tell me that’s—”
Charon’s gaze shifted to the window, and...
I cursed the moment I saw it too.
Fuck. Just what we needed.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The situation in Research Building 12 was not good.
Just like Luan had seen on the third floor, panic had set within.
In the end, the headmaster’s barrier had failed.
The one upside among the many downsides was that it hadn’t completely collapsed and disappeared.
“The second floor can’t hold on much longer...!”
“Shit, go to the third floor! Evacuate the cadets first!”
“Yes, sir!”
The research building had four floors.
Initially, the barrier magic had protected the entire building, but that was no longer the case.
The partially destroyed barrier had allowed the dolls to infiltrate, leaving those inside no choice but to retreat to the upper floors.
From the first floor to the second...
And now, from the second to the third.
Goddamn it...
Barter bit his lip in frustration.
At this rate, they were doomed. Once the line was pushed to the rooftop, there would be nowhere left to run.
Could we have handled this better?
He was talking not about the dolls but about the cadets. After all, it was their mental breakdowns that had led to this mess.
Would things have been better if the cadets had been forced into submission or knocked unconscious?
...Probably not.
In the beginning, he’d resented the cadets for their weak minds, but he’d come to understand.
This was one of the classic side effects of staying on land tainted by demonic energy: the spread of madness.
To make matters worse, the Demon Lord of Blood-Lit Moon, Hadenaihar, was the very embodiment of madness.
It was only natural that the unblessed, untrained minds of the students would break.
To be honest, Barter could feel his own mind starting to waver.
“Captain! The prince is missing!” Marco shouted, clearly panicked. “Permission to step away!”
He was starting to speak nonsense, now.
“Permission denied! Hold your position!”
“But...!”
“What do you think will happen if you leave your position now?!” Barter roared.
Marco flinched.
“The front line will collapse! The dolls will flood in! They will make their way to the headmaster and kill him! And with that, everyone in this building will die!”
There were two stairways leading to the third floor.
The other side was being held off, somehow, thanks to Hector Bednicker and the young heroes, but the overall situation was not good.
It was simply because they were outnumbered.
“I know you're the fourth prince’s aide! But you're also a member of the Special Forces, Marco Angela. You follow my orders!”
“...Understood.”
Even after hearing Marco’s response, Barter couldn’t help but keep an eye on him.
Barter had no idea when or how the madness might manifest.
Who could say that Marco wouldn’t swing his sword at those around him, all in the name of protecting the prince?
Barter was as wary of his current allies and even his own sanity as he was of the puppets they were fighting.
What happened next was so far out of Barter’s control that he couldn’t even begin to be blamed for it.
“I-I’m getting out of here...! MOOOVE!”
“What? Hey, hey! Stop!”
“Ah... ahahahaha! Freedoooom...!”
A cadet who was supposed to be in the back screamed, shoved one of the Special Forces members aside, and jumped into the horde of dolls.
But the cadet’s happiness was short-lived.
In an instant, a long spear shot from the wave of dolls, and its metal tip plunged straight through the cadet’s throat.
Was madness, perhaps, a blessing?
The cadet had died instantly, wearing a blank face without a sign of pain, likely without even registering the killing blow.
“...Damn it.”
Barter Goodspring tried to pretend he hadn't seen it.
And at the same time, he realized...
Sooner or later, everyone in this building would be wiped out.
How much time has passed?
Ever since the dolls had infiltrated and he’d had to fight them off, the flow of time had become impossible to track.
Sometimes, it felt like not even an hour had passed, and at other times, it felt like their twelve hours had long passed.
But was there anyone in this desperate situation who could accurately gauge time?
...There was.
On the rooftop, the Archmage of Violet was desperately trying to control the rampaging mana within his body.
Alderson Maveur.
...Twelve hours have passed.
Many casualties had already occurred. Their souls still lingered in this realm, but the damage was already done.
He doubted cadets who had experienced death could ever fully recover.
In the past, all those who had returned from lands invaded by demonic energy had gone mad.
To Alderson, everyone at the Academy was family. It was a cliché sentiment, one he’d never shared with anyone, but it really was how he felt.
That was why his heart felt so heavy.
The situation was bad enough now, but he knew the worst was yet to come.
“H-Headmaster, o-over there...” Arin O'Handel said, her voice trembling.
Headmaster Alderson looked straight ahead, his expression unreadable.
The legendary Platinum Knight Order of the past had ridden pegasi, but even Alderson could not create artificial horses capable of carrying armored cavalry.
Even so, Alderson hadn’t been able to give up on his flying knights, so he’d given wings to every member of his knight order.
“...”
The knights clad in pristine white armor, so holy that even the red glow of the moon could not stain them, came into view.
It was a majestic sight, as though a scene from a myth had come to life.
Under the crimson-stained sky, the massive wings of the armored soldiers stretched wide, their sheer presence enough to mesmerize anyone who caught sight of them.
At first glance, they appeared to be an army sent by heaven, descended to save them and everyone from damnation...
At least, that was the purpose for which they had originally been created.
Now, it was the complete opposite.
Now they were reapers, advancing toward their creator to sever the thread of life that bound him to this world.
“Urgh...”
Arin instinctively took something out of her pocket and gripped it tightly with both hands.
The headmaster, looking straight ahead at the despair soon to befall them, asked, “You've been fiddling with that for a while. What is it?”
“I-it’s a coin I got from Luan.” Arin opened her hand to show it to him.
“A coin?” Alderson looked down at the coin.
Though he prided himself on his extensive knowledge and intelligence, even among archmages, this was the first time he had ever seen such a coin.
“According to him... it’s supposed to be... a trump card. To be used only at the last moment...”
“Why is that?”
“Uh, well, Luan said...” Arin glanced nervously at Alderson. “...If we use it, it might wipe out the entire Platinum Knight Order.”