Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

“You’re wasting your life force.”

Inellia bit her lip at his remark and responded with a grim tone, “No, sir. I must offer my life in order—”

“‘Must’ what?”

“I must die. Or else that monster won’t die either…”

“And what about Linbelle?”

“…I entrust her to you, sir.”

Allen burst into laughter at her response.

“She’s the most important thing in the world to you, yet you’re leaving her to me? That’s funny.” 

Her eyes shook violently upon mention of her daughter. She bit her lip even harder.

“If I told you she was here, would that help change your mind?”

It was too late to change her mind, yet at those words, her resolve crumbled.

“What?! No, sir, it can’t be…”

As she stood with disbelieving eyes, Allen gestured towards the entrance.

At his gesture, Linbelle—who had been watching from the entrance—sprang out immediately and jumped into her mother’s arms. 

“Mom!”

“Linbelle… Why are you…?”

She stared at Linbelle in her arms in amazement, not refusing to loosen her grasp.

Then, she looked at Allen with a critical gaze.

“Sir, why…?”

“Mom, stop. I forced him to take me with him.”

“But…”

Inellia looked towards the chimera sorcerer with hatred in her eyes.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Linbelle…”

“It was my choice, my will. It wasn’t his fault, so don’t blame him.”

“But still, bringing you to such a dangerous place…”

“Because of that monster?”

The one who’d kidnapped her mother and had drawn them there.

“That’s…”

She was left speechless.

“You came alone saying you had to kill him!”

She looked around as if she had forgotten something.

“I remember it here. Not too well, but… I know that this isn't a good place. But did you come all this way to just take all of them down alone?”

“…”

“You knew that it wasn't possible. You’ve been hiding up until now because you knew that. Or maybe it’s something else? Is it because I’m a burden? Like the monster said?”

“No!”

Inellia quickly cut her off.

“…It’s not like that at all.”

“I know. It’s just… It’s just that it feels like that. With how weak and inexperienced I am…”

The monster who had broken into the manor saw Francisca, whom he had battled earlier.

Linbelle saw Allen defeat countless monsters.

And she felt her own powerlessness.

Linbelle knew how easily her routine could be broken, how small the world she lived in was.

‘I want to become stronger.’

Like Sir Allen.

She looked at her aspiration—him—killing monsters and moving forward.

Linbelle held Inellia tightly, unable to hide her indecisiveness.

“Could I even think about dying in front of my daughter? I can’t even begin to imagine how badly that would hurt.”

“But… if you can’t kill that monster…”

Allen looked at her, his words laced with regret.

“That’s the question…”

He then walked slowly.

“I’ll settle things.” 

“But, sir, Deverre is really, very strong…”

So what? What if he was strong?. What does it matter?

Their target was always going to be difficult to defeat.

“As a maid…”

He had been concerned about what was to come all this time.

The things that had turned out differently than he’d known them, the ever-changing future, those who were pretending to be close to him.

Francisca had acted differently than how he’d remembered her.

Even though he’d made the choice to rescue the citizens, it was to no avail.

Despite his efforts to take care of Linbelle and Inellia, Inellia was still kidnapped.

The chimeras and the traps that he faced were different from what he’d remembered, as well as Inellia’s willingness to die. 

Everything.

“You need to listen to your master as your duty requires.”

Maybe he just needed someone to direct his anger towards.

But what did that matter either?

He took what he had decided on and was only coming to get it back.

Was that not enough?

What more could there be that he needed to put up with?

So what?

“I won’t put up with it anymore.”

A huge circle began to spin around his heart, producing that foghorn-like roar. His eyes then turned towards the man turning into a bizarre mass of flesh.

The culprit who had planted the seeds of regret in him before his regression. The monster who interrupted his plans once again.

“Deverre?”

The fucker who screwed him over.

He finally found him after so long.

Allen’s motive was simple until he’d come to the city: changing the past.

By solving the mistakes he’d made, he would find closure. And maybe along the way, he’d attract some talented people too.

That was all.

So then how…?

“Is that the mastermind behind all of this?”

How did all of this happen?

Allen’s eyes stayed on the chimera sorcerer who, even now, was still consuming the chimeras around him.

He didn’t panic, even when Allen had stepped in.

Because he already knew.

“So you’re our trespasser who came through our mountains.”

“Yeah. I came to get my belongings.”

He gave him an odd look, concentrating his gaze towards Allen’s heart.

“Are you aiming for the Dragon Core?”

“Maybe.”

“You’re seeking the impossible.”

He looked at Allen with pity in his eyes. Allen responded with a smirk.

“Does that have anything to do with the current situation?”

“No.”

“So?”

“I simply feel sorry for you, young one.”

Hah.

He laughed. 

The failure pitied him?

“Chimera sorcerer, the same goes for you.”

Allen heightened his senses.

Countless threads expanded and filled the air around them.

It was strange from the start.

Sorcerers could sense things in more ways than the average person. They could recognize, interact with, and manipulate different forms of mana. 

Both the root and result of all these processes.

To see such a waste of that sense…

He could now understand why.

He—That monster was…

“You were planning to use this spell from the beginning.”

The chimera sorcerer was going to remodel his body anyways. He didn’t need to bother with making any other sort of elaborate scheme ahead of time.

His ability to sense the mana around him was taken at the expense of making so many chimeras.

What would he do to deal with Allen?

Crunch.

It was simple.

‘One of the chimera sorcerer’s secrets is his ability to soften his body.’

As Allen thought this, Deverre’s body began to contort.

He swallowed up all of the nearby chimeras, regardless if they were alive or dead, adding them to his own wriggling mass of flesh. 

The giant circle around Allen’s heart let out a roar and began to vibrate.

Roar. 

Deverre was trying to shed his human skin to become inhuman—like something out of a story.

“…I like you smarter folk.”

He responded, grinning with the only remaining half of his face left.

“I’d like it if you’d become a part of me. Would you please cooperate?”

His frame began to change. His bubbling body began to condense into one form, unlike the previous demonic assortment of chimeras. One huge mass of flesh.

Allen could do nothing but witness it.

The act itself was disgusting, yet it was magic.

Magic.

A form of communication which he understood, reversing the nature of the world through the wishes of human will.

Unless the act before him was understood through that same form of communication, any and all acts of reverse calculation and interference that he would do would be useless.

Magic originating from the realm of human imagination could run unpredictably if messed with incorrectly.

Allen shouted at Inellia and Libelle, who’d been watching them blankly.

“Get back.”

“But…”

“I said get back.”

As Inellia was about to speak, Linbelle grabbed onto her hand.

“It’s ok. He’ll win.”

“But Linbelle…”

At the young girl’s urging and Allen's order, the hesitating Inellia finally moved away from the entrance.

“You aren’t leaving?”

“Who would be here to stop you?” 

As he spoke, Allen walked forward.

He activated his three-meter domain. 

He could do anything within his little domain.

He could do it.

He had to do it.

Belief. That was the basics and mastery of magic.

“Young one, are you confident in yourself?”

“Wouldn’t I have run if I weren’t?”

He laughed flatly. 

It was a certain sound of laughter. A sound that clearly said ‘I won’t let you leave.’

“We’ll all become one in a little bit…”

The chimera sorcerer’s voice became more and more clear. 

A signal of the completion of his spell.

A myriad of threads wove themselves around Allen. He took notice of his opponent.

A near-perfect muscle woven throughout the body. A total of four horns, two located on each temple, arose. Every part of his body was covered by a black shell. And in the other uncovered areas, disgusting, dark red muscles bulged out.

“…Within me.”

He kicked the ground. 

At that moment, Deverre disappeared.

Allen’s face coldly hardened. 

He scattered a light shockwave throughout the space around him. 

Rumble…

His body didn't waver even an inch. The straightly advancing body didn’t falter.

Deverre threw a wide punch. A sloppy blow. However, the resulting hit wasn’t insignificant.

BANG!

“It seems as though I can’t handle this body… How embarrassing. Haha.”

His fist had smashed Allen on the floor beside him.

Allen took advantage of the new gap in the ground, using some of his threads to strike the air.

BANG!

The threads’ power wiped the expression off of Deverre’s face. Yet there were still no injuries on that face.

The shockwave lightly slapped him on the face, but he shook it off. The attack couldn’t have gone any better.

“That’s enough, young one. Cheer up a little more. This new body is… Well, it’ll be alright.”

Deverre brandished his fist again.

The distribution of body movement, positions, and strength.

It was all extremely messy, as if it were his first time. 

Yet the resulting force from all three was not light.

A scream came out from within the space. His failure to distribute his strength resulted in both the ground and the wall breaking in. 

Allen watched the attack. 

A stance in which it was obvious that the chimera sorcerer possessed not even the basic skills.

Allen nodded. Deverre’s fist had split the air by only a hair.

Fwoosh.

What was the next attack going to be?

Allen watched his opponent’s eyes. Slightly upwards. His lower body was twisted, his legs stretched out. 

‘He’s leaning back a little bit.’

His stretched legs ran through the space as his shirt collar wavered.

Another attack came.

However, he had to do more than just dodge them. 

The way he threw his punches, his patterns, his center of gravity, the gaps in his breathing, and post-attack calculating.

Allen watched everything.

Then, he moved.

He swept his legs from the right then bent his back, taking one step to the side at the same time.

Bang!

Deverre smashed in a hole where Allen had once stood. He roared with excitement, picking up his speed. 

He moved his feet.

Allen’s aim was a gap within the chimera sorcerer’s breathing.

A small shockwave cut him off.

“You bastaaaaaaard!”

Allen’s attack poured in, power flooding in from all directions like a downpour.

He closed his eyes. He was in his element anyway, so he didn’t have to rely on his sight. He could feel it without seeing it directly.

He moved his upper body. 

He didn’t need to move it a lot, though.

Then, he slanted his left shoulder. 

Fwoosh!

The power pierced through the air behind the moving body.

He let out a sharp exhale. 

His muscles shook, and his breathing was erratic.

Alarms were going off in his head.

Threads weaved themselves together within Allen’s domain. He formed figures with one hand, avoided an attack, and formed even more after.

The threads overlapped.

One layer, two layers, three layers.

It was no ordinary formation.

A simple shockwave couldn’t even scratch it.

‘So?’

What was it, then?

Something that could kill his opponent. 

His eyes sank.

What about his body? A body based off of chimera-synthesis.

What about his strength?

His attacks?

What’s his pattern?

‘More.’

Allen’s hand moved.

Behind him, a gray drum arose.

He tapped the air, and the drum resounded.

The moment the drum appeared, Deverre covered his ears despite knowing that the attack wouldn't work on him.

A golden hammer fell through the air as his other weapons vanished.

“This is…!”

The hammer came down faster than he could shout.

Crash!

The air shook, and a light breeze passed through. 

He stepped back to think.

‘That was weak.’

Whether it was superhuman sense or just primal instinct, Deverre successfully evaded the hammer right before it fell. 

Allen clicked his tongue and put his hands away. He observed the chimera sorcerer’s condition and found a small dent in the shell encasing his head.

“I underestimated you. I was off my guard, thinking you were only a Rank 1 sorcerer… That was dangerous.”

Deverre looked at him with admiration.

Seeing that look, Allen’s lips twitched. 

It was the extent of his physical abilities. This was his limit. 

‘It would be bad if it were any more than this.’

Allen knew.

He knew the strength, the future, and the limitations of the man who had stolen his brother's body.

He was a hero.

He stood out in this world, quelling every disaster that appeared wherever he went.

Yet in comparison, the chimera sorcerer, Deverre, the one in front of him…

“Is that it?”

He had mixed thoughts.

Because of this bastard.

Is Rank 5 enough?

Under his concentrated will, tens, hundreds, thousands of threads wove themselves into intricate forms.

“I don’t even want to compare us.”

He arranged and aligned concepts in his head.

His imagination materialized, and reality changed.

The magic, given shape by his thoughts, gave form to each tangled thread.

The areas of magic that he had focused on during his life before the regression were Spirits, Space, and Contracts.

The nature of the world that he understood began to change according to his will.

The ring around his heart spun around rapidly, spinning a thread. 

“You speak so harshly. So… I won’t let my guard down this time.”

Deverre moved.

Allen squinted. Within his domain, he had aimed hundreds or more of green swords at his foe.

Blows from fists and slashes from swords were being exchanged.

Dark green swords hit countless rigid bodies.

Deverre shattered Allen’s weapons while narrowing the space between them. 

He quickly fixed his posture, changing from a clumsy, childlike pose to a much more refined one. 

He was rapidly adjusting to his body.

“Your mana manipulation is exceptional. I look forward to the future.”

Crack.

The swords shattered, covering the ground in its debris.

Yet there were only slight scratches on his body. 

‘Is there any significant wound?’

There wasn’t.

He kicked into the ground hard.

The straight-moving oncoming mass forcibly amplified his senses.

Instantaneous body amplification.

Deverre’s fist stretched out explosively.

A simple punch made the whole space ring.

Allen's mana, which wasn’t circulating inside his body, didn’t amplify his senses as completely.

He saw Deverre’s expression. 

Glee, greed, and—

‘Arrogance.’

His incompletely amplified senses cut apart the world to analyze it.

His thoughts couldn’t catch up with his senses.

His field of view became dislocated, like a shattered glass window. 

Everything was ringing.

A feeling of tingling ecstasy in a world where only he existed.

Bang!

“…How?”

“What? You’re so shocked by a sorcerer using magic against you?”

He didn't mean to be crude.

An uncomfortable smile crossed his lips.

“Give up magic, shut up, and deal with the result.”

However, he did not.

Without even having a chance to finish talking, another attack came.

Allen’s senses were amplified again.

The world slowed down.

Everything around him disappeared until only the image of his opponent remained.

His breath, the light fur on his skin, the flying dust and dirt, the sound of his cries—all of those things moved both closer and farther away at the same time.

‘Can I kill him like this?’

Even in this situation where he could very likely die, that person’s face came to mind.

His brother’s face, a stolen one. That impudently grinning face.

‘You were always like that.’

As if he were his real little brother, as if it had been like that all along.

He gathered up all his magic.

He still didn’t know how to recover his brother’s soul.

Regardless, time continued to flow.

When would he be able to find him again?

That bastard was getting stronger, yet he didn’t have even a clue as to how to find his real brother’s soul. 

‘What’s the point of even thinking up theories?’

Even if he were to find a way to get that bastard’s soul out of the body, Allen didn’t have his brother anywhere.

He loathed it.

How much longer did he need to smile at him? What about those damned cowards hiding behind their father? And how much longer could he…

‘But first, I’ll start with this one.’

He needed to make it through this in order to look into the future.

He moved, his magic assisting him.

A little more, even if it had to be forced.

‘Brother…’

His sensations amplified, his skin became painfully sensitive, and everything became clear.

He dove into that twisted scene.

‘Wait for me.’

Wherein every moment flowed yet was unattainable.

In that ecstasy, where everything flowed by slowly…

He took a step forward.