In a place that was unreachable for most, and inescapable for one, several obscured figures stood before someone. They looked at her with varying expressions. Contempt, rage, amusement, disappointment… sorrow.

She was bound to a throne… No, now it was just a simple chair, nothing special. She had been bound there for what felt like a meaningless eternity, restrained by chains that mattered as little as the reasons behind them.

A smile curled the lips of the one who sat upon the meaningless chair. "Is this a surprise party? I believe my birthday has already passed though?"

One of the obscured figures slammed her fist into a desk. It appeared she was not there in body, only projecting her figure from a faraway location.

"YOU!! AGAIN!! I'VE TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF I LAID EYES ON YOU AGAIN!"

Vera scoffed. "Pfff. What are you going to do, imprison me?" She shook the heavy chains wrapped around her. "Someone already beat you to it, my cute Terras."

Terras flew into a blind rage, making the surroundings tremble even though her real body was not there. "How dare you interfere with my world again!!! Even if I rip your skin off and wear it as a dress it won't be enough!!!!"

Again, Vera could only scoff. "...'My world', you say… If I didn't know any better, I'd think you've really started to think of yourself as a Goddess… little girl."

This time, it seemed Terras would not leave it at merely words, ready to strike, but another figure simply raised its hand, and time itself halted out of respect.

Seeing this, Terras did not immediately concede, but when the figure who had raised its hand gave her a glance, she could only stand down and click her tongue.

"I swear I'll put an end to you, one day." She muttered.

Vera chuckled. "If you could have done that, then you'd be better than everyone here combi–"

"Enough."

A deep, commanding, voice.

It spoke to Vera.

"The time for pleasantries has passed. You understand what you've done, do you not?"

Vera sighed, and she leaned back. "You still don't have a sense of humor."

The deep voice ignored her quip. "We were lenient in consideration of who you once were. We allowed what we should not have, and yet, you've decided to insult us."

Vera felt her chains growing tighter, more uncomfortable.

She did not panic. Instead, she threw her head back and laughed hysterically. "Hahahah!! I take back what I said! You are pretty funny, after all!!"

In unison, all of the figures present raised their right hand, and closed their palms into a fist. Vera felt her chains grow tighter, thicker, and they began looping around her body. Before long, they had wrapped around her arms, feet, chest, and eyes.

The man spoke again. "Is there nothing you wish to say?

With the last of what she could muster, Vera smiled. "Nothing at all."

—

'Am I a regressor?' Verity thought as he stood before a demon whose power he could not gauge.

As he thought that, something else came to mind.

When he had looked at his skill [Accumulate], with the Rune of Truth. There had been a line about its activation condition that he had not really paid attention to… for some reason.

But now, he felt an inescapable urge to think upon it longer.

It was a skill that activated when he died.

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Now that he really contemplated it, even the description gave it away.

Description : All is erased, but the reality lingers, echoing through the present. Forgotten struggles are woven into you, shaping your being anew and gracing you with might.

How had he not realized it before?

'I am… a regressor…!!'

And that skill allowed him to retain a portion of his stats from his previous life.

It was all so evident, and yet, only now did he realize this.

"You seem lost in thought."

Verity looked up, to see the demon staring at him only an inch away from his face.

'I'm a regressor! Which means it doesn't matter if I die here!'

The dots were finally connecting. Every time his skill [Lesson Learned] had activated were not times where he had almost died, they were times when he had actually died and come back.

Whereas a lesson learned.

He wanted to slap himself for being so slow to understand.

The demon spoke again. "Even if we are mere toys in their eyes, this too, can be a form of defiance."

'He's probably about to kill me… but I guess it doesn't matter. I'll just come back and try again… !.'

But then, something else crossed his mind.

His sponsor.

She was the one who had given him his class. Meaning that she was responsible for his regressor skills, [Lesson Learned] and [Accumulate].

Which suggested that she was the one who had given him this power.

Which in turn meant she knew of this ability. It made sense why she rarely seemed to care when Verity was in danger, or offered virtually no help at all.

'But there were a few times when she did help though…'

At the gates of Plamodel, in that monster infested cave, and… just now. In that last vision of his, Verity had died just before the demon's hand could reach his face. His head had very clearly exploded.

That must have been her doing. She was saving him, just as she had saved him at the gate by altering his mana signature, and how she had saved him in that cave by urging him to leave.

Remembering what Vera had said about Terras destroying his soul, Verity finally understood.

Even knowing that Verity was effectively immortal, there was something Vera valued more than his life.

His soul.

Vera never allowed his soul to be damaged. It was the only reason she ever interfered.

At this point, even a toddler could understand why.

If his soul was destroyed, it was likely that even Verity would not be able to regress.

Seeing the demon's hand slowly grow closer, Verity's eyes widened. 'She must have burst my head because of this…! This demon is going to do something to my soul….!'

He wanted to back away, but he quickly realized that he could not move. Panic began to set it. He quickly understood that if he let this happen, there would be no do-over.

Would Vera burst his head again?

For some reason, he felt that she would not.

He tried calling out to her, but no answer came.

What could he do? He tried to speak, to reason, but the demon ignored every word Verity threw at him.

"W-Wait, damnit! I said wait!! Didn't you say something about me carrying your mark!? I can explain why if you just give me a second!!"

Ignored.

He pointed to the sole flower in the garden that had bloomed. "Don't you want to know why that flower suddenly bloomed!? I can tell you!"

Ignored.

Verity didn't want to die.

But he also wouldn't beg for his life, simply because that had never convinced anyone to spare another. He had learned during his stay in this world, that when one reached the point where they had to beg for their lives, it meant their fate had long been set in stone.

So Verity would not beg, and since his words did not seem to get through, he would fight.

He began circulating aura in his body, emulating the principle of Violence throughout, until he bled from every orifice.

Still, he couldn't move.

"Kill me, and I'll come back worse! Over and over!! Until you're the one begging!" Verity managed to say through the searing pain.

He wouldn't.

If he died here, it would be the end.

Just as the hand was about to reach him–

BOOM

Silver hair, obsidian spear, and a cape crested with a mighty Dragon. Evangelina smirked. "I disagree with the Spauser brat. You really wouldn't have made it as a Knight. You're much too sly."

Verity couldn't believe his eyes. "M-Master…?"

He looked around him, he looked at the flower garden, which seemed to be in another dimension entirely. "How… Did you make it here?" He asked, baffled.

Evangelina turned to him and raised her head proudly. "Hphm! You think there is a place you can reach but I cannot? How arrogant. Perhaps you need a beating."

The demon, who had been pushed back a few steps, looked at his pale white hand where a tiny blemish had appeared. "How interesting. Neither of you should be here… and yet here you are."

Evangelina turned back to the demon, and she raised her spear. "Long time no see… Nameless Demon."

The demon healed the blemish on his hand, and he straightened. "I am not nameless as I've told you before… it is just that my name has no worth in being spoken."

"Whatever. Hands off my disciple."

The demon shook his head. "I cannot do that. He must be annihilated here and now."

This time, Evangelina lowered her stance, and she pointed her spear straight toward the demon. "I appreciate you making this easy for me."

The demon, still with an air of disinterest, looked Evangelina up and down. "I admit, among those I've met, you are formidable." He deployed his wings. "However… Even with six of you, you could not defeat me. What can you do alone?"

Evangelina's expression darkened, and the demon continued. "I still remember your disciple and her friends who came after you. They were much worse. Not even worth my time."

And then, the demon seemed to recall something, he placed a hand over his mouth, and unlike all that he'd shown before, his lips curled upward. "Ah… but forgive me. Can you… even remember her face now?"

In the end, demons were all like that.

Sadistic, sinister bastards who relished the pain and anguish of others. Even this one, who seemed uncaring, and disinterested, was still a demon at his core. Rather, that should have been obvious. He was about to erase Verity from existence just to spite 'someone', after all…

Evangelina didn't respond immediately. Just for a moment, her grip on the spear trembled.

She grit her teeth. "Don't talk about her with that disgusting mouth of yours."

'A disciple? There was one before me?? And what does he mean by remembering her face!?'

There were no more words to be said. One side would not live to see the next day, and that was all that mattered.

Evangelina exploded forward, sending Verity tumbling a few meters away, and the confrontation began.

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