༺ Monologue (6) ༻

Let’s organize the situation.

After Dorothy had recovered my color, she could not endure the side effects of intervening in a different worldline and got sent back.

Subsequently, a system window appeared. The contents of it were that an external variable, Dorothy, had heavily influenced the Trial of Sandstone, so the Obsidian Blade would readjust the trial.

Then abruptly, the world started to fall apart due to the Evil God’s magic, and a distant unidentifiable monster had popped out.

After that, the system window displayed these contents; To survive until the initialization, as the Evil God Nephid had brought forth the end of all worlds.

Moreover, now, even a loading screen was progressing that aimed to initialize something.

Contextually, initializing in this fucked world probably meant returning to the past…

…But when exactly?

Ugh, my brain was scrambled.

‘Why is something like this popping up?’

In the first place, what does any of this have to do with my trauma?

Isn’t the main purpose of all trials to overcome trauma?

…Whatever. I could only make reasonable judgments right now. The ground had collapsed and the Evil God’s rain of flames was pouring down, so I had to save my immediately unanswerable suspicions for later.

Either way, the given goal was crystal clear. To survive until the initialization finished loading.

Before long, this world would meet its complete demise.

There was nowhere to flee. No matter where I went, I would die.

The problem was… the initialization was loading way too fucking slowly. It didn’t seem like it would finish loading before this world disappeared.

“…Aht!”

The rain of black flames flew towards me and stuck onto my left arm; Even if I evaded all types of threats, it was impossible to avoid all of them.

The black flames annihilated my hand in an instant and began to climb up my arm at a rapid pace.

Kwaaaaa────!!

I didn’t have a chance to feel hesitation nor fear. With the belief that my magic would affect it, I blew apart my left arm with a rough [Frost Explosion] before the black flames could surge upwards.

The explosion of ice mana easily flung away my left arm…

As the arm floated in the air, it was devoured by the black flames and futilely became mere ashes and dust before vanishing.

“Keuuuk…!”

It hurts. It fucking hurts so bad.

An intense, agonizing heat surged at my shoulder.

Thanks to the ice freezing solidly at the cross-section of my shoulder, no blood was leaking. In order to endure the pain, I aggressively bit my lower lips and continued to run away. From my lips, the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

Fortunately, thanks to the effects of [Frozen Soul], I could maintain rational thinking even in this sort of situation. Except for the drawback that I could feel the pain even more vividly, it really was a relief that I had it.

‘Think fast…!’

I had to survive in this world until the loading finished. However, the end of this world was approaching much faster than the loading was finishing.

Is there a way to survive?

“…”

Suddenly, the gigantic existence that continued to release dark blue ripples caught my eye. Although it was enveloped in noise, at times, the noise could not hide its entire body. As such, from those sporadic gaps, dozens of alien eyes, seemingly not of this world, were revealed.

“…!”

Soon after, a thought crossed my mind.

‘How did I not realize this way before?’

That unidentifiable monster in and of itself was a hint. Although I didn’t know where that bastard lived and who it was, the phenomenon that was occurring to it gave me the answer.

The place I arrived after desperately running was…

Kwaa─!

The one-room.

Even the time needed to unlock the door was precious, so I blew it away with a small [Frost Explosion] before entering.

Since the buildings making up the city were becoming ash from the top down, the semi-basement one-room I lived in had yet to disappear.

I flung away the heap of books that were taller than myself and turned on the game console that took up a small space in this cramped room. As always, ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ was inserted into this game console.

The screen showed static as it created noise. Unconcerned, I held the controller with my remaining hand and sat down.

“I did think it was weird.”

Noise, that fucking noise. Because it had only let out sounds of static, I believed for sure that ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ could not be played.

It was even covering my sight, so there was no way that they wouldn’t be able to deceive my hearing as well.

In the internet cafe, although the information was covered when searching for ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, the screen itself was completely fine.

At this moment in time, the noise had also covered the unidentifiable monster that had appeared somewhere in the Republic of Korea. Still, putting that noise aside, the monster was undoubtedly there in its physical form.

In other words, ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ would also work completely fine because it was still there.

‘I don’t know if this is the answer.’

Chieeeeeeek…

The noise was gradually losing its intensity. Holes were repeatedly opened and sewn back together on the noise covering the screen and every time it did so, the cut scene that played before the title screen of ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ revealed itself in flashes.

If the culprit of the noise was the unidentifiable monster, then it would be gradually losing its strength.

I had no time. With my hand which had accumulated years of experience, I pressed the controller button. Although it was just the same button over and over again, I could measure the timing. Right about now, it would be the title screen.

“…Huh?”

Because the noise gradually got weaker, the game console displayed the title screen as if the screen was cracked.

On the title screen, the [Continue] button was activated. As I pressed it, a single save file appeared. It was a sight that was completely different from my memories. The language was fragmented so I couldn’t tell which save file it was, but the save point could be seen clearly.

Bad Ending N.49 「Demise」.

It was saved during the progression of a Bad Ending. I could confirm without a doubt that I had never left such a save file.

Hwarerereuk───!

“…!”

The black flames had started to devour the ceiling! Wind and ashes poured onto my head. There was nowhere to run now.

For a very brief moment, I took a deep breath.

From now on, I had no idea what would happen. However, I had no other options.

I pressed the controller button hard.

At that moment…

Chieeeek…

Click.

My field of vision was completely enveloped by noise before every single one of my senses completely shut down.

◆◆◆

Academy Adventure Cruel Fairy Tale RPG, ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

This game, stringing along various unrelated modifiers together, had unexpectedly received huge praise when it was first released.

UI and cutscenes in a fairy tale concept. A large-scale open world map that fully satisfied the feeling of an adventure and a variety of interactions with the objects within it. Numerous sources of entertainment.

The production of an academy as the main stage, making it easy to immerse into the world within the game, was quite incredible.

Also, there was a lot of background music that left quite the impression on the players to the point that the game was nicknamed ‘BGM Knight’.

It was a foregone conclusion that I would fall deeply for this game. After all, it was completely my taste.

“…ac…!”

I didn’t even know how many times I had attempted to beat the Evil God Nephid on hell difficulty. As such, I had seen that Bad Ending many times before.

Bad Ending N.49 「Demise」.

The activation condition was losing in the Evil God Subjugation Battle, the closing act of ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

I recalled the contents to be extremely short.

Ian Fairytale would lose against the Evil God, thus meeting his death, and the world would become an utter wasteland due to the Evil God’s magic.

In the following days, the Evil God would become an absolute monarch and reconstruct the world, creating a world where demons ruled. This entire story was alluded to with a fairy tale drawing.

In between those two periods of time, I had no idea what had happened. However, humans were probably unable to survive in the dystopia brought forth by the Evil God, so the chances of it being extremely terrible were high.

“…saac…!!”

I felt as if my mind was covered in a fog. A faint voice lingered in my head. I could not precisely hear what was being said.

Pitch-black vision. I could feel that the state of my body was abhorrent, to the point that I was reminded of how bad my condition was right after defeating the Floating Island.

Gradually, my senses returned…

A humid and musty smell that was second only to my semi-basement one-room eventually permeated my sense of smell.

I could hear the sound of falling water drops. W

Am I in a cave?

“Isaac!”

“…!”

The sound calling my name rang like thunder.

My eyes snapped open. Consciousness had returned.

The scenery of a dismal cave. A damp and solid sensation could be felt behind my back. It seemed like I was leaning against a wall while staying hidden.

There was no strength in my entire body. I could only feel piercing pain all over my body as if I was being pricked by needles. The parts of my body that had turned into stone had long lost their sensation, so at the very least, I was freed from the pain in those areas.

Anyway, where was this place? I had never once seen a cave like this in ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

“Isaac… What a relief.”

A pretty voice could be heard from the side. With great effort, I turned my head. Beside me, a female student in a school uniform sat parallel as she gazed at me.

A tattered uniform that was practically rags, dirty skin, and hair burnt at the ends. However, her pupils still stone like a blue ocean.

This girl who wore a relieved expression was someone who I never expected to see at this place.

“Luce…?”

It was Luce Eltania.

Even in this dim cave, the purple brooch attached to her school uniform vividly stood out. This was undoubtedly the emblem of a 3rd-Year.

What in the world… was going on?

“I thought you had left me, you idiot.”

“Luce, what is this…?”

“Yeah. I wonder what’s going on. You wouldn’t know since you fainted…. Galia sacrificed his life to protect us. Everyone else seems to be dead.”

Luce was leaning on my shoulder. Her low voice quieted down. It was faint, filled with tears and weakness.

So, I fainted, Galia threw away his life to protect us, and everyone else was dead…

As such information sank into my mind, my innermost thoughts surged.

As if aggressively pounding on a door, the supplementary memories that were buried fought to resurface.

[Status] Name: Isaac

Lv: 178

Gender: Male

Year: 3rd

Title: Cool-Headed 3rd Year

Mana: [※ Mana Depleted]

– Mana Recovery Speed (S)

“Ah…”

As I opened the status window, memories that had been concealed behind a dense fog began to emerge.

I couldn’t remember every little detail of what had happened, but I could recall everything that had transpired in this world up until a little while ago.

I had fought against the Evil God Nephid and lost.

And Luce somehow managed to rescue me, but the Evil God’s magic had descended, bringing forth the end of the world.

According to Luce, it seemed like Galia had sacrificed his life to protect us.

Outside this cave was a world ruled by demons. The Black Flame Legion and Apocalypse Dragon-Azhi Dahāka would be roaming around and Angra Mainyu would be observing the world’s destruction.

I looked at the loading window that was floating in the air. 73% now.

It was only then that I could discern exactly what the loading window in front of me was.

Initialization meant being transferred to the point in time when I first possessed Isaac.

In other words, the point in time in my memories when I took possession was not actually the first time I had possessed.

“…”

I couldn’t say a single word. After all, it felt like I had just been violently hit on the back of my head.

I had already faced off against the Evil God.