Chapter 307

I sprinted through the ruins at full speed. The place I arrived at was originally the Grand Chapel of the Pontifical Palace, but now it was a vast open space with only traces of walls and pillars remaining.

Just then, the Holy Incantation Army was there.

“Th-that person…!”

“Look! It’s Your Holiness!”

“Her Holiness the Holy Saint has arrived!”

“Aillet…!”

The joy of safely returning and reuniting could not be my priority right now.

“Where’s Terry?”

I scanned everyone surrounding me, asking. Tesillid’s face was not visible. Instead, beyond them, a gigantic black裂(crack) was visible.

Split horizontally, it looked like a monster’s maw grinning.

An ominous feeling enveloped me once more. It was unbearable.

Should I come to a conclusion myself first, or hear the answer first?

The latter was faster by a narrow margin. Marquise Lekandro opened her mouth.

“His Royal Highness Prince went into the crack alone.”

“…Terry went in there, alone? Really?”

“Yes. At the time, perhaps due to the influence of corruption, he seemed a bit strange, but judging by his Holy Knight uniform, he was clearly His Royal Highness Prince.”

“…”

As I remained heavily silent, others cautiously added information.

“Your Holiness, just a moment ago, cracks were appearing in the air everywhere as if glass was shattering, but…”

“Not long after Sir Tesillid entered, all the cracks disappeared except for that one.”

“Now, the Gate also seems to be closing gradually.”

Thanks to them, I could assess the current situation. [The Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World says that Tesillid, as Reed, seems to be suppressing the Chaos Evil God.] Suppressing the Chaos Evil God.

Tesillid.

As Reed.

As soon as I grasped the situation, my chest swelled.

My lungs were so full there was no more room for air. The moment I inevitably exhaled.

“Ah, this idiot again! Seriously, I’m going crazy!”

“Your, Your Holiness?”

My unfiltered true feelings startled those around me.

Good advice. This is the time to act like a commander.

“Phew, hah.”

I ran my hands over my feverish face.

Taking advantage of the brief calm brought by washing my face dry, I spoke to everyone.

“Everyone, rejoice. Har-Magedon has ended in our victory.”

“…!”

“If things continue like this, the Chaos Evil God will be sealed forever, so the Serentra Continent is now safe. It’s all thanks to Tesillid Argent. He saved the world.”

It was a situation that called for shouts of triumph. However.

“Th-then Sir Tesillid…”

“He sacrificed himself.”

The words came out, chewed up, unable to be held back.

“Si-Sir Tesillid…”

Immediately, I felt a solemn atmosphere heavily descend over the area.

A chaotic world inevitably creates heroes, and heroes often make sacrifices.

Now, he would be beautified and mourned in heroic epics.

But I didn’t want to mourn him yet.

I turned my back on the Holy Incantation Army. With dry eyes, I looked back at the black crack and said.

“He saved the world. Now, it’s our turn to save him.”

“Your Holiness?”

“I’ll be back.”

It was time to go find the lost child.

“Your, Your Holiness…!”

“Aillet!”

“Gasp!”

I leapt into the crack without looking back.

The moment I passed through the fluidic membrane, all the frantic shouts calling my name were cut off. [System: You have entered the unknown difficulty dungeon ‘Tomb of Chaos Gods of the End Times’.] The world, dark as can be, with only a ringing hum like being underwater, I advanced forward as if walking through a deep-sea cave.

Naturally, the Tomb of Chaos Gods did not welcome me, the intruder. A creeping darkness subtly invaded my senses.

In a daze, I stumbled for a moment.

“Ugh.”

<Aillet? Are you okay?>

“I’m fine.”

No, in fact, I wasn’t fine.

As my senses distorted, a paradoxical thing happened.

Light and color appeared in my vision, which had been dark as if paralyzed, and distinct sounds, like a low hum of tinnitus, invaded my ears.

My disturbed sight and hearing arbitrarily poured unknown scenes into my mind.

Hallucinations and auditory hallucinations seized me.

‘It seems to be trying a mental attack.’

There was no way to avoid it anyway. If so, I had no choice but to overcome it.

Instead of resisting the illusion, I actively embraced it.

Various living creatures used as materials for sculptures shed blood and tears in agony.

A place filled with beautiful artworks but more horrific than any bio-experiment lab. I recognized it at a glance.

The dungeon of the Demon Sculptor Shillevan, the Sculptor’s Atelier. There, a silver-haired handsome man was dying. - ‘Is this the end…’

Tesillid, who believed death was the absolute end without a shred of doubt. Such an attitude was unique across all timelines. The one in front of me, whose breathing and heartbeat were fading, was the 1st iteration Tesillid Argent. - ‘Oh, Strict Order and Goodness, I pray that if there is another chance…’

With his unfinished prayer, the light in his eyes extinguished to black. It was the beginning of the endless regression.

Immediately, deaths from other timelines unfolded.

The Glorious Knight Order was annihilated again.
Let’s think calmly. Commander Gedvil is not a good commander. And he won’t change.
I didn’t know. That Vice-commander Recto considered me a thorn in his side…
The comrades’ combat power must be excluded. I have to do everything myself.

It was as per the original story.

During his time in the Glorious Knight Order, he died seven times over seven iterations: three times due to Commander Gedvil’s foolish strategies, once due to Vice-commander Recto’s scheme, and three times due to comrades’ mistakes, betrayals, and forced sacrifices.

It was painful to watch.

His deaths, forcing their way into my mind without permission, caused me so much distress.

It’s suffocating just watching this, so what must it have been like for you who experienced it firsthand?

But why am I seeing his deaths? Who is projecting these into my mind? [The Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World explains that this happens due to the high synchronization rate between the Chaos Evil God and Tesillid Argent’s consciousness.]

[The Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World says that this place is an intermediate state between the mental and material realms, where the owner’s will is manifested as phenomena.] His will is manifested as phenomena…

What I keep seeing are his deaths. That means his will is death.

‘Tesillid wishes for death right now.’

He is trying to die.

Along with the Chaos Evil God.

Then I must hurry.

<Aillet, can you walk?>

“I have to walk.”

If I couldn’t walk, I would crawl.

With every step I took, he died again, in front of my eyes or in my mind.

Dying…

And dying again…

And dying again. - ‘Here… there’s no other way.’

He even ended his own life with his own hands.

“Ah…”

At this point, I felt a little, no, a lot, like I was going insane.

I’ve already seen Reed’s death. Any more is too much.

Without any consideration for my mental state, the end of the timelines kept pounding into my mind.

In a field drenched by heavy rain, Ligares’s sword pierced Tesillid’s left chest.

I tried to shout for it to stop, but there was no way to reach the memoirs of the past.

Thus, the 16th iteration ended and moved to the next.

17th iteration.

This time, it was a little different. Was it to give my tortured mind a temporary break?

Death wasn’t immediately displayed before my eyes, but rather his life in that timeline was shown.

A complete 17th iteration timeline without Reed.

He, unknown to me and not appearing in the original story, was there.

Do you know Aillet Rodelain?
Have you perhaps heard the name Aillet Rodelain…?
Do you happen to have a daughter named Aillet…? No, no. My apologies.

In that timeline, Tesillid wandered the world, neglecting his duties as a Holy Knight. And he searched for me.

It was a desolate life, like a wandering knight in a salt desert searching for a mirage. - ‘Tesillid Argent, you will be held accountable for your act of apostasy.’

His life was cut short by the Order Religion, which, fearing the outflow of military power to other nations, decided to execute him.

In a dreary winter night forest. He was observed dying by the Holy Knights who surrounded him.

As he lost his breath on the cold ground, his last thoughts were as follows:

Aillet… Where are you…?
Why does everyone say they don’t remember you? The world feels like it’s deceiving me.
The whole world… feels like it hates me.
It feels like it wants me to die… Haha…

Like a parched laugh, his illusion shattered into ash-like particles.

I walk again.

With every step, I collect his deaths.

Many iterations have passed.

At the end of the 85th iteration, when he saved the world, he closed his eyes with a happy smile for the first time.

Because he believed that rest would be granted as a just reward for fulfilling his mission. However, he was thoroughly betrayed.

Thinking that the responsibility for the unfulfilled promise lay with him, he saved the world again and again. And each time, for the most efficient death, he sought out Muriel.

It wasn’t until the end of the 88th iteration that he obtained a piece of the truth from Muriel’s lips. From then on, a period of wandering ensued, obsessed with the Bible of Truth.

How can I stop the regression?
By saving the world.

The answer was unsatisfactory. So in the next iteration, he asked again.

How can I stop the regression?
By saving the world.

He asked again.

How can I stop the regression?
By saving the world…

Asking, and asking again.

The compulsive and blind waste of timelines continued.

How… can I stop the regression?
By saving the world.
I saved it! I saved it now, and all the dungeons are disappearing! So why!
You didn’t save the world.
Don’t be ridiculous! I saved it. Five times!

In his scream, he was buried alive with spacetime. That was the end of the 93rd iteration.

And then the next, the 94th iteration.

He, completely parched like a salt desert, stood before the Bible of Truth, looking no different from a living corpse.

You who have come seeking answers that cannot be obtained from God, what do you wish to know?
…

The ceaseless questioning made me feel like I, too, was going insane.

At this moment, I wanted to cling to Tesillid and shout.

‘Stop it. Stop tormenting yourself. Forget that question. Ask something else, please, anything else.’

I knew it was a plea that wouldn’t be heard.

I knew it was a past that wouldn’t change.

In the original story, he had repeated the same question up to the 94th iteration.

So it would be useless.

Despairingly, I closed my eyes and covered my ears. Of course, there was no way to escape the illusion directly implanted in my brain.

But.

Surprisingly, Tesillid granted my plea.

He asked ‘something else’.

…Where is Aillet Rodelain?

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