MIIS 3

Chapter 3

At the very moment when everyone’s attention was fixed on us, my voice rang out clearly through the unnaturally heavy silence.

“…If you awaken that power now, you’ll regret it. I’m sure of it.”

With so many eyes suddenly focused on me, I should have felt overwhelmed—but surprisingly, I was fine.

I was used to this kind of attention anyway. What mattered right now was Azel’s reaction.

“So please, stop.”

“What is this nonsense you’ve been spouting since earlier?”

Rather than discouraged, I felt a thrill at Azel’s cold response.

The fact that he answered me meant he was at least willing to talk to me.

While my heart pounded with excitement, I bit my lip as if hurt. Soon after, Azel’s voice followed again.

“I have no idea what kind of absurd nonsense you’re rambling about.”

“It’s not nonsense.”

I deliberately hesitated before continuing.

“…No, it’s not nonsense. If you use that power now, you will regret it.”

“And you think you know what this power is?”

“I do. I know.”

“……”

“I know what that power is, and what you want. I know everything.”

I could feel Azel’s incredulous gaze, but this was all true.

I knew that once awakened, Azel would regret it. I knew he wanted to put an end to his regressions.

None of this was a lie.

‘In fact, I know even more than that.’

This world had a secret.

— I don’t know who wrote this story, but wow, they’re seriously messed up lol.

A hidden truth of the game that once set the community ablaze.

Strictly speaking, Azel wasn’t actually an infinite regressor.

Azel’s life was tragically cursed, as if painted that way from the start.

Every story began with this single sentence:

Born as the heir of a powerful family, he was framed for treason and his entire clan was destroyed. Young Azel barely survived thanks to his mother’s sacrifice, only to live a life of misery.

Then one day, an opportunity came to him.

The Stone of Gaspata.

By chance, he obtained a mysterious jewel—also known as the Regression Stone.

But that was the true beginning of his misfortune.

Even after completing his revenge through eight regressions, the regressions didn’t stop.

Ten. Twenty. Thirty… then one hundred.

After going through ninety-nine regressions, Azel completely lost his sanity. And that infamous 100th cycle was the setting of this game.

‘And on top of that, the developers added some absolutely trash-tier setting.’

The Stone of Gaspata, which forced Azel to keep regressing.

That mystical jewel actually had a limit.

‘After ninety-nine regressions, it stops. And they only reveal this right before the apocalypse—are these people even sane?’

In other words, Azel’s regressions had already ended at the very start of the game—but no one knew, which led to this entire disaster.

To make things worse, this cursed setting is revealed only after Azel’s awakening.

“Your regressions have already ended, Azel. So please, stop!”

“It’s already too late, Yulia. I can no longer control this power.”

Consumed by corrupted power, Azel loses control and destroys the world.

In the end, it’s a structure that guarantees a bad ending no matter what.

‘Thinking about it again just pisses me off.’

Anyway, to survive, I had to exploit this truth.

So would it be right to just blurt out, “Azel Viots’ regressions are over!”?

‘As if. There’s no way that lunatic would believe that.’

More importantly, I had no proof.

In the end, to stop Azel, I needed to make him believe—on his own—that his regressions were over.

With that in mind, the only thing I could do was…

“Nonsense.”

A frigid voice cut through my long train of thought.

Eyes just as cold, now filled with irritation, glared straight at me.

“You’re annoying.”

He didn’t trust me—and my presumptuous claim of understanding him had offended him.

Azel despised those who dared to say they understood him.

Sure enough, he reached out toward me.

What he was about to do was obvious.

“You shouldn’t kill me.”

“That’s unlikely.”

“If I die, you’ll never find peace. Not ever.”

Cold sweat soaked my back, but I had no time to hesitate.

Seizing the brief pause in the death that loomed inches away, I spoke quickly.

“You want it to end, don’t you? That’s why you’re trying to destroy everything. You think that’ll be the end of it… how foolish.”

“How dare you speak as if you know anything.”

“The Stone of Gaspata.”

“…!”

“Is that enough of an answer?”

The displeasure vanished instantly from his face.

In the next moment, Azel disappeared. No—he moved too fast for my eyes to follow.

By the time I realized it, his hand was already gripping my shoulder. A burning pain shot through me, but I barely swallowed a scream.

Hollow eyes, utterly empty, stared at me as if to kill.

“…What are you?”

“No matter how many times the world ends, it won’t stop. Once you made a wish to that stone, your curse will repeat forever.”

Of course, that was a lie.

Azel’s regressions were already over.

‘But even if I told you the truth, you wouldn’t believe it.’

So wouldn’t it be better to lie?

After all, humans are more easily swayed by frightening words.

“How… do you know that?”

Just as expected, Azel’s eyes trembled violently.

He didn’t want to believe my curse-like words.

Now, what should I do?

‘Time to bring this play to its climax.’

“I’m asking you! How do you know that?!”

As Azel pressed me for an answer, I finally let my suppressed emotions burst out.

“…How could I not know?”

“What…?”

“Why do you think I came all this way? Why—how—I ended up here!”

“What are you talking ab—”

This was all just acting.

On the stage, the ‘me’ standing here shared some kind of bond with Azel.

Azel simply didn’t remember that ‘me’. And despite the heartbreak of that, she understood him—and stood in his way.

That was the role I was playing.

Tears streaming down my cheeks caught Azel’s attention.

“Because even after the world ended dozens of times, no one ever saved you. That’s why I came here.”

“…!”

“I know you won’t believe me. But I…”

As I whispered in a voice soaked with pain straight into his eyes, the grip on my shoulder loosened.

“I came here to save you, Azel. Only you.”

At that moment, as his unfocused eyes wavered—

KWA—BOOOOM!

With a massive explosion, dust filled the air, and the one we had been waiting for appeared before us.

“Stop this at once, Azel Viots!”

Yulia Francis de Fleur.

The heroine had entered the stage now occupied by the villain, the male lead, and an extra.

Yet Azel’s crimson eyes, unlike before, remained fixed on me.

As if a predetermined future were beginning to change.

“I came to help, Bellode.”

“Yulia!”

Of course, the heroine wasn’t alone.

“You look better than expected. I thought you’d be on death’s door by now.”

“Thank goodness you’re safe, Sir Bellode.”

“Is this really the time for pleasantries? Let’s rescue the hostage first.”

The casually abrasive one was Shane,
the polite one was Theodore,
and the only one concerned about the hostage’s safety was Anwen.

Like Bellode, they were all male leads of this game.

And they weren’t alone either. Knights and soldiers swarmed the capital in response to the terror attack in its very center.

‘They’re finally here.’

I already knew the protagonists’ party would show up around now, so it wasn’t surprising.

Bellode, on the other hand, seemed unprepared for Yulia’s appearance and shouted with a pained expression.

“Yulia, why would you come personally to such a dangerous place?!”

“How could I wait somewhere safe when I knew you were here?”

“Yulia…!”

How sickeningly sweet.

‘Is this the Bellode route?’

As long as it wasn’t the Azel route, I didn’t really care, so I calmly predicted the next scene.

‘Now the heroine will probably start throwing out lines overflowing with righteous resolve.’

“Why would you do something like this, Azel? Why?! Why go this far?!”

Given that Yulia was a textbook flower-field heroine, her dialogue was easy to predict—

“Besides, I heard that that disgusting piece of trash had the nerve to show up in the plaza. How could I possibly stay hidden?”

…What?

A chilling silence fell over the entire square.

“We should hunt her down and kill her immediately.”

Sorry, but this… was not in my expectations.