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The world began to crumble like a puzzle. Soon, the earth turned to dust and a storm swept over the realm. At the heart of the storm was something resembling a red sun.

The shattered world spun like powder, and in that space, Luke floated as if in outer space.

But it was only for a moment. The rapidly collapsing world started to gather in one spot, assembling once more as if time was rewinding.

Overwhelmed by the dizzying scene, I closed my eyes, feeling nauseous. A noise like a storm surged forth. As the surroundings quieted and all sounds faded, I cautiously opened my eyes. There stood the Academy’s dormitory.

“······?”

I was clearly on the hill just moments ago, right? I looked around to see if I was in a different place, but it was undoubtedly the Academy I knew well. I could not possibly forget the dormitory I had been living in for months.

I looked down at myself. My body felt normal. Yet, there were some oddities. My uniform, which had been tattered and seemingly in shreds, was now perfectly intact.

If it were someone else, they would have used their magical power to repair the clothes, but I had no magical power. So if my clothes were torn, I was meant to wear them as they were.

‘What on earth happened…?’

Luke’s mind could not grasp the situation. It was not a physically possible occurrence. Given the circumstances, it seemed time had reversed.

‘But how…?’

There could hardly be anyone capable of such a feat. Even Lucia Marygold, known as the pinnacle of mages, had stated in her papers that time reversal was impossible for humans.

But soon, I stopped pondering. The Academy was a place filled with trauma. Unwanted memories I wanted to forget resurfaced.

My friend Arthur, who had hanged himself. The image of witnessing that for the first time never left my mind. Despite the months that had passed, and no matter how much time flowed in the future, that scene would never fade away.

‘…Arthur?’

Wait a moment.

Thinking of Arthur, something came to mind.

‘Could it be…!’

Now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts. If time truly had reversed, the principle didn’t matter. What was more important was this.

Luke immediately left his room and headed to Arthur’s room. If time had turned back, and it was still the time when he was at the Academy, perhaps his mother and Arthur were all still alive.

Though they shared the same dormitory, so the distance was short, Luke ran with all his might. A distance that would take only a minute to walk was covered in ten seconds.

Arriving at Arthur’s room.

– Knock, knock!

He knocked as if to bang down the door.

“Arthur! It’s me! Open the door!”

He called out his name while clinging to the door, pleading.

– Click.

The door opened, revealing the figure Luke had longed to see. With red hair and crimson eyes, the person who opened the door was undoubtedly the Arthur he knew.

“···Arthur!”

Luke opened his arms, appearing ready to embrace him immediately. But just then, the words that reached his ears made Luke freeze in place.

“Um… Excuse me, who are you?”

“···What?”

What on earth was this sudden talk? If he was in the dormitory, and if it was the time before Arthur’s suicide, surely Arthur and he would have been friends.

“It’s me, it’s Luke!”

“Um… er…”

Was Arthur joking? No, his eyes were filled with genuine confusion, as if he truly didn’t know who Luke was.

Was this the price of reversing time? Why was only he left with memories? Had everyone else forgotten him? Luke’s head throbbed with the flood of questions.

“Strange… There was never a character named Luke…?”

“······?”

He thought he was mumbling to himself, but unfortunately, everything reached Luke’s ears. Arthur continued muttering about events, statuses, and other nonsensical terms.

Looking closely, it was clear that his tone and mannerisms were vastly different from the Arthur he knew.

‘Then… is he not Arthur?’

Who was this man before him? Though he appeared like Arthur on the outside, was there someone else inside? Was that even possible?

“So, um, excuse me, who are you?”

“Uh…”

Luke pondered for a moment. He couldn’t explain everything that had just happened. Even if he explained, they would likely treat him like a lunatic. Moreover, no matter how often he declared his friendship, it would be incomprehensible from his perspective.

So.

– Call him Luke.

– Right, Luke. Nice to meet you.

“Hi. I’m Luke. We’re in the same class, so I came to say hello. Nice to meet you.”

Luke had decided to start fresh from the beginning.

“Um… okay. Nice to meet you.”

The two shook hands.

“But is this where our interaction ends?”

– Actually, I was looking for someone to train with.

“Actually, I was looking for someone to train with.”

“…Is that really the case this early in the morning?”

– I went around asking everyone, but nobody was available.

– Of course, no one would be…

“Training doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“That’s true.”

– So what about you? Would you like to go train?

“So what about you? Would you like to go train?”

While he approached Luke, despite who might be inside Arthur’s body, as long as he appeared as Arthur, he was Luke’s friend.

A chance given by fate. Now that time had reversed, Luke was determined to prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring again.

*

After that, life continued as if nothing had happened. Before anything else, there was one matter Luke had to take care of.

“Ugh!”

– Bang!

Luke provoked Bernard and his crew, luring them to a secluded alleyway. Since they would respond to such trivial provocations, it was easy to draw them out.

“Do you think you can do this knowing who we are?!”

“······.”

“Say something!”

These guys were just the same as before. How could human personalities be so consistently unchanged? It was truly admirable.

– Swoosh.

As before, the head fell. With this, both of his minions were dead. Only Bernard remained. It was Luke’s priority to deal with the root cause of all this first.

“You worthless beings in this world.”

“W-What?!”

There was no need to torment them this time, so Luke ended it swiftly. Left in the alley were three severed heads and three corpses.

Luke left calmly and returned to the Academy. He had no worries about being pursued. There was no way he would be traced since he had no magical power.

“Are you still training?”

“Oh, Luke, is that you?”

Luke and Arthur quickly became close. Though the meeting was strange, they were in the same class, always together.

“You’re really something. How can you train even during lunch?”

“Haha…”

The original Arthur had suggested training since the day he enrolled, and the current Arthur was every bit as diligent.

His mornings started with training. That hadn’t changed. The previous Arthur would wake Luke from his sleep to drag him to training grounds.

However, there were a few differences. This life’s Arthur seemed more aware of himself. So while he had trained and sparred without any clear understanding, this life’s Arthur knew exactly who he was.

Despite the training volume being similar to the previous Arthur’s, the current Arthur’s skill was vastly improved. Of course, Luke, training alongside him, also improved in tandem.

And another difference from the last life was that there were more companions training with them.

“······.”

Riche Winchester. She seemed to have a lot going on. Arthur appeared to know something but showed no sign of taking action, as if he didn’t have a way to handle it yet.

“Tia Roseberry. She always sat on the bench beside the training grounds to cheer Arthur on whenever he trained.”

“Both of you, please be careful!”

Stella. She, too, claimed to be a commoner like Arthur and me. With her kind nature, she always worried about the wounds they earned while training.

It was strangely the case that all their companions were women, but… he thought it was just his fate to have such luck with women.

Demons invaded, colossal monsters like Behemoths he had never even heard of attacked, and through competitions, he met the woman called the Saint.

Aside from that, they faced countless other challenges too numerous to mention.

Having spent a long time together, he came to genuinely know what kind of person Arthur was. Kind-hearted, diligent, and resolute when it mattered. That was Luke’s impression of Arthur.

This life’s Arthur was fascinating. Occasionally, he exhibited signs of resolving issues before they even arose, as if he knew what would happen.

He seemed to have many secrets. Even Luke, who had spent so long with him, didn’t know much. Yet Luke made no effort to pry. He thought there must be a reason he was keeping things private, so he waited for Arthur to reveal it himself.

As time passed, evening arrived. As usual, the two completed their training and took a moment to rest on a bench in the corner of the training grounds.

While Luke caught his breath, Arthur cautiously spoke up.

“Hey, Luke. Do you think the Demon God will invade soon?”

The Demon God. If that was the reason he came to this world, if that was why he had worked so hard, others would mock him, calling it nonsensical.

“Still can’t believe it…”

“Believe me.”

Arthur’s eyes widened.

“I can’t let my friend turn into a lunatic.”

“···Don’t just arbitrarily label me as a lunatic.”

Different from Arthur’s worries, his crew cut through all obstacles that stood in their way. Whether demons appeared, whether monsters came, or if aristocrats tried to impede their progress.

They navigated through one problem after another seamlessly. Just as a year began to pass, Luke thought this time they had made it through unharmed.

Before the monsters’ invasion, that is.

*

As if to conclude the last life, the sky was tinted red.

Moreover, the trees outside the castle began to catch fire. Monsters swarmed the Empire.

In a delayed response, the Empire and adventurers tried to counter the invasion, but due to the surprise attack with no preparation time, the Empire crumbled helplessly.

Watching this, Luke realized. This was what Arthur had spoken of regarding the Demon God’s invasion, and that the ending of his last life was also the consequence of it.

And Arthur, who had known everything, joined the battle, yet… the result was Arthur’s cold, lifeless body in front of Luke’s eyes.

The Demon God was stronger than imagined. Riche, Tia, Stella—everyone except Luke had perished.

Naturally, Luke’s condition was far from good. He had faced the Demon God with a resolve to die. The result was the bodies of the demons and minions strewn around the Demon God.

Arthur, who had been sliced to death by the demons; Riche, who had become a charred mummy; Tia, trapped in the Demon God’s unmelting purple ice; and Stella, who had bitten her tongue and committed suicide after being raped by demons.

One arm missing, one eye gone, but Luke ultimately survived. It was excruciatingly painful. Why couldn’t he die? Why didn’t the Demon God finish him off?

With a clank, the sound of heels echoed towards Luke. He barely managed to lift his head and focus on the source of the sound.

A black dress, horns growing from her head, pupils stained red against black irises, long hair flowing down to her waist, and the same black hair as his. The sight of the Demon God was strikingly beautiful.

But paradoxically, her presence was overwhelming. Just her approach seemed to chill the air around her. Yet Luke felt no tension. He had given up on everything. Looking down at Luke, the Demon God spoke.

[You really have tenacious life. Perhaps that might be your fate.]

The Demon God mumbled incomprehensible words.

[Are you resentful? If so, come find me.]

He didn’t have the strength to ask what kind of nonsense that was. Luke simply blinked, and the Demon God turned away and vanished.

Immediately afterward, the world crumbled again.

Time turned back once more, and as soon as Luke regained consciousness, he rushed to find Arthur. Just like last time, he intended to start over from the beginning… this time, he vowed to stop the Demon God as well. Just as he was about to knock on Arthur’s door, he heard.

“Fuck─ you goddamn writer─!”

From inside came Arthur’s voice. It was Arthur’s voice, but judging by the sheer context, he was clearly a different person from the Arthur Luke knew last time.

 

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