Published at 5th of December 2025 7:58 pm

Chapter 183

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"What?"

It felt like I had been hit in the head.

Did I mishear?

Am I crazy from being beaten for too long? Perhaps I wished I could go back without even realizing it? Maybe this person in front of me is also a fake I created. My ears aren't functioning properly anyway, so maybe I'm hearing sounds I shouldn't be hearing...

CRASH—....

Suddenly, Leo turned his upper body to block an attack.

My ears were already blocking sounds above a certain decibel, but I saw him clenching his teeth with an expression I had never seen before, in my vision blurred by light.

"......"

I understood.

The Leo in front of me is real.

I had never imagined that he might not respond to attacks with his usual composure. He was always the standard of magic to me, always the teacher who could defeat me... This Leonardo, who surpassed my imagination, must be real.

Leo stomped his foot and cast a barrier behind his back.

The vibration that had been right before me moved away. He put all his Magic Power into the barrier and slapped my cheek.

"Can't you hear?! Lucas...!"

I can hear. I opened my mouth as quickly as possible, but my time and his time seemed to be moving at different speeds. Before he could even hear my answer, Leo wrapped his arms around my neck and began muttering a Spell like crazy.

[Beloved. I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers... And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain.]

His usual neat voice was nowhere to be found. I knew his composure had completely broken when Leo's voice began to tremble intensely. He recited the final Spell with a choked voice.

[...for the former things have passed away.]

CRASH!

Amidst the continuous onslaught of deafening roars, Leo pulled his face away and grabbed my shoulders.

"Turn it back. It's enough now, Lucas. Stop now and go back."

"......"

"I might not be able to erase the memory, but this isn't it. If this is the greater good, then I..."

He knows about Retry.

My heart was beating crazily fast.

"If this is the greater good, I don't know what justice is anymore. I'm still lacking, so I don't know. I'm not a great politician like my mother, and I don't relentlessly pursue justice like Elias, whether it's out of defiance or whatever. I... have always walked the path laid out by everyone, and I know that maintaining that path requires the lives of many, but I cannot accept it in my heart."

That's right.

But that doesn't mean I can back down.

He said Old Humans would massacre the Jewish people, but he's not much different.

If, as he claimed, New Humans were transcendent beings, he wouldn't be spewing nonsense about needing to suppress Old Humans.

Rushing to judge someone by simply dividing them into black and white provides a clue to how little experience that person has in thinking for themselves. Surprisingly, many things in the world cannot be cut in half like with a knife. Knowing that the totality of my thoughts cannot be divided into 0 and 1, with what wisdom do I define others?

Although it's difficult to see them as the same human species now, in that they cannot escape dichotomous thinking and want to rise by trampling others, New Humans are no different from Old Humans.

He is acting like the Old Humans he so scornfully criticized as inferior. People like him are the ones who would commit massacres against Old Humans. This is why it cannot end simply with saving the professor.

As if knowing I would say such things, Leo continued speaking as if answering my thoughts.

"I know. I know too. They stand on the peace created by the blood of their ancestors and kill countless people for mere gain. But..."

Leo said, with an expression I couldn't interpret.

"Why does it have to be you?"

"......"

"Why must you be the one to punish them? I'm not just talking about getting involved in this, Lucas. What is it, and why did it give you the power to turn back time, forcing you to be the one to resolve their wicked deeds? What is giving you this opportunity? This is absolutely not on your side. It cannot be. A being who wants to burn you to gain peace cannot be on your side. Even if it's God in this world, the fact that He is not for you does not change."

Leo suppressed his quickened breathing.

The Chairman, as if he couldn't believe I had been reborn, attacked Leo's barrier with excitement, unlike before. It seemed even he had realized that I wasn't just giving a baptism out of boredom, but had some hidden agenda. Perhaps if I were captured again, an interrogation to find out the reason would await.

At the same time, countless mages Warped into the room.

Leo smiled faintly as he shielded me from the attack.

"...Still, for now, I have no choice but to say thank you for that ability. I truly hate this situation where I have to rely on your ability even though I know it's choking you to death, but..."

"......"

"Promise me, Lucas. Say you will."

Leo grabbed my blood-soaked hand and used a healing Spell.

His Magic Power was completely unstable. As soon as I realized it, the barrier he had erected behind him began to break.

"Go back. Let's meet in the past."

* * *

At that moment, I lifted my head.

Had I always seen the world with such eyes?

Far away, a red sun was setting, and the gray sky was descending.

Although the fatigue remained, my vision was clear, as if I had gained new eyes.

I was now standing on the ground with both feet.

The moment I realized that fact, I reflexively clenched my fist. All my bones were intact. The tips of my fingers, which had been soaked with blood from lost nails, the sensation in my ears, and my throat and head, which had been throbbing from drinking water, were all back to normal, lighter than ever.

"Lucas?"

As I stopped abruptly, Narce, who was walking ahead, turned back. It was a welcome face.

Now that I looked, Narce's black hair had changed to gold. The hair irritating my eyes was even brighter gold than that. I quickly cast my gaze beyond Narce.

In the distance, the alley leading into Primrose Path was visible.

I had come back.

To the situation before I went to meet Ludovika for the second test.

'It's over.'

The tension released, and I laughed.

Sleepiness poured over me from the fatigue, and my vision narrowed. The moment I realized that, Narce's eyes went wide with a surprised expression.

* * *

'...Hmm?'

I don't know how much time passed.

I was just on the street, but when I opened my eyes, I was unexpectedly in a bed.

I must have just fallen asleep from exhaustion.

But...

'What the hell.'

I swore and jumped up.

What I should be seeing upon opening my eyes was my room. No, my room was sealed after the incident, so the place I should be waking up in was my hospital room.

I quickly turned my head.

Navy velvet curtains I hadn't seen in the dormitory hung over large windows. The room was twice the size of my dorm room, and the unnecessarily old-looking furniture reminded me of my room in Anhalt. Or perhaps Adelbert's room.

However, the conclusion is that it was a place I had never seen before.

'Surely, not again...?'

Did someone Warp me again?

No. I cannot go through this crazy experience a second time. I shouldn't, as a human being, and my patience has not only hit rock bottom but has drilled through the core. I clutched my wildly pounding heart and concentrated my Magic Power. Fortunately, there was no problem with using Magic Power at all.

'This time, I'll just wipe everything out.'

Instinctively, my fists clenched tightly. I wondered why they hadn't blocked my Magic Power like an idiot, but I was grateful for it.

CRASH!

"Oh, Lucas!"

The door burst open, and Narce suddenly appeared.

The moment I saw him, the tension in my shoulders released.

"...Narce?"

"You woke up. Haha, I was surprised when you suddenly collapsed on the street~"

He approached me, turned my face this way and that, and used his Insight ability.

"It wasn't the bottle of alcohol you drank all at once... It doesn't seem to be. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But why are you here? No, where is this?"

"Ah."

Narce gave an ambiguous smile by himself and looked towards the doorway.

When the room became quiet, regular footsteps from outside were clearly heard.

The sound stopped outside the door.

Creak—

Leo, whose ivory hair was neatly arranged as before, was looking at me with his usual expressionless face. I couldn't read any thoughts from his eyes, which were frighteningly pale in color.

"......"

"Why don't you two have a talk~"

Narce, without answering my question properly, just smiled and left the room.

Leo roughly sorted the pile of documents and miscellaneous items in his hand and sat down on the sofa beside me.

"Did you get some sleep?"

"......"

"That bed was brought from the Royal Palace. I don't know if it suits you."

I stared at him without answering.

This was not the time for such relaxed talk.

Leo looked into my eyes with the same expression as mine, then smiled faintly.

"You kept your promise."

"......"

He knows.

He knows what he said in the time that has already disappeared.

"Though I completely failed to keep the promise I made first."

This time, I couldn't answer for a different reason.

'I have nothing to say.'

I thought that if I reset time, got treated by Narce first, and then met him, it would be a perfect crime, but I didn't expect this variable to arise.

Instead of questioning me, Leo just smiled, then reached out his hand.

I silently placed my hand on his. Leo turned my hand this way and that, then spoke softly.

"It's fine."

"It has to be fine."

All my hand bones and nails were in place. My skin color had returned to normal.

Leo put my hand back on the bed and said.

"Just because your body is fine doesn't mean everything is fine."

"......"

"So, did you get all the information you wanted?"

"Yes. All of it."

"You worked hard."

I lifted my head and looked at him.

If it were any other friend, fine, but hearing this from Leo...

This was almost as shocking as Leo telling Elias, 'Your actions are right'.

"You said you'd tell me when it was all over. I don't know what 'over' means, but it seems like it's still a long time before I get to hear it. Am I wrong?"

"No. But..."

He is right. I can't tell him everything yet.

But regarding this part that I can talk about now, there's no reason to make excuses.

That time became a time known only to Leo and me, and since we already know what each other knows, there might not be any reason to say it out loud.

But I have to say it. That is the minimum courtesy I can show my friend.

"It's just as you know. I can turn back time."

"......"

"Although I can't freely choose the point in time to return to every time. As you said, it's true that I was dropped into Primrose Path that day, got information, and came back. It's the same this time."

I looked down at the blanket covering my legs and continued.

"You must want to ask since when I've been able to do this. It's an ability I gained the day I met Strauch. I don't know the reason why it was given to me."

Leo, who had been watching me for a while, nodded.

"...Okay. Thank you for telling me."

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the headboard. After a long silence, Leo looked into the air and said.

"Since you trusted me and told me, I should do the same. Lucas, I can see the time you've erased."

I instinctively held my breath. I expected it, but hearing it directly was a different feeling.

Otherwise, he couldn't have just appeared in front of me and said, 'Turn it back.'

"To be precise, I can only see the time that remains within you, and time related to you. It's a guess, but... since you're the one with that ability, the trace of the time that's already disappeared only remains in your mind. I'm just able to read it."

"Since when?"

"From the moment you were dragged to Primrose Path, turned back time, and Warped straight back to my room."

"......"

I almost let out a hollow laugh.

'...He knows everything.'

"At first, I wondered if you had done drugs somewhere instead of going to the Police Bureau, but I became certain when you came to our school to interrogate the professors. Ah... right now, you're talking about another time."

"Just from that?"

"No matter how well you hid it, you acted exactly like someone who had just been dropped in and returned, and you knew information you shouldn't have known."

He had felt the trace of time that had already been erased.

'You did drugs somewhere instead of going to the Police Bureau.' The trace of being given their new drug completely disappeared when I turned back time. There was no way Leo would know about it.

Perhaps interpreting my silence as lack of evidence, Leo smiled faintly and said.

"You can't Warp alone anymore, Lucas."

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