Ahhh…
It feels like something is burning inside my soul.
What the hell is this…?
Is this what people feel when they are killed by shadow fire?
It's brutal.
For the first time… I felt pity for the ones I had killed before.
Aeldir…
He really got me this time.
He must have trained endlessly.
…
So what should I do now?
I, Ryn van Asterin, found myself standing at the center of something humans might call the Cosmic Web.
I had heard scholars describe it before… but none of their words could capture this sight.
Endless threads of faint cosmic light stretched through darkness, forming a structure so vast that even looking at it made my mind tremble.
It was beautiful.
But at the same time… ominous.
The aura surrounding it was the same one I had felt before.
In the void.
When that corrupted apple was given to me.
After each death.
And every time the Curse Weaver interfered.
So this is where I come after dying…
Interesting.
Before I could take another step—
Snap.
The sound echoed through the space like heavy chains breaking.
Somewhere far away… something had been released.
At the same moment, a message appeared before my eyes.
{Curse Weaver: Get ready for my entertainment.}
I sighed internally.
So it means I'm about to suffer again.
Then another message appeared.
{Skill — Regression has accepted you as its heir. Beginning cycle.}
The empty space beneath my feet suddenly shifted.
Six clocks appeared beneath me.
Each one overlapped the other.
At the center of every clock was another smaller clock, as if each layer hid a deeper mechanism.
The smallest clock sat at the very center.
Around them, enormous gears and wheels slowly formed, spreading across the Cosmic Web like a colossal machine.
Only faint rays of cosmic light slipped between the gaps.
Then the gears began to move.
One by one.
Each turning with a deep mechanical rhythm.
With every movement I could hear the distant sound of chains breaking inside my ears.
Finally… the last gear began to rotate.
And the smallest clock started moving.
The strange part was—
The needle didn't move clockwise.
It moved backwards.
One by one the other clocks followed.
Different colors.
Golden needles.
And strange red symbols where time should have been written.
The entire mechanism spun slowly in reverse.
I didn't understand what any of it meant.
But something felt wrong.
As if reality itself had begun to shift.
For a brief moment the world felt unstable…
Like a page in a story being undone.
And then—
Everything stopped.
---
A faint sound reached my ears.
A drop of water touching a calm surface.
Ripples spreading slowly.
It felt strangely peaceful.
So peaceful that I closed my eyes for a moment.
Then another sound appeared.
The silent scream of the Troll King as he fell.
Confusion.
Disbelief.
"How… could this happen from a single spell…?"
His thoughts echoed faintly.
When I tried to move—
My body responded.
No broken bones.
No torn muscles.
Every wound… gone.
I slowly opened my eyes.
The battlefield returned.
Elves were fighting desperately around me.
Some trolls lay dead nearby while others attacked the defensive barrier.
A group of elves stood around me, holding a shield formation.
Some of them maintained the barrier while others tried casting healing spells with their free hands.
They were buying time.
For me.
I slowly stood up.
Pain lingered faintly in my body, but it was nothing compared to before.
One of the elves noticed first.
"Commander…?"
Another turned.
Shock spread through the group.
They had seen me collapse earlier… completely defeated.
Yet now I was standing again.
Alive.
My voice came out calm but heavy.
"Hold formation."
They stared at me.
Something about me had changed.
My eyes had turned darker.
A faint demonic glow flickered within them.
Cold aura slowly spread around my body.
The elves felt it immediately.
Their commander… was different.
Not wounded.
Not exhausted.
But something far worse.
My neck tilted slightly as I looked toward the battlefield.
A crooked smile slowly appeared on my face.
To them—
I must have looked like a ghost who had crawled back from death.
A cold whisper escaped my lips.
"So… this is how it works."
And for the first time…
I realized something terrifying.
I had lost even the right to die.
But that didn't matter.
If I had been given another chance—
Then I would use it.
No matter the cost.