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Chapter 3
At this moment, with everyone’s attention fixed on us, my voice rang out clearly through the tense, almost unnatural silence.
“…If you awaken that power now, you’ll surely regret it.”
Even with all eyes on me, I felt surprisingly calm. I was used to being the center of attention. Right now, what mattered was Azel’s reaction.
“So please… stop.”
“What’s going on?”
A strange thrill coursed through me at Azel’s cold response. The fact that he replied at all meant he was at least willing to ‘talk’ with me.
I bit my lip, pretending to be hurt, as Azel’s voice followed.
“I don’t know what nonsense you’ve been spouting.”
“It’s not nonsense.”
I paused deliberately, as if hesitating.
“…No, it’s not nonsense. If you use that power now, you’ll regret it, I promise.”
“Do you even know what this is?”
“I know.”
“……”
“I know what the power is, what you want. I know everything.”
I could feel Azel’s incredulous gaze, but it didn’t matter—everything I said was true. I knew that if Azel awakened, he would regret it, and that he wanted to stop his cycle of repetition. None of it was a lie.
‘…And I even know worse.’
This world had its secrets.
—Whoever wrote this story was a total sadist, seriously.
A hidden truth in the game that once shook the community: Azel wasn’t exactly an infinite repeater.
Azel’s life had been tragically extraordinary.
It all started with a single sentence:
Born the heir of a powerful family, he was framed for rebellion, and his family fell. Young Azel barely survived thanks to his mother’s sacrifice, but he was doomed to a miserable life.
Then, one day, he found a chance:
The Gaspartha Stone.
A mysterious gem, also called the Reversion Stone, came into his hands by chance. But this was the true beginning of his misfortune.
Even after eight repetitions and completing his revenge, the cycle didn’t stop. Ten, twenty, thirty… and a hundred.
After ninety-nine cycles, Azel had completely lost his mind. And the game’s story began at the hundredth cycle.
‘And of course, the developers had to throw in some absurd setting.’
The Gaspartha Stone, the very reason Azel kept repeating, had a limit.
‘Repetition stops after ninety-nine cycles… and they only reveal this setting right before total destruction? Who does that?’
From the very start of the game, Azel’s cycle had already ended—but nobody knew it, and that was the disaster. Worse, this cursed setting only became known after Azel awakened.
“Your cycle is already over, Azel. Please… stop!”
“It’s too late, Yulia. I can no longer control this power.”
Enslaved by this corrupting force, Azel was doomed to destroy the world. A bad ending was inevitable.
‘Thinking about this still pisses me off.’
Anyway, to survive, I had to use this truth. But should I just blurt out, “Azel Biotz’s cycle is over!”?
‘No way. That crazy bastard wouldn’t believe it.’
Above all, there was no proof. I had to make Azel believe it himself.
So all I could do was…
“Nonsense.”
Just then, a cold voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Azel’s icy eyes were now glaring at me, filled with disgust.
“Annoying.”
He didn’t trust me, and my presumptuous attempt at understanding had offended him. Azel despised anyone who dared claim they understood him.
As expected, he reached for me. I knew exactly what he intended.
“You can’t kill me.”
“Don’t be absurd.”
“If I die, you’ll never find peace.”
Sweat ran cold down my back, but there was no time to hesitate. As death came close, I spoke quickly.
“You just want to stop. That’s why you’re destroying everything, thinking it will end… foolishly.”
“How dare you presume to know anything.”
“The Gaspartha Stone.”
“……!”
“This is the answer, isn’t it?”
Azel’s face, once full of displeasure, went blank in an instant. In that moment, he vanished—or rather, moved so fast I couldn’t follow with my eyes.
By the time I realized it, Azel was gripping my shoulder. Pain shot through me, but I swallowed my scream. His vacant, terrifying eyes were fixed on me as if to kill.
“…Who… are you?”
“No matter how many times the world collapses, it won’t end. As long as your wish is tied to that stone, your curse will repeat forever.”
Of course, it was a lie. Azel’s cycle had ended.
‘But even if I tell the truth, you wouldn’t believe it.’
Sometimes, a lie is better—people are more easily swayed by what they want to hear.
“How… do you know that?”
Azel’s eyes trembled. He didn’t want to believe my cursed words.
What now?
‘Time to bring this to the climax.’
“Don’t you get it?! How do you know?!”
As Azel pressed for an answer, I finally let out the emotions I’d held back.
“…How could I not know?”
“What…?”
“Why am I here…? How did I even get here?!”
“It’s….”
All of this was just a performance. On this stage, the ‘me’ before Azel shared a fateful connection. But Azel didn’t remember me, and that was painful. Still, I had to understand him and try to stop him. That was the role I was playing.
Tears ran down my cheeks, catching Azel’s gaze.
“No one else will save you, no matter how many times the world falls. That’s why I came here.”
“……!”
“I know you won’t believe me. But I…”
As I whispered, voice heavy with pain, his grip on my shoulder loosened.
“I came to save you. Azel. Only you.”
Then—
Boom!
A massive explosion sent dirt flying, and someone appeared before us.
“Stop right now, Azel Biotz!”
Yulia Francis de Fleur.
The heroine had entered the stage dominated by the villain, the male lead, and the extras. But Azel’s red eyes remained fixed on me, as if the fixed future were about to change.
“I came to help, Belord.”
“Yulia!”
The protagonist was not alone.
“You’re in better shape than I expected. I thought you were done for.”
“I’m glad you’re safe, Sir Belord.”
“Do we have time for pleasantries? Let’s rescue the hostage first.”
Shane was the roguish one, Theodor the polite one, and Anwen the one actually concerned with the hostage’s safety. They were all the game’s male leads.
Not only that—soldiers and knights flooded the capital after the terror in the square.
‘Finally, they’ve arrived.’
I wasn’t surprised, knowing the protagonist group would show up. Belord, however, seemed shocked by Yulia’s appearance.
“Yulia! Why would you come to such a dangerous place yourself?!”
“I know you’re here. How could I just wait safely somewhere else?”
“Yulia…!”
It was unbearably sweet.
‘Is this the Belord route world?’
It didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t the Azel route, so I watched dryly as the next scene unfolded.
‘Our heroine will probably keep delivering her dramatic lines.’
“Why did you do this, Azel! Why?! Why go this far?!”
Typical of flowerbed-type protagonists, Yulia’s dialogue was predictable…
“Besides, that disgusting trash dared to appear in the square boldly, so how could I just hide?”
…What?
A cold silence fell over the plaza.
“I need to chase him down and kill him immediately.”
Sorry, that wasn’t in my predictions.
