[CHAPTER 67]
Pitch-black darkness swallowed everything, and I felt as though I were floating on water.
Nothing entered my field of vision.
I could not even tell whether my eyes were open or closed.
That was because I could feel nothing at all.
Or is this it, am I really on the brink of death this time?
There was no way to know.
Is this what it feels like to go to the underworld?
It was so comfortable that it felt like I could lie here forever without moving a single finger.
I have died at least ten times already, yet I have never once been to the underworld, so how would I know?
Every time I died, I immediately woke up again in my room.
I had never experienced comfort like this before.
So this is death, huh. It is this comfortable. No wonder I longed for it so much.
As I lay there in ease, all sorts of thoughts surfaced.
If I were to die like this, the world would probably stop turning back time altogether.
With me, the regressor, gone, there would be no meaning in regression anymore.
Then… would the people I formed bonds with in this cycle just go on living with me dead?
That felt a little disappointing.
I had gone through so much suffering, after all.
A small laugh escaped me.
I was not even sure whether I truly laughed, since, as I said before, this was a place where I felt nothing.
Once my thoughts reached that point, the faces of my companions surfaced one by one.
Would Sian be all right?
The poison that had spread through his body had been completely extracted, so he would be weak, but he should recover.
Would Seria continue to harbor killing intent toward Sian even after my death?
There would need to be someone who noticed and stopped her.
Jahar Knox definitely would not be able to do it, and at best, maybe Noah… but would the Spirit King really involve himself in human affairs to that extent?
It was while such thoughts chased each other endlessly that it happened.
At some moment I did not even perceive, I found myself standing in a wheat field.
This place… it is that wheat field from the dream back then.
Does that mean I am not dead right now, but dreaming?
But this feels completely different from any dream I have had before.
I slowly turned to look around.
Unlike before, when everything had been dyed in brilliant gold, the wheat was still unripe and tinged with green, making the scenery clearly different from the dream I remembered.
Even so, I knew it was the same place.
I did not know how I knew, but I did.
The soft texture of the wheat field, still holding moisture before drying out, brushed against my hand.
This is far too vivid to be just a dream.
I was silently fiddling with the stalks of grain beneath my fingers when it happened.
“Who are you?”
A strange voice sounded by my ear, and I quickly turned my head.
Something with its face hidden behind a long, trailing veil was looking at me.
Its appearance is unmistakably human.
Yet the aura and presence emanating from that body made it impossible to think of it as human.
Even when the Spirit Kings Ifrit or Noah revealed their presence without concealing it, it was never this overwhelming.
I looked around.
I thought there must be someone else nearby whom it was addressing.
Why is that here?
I definitely untied it and gave it to Sian.
No, wait a second.
This space where I could not tell dream from reality, human from spirit, or even god.
That unknowable being, and its claim that the willow bracelet had awakened it while it slept.
When I put all those hints together, an outline emerged.
But that was impossible.
“Could it be…”
Had that impossible thing really happened?
“Yes?”
“Are you the World Tree?”
“Hmm? I thought you called me knowing already.”
The World Tree crossed its arms and tilted its head to the side.
No way, it really is the World Tree?
A being one could barely hope to meet even through a Spirit King, and I encounter it here, on the verge of death?
I did not suspect it of being a fraud.
This situation was far too unreal, and once the thought that it might be the World Tree crossed my mind, this overwhelming presence made perfect sense.
It seemed I must be standing right on the boundary of death.
“Am I going to die?”
“You do not seem to think you are already dead.”
“No. Because…”
Because whenever I died, I immediately regressed.
Earlier, I had been so immersed in that comfort that I thought it would be fine even if this place were the afterlife, but thinking back, that made no sense.
“So you are barely hanging on?”
“Yes. If you had truly died, you would have regressed immediately. You know that, do you not?”
“……”
It was only repeating my own thoughts back to me, yet my fingertips began to tremble.
That trembling came from anger.
“You knew that I was a regressor, that I was trapped in that cycle?”
“Of course.”
I did not realize a calm answer could be this infuriating.
“I am the one who made you that way.”
At that moment, I felt something snap cleanly inside me.
It was probably my reason.
“Oh dear.”
With a voice that sounded not the least bit surprised, the World Tree stepped back, entering my view.
When I came to my senses, I had already rushed at it and thrown a punch.
Unfortunately, my fist did not reach it and merely cut through empty air.
“So why did you call me?”
As if my attempt to strike it meant nothing, the World Tree asked me calmly.
“…I did not call you.”
“Have you decided to speak casually now? You did the same with my children.”
“Ha. So you were watching everything.”
So my being trapped in this wretched cycle was all because of you.
“Why did you make me like this?”
“It could not be helped. You were suitable.”
“It could not be helped…”
“I chose you as the one to correct the balance of the world. You could take a bit more pride in that.”
Pride, my foot.
Judging by the way it spoke, it seemed to know exactly what kind of life I had lived and what I had gone through to reach this point.
“You are very angry.”
“If it were you…”
I closed my mouth before the curse words could spill out.
Calm down.
No matter how angry I was, antagonizing the World Tree would do me no good.
If the World Tree was the one who put me into this cycle of regression, then it would also be the one capable of taking me out of it.
“…Please send me back.”
After cooling my head as much as possible, I returned to using honorifics.
As if finding that amusing, the corner of the World Tree’s lips lifted slightly.
“Where do you want me to send you back to? To the world you originally lived in? Or…”
Snap.
The World Tree flicked its finger, producing a crisp sound.
At the same time, the air seemed to distort, and a certain place came into view.
“Jerena, wake up.”
The distorted space showed me lying down, and Sian praying beside me.
“To this child’s side?”
Sian…
“Yes, I suppose from your perspective it might seem unfair. You are nothing more than a trivial being compared to the honor of that role.”
If it is such a glorious role, then why do you not do it yourself instead of forcing it on me?
The anger boiling inside me only began to subside after I heard the World Tree’s next words.
“Speak. I will send you to the place you wish to go.”
