Chapter 79: Relive

"Sis! You're back! What took you so long?" Exclaimed Rein with a happy smile on his face.

"Didn't I tell you not to wait up for me? Please don't tell me you've been waiting at the door for the past hour," Leona was secretly happy to see her little brother's eager face after a long day.

"Sorry, I just got back from babysitting Emria, so I was just waiting here. Anyways, I made dinner! Seared wild boar and slime pudding."

Something was wrong. Rein couldn't control his own body, nor the things he said. It was like he was back in his infant body, viewing a replay of his memories in the first person. It was incredibly vivid, almost too vivid for his liking. He felt the urge to cry out into tears and jump into his sister's arms, but no matter what he tried, his body wouldn't move.

He continued reliving his memories, but he couldn't enjoy them. The looming anxiety of the attack was overriding his mind with worry. He heard himself ask about his aunt, then accused her of killing his father, which Rein believed more and more by the day. She screamed at him and he apologized, then the silent streak that eventually lead to the village's attack began.

"Hey Rein, why are you sweating so much?" Leona suddenly exclaimed after Rein apologized, Rein realizing a difference in events.

However, his past self didn't have time to react to Leona's question as they heard a loud explosion that shook the ground and rattled the house. As he remembered, Leona sprung up and looked outside the window, analyzing the Econican soldier's attire.

Rein ran outside, consciously trying his hardest to stop his feet from moving forward, not wanting to step outside. Though in the end, he couldn't stop himself. The next events played out exactly how they did previously. He relived through it all. Rescuing Emria, Leona protecting him, running away from Leona's final attack, his outrage against Core, and finally, the awakening of his System.

Suddenly, Rein could feel control over his limbs as he came to his System, the emotion that he had been holding in as he witnessed these events coming flowing out at once, tears flowing down his reddened eyes.

He stood there, bewildered, on one hand, filled with anger, and on the other, sadness.

"Aw shit, it's a survivor. Not to mention it's a kid. Hey, go kill 'em. We can't have any witnesses."

The soldiers who killed the villagers approached Rein, who was paralyzed in bewilderment as the soldier got up in his face. It was the first person he'd ever killed. He didn't even remember his face.

"Why… What's happening… Why is this happening?" He uttered to the soldier in front of him, who looked at him with an annoyed and confused expression.

"The hell are you on about brat? Whatever just die already," the soldier swung his sword on Rein's shoulder, then retracted it as he couldn't pierce through his skin as it contacted.

"The hell?!" The soldier continued to slash at Rein, each time the sword bouncing off his durable body.

Rein was surprised. He thought he had Emria's Spring copied at that point, and he fully expected the soldiers slash to cut off his arm.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Rein heard a familiar voice come from behind the rubble behind him.

"Core..?" Rein uttered as the soldier persisted in his attacks, the other soldiers approaching as they noticed his struggles.

"Right now, you're on the verge of giving up everything you've set out to do from this point forward. You feel the deep-rooted anger in your heart, don't you?" Core's words pierced into Rein's heart like a cold dagger.

"How…" Rein uttered, then grit his teeth in contempt. "You don't get it… What I've been working for over the past 6 years hasn't been for shit… I've decided to stop kidding myself. If the prince of Econica and the princess of Orthlys get married, the war would most likely come to an end, and the continent would regain peace," Rein stuttered as he spoke his hollow words, Core's face, to which Rein wasn't used to tilting his neck up to look in the eyes, was filled with distrust towards what Rein was saying.

"This is for the best…"

"To hell with that. What'll happen after they get married? Yeah, the war might be over and things might go back to normal. But what about you? What about the princess? What about your aunt? You always go on about justice, but this isn't justice. You can't stop until every last one of them has met their doom. Every last one, including myself," Core spoke with a serious expression as Rein's tears stopped flowing.

"Follow your heart. Remember what you were fighting for. Rekindle your anger, and continue through this wretched dream," Core pointed at the soldier trying to kill Rein.

At that moment, Rein had felt as though his conviction was renewed, suddenly moving at unthinkable speeds, cutting the soldier's head off. At that moment, his resolve was set, making his decision. 

His System was the same strength as his future self, so he didn't need Emria's Spring to destroy the soldiers. As he remembered, prince Zane showed up after he defeated most of the soldiers.

"Stop you barbarian! In the name of the king!" He suddenly heard as he turned to face the prince that appeared.

However, as he did, he felt himself being transported, suddenly finding himself back in the arena in the Hasbin Gulf. Though, it was different. It was after the end of the entrance tournament when prince Zane appeared in front of Chloe.

"Fine… I'll tell him that you won the tournament. I'll be taking my leave now, but Chloe, I mean this when I tell you… Be careful. And you, with the stupid metal thing on your face. If you do anything to my sister, it won't be my father you have to worry about," he shrugged Rein's hand off of him, then turned around to his knight and held on to his shoulder, then vanished into thin air.

Rein felt another pulsation as he heard that, appearing in the vice principal's office.

"So you won the tournament and repelled the prince? Impressive Rein. You've fulfilled the terms of our deal. Do keep in mind that I'll be monitoring you to make sure you don't do anything weird to her highness. I expect you to take good care of her in my stead," the messy-haired bespectacled man told him, the one who gave him the wind Spring he used against Chloe.

Yet again, another pulsation rang through his head as he awoke in his bed back at the dorm room, with Chloe electrocuting his feet to wake him.

"Jeez, why'd you stay up so late the day before school?" Chloe was at the end of his bed as he sat up, putting her hand on her head in disappointment.

Suddenly, Rein shuffled towards the end of his bed and put his arms around Chloe, pulling her close to him in a tight embrace as he cried on her shoulder.

"Wha! H-hey, Rein..?" She blushed, then spoke in a concerned voice as she felt him cry over her shoulder, then began rubbing his back, trying to make him feel better.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"It's okay Rein. I forgive you. I'll always forgive you. It was you who saved me from despair. It's you who broke me out of my shell. It's you who always makes me feel safe. I'm the happiest when I'm with you…"

He felt her voice fade away into a loud cheering, his eyes opening to a bright, shimmering flame that continued approaching him, the crowd around him coming into focus as he heard their loud cheers.

"Heh… For fuck's sake…"