Chapter 144: Villain Simulator, Ch 143

Chapter 144: Villain Simulator, Ch 143[Age 176: At first, you thought you were overthinking it. But as you spent more time living together, this strange feeling only grew stronger.]

[She felt like a machine loaded with a "Kitsune Saiguu template." Her reactions to the world around her were not instinctive but seemed guided by some "program," with its database being Kitsune Saiguu's memories.]

[It was akin to the "Ship of Theseus" paradox. What you had recreated from fragments of Kitsune Saiguu's memories was not, and could never be, the true Kitsune Saiguu.]

[Gradually, you began to understand Mountain Shaper's warning—reviving the dead was a futile endeavor.]

[You wanted to deceive yourself, to accept reality and force yourself to believe that this "replica" was the real Kitsune Saiguu. Yet every interaction with her only deepened your discomfort.]

[You confided your anguish to Yae Miko, and through your reflections, you finally identified the source of your obsession. It wasn't about bringing Kitsune Saiguu back to life—it was your inability to accept the humiliating way in which she had been consumed by the Abyssal Dark Will.]

[Yae Miko, as always, listened quietly to your woes. After a long silence, she suggested a way to truly bring Kitsune Saiguu back to life: reversing time and rewriting causality.]

[Reversing time? This was a path even you had never considered. Not even The Seven of the Current Era, the strongest beings of the world, possessed such power.]

[In all the texts you had studied, there was no mention of time-manipulation magic. Only Mountain Shaper had alluded to it in passing, warning that reversing time was the most forbidden of taboos, one that could invite intervention from "higher forces."]

[But if time could be reversed, if you could return to the moment when Kitsune Saiguu was swallowed by the Dark Will, perhaps your current strength would be enough to fight it off and save her!]

[The concept was simple enough. But the act of traversing time was another matter entirely. Yae Miko admitted she didn't know how to reverse time but said she was aware of a phenomenon created by time reversal.]

[That phenomenon was none other than the Sacred Sakura Tree at Narukami Shrine. You were puzzled by its connection to time manipulation. After all, the Sacred Sakura had always been a protector of Inazuma's people.]

[But Yae Miko revealed an astonishing truth: the Sacred Sakura was a product of time reversal. Raiden Ei's elder sister, Raiden Makoto, had planted its seed in the past through time manipulation. This altered history, leading everyone to believe the tree had always been part of Inazuma's land.]

[If the Sacred Sakura was a product of time reversal, perhaps it could reveal a method for you to achieve the same. Using Onmyoudo, you detached your spirit from your body and entered the Sacred Sakura, seeking answers within its roots, which connected to the leylines of the land.]

[The process of probing the Sacred Sakura's will was as arduous as finding a needle in an ocean.]

[Time flowed differently in this mental realm. What seemed like mere moments in reality stretched into centuries within this consciousness.] Searᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

[Finally, perhaps moved by your persistence, an ethereal voice responded to your spirit.]

["I am Istaroth, the Ruler of Time. What you hear is but an echo of my lingering consciousness, embedded within the Sacred Sakura. Ignorant mortal, why do you seek me?"]

[Image here]

[The voice resonated directly in your mind. You conveyed your purpose: to reverse time and return to the moment when Kitsune Saiguu was consumed by the Dark Will.]

["I can grant your wish," Istaroth replied, "but you must pay the corresponding price. Become my apostle, eternally bound to my will. In your mortal terms... a contract."]

[Faced with the Ruler of Time's proposal, your response was...]

[1. Accept]

[2. Decline]

"I accept"

["The contract is sealed. Time shall be reversed."]

[Entering Immersive Mode]

[Mission: Save Kitsune Saiguu]

When Lucas opened his eyes, barren land stretched endlessly before him.

His chest still bore the deep scars of his battles with the calamity, but they were old wounds, reminders of struggles fought long ago. Or perhaps, for him, not yet. The realization struck: he had truly traveled back in time.

Before him loomed the Abyssal Dark Will, its malevolent energy coalescing into a gaping maw that seemed eager to devour all life. Suspended above the chaos, a white-haired fox-eared sorceress hovered, her expression unyielding as she stood against the tide.

It was Kitsune Saiguu.

Lucas's heart pounded. He instinctively reached out to summon his shikigami for aid but was met with an unsettling emptiness. They were gone—all seven of them.

Of course. If time had rewound to before their bonds were forged, they would have no connection to him now.

His mind raced. Without their power, how could he hope to stand against the tide and save Kitsune Saiguu?

The scene before him began to replay the fateful moment he had tried so desperately to change.

"So go on, dark will of abyss.," Kitsune Saiguu murmured, her voice steady despite the despair that laced her words, "" I have no strength left to resist. You may take my Kitsune blood as you please."

No! Lucas's resolve hardened. He could not let history repeat itself.

Channeling the last remnants of his spiritual energy, he surged forward. His leap was clumsy, his form unrefined—but it was enough. He collided with Kitsune Saiguu, shoving her out of harm's way just as the Dark Will began its assault.

"Ashan!" Kitsune Saiguu gasped, her voice filled with shock and disbelief as she stared at the man before her.

Lucas smiled faintly. There was no fear in his gaze, only quiet satisfaction. "At last..." he whispered, his voice trembling with emotion. "I see you again..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the tide surged forward, engulfing him in its abyssal grasp.

But Lucas did not die.

When his eyes opened once more, he found himself in a strange, surreal space. The surroundings shimmered with an otherworldly glow, colors and shapes constantly shifting like a kaleidoscope.

Was this... the interior of the calamity?

"So, you willingly offer yourself as my meal?"

A shadowy, amorphous figure began to take shape before him, its voice a mixture of mockery and disdain. "How pointless. Your sacrifice changes nothing. I will still devour her. And this land as well."

The figure radiated an overwhelming aura of malice. Lucas understood immediately—this was the calamity's will given form.

Perhaps, he thought, Kitsune Saiguu had faced this very entity when she sacrificed herself to delay its advance.

"You are the will of the calamity?" Lucas asked, his voice calm despite the oppressive presence before him. "I am..."

"A dead man."

The entity showed no interest in his identity. A black spear materialized in its hand, and with a single swift motion, it pierced Lucas's chest.

He staggered, his body wracked with pain. In this moment, stripped of his power, Lucas was no longer the invincible Kamuna Harunosuke. Against the calamity's strength, he was utterly powerless.

But even as his vision began to blur, a faint smile crossed his lips. "Istaroth... my lord," he whispered, blood staining his lips. "Your loyal apostle has one final request. Please rewind time... by ten seconds..."

The words had scarcely left his lips when the world around him began to shift.

Colors bled into one another, and the scene seemed to unravel. Time itself rewound at a visible pace. The spear withdrew from Lucas's chest, and the gaping wound that had marked his end vanished without a trace.

No—it wasn't healing. Time had simply reverted to the moment before the spear had struck.

Lucas straightened, his voice steady and unwavering this time. "Calamity," he said. "I've come to bargain."

At the final moment before his death, Lucas' plea was granted, forcefully rewinding time by ten seconds—back to the moment just before the Calamity's will had killed him.

"You want to bargain? How amusing."

The Calamity's will sneered. "I'll kill you again and devour everything afterward."

Suddenly, it hesitated, its tone turning perplexed. "Wait... what's going on? Weren't you already dead?"

"Glad you noticed," Lucas replied with a faint smile. "Now, are you ready to hear my terms—"

Before he could finish, a blade formed from the Dark Will lashed out, severing his head in one swift motion.

"Hmph," the Calamity's will scoffed. "Pathetic trickery. As if that could fool me—"

Its words halted abruptly as time reversed once again. Lucas's severed head reattached itself to his neck as if rewound on an unseen reel.

He gasped deeply, his face pale from the lingering memories of death.

Though he hadn't truly died, the experiences of being impaled and decapitated were vividly real—far from anything he wished to endure again.

"Calamity, I've come to bargain."

The entity's dark form rippled uneasily.

"What is this trickery?" the Calamity's will asked, confusion tainting its malice. "What have you done?"

"I have the favor of a higher power," Lucas replied, gesturing toward the sky. "If you don't agree to my terms, time will remain stuck in an endless loop."

"Impossible!" it roared.

Two massive black hands materialized, grabbing Lucas and hoisting him into the air. "Then let's see how you handle this."

With a sickening tear, Lucas's body was ripped in half. His organs spilled out, splattering onto the ground in a grotesque display.

The black hands transformed into feet, stomping repeatedly on the mangled remains until they were unrecognizable.

Surely, the entity thought, no one could revive from such utter destruction.

Yet the grotesque lump of flesh began to twist and reconstitute itself, every strand of muscle and fiber reknitting. Before long, Lucas stood whole once more.

"Calamity," he repeated, his expression grim. "I've come to bargain."

The Calamity's will recoiled, finally realizing the truth.

This mortal indeed possessed the ability to rewind time.

"But why?" it wondered aloud. "Why does someone with such power remain so weak?"

"I admit," the Calamity's will said with a cold chuckle, "you've mastered a strange ability. But you're stuck in this loop with me, forced to endure the pain of death over and over again."

"Try me," Lucas said with a smirk. "I've got all day."

And so, the cycle began.

Fourth death.Sixteenth death.

Seventy-eighth death.

Two hundred forty-fourth death.

Three thousand five hundred twelfth death.

Seventy-eight thousand six hundred fifty-fourth death.

Each time, Lucas revived. And each time, he said the same thing:

"Calamity, I've come to bargain."

He was relentless, embodying humanity's ultimate weapon: indomitable human spirit.

Finally, the Calamity's will snapped.

"What do you want to negotiate?" it growled, its patience exhausted.

Though reluctant to abandon its claim on Inazuma, the Calamity recognized the futility of remaining trapped in an eternal loop against this maddeningly persistent human.

"Leave Inazuma," Lucas said, his voice steady and unyielding. "And never set foot here again."

The Calamity's will hesitated, its swirling form seething with frustration. Finally, it relented.

"Fine," it said coldly. "I accept your terms."

With those words, the Abyssal Dark Will began to dissipate.

Lucas, who had been hovering midair amidst the chaos, suddenly plummeted. But before he hit the ground, he was caught in a warm, familiar embrace.

The dark miasma that had tainted Inazuma's lands and seas rapidly receded, restoring the natural beauty of the terrain.

"The Calamity... it's gone," Kitsune Saiguu murmured in awe, gazing down at Lucas in her arms. "Ashan, what... what did you do?"

For Kitsune Saiguu and the world outside, only a few minutes had passed. Yet within the endless loops of death and revival, Lucas had endured tens of thousands of deaths.

He didn't answer her question. Instead, his reply was an impulsive, wordless kiss.

His movements were confident, though clumsy in their fervor. Her tongue hesitated briefly, but she quickly rallied, matching his intensity.

Yes, this was the real Kitsune Saiguu.

"Ahem..."

A soft cough broke the moment, and the two pulled apart to find themselves surrounded by shrine maidens.

They wore amused smiles, watching the scene unfold like an entertaining play.

Leading them was a young, fox-eared girl—none other than Yae Miko from over a century ago. Her expression, however, was unusually complex.

Kitsune Saiguu straightened, trying to maintain her composure. She turned to Lucas, her brow furrowed.

"Ashan, what just happened?" she asked.

"Nothing much," Lucas replied, shaking his head. "I think... I just woke up from a very long dream."

A dream.

A dream that had stretched across countless lifetimes of agony, yet still filled him with gratitude upon waking.

Lucas had driven the Calamity away and saved Kitsune Saiguu, successfully reversing the course of history.

But as the euphoria of their reunion lingered, Kitsune Saiguu's expression shifted to one of concern.

"Ashan," she said softly, her voice trembling. "Your hand..."

Lucas looked down, startled. His hand was disintegrating, pixelating into shimmering points of light that floated away like fireflies.

Was this the cost of his pact with the Ruler of Time?

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Author's Note: :')