Why did I go through all this trouble of turning back ti to get here?
The answer is simple: to change the premise of the story itself. To obtain the future I want, not the one the goddess or the emperor wants, I had to completely destroy the plans they had made from the very beginning.
The problem, though, is that I couldn’t just pick a side—either the goddess’s or the emperor’s. If I went along with the emperor’s desires, he would eventually rise to the position of a new god. On the other hand, if I sided with the goddess, the world would turn into a monotonous place devoid of any fun or excitent.
Moreover, the worst part about the goddess's world is that I wouldn’t even be in it. The goddess plans to take all the power I possess and use it for herself. In other words, my very existence would be erased from this world.
I wouldn’t disappear completely—at least, my soul or mories wouldn’t vanish, as it seems my past remains intact—but what I really want right now is a happy ending in this world, with everyone around .
Ti is of the essence in this world. I can already feel it rushing by. Of course, if ti truly rewound as much as I made it, that would break my ntal state.
Even so, I don’t like the idea of ti moving on without my control. Especially when I lose focus—when I “wake up,” and there’s this weird sensation where my mories are forcibly pieced together, like they don’t quite fit. That feeling is the worst.
The issue is that I’m the only one who feels this way.
Claire, who has inherited so of my abilities, and Alice, who retains her mories because of the fake Alice, feel ti moving naturally.
Even when I reverse ti, I can only go back to the parts of it that I’m sure are “my mories.” I can’t access the parts where mories are fuzzy or feel artificially inserted.
On the other hand, Claire, who rembers things “properly,” can reverse ti in areas that I can't.
“I think that’s what happened.”
The issue is, even in those monts, my mory didn’t stay intact.
“So, where were you?”
After that, Claire asked a chillingly simple question.
“Does that an you couldn’t find ?”
“Yes. After reversing ti, no matter how much I searched, it seed like you were nowhere to be found. I checked your room, searched the whole academy.”
Alice responded to my question.
With a serious look on her face, Alice asked .
“Where were you, then?”
“….”
I thought hard and, after a long mont, was finally able to answer.
“I don’t know.”
Of course, I didn’t have the real answer to give.
“I don’t rember that part of ti.”
Yes, unlike the fake mories that were inserted while skipping over chunks of ti, when Claire reversed ti, there was simply no mory of that period at all. It wasn’t like the screen went black or there was noise; it was as if that event never happened in the first place—just like when a movie cuts between scenes abruptly, without showing what happened in the middle.
“But… even when we left the orphanage, I reversed ti several tis.”
“...Maybe it’s because I was ‘rembering’ it then.”
I spoke slowly.
“I told you before, ti felt fragnted for . The mories of the orphanage weren’t like those fragnted mories. They weren’t made-up ones; they were real, personal experiences.”
“And if we’re being honest, those mories were ‘mories you shouldn’t have experienced,’ weren’t they? They were mories that should have been erased, and even if ti had been ‘reset,’ you should have gone back to before that point.”
Alice’s words made nod in agreent.
That could only an one thing.
“It’s not that you all were wrong, but I must be under the goddess’s influence.”
If that weren’t the case, then Claire, who took the goddess’s power, would be the one with control. But I didn’t add that last part.
“From the goddess’s perspective, I’m supposed to be erased. It would be better for her if she abandoned her previous plans and started over. After all, I’m a being who possesses so of her power but defies her will.”
“But then, what about the ti we experienced…”
“If this world is one that the goddess forcibly created, ti must be flowing in accordance with as the reference point. My existence or non-existence is the most important thing for the world. But that doesn’t an the world is an ‘illusion.’ You all exist too, and you feel ti passing with .”
So, when Claire “reverses ti,” parts of it that never existed are artificially created. Naturally, in those areas, I cease to exist.
Logically, it doesn’t make sense, but if the “order” of how this world was created was disrupted, then everything changes. In a way, this world might be very similar to the world that Fangryphon wanted.
The goddess can’t fully use her power.
That doesn’t an that the being created by the goddess——has her power in full.
But Fangryphon hasn’t fully usurped the goddess’s power either.
“…So, you’re saying Claire ‘created’ parts of the world by reversing ti? Parts that didn’t exist?”
“I think so.”
I’m not certain. This part wasn’t in the original setting.
If the goddess was truly such a being, she would never have been portrayed as a good one in the original work. This ga company has always been against trying to forcefully define human thoughts in such a manner.
Maybe she would have appeared as the final boss in a sequel. Perhaps the emperor would be revived as an ally, or it could have been a three-way battle. Or maybe the Holy Nation would try to use the power the emperor had accumulated.
Then, we could understand why the goddess “had to” bring into this world.
If the goddess were truly a benevolent being, thinking justly in a way that all humans could understand, she could have easily brought soone like into her world. There would be parallel worlds where I would exist, after all.
But to get the world to move exactly as the goddess desired, I couldn’t be allowed to know her true intentions.
And, of course, in the end, I ssed it all up by blabbing.
That was such a JRPG villain mistake, it makes want to laugh.
“So… what should I do? Should I avoid using my powers?”
“You should use them if needed.”
For example, Lucas, who had been thinking about killing since I was young.
“Hm? But Lucas never tried to do anything like that to .”
“……”
But after hearing my words, Claire tilted her head and spoke.
“We’ve clashed swords a few tis, and Lucas definitely had the upper hand. I wasn’t being completely overpowered, though.”
“…What did Lucas say?”
“He said, ‘Co back when you’re bigger, rookie.’ It was playful, but it still irritated .”
So, Claire has been training hard. Apparently, she’s also beco pretty close to Bella.
And Lucas didn’t try to kill her at that ti, so there was no reason to reverse ti in the palace. Her grades were fine, and just reviewing what she had already learned was enough.
…
What’s going on here?
This feels kind of unfair.
“So, you ca to find ?”
“Yes.”
I spoke to the Sword Saint.
Even in the previous world, I had once confided in the Sword Saint about my abilities. Of course, I reversed ti after that.
But this ti, I didn’t plan to do that. The help I needed from the Sword Saint was much more significant than that.
“You need a way to stay awake for as long as possible to prevent the goddess from imposing her mories on you?”
“Yes.”
I could ditate.
But that wouldn’t be a fundantal solution. I could extend my wakefulness by focusing and calming my mind, but I couldn’t avoid sleeping altogether.
So, it would be better to learn sothing far more fundantal and stay awake throughout the goddess’s confrontations—
“You little brat.”
Wham!
“Ugh!?”
But before I could say anything else to the Sword Saint, his hand struck my head sharply.
Why!?
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