Zich and Glen clashed far away from their companions, where they had a low possibility of getting bothered by other people. They sent a flurry of attacks, each one a dream for an ordinary knight to make toward an enemy. Glen sent a current of mana into Tornium, and although his body ached with the mana he couldn’t withstand yet, the pain was still endurable. Glen knew that although it was only aching right now, the side effects of this power would soon inflict greater injuries on him. Yet, Glen didn’t care. He was only focused on crushing Zich right now.
Baaam! Glen swung Tornium, and Zich backed away while wavering. When Glen swung once more, Zich hurriedly escaped as he was almost rolling on the ground. Then, Zich barely managed to block the next swing with his sword.
‘What is he thinking? Was he really just bluffing?’ Glen wondered. Zich confidently said that he would be fine alone, but now that they were fighting one on one, all Zich did was evade with all his might. Zich didn’t even defend himself well, so a large part of his body was full of injuries. Glen enjoyed seeing Zich struggle to protect himself against his attacks, but in a corner of his heart, he couldn’t help but worry.
‘He could also have something up his sleeves…’ However, Glen soon decided to push away his worries. He needed to focus on crushing Zich at this moment.
‘Whatever trick he has planned, I will crush him before he can use it!’ Then, He would take Zich to his main base and torture Zich until Zich spat out information. If he did that, Glen was sure that everything would turn back to how it was before—to the just, calm world where he had control over everything.
Baam! Glen’s attacks became fiercer. He had an intense drive to finish this battle no matter the critical injuries he suffered. Accordingly, Zich’s hands became busy, but he continued to endure relentlessly. He blocked, deflected mana, and let his body bear the non-critical attacks.
“Damn it!” Glen exclaimed in an outburst as Zich kept looking like he was about to fall but didn’t. “Just fucking die!”
Bam! As Glen cursed, he swung Tornium down on Zich, but Zich also managed to block this attack in the end.
“Why would I do anything that benefits you?!” Zich said while licking the blood dripping from his cheeks and spitting it out.
“You can’t beat me with your skills! Your father will also soon meet his end too! Stop your futile resistance and give up!” Glen yelled.
“That’s what I would do if you were actually right, but I have all means to beat you, and my damn dad will not meet his end here.”
“Stop your nonsense…!” Glen swung Tornium again.
Boom!
A huge explosion rose from the allied forces’ territory. Glen quickly looked in the direction of the explosion. There had been plenty of explosions up until now. Both sides had elite soldiers who could use mana and the Steelwalls had mages who specialized in fire magic and caused frequent explosions on the battlefield. However, this explosion was on another level—it was as if it belonged to the leader of the Pulru School of Magic, the past master of the magical tower, or the Demon Lord of Magic before the regression, Walwiss Dwayne.
‘I thought that guy went to block the Bellid guys,’ Glen thought. Although the Bellid troops that struck the Steelwall army from the rear was few in number, they were of considerable quality. Even if Til and Walwiss were strong, it wasn’t a force that could be so easily defeated. Yet, reality was cruel.
Baaaam! Fire magic struck the allied forces once again. Those within the vicinity of his attacks were shredded apart, and everyone in the surroundings suffered severe burns. The allied forces were shaken up. For some reason, their enemy’s greatest mage had come back.
“Can you spare time to look away?”
Glen flinched in surprise and raised Tornium.
Bam! Zich’s sword pressed down on Tornium. It wasn’t an attack that endangered him greatly, and the difference in their levels was still quite large. Yet, Glen felt chills on his back as he saw Zich’s face beyond his sword. With blood all over him, Zich was still grinning.
“It seems like Walwiss has come back. Til is going to come back soon, and the troops that left to take care of the rear will join us once more. What did you say before? That my father was going to meet his end?” Zich asked.
Glen pushed Tornium angrily, and Zich let himself be pushed. Yet, his lips didn’t rest. “One of your great predictions has been proven wrong like this. The rest of your predictions will also soon go to hell.”
“How could the Bellids be defeated already?” Glen couldn’t believe it. His eyes burned with doubt, but Zich was the type of person to free others of such distrust.
“I already know you are great buddies with the Bellids. If I mentioned that I might have regressed in any way, I knew that you would lose your mind and would use any means to capture me. Thus, it was easy for me to predict that you would bring the Bellids to attack.” The precautions they needed to take were simple.
“So, I’m sure you know who the Bellids’ worst enemies are?” At Zich’s question, light exploded out from the Steelwall army. The light felt holy, and it softly caressed the Steelwall soldiers crying in pain on the battlefield. The soldiers’ injuries began to heal in an instant, and Glen could immediately tell who had created such a miracle.
“Aine,” Glen said.
“I think the Saintess would be displeased to hear someone like you calling her name.”
“You brought in the Karuwimans, you bastard!”
“The enemy of an enemy is a friend. Plus, I don’t really have a bad relationship with them in the first place, so you could say we are best friends.”
“You shouldn’t have had enough time…” Glen muttered. Even if they had requested support from the Karuwimans as soon as they found traces of the Bellids at the Pinne residence, it was impossible for them to send reinforcements so fast.
“I told you. I could easily predict the Bellids’ attack. I requested the Karuwimans for support before I even left for the Pinne residence.”
“…Are you saying the Karuwimans moved without any evidence?”
“It’s because there’s a Saintess who believes every word I say without any doubts. It really is good to have connections with people in the higher ranks. Well, they came on the condition that they wouldn't intervene in the battle if the Bellids didn’t come, but as you can see, there weren’t too many problems with that.” Zich looked at Glen like he was looking at a puppet.
“It really is so easy coming up with plans against a predictable guy like you.”
“You bastard!” Glen burst out in anger. But the situation had worsened.
“Wipe those guys away!”
“Those guys dared to join hands with the Bellids! Kill them all!”
“If you aren’t connected with the Bellids, surrender immediately!”
Knights wearing pure white armor began to jump forward between the Steelwall forces. After seeing the insignia engraved on their armor, the allied forces’ soldiers began to shake even more maddeningly than when they saw Walwiss’ magic. It was the Karuwiman holy symbol. The holy army had begun to turn against them, and Zich glanced at them.
“Look at that. That’s the result of your simple thinking. Admit it now that you are a fool.”
“Shut up!” Glen lost all previous composure, and he rushed toward Zich. “You! I just have to defeat you!”
There was still time left. If he just defeated Zich and got information out of him, then everything would be over. He was going to turn back the time of this damn world. However, Zich knew exactly what Glen was thinking.
“No, that’s not going to happen.” He struggled to block Glen’s attack and continued, “I can clearly read your thoughts. You’re planning to defeat me and regress after getting information out of me, right?”
Even though Zich mentioned regression, which was Glen’s most important secret, Glen wasn’t fazed. He had already roughly guessed that Zich probably knew about regression, judging by how he knew information he should have never known. However, Zich’s next words were the most shocking words that Glen had ever heard in all of his lifetimes across all timelines.
“Too bad. The basis of your plan is fundamentally flawed.” Zich slowly and clearly enunciated each word so that Glen could catch everything he said. “You can’t regress anymore.”
“…What?” Glen’s movement stopped momentarily. What was he saying? Glen couldn’t understand him. He had heard every word since Zich kindly stressed each word for Glen to hear. However, the content of his words was the problem. ‘I can’t regress?’
Regression was the special ability that allowed him to be called the Sun Hero and win the respect of everyone around him when he used to be among the lowest.
Once he began using his regression ability to the fullest, he never ever imagined himself losing his regression ability. No, he couldn’t imagine it; just thinking about it was terrifying. However, it was also a meaningless worry. Even though Glen had regressed so many times that he couldn’t even keep count, his regression ability had never failed him. But now he couldn’t regress anymore?
“That’s ridiculous.” Despite how shocking it was, Glen coldly denied Zich’s words and said, “I have never failed to regress so far.”
“So did anyone who knows about regression ever appear like this?”
Glen couldn’t answer.
Zich continued, “Hasn’t this timeline completely gone out of your expectations? A lot of things that you’ve never experienced before are happening in this timeline. Is there a guarantee that you won’t lose your regression ability?”
“…Don’t make me laugh,” Glen murmured quietly, but it soon turned into a loud scream. “Don’t make me laughhh!”
Bammm! Glen swung Tornium, and a huge amount of mana crushed their surroundings. However, the tip of his sword was wavering as if to represent his current state of mind. Glen couldn’t break through Zich’s defense even when he was calm, so Zich’s swift tongue moved even faster as he gained some leisure. “Don’t make me laugh? What do you know about regression? What about the Clowon Empire? The Brushel System? Do you know where the power you relied on so much originated and how it works?”
Glen was hearing these words for the first time. Of course, he couldn’t answer Zich’s questions. “Shut uuuup!”
Baaammm! The mana that erupted from Tornium left a deep scar on the earth. “Just you! I just need to kill you! Then this damn timeline and everything that didn’t go my way will return back to their rightful place!”
“Hahahaha! That would be nice too! But do you know this, Sir Hero?” Zich blocked Tornium and shouted, “Now that you can’t regress anymore, this is really the end if you die.”
Glen had been swinging Tornium like crazy, but he stopped once again.
Zich continued, “There’s no next time. I don’t know if there’s an afterlife like the Karuwimans believe, but your life in this world will at least be over.” Zich fixed his grip on his sword and pointed it towards Glen. “Then shall we dance with our swords again? With our one and only life on the line.”
Zich thought that Glen’s face was deathly pale. He looked at Glen and said, “How was your long moment of hope?”