WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 314

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The regressor fights (33)

The Heavenly Demon's goal was simple. Escape the Tower without regressing.

'...Even if I escape the Tower, if I take an injury outside it, I'll just be dragged back here.'

He was no fool, and there was a reason he'd settled on such a plain goal. First and foremost, he had no leverage here.

He knew nothing about the transcendent being who had granted him this power called 'Regression.' He didn't know what the transcendent being wanted from him. He didn't know how long this regression would keep going. Everything about it was a mystery to the Heavenly Demon, riddled with unanswered questions.

Given all that, the one reasonably safe assumption was that this transcendent being wanted him to refrain from violence. If getting hurt triggered regression, that had to mean the intent was to keep him from fighting as much as possible.

'If I reclaim all my strength... there might be hope.'

On top of that, he held out hope that once he recovered his full power, he might be able to figure out the true nature of this force. Sure, the Heavenly Demon had once lost to an archangel, but that was back when he had no body. At full strength, he'd been able to resist some of this Tower's laws. Escaping the Tower in the first place required exactly that kind of power.

If he could use his full ability, tearing space itself would be possible. Time... he'd never tried it, but it should be possible too. He was the Heavenly Demon. A genius. One who looked down on all others. He'd been caught off guard because he hadn't known, but now that he knew, he could overcome it. That was his conviction.

To sum it up: the primary goal was to avoid violence as much as possible while reclaiming his full strength, then escape the Tower. Identifying the one behind this regression and shaking it off entirely was a secondary goal.

'Move.'

Once the path forward was set, the Heavenly Demon acted without hesitation. He persuaded the fake Guntar, had him play out his daily routine, and steered him into scheduling Colosseum matches. The Heavenly Demon could only grow stronger by fighting, so combat was unavoidable.

There were conditions attached, though. First, don't get hurt. Second, don't harm the enemy excessively.

Not harming enemies was out of awareness of the transcendent being watching. Not getting hurt was out of awareness of the regression. Laid out like that, it sounded simple enough, but the Heavenly Demon ran into no shortage of headaches.

"Guntar! Let's spar today, what do you say?"

The biggest problem was that Asian man pretending to be friendly, Kim Jun-ho. That guy kept clinging on, insisting they test their skills against each other, and they really had fought a few times already. The problem was that the man was strong in a completely unnecessary way.

His sharp presence alone was off-putting, but worse than that was his peculiar mana. That cold mana stiffened the body unless you countered it with mana of your own, and the Heavenly Demon couldn't afford to use his mana right now.

Normally he'd have scattered concealed weapons and put distance between them, but right now the Heavenly Demon was playing the role of Guntar. He couldn't resort to cowardly tricks like flinging hidden blades. Guntar was, fundamentally, a decent-hearted beastman.

'Decline. Say you have plans.'

"Ah, sorry. I've got somewhere to be."

"...Oh, really? Too bad."

Part of him wanted to unleash his mana and tear the man apart, but the Heavenly Demon held back. This wasn't an opponent he could beat easily. Without the regression hanging over him, he'd have welcomed a worthy rival, but that man was hard to fight while both avoiding injury and keeping up the act of being the "real Guntar."

So did staying away from Kim Jun-ho solve everything? Not even close.

"Guntar! I want to fight you!"

"Let's throw down!"

Guntar was a famous strongman, and plenty of lunatics wanted a piece of him. The problem was that the original Guntar wasn't the type to turn down challenges like this, and refusing Kim Jun-ho's offer had already stirred a bit of suspicion.

'Say yes.'

"...Fine."

The Colosseum matches themselves were thoroughly unpleasant too. Some bastard smuggling in a handgun. Some bastard who trusted his mechanical body enough to set off a grenade. Some bastard wielding a weapon that shocked on contact. Obviously all violations of Colosseum rules.

Sure, there were plenty of people who lived like there was no tomorrow, but this was excessive. As if someone had rigged it on purpose, it was always the dirty tricksters who went after the Heavenly Demon. With no information to go on, he had no choice but to regress.

The Heavenly Demon was a monster. The Heavenly Demon was a genius. But monster or genius, get stabbed and you bleed. With his power not yet fully restored, there was nothing to be done about it. Even so, he always picked the option that minimized injury, but he couldn't avoid regression entirely. He could win outright if he fought to the end, but the fact that he couldn't fight to the end filled him with genuine hatred.

But where there's loss, there's gain too. Regression fed the Heavenly Demon information.

Not knowing meant getting caught off guard. Which meant, once you knew, you wouldn't be caught off guard again. Because he was the Heavenly Demon. Because he was a ruler. Because he was the man who had once come closest to being a god.

The Heavenly Demon's rate of growth was astonishing, even accounting for the regressions. No, calling it "growth" wasn't quite right. The Heavenly Demon had already been complete. Every regression he'd suffered was because he hadn't known something, so it would be more accurate to call them "ambushes." Getting hurt triggered regression in the first place, so how absurd was it that he kept getting ambushed anyway?

Regress. Regress. Regress again.

'...'

Holding back his bloodlust along the way was a chore. There were so many trash-tier weaklings, so many vermin around him. Tearing flesh, savoring screams, drinking in the smell of blood, that was the Heavenly Demon's honest desire. He missed that exhilarating feeling terribly, but with the transcendent being's attention clearly locked on him in this situation, he couldn't afford to give in to it.

A mirror-still pond. The mind of a master who has reached true mastery is like a clear, tranquil pool. The Heavenly Demon's mind reeked heavily of blood and was more than a little warped, but it stayed calm all the same. He was too strong, and too great, to let emotion drag him into ruining his own plans.

If he just reached out. If he unleashed his mana and gave a light wave of his hand, those trash would be torn limb from limb. Enduring their nonsense instead was, in itself, a transcendent act of patience... or so the Heavenly Demon told himself.

Regress. Advance further. Regress. Advance further.

Every time time rewound, the Heavenly Demon crept steadily closer to his goal. He was a genius, and he learned faster than anyone. By now he'd reached a stage where regression no longer tossed him around, but became a tool he wielded. He'd grown used to it.

'The time it takes to regress differs slightly each time. What might that suggest?'

With room to breathe, analyzing the regression in detail became routine.

'Say it like this here. That's what you'd say if you had your memories.'

"S-so, um..."

He'd grown skilled at handling the fake Guntar too. The impostor had a desire to be recognized as the real Guntar, and if the Heavenly Demon scratched that itch just right, he could move the man exactly as he pleased.

How many times had he regressed by now? At some point, he'd grown strong enough that, whenever he chose, he could seize control of the body outright. Despite fighting that many battles, he'd kept the Heavenly Demon's existence hidden, and he hadn't taken a single wound.

A little more fighting, and he could unleash his full mana, but the Heavenly Demon held off. Releasing his power inside this Colosseum carried too much risk. Angels were present, and this Colosseum itself was a stage belonging to the Tower.

He needed somewhere safer. Somewhere less watched.

"Guntar, you're going back to your hometown?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..."

The place the Heavenly Demon chose was Guntar's hometown. It was somewhere the Heavenly Demon himself had spent a fair amount of time, and somewhere his hidden cache lay concealed.

Return there, seize control of the body. Then unleash his mana while retrieving the items he'd hidden away, and escape the Tower. A perfect plan.

The Heavenly Demon let himself relax. Partly to demonstrate to the transcendent being that he'd changed, and partly because the real Guntar had often traveled back and forth to his hometown, so there was little risk of raising suspicion.

Escaping the Tower was within reach now. This would be the end. Or, perhaps, a new beginning. Once he fully reclaimed his strength, he could dig into the nature of the regression binding him. Understanding regression might bring him a step closer to the transcendent being. Either way, this tiresome Colosseum would soon be behind him...

"Guess we oughta throw a celebration party?"

That was what was in store. Until the familiar Asian man slung an arm over his shoulder.

"Hey, shouldn't we throw Guntar a party to celebrate him coming back to his senses? Man's been through hell in that Colosseum. Am I right? Nothing but scumbags coming after him."

"Right, right. Who knew there'd be some psycho popping grenades in there? Must've been rough on the nerves."

"Let's just get plastered!"

The beastmen roared with laughter at the Asian man's words. For some reason, Kim Jun-ho had earned the nickname "beastman enthusiast," and thanks to that, the beastmen tended to take his suggestions warmly.

'...Hm.'

The Heavenly Demon himself despised party culture down to his bones, and wanted to snap at them to spend that time getting stronger instead. The fake Guntar clearly wanted to go, badly, but if the Heavenly Demon put to use the persuasion know-how he'd picked up through his regressions, he could probably talk the man out of his stubbornness.

"...Sounds good."

But the Heavenly Demon didn't do that. Reasoning that the real Guntar would have accepted, he had no choice but to stay quiet. It was just a party, after all. What harm could it do?

"Ah, this is my friend. Just call her JW."

But on the day of the party. When a black-haired, pony-tailed woman he'd never once seen across all his regressions showed up... he felt more than a little shaken.

"She's got a sword on her?"

"Hey, female. Why bring a blade to a happy occasion?"

"Family heirloom."

"W-well, if it's a family heirloom, guess there's nothing to be done."

The Heavenly Demon's sharp instincts screamed a warning. That woman was as dangerous as Kim Jun-ho. No, maybe even more dangerous.

'...'

A woman that strong, that dangerous, showing up now of all times, right before he was set to slip out of the Colosseum? Too convenient. Too... ominous.

'Stay alert.'

"...What's gonna happen? It's just a party. What's there to worry about?"

"Guntar, what'd you say?"

"Ah, nothing. Just talking to myself."

The fake Guntar shot back the reply with ease. The Heavenly Demon's soul frowned at that, but rationally, he had to admit the fake Guntar had a point. Sure, maybe this really was just the first time he'd crossed paths with her. The Colosseum was vast, and full of countless people. Meeting someone new for the first time despite so many repeated regressions wasn't strange at all, and her showing up now was most likely nothing but coincidence. Even if it wasn't coincidence, so long as the Heavenly Demon stayed sharp, nothing would come of it.

Better to just let it pass. That's what the Heavenly Demon's reason told him.

But the Heavenly Demon trusted his own instincts. In the worst crises, what he'd been able to rely on was never the trash who called themselves his companions, never the armor some blacksmith swore up and down about, never some expensive sword he'd bought. Himself. Only himself was worth trusting. The Heavenly Demon had always trusted himself, and that trust was what had carried him this far.

Success in his plan was within arm's reach. Get through this one party, and the Heavenly Demon could escape the Tower. Return to Guntar's home planet, take his time seizing control of the body, and that would be that. Once that moment came, maybe he'd unleash the whole of his power. Just get through this. So, stay on guard.

'...'

He wasn't scared, wasn't overly tense. He was simply keeping the vigilance he ought to keep. Even if it really was all pure coincidence, he couldn't afford to let his guard down.

But was the Heavenly Demon's vigilance truly at full strength? No, it wasn't. It wasn't a problem with his mindset. It was simply a matter buried somewhere in the unconscious.

Regression. The Heavenly Demon had a next chance waiting for him. Even if he failed, he could start over.

A person with nowhere left to retreat and a person with a safety net to fall back on inevitably carry themselves differently. Even the Heavenly Demon, standing right at the edge of stepping beyond humanity and onto the path of a transcendent being, was no exception to that. Body and mind honed as he was, he was still human. And complacency and peace of mind were fragments of that humanity.

'Enjoy the feast, but stay careful at all times. Someone may be after you.'

"Yeah, yeah. Got it."

'Tomorrow you can go home. Meeting your family back there might bring your memories back vividly.'

"...Family."

'They'll vouch for you. That you really are the real Guntar.'

"...Fine. Doesn't feel like anything's gonna happen, but I'll be careful anyway."

He'd secured the fake Guntar's cooperation too. His gut feeling was bad, but he'd taken every precaution he could.

Right. What could possibly happen today?

"Ji-won, you ready? This is our first shot, and our last one."

"Yeah."

It would all turn out to be pure coincidence.

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