?


    After Sol left the white world, the figure sitting on the throne continued to attack Ciel with ck whips. By now, the ck whips numbered in hundreds.


    "Jeez, I won''t touch him again. So, can you stop attacking me?"


    When the figure didn''t stop attacking, Ciel sighed and muttered ''obsessive and possessive. I touched him once and you are trying to kill me for it''.


    The entric God was eventually bored with simply dodging. He yawned and spoke.


    "Who is that kid to have the Mark of Pride?"


    Nobody answered him.


    Ciel didn''t mind the silence and said to the void. "It''s not a good habit to ignore others, you know."


    Suddenly, Ciel grabbed something in the empty air and threw it to the ground.


    Craaash—!


    A loud noise rang. However, there was nothing at the site of impact.


    Ciel continued to fly while dodging the ck whips. Nevertheless, his gaze was fixed on the ground.


    At the ce at which Ciel stared, a ripple formed. The ripples grew in size and became tides surging in a tsunami.


    A gigantic eye appeared.


    "So, this is how the kid''s 2nd attribute looks." said Ciel while waving at the giant eye floating above the floor.


    He didn''t waste time and asked again. "What is that kid? "


    The eye was emitting an eerie presence. Ciel had seen his share of Beyonders and attributes when he was active on the battlefield. But something about these two bugged him.


    "@@#R##@!@%!#!@" The eye spoke in an unknownnguage.


    "?nguage?" Ciel was surprised.


    After the Tower of Babel appeared, ''that''nguage and all of its traces were erased by the Champions and the Gods. It was one of the few times when the Champions and Gods worked together, a true rarity among rarity considering Gods and Champions were mortal enemies.


    Yet what shook Ciel wasn''t thenguage but its content.


    "Is that the truth?"


    "@$!@%#@"


    A shadow fell over Ciel''s face and he lowered his head. His shoulders started shaking slightly and suddenly, he burst into a maniacalughter.


    "Ahahahahahahaha! Those old fogies, now they''ve done it! I knew they weren''t in their right mind when they asked for my help but to do this? Ahahahaha!"


    Ciel no longer bothered dodging the ck whips. The attacks showered his body with countless injuries but he was regenerating at a faster pace.


    "Ahahaha! I finally understand why they made the kid go through 2 reincarnations! I thought he was a chained beast but this is beyond my imagination! He is a ticking time bomb! The only thing those fogies can do is throw the bomb at their enemies, before it blows up in their face!"


    He was rolling over the floor while clutching his stomach and wheezing dangerously.


    "I… can''t…haah! haah! There needs to be… a…alimit to stupidity."


    …


    ..


    .


    [ Sol''s POV ]


    ''It''s heavy.''


    That was the first thought that came to mind after waking up. My body was sore and I couldn''t move at all.


    Turning my eyes to the limit, I confirmed that I was inside a luxurious room.


    It seems that quite an amount of time has passed since I lost consciousness. After all, the nearest ce to the forest of silence with amodation like this was at least 1 and a half days away.


    Cluck—!


    Someone opened the door.


    My heart almost leaped through my mouth when I recognized the person.


    It was Jae-sung.


    ''Why is he here? His hair is still blue but he should be regressing any time soon. And he knows that I was the hooded figure in the forest. He''ll kill me! What is that good-for-nothing goddess doing!?''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Clink—! nk—! Clink—!


    The utensils Jae-sung was carrying fell from his hands and the liquid inside them sshed on the carpet. Seeing the dirty carpet, I felt annoyance rising from within me.


    "Si…sir Sol? You''ve woken up..? Sir Sol has woken up!"


    He shouted so loudly that it shook my brain. Before I could react, I heard another voice that was too close forfort.


    "Mhm? Young master woke up….? …! Young master!"


    Y, my personal maid, had been sleeping inside my nket with half of her body on top of me – the reason my body was too heavy to move. She jumped after hearing Jae-sung and hugged me.


    She started crying loudly.


    Putting her emotional outburst aside, the hug wasn''t veryfortable. Maybe she forgot that I was a human, but her grip was slowly entering inhuman territory. If she didn''t stop, my spine would snap.


    "Y"


    "...Ah!"


    I don''t know how, but my expression remained cold while I was almost hugged to death. Y yelped and let go of me when I tapped her arms.


    "Stop overreacting. I''m okay now." I muttered in a domineering voice that hid my back pain and internal weeping as I was alone with my two potential murderers in the room.


    "Yo..young master…! I w-was worried…! Sniff! Sniff! That you would never wak… wake up…!"


    I stared at them while using <Reader>. Their reactions were too extreme for one day of unconsciousness.


    ''I have a bad feeling about this.''


    Suppressing the ominous premonition, I asked Jae-sung.


    "Where are we?"


    "We are at the Imperial Pce to celebrate the end of the Rite of Passage."


    Nodding my head, I calcted the time.


    Rite of Passage was supposed to start one day after I lost consciousness. From there, it would take another 2 days for the Rite to end. Lastly, reaching the Imperial Pce which was located in the capital city required 7 days at a leisurely pace and 3 and a half days at a fast pace.


    ''If I woke up immediately after reaching the Imperial Pce and we came here at the fastest pace. That is 7 days.''


    I raised my head and stared at Jae-sung.


    ''No, it shouldn''t be possible. Jae-sung''s hair is still blue.''


    In hindsight, the answer was clear as day. I was only trying to dy the inevitable.


    "How many days have passed since I lost consciousness."


    Jae-sung didn''t answer immediately.


    Every second felt like an hour.


    And finally, the hour of judgment arrived.


    "It has been 8 days since we rescued Sir Sol from the forest.''


    "Mhm"


    I closed my eyes.


    Eight days have passed. It was 6 days due for Jae-sung to regress. Yet, he was standing perfectly un-regressed in front of me.


    Did this happen because I took a portion of his system?


    No, in the first ce, Jae-sung''s regression was never due to his system.


    That left only one answer….


    ''I, no, we reincarnated into the timeline prior to the one in which the novel is set in.''


    This was the timeline where Jae-sung would be betrayed and the novel''s plot would start in the next timeline.


    ''…Shit''


    The 1st timeline was doomed for a guaranteed bad end.