“Even if fate decide against it, I shall bring it to its knees and make it regret for ever defying me.”

(POV - Shin)

"Just what in the hell was that…?" I muttered under my breath as I gaze at the man who I deemed as good for nothing weakling without his power of prophecy and this so-called mysterious weapon he was talking about.

Those movement. A strengthening skill? A berserker skill? A power boosting skill? No… it wasn't a skill at all…

It most definitely wasn't a mana technique, I wasn't able sense a single fluctuation of mana in the air.

It was something else, something beyond mana…

That glow in his eyes. I couldn't even find any trace of the same man who called himself Jin Shinpei the prophet anywhere within those eyes.

A calming indifference. Even I, who had been rid of my understanding towards the notion of 'fear' from this curse of regression, unconsciously shuddered as I met those eyes of his. Yes, those eyes of his, it was in that moment, though it was faint, they were able discern my presence through the concealment in which even a transcendent being would be unable to detect.

"Just who are you." I raised my spear, glaring down at this 'being'. I considered killing him as he was still in this unconscious state.

He must not live. He shall not see the limit of his potential. He is an anomaly that was far dangerous than I had ever imagined.

I slashed downward in a quick motion, the spear dangerously cutting through the air aiming at his head. However, I stopped myself. The Undying Gluttony resting just inch above his head.

"…"

"Haa…" I heaved a sigh and retracted the Undying Gluttony back into the dimensional storage.

"How troublesome." I grabbed him by the back of collar and dragged his body, covered in filth, off the lifeless corpse of the demon that is slowly decaying.

"If you wish to hide your secret, I will respect that and consider you an ally for now. But if you dare deceive me, I shall never forgive you til the end of my eternity. If we were fated to never meet again following your betrayal, I shall transcend and defy even the Law of the Origin itself to grant you the cruelest and most the painful death you could ever imagine, this I swear."

—-

(Pov - Jin Shinpei)

"-ey! You're awake aren't you!"

Where am I? It's so bright. Is this 'the light' that appears in the midst of death that they often talked about?

"Hey! He's awake!" A firm voiced called out.

"Don't fucking shout next to a patient, dumbass!" Another voice shouted back

"Who cares, damn it!"

I slowly opened my eyes, and as my vision got clearer, I could began to distinguish the faces that was staring me. Blonde hair, emerald green eyes. Black hair, amethyst purple eyes.

"Where am I?" I slowly pushed myself up, voicing my confusion.

"A private room within the Golden Faith Clan. Shin dropped you here saying that he had already treated you and that you need some rest before disappearing," Jun-seo answered as he slump down on the sofa not too far away from the bed in which I was resting on.

Ah, Shin, that bastard. I tried to remember what occur after I encounter the Demon Captain on the blasted heath, yet it was only blur.

I could only remember staring at my bloodied on top of the demon's lifeless corpse.

"What are you doing here? I don't recall any information of the young master of the Golden Faith clan being one to look after a worn out commoner."

"Shut up, you ungrateful shit! This is just my way to repay Shin for saving Eliss and us last time, I don't like being in debt to someone," he retorted.

"And I suppose, for the sake of convenient, I'll ask what are you doing here as well." I looked at Mia who were by my bedside.

"Because I heard that you were hurt, so I came rushing over," she said, faking a concerned tone.

"Ew, disgusting, what was that? Your attempt to be sly was just shit in general, you got a long way to go before reaching my level. Anyways, that aside, cut the bullshit and answer already." I looked at her in disgust.

"Is that how you talk to a lady? I bet that was the reason your ex left you." She strike back.

"Hehe, can't play card when I've never had one," I gave her a smile of victory, knowing that I won the exchange.

"…"

"…"

"Sorry to hear."

"It's alright, I'm used to it."

"Anyways, I'm just here because there is a meeting going on right now between the Gentle Storm and Golden Faith clans about the demons' recent attack." She answered.

"I see."

As we ran out of things to speak about, silence descended in the room.

"Hey, Jin Shinpei…" Jun-seo's light voice, that seem to carried an emotion unknown to me, suddenly broke the silence. "You, along with Shin, are aware of it, aren't you?"

"Aware of what exactly?" I asked I turned my gaze towards him. I immediately noticed that he had this empty look in his eyes as he stare at the nothingness in the air.

"The capability of the demons and the true power of the Demon King…"

"What do you mean?" Not letting a shred of emotion to show on my face, I feigned ignorance.

"I am no fool. Seeing how you were worn out from what seem like a battle that pushed you to the limit, and Shin dropping you off here, you and Shin were the one responsible for clearing the demon camps that was stationed near the border of the North, weren't you? Cause why else would you be here."

'Interesting development,'

"You are not making any sense right now," I said.

"Heh, stubborn until the end, eh?" Jun-seo chuckled. "Around a decade ago, my father returned from the battlefield. I excitedly greeted him with a smile, I mean who wouldn't with a great man like him as your father. He was cheerful and power man, he loved me with all his heart. However, that day he had dull look in his eyes, devoid of hope. Ever since then, I had never seen his smile even for once."

"What is the point of you telling me about this?"

"To let you understand how meaningless your actions are. It was only a few years ago that he sat me down and told me a story how his exchange with a vice-general demon. The filthy creature, it revealed to him an information that sounded completely beyond this world, it said, 'why continue with the futile struggle, human? I am genuinely curious. Our army's number exceed yours by over 100 folds and our Lord is a godly being that has the ability to manipulate Time, Space, and Matter. Speak, satiate my curiosity.'" He paused, letting the words hung in the air. "Time, Space, and Matter? Just how absurd was that? And their numbers overwhelms us my over 100 folds? Sometimes I wonder if there is even hope for humanity, what are we even fighting for if our destruction is inevitable."

"Haven't you ever stop to think that it was a lie made up to psychologically confuse us in order to invoke a sense of hopelessness onto humanity?"

"My father had his doubt. However, that was before he had an encounter with a general rank demon. It used an artifact that gave my father an extremely heavy wound, 'the demon just manifest itself next to me' my father described. Though my father was able to escape, before he did, he did hear the demon general talking about how amazing the time pause ability of the new prototype artifact was. I imagine that was not something possible for this world unless one had an insight into Time itself. The facade on the outside of the strongest within the human domain is merely false hope. Humanity's downfall is inevitable."

"I suppose you and Eliss were aware of it as well?" I turned towards Mia.

"In a sense, I guess." She answered dully, her head now resting on the side of the bed as she gazed at me with curiosity.

"Eliss isn't aware of this information yet, so I would appreciated if you keep her in the dark of a while longer." Jun-seo mentioned. "You and Shin are trying to reduce the military capabilities of the demons, yes?"

"Well, it is only training." I answered. I already aware that he knew about the power the demons hold. But, to think he would tell me like this.

"Don't take me as a fool, training is not a purpose that is worth enough for you to risk your life. I'll say it again, you will look back and see how futile your effort was, our downfall is inevitable, just accept it and enjoy what you have now. Don't throw away your time for some meaningless future that you will never achieve," he spoke, his voice slowly rising by each seconds into a tone of slight anger.

"Keep it to yourself. Don't push your useless sense of hopelessness onto me. If you have given up then drop your swords or use it to end your miserable life that you believed have no future. If you are there to witness it, I will show you hopes looks like. Even in the midst of despair, I will fight until my very last breath." I stated with conviction, still eyeing him with an indifference expression on my face.

"Hmph, then do as you wish." He said, looking at me with pity in his eyes before storming off.

"I am of the same mind, Jin, I don't believe we should give up just because it seem as though all odds are against us. But please don't harbor hatred for Jun-seo because of his belief." Mia said as she stared at the door in which Jun-seo disappeared from.

"I don't harbor any hatred for him, on the contrary, I understand where he is coming from. However, it does not change the fact that it is a still not valid reason to stop fighting." I turned my attention towards Mia. "Even if the entirety of human domain is drowning in despair, I can say with conviction that Shin and I will forever remain on that rotten battlefield, raising our weapons until very end."

Mia stared at me with a hint of surprise before her expression morphed into that of a smile. "You know, saying something cool like that won't score that many points on me."

"You're delusional, young mistress."

"Who's delusional here?" She chuckled.

"Thinking about it now, I should've kept that to myself, it was a bit cringe. But who cares, it was in the heat of the moment." I sighed as I scratched the back of my head.

"Agree, but I'm still kind of mad you didn't include me in your fantasy, there's something going between you and Shin or something? I'll be really mad if you don't tell me." She poked my cheeks feigning annoyance.

"Your imagination is running wild." I shook my head in disappointment as I pushed her finger away.

"But, it is not a fantasy. It is merely the truth."

"Right."

Yes, it is no fantasy. It is merely the truth.

To witness the end of this beautifully despairing story. That is what I had decided.

Neither Shin or I will ever stop fighting. Even if fate decide against it, I will, by all mean, keep fighting to go against such fate. No matter how long it takes, I shall bring it to its knees and make it regret for ever defying me.