The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 567

The entire world erupted in jubilee the moment Puppeteer’s elimination was officially announced by the Heroes Association.

To humanity, to those who had thought certainty of victory in the war against the Demon Force, the sudden appearance of Lunatic and its curse of puppetry had struck down like a calamity. And now the mastermind behind it was taken down? Without a single casualty? How could anyone not be exhilarated?

“Most of the people who were turned into dolls have come back too! Doesn’t that make this a crushing victory for us?”

“I also heard Tuner and Beast King were badly wounded. You know, at this rate, the war is basically ov—”

“Hey. Stop with that nonsense. Tsk. That kind of carelessness is exactly how we got screwed by Puppeteer this time.”

Thankfully, unlike before, the death of Puppeteer restored humanity’s confidence in victory and instilled a renewed warning not to let their guard down until the war truly ended.

“Hmm, since things have turned out this way, how about we maintain our current alliance until the Demon Force is eradicated?”

“We’ll soon need to prepare for the Demonic Realm assault as well. Our government fully supports this proposal.”

“We agree as well.”

Staying cautious, the governments, guilds, and corporations that had united to defeat Puppeteer stayed together and formally established the emergency council under the name “Humanity Alliance.” Of course, Gregory was appointed its commander to continue leading them as they prepared for the battles yet to come.

Everyone had begun sensing that the final stages of the war were approaching, leading ‌each of them to make their own preparations.

Beep-

Meanwhile, a quiet conversation was taking place in a hospital room.

“…That’s everything I know.”

Finishing a brief recounting of the events of the Puppeteer conquest, Se-Hoon looked at the person before him.

With neatly braided brown hair and a brown shawl draped over her shoulders, Rebecca—Lea’s grandmother—remained silent for a long moment.

“I see.”

Reyna, ‌unable to accept her husband Dane’s death, merged his body and soul into herself to become the monster known as Puppeteer. And Lea, who sacrificed herself to defeat that monster and save the world, only to fall into an unexplained coma.

To others, the story of the two ended as a tragic tale of heroism. However, to Rebecca, it must have felt like the return of a long-forgotten nightmare once more.

Beep-

The monitoring equipment connected to Lea emitted a dry mechanical sound, the only sound accompanying Rebecca as she gazed at her motionless granddaughter lying in bed.

From behind, it was impossible to tell what expression she wore. Se-Hoon could only stand there, unable to say a word before that desolate figure—

“Lea had a completely different personality from her mother,” Rebecca said gently. “If Reyna was composed and arrogant, Lea was more… lively, yet timid, I suppose. She’d get easily discouraged and would shut herself away over the smallest mistakes.”

Recalling old memories, Rebecca smiled faintly and gently stroked Lea’s cheek.

“She was emotional… impatient… always letting her desires run ahead, ignoring my advice with one ear in and the other out, getting into trouble after trouble—”

“…Professor?”

“Oh. Ahem.”

Realizing she had been unconsciously tugging Lea’s cheek, Rebecca withdrew her hand.

“What I’m trying to say is, this girl had many immature sides to her…. Still, there’s one thing I can say with certainty.”

Slowly, Rebecca turned her head to look at Se-Hoon.

“There must have been a very decisive reason for Lea to make the choice to sacrifice herself.”

Instead of giving in to grief or anger, Rebecca steeled herself through her unwavering trust in Lea—a strength that made Se-Hoon’s eyes widen briefly.

“Yes. I believe so too,” Se-Hoon agreed, nodding.

“Then that’s a relief…”

Rebecca smiled faintly, satisfied with his answer, and turned her gaze back to Lea.

“Although I lack the ability to understand her intentions fully… I’m certain you’ll uncover them. So please don’t forget this child, will you? Keep thinking of her.”

“I will make sure to do so.”

“Then I’ve kept a busy man for too long. You should go now.”

“I’ll come again.”

Bidding Rebecca farewell, Se-Hoon took one last look at Lea before leaving the room.

“Terra.”

“Yes?”

“Has anything changed since she was hospitalized?”

“Hmm… not so far.”

Frowning at Terra’s response as he walked down the empty corridor, Se-Hoon recalled Lea’s condition.

Post-regression, Lea’s body—outwardly normal—was in an extremely strange state. Her physical form was undergoing regression every second, maintaining its condition upon their return. As a result, no matter what treatment they attempted, everything was reversed.

Even an injection needle would just slip out naturally a second after going in. The time-space of her body is repeatedly regressing itself…

The suspected cause was an unidentified enchantment carved across her entire body, centered on her heart. It was currently presumed that Lea had engraved it herself while activating the regression—and that was all they knew. Whenever Se-Hoon tried to analyze it properly, the enchantment formula became hazy as if shrouded in fog; it was impossible to decipher.

Why did she enchant her own body like that?

Among the hypotheses Se-Hoon could currently form, the most plausible was that something had gone wrong during the regression activation, causing her to reinforce it by applying life enchantments to herself to resolve it.

That hypothesis, though, made Se-Hoon feel a subtle sense of unease about settling on it: Lea’s enchantment was far too advanced for it than imagined.

If neither Terra nor I can even analyze it… then she must have ascended—no, perhaps something even beyond that?

Even if it was temporary reinforcement through enchantments, its complexity implied Lea had become a transcendent being surpassing the Perfect Ones. At that level, could she truly have failed to foresee herself falling into a coma?

Having experienced what a transcendent’s intuition felt like several times before, Se-Hoon judged that extremely unlikely.

Lea has always had crystal-clear reasoning behind her choices.

Rather than the price of activating regression, it felt more like the groundwork for the future. Of course, for now it was nothing more than a vague conjecture… yet Se-Hoon settled on that conclusion. His instincts were telling him to trust Lea after all.

“Whew… Okay, Terra. Is everyone here?”

“Yes. Everyone is gathered.”

“Alright.”

Wrapping up the organizing of his thoughts, Se-Hoon crossed space itself. The view of the hospital corridor naturally shifted to the corridor of a workshop in an instant.

From here on out, it’ll be a race against time.

Judging how Tuner’s behavior during the final stages of Puppeteer’s elimination was different pre-regression, it was clear: the enemy was now aware of his regression. It was just as Lea suspected.

The future had already changed so much due to the butterfly effect caused by his actions. And now Tuner had identified him as the irregularity? With Tuner knowing he was the Regressor, drastic changes to his plans were a must.

We need to crush them before they can act.

Reaffirming his plan, Se-Hoon entered the workshop and faced the companions who had arrived ahead of him.

“…”

He swept his gaze across them.

Some were people he was already close with before his regression, while others he only got close to recently. However, regardless, they were all people he could trust his back to on any battlefield.

Looking at them all, he slowly opened his mouth.

“I’m actually a regressor from the future, thirty-one years ahead.”

Watching the eyes of those gathered enlarge in disbelief, Se-Hoon calmly moved on to the point after a pause.

“And I plan to conquer the remaining three Great Demon Realms all at once.”

***

The scenery of the northeastern region of the Australian continent, within a forest encroaching all the way to the demonic aura-polluted coastline, looked ordinary at a glance.

Swoosh!

But the movement of the waves made it clear immediately that something was wrong. Black waves continued to roll in from beyond the horizon, forcing their way through the trees before moving back outward, as if time itself were reversing. The next incoming wave would then collide with the reversing one, shattering both waves.

Not one area of the forested region was spared from that bizarre phenomenon.

Grr…

Shriek!

Furthermore, monsters entering the forest in search of prey were also abruptly turning around and exiting the way they came. Meanwhile, emaciated creatures wandering within were experiencing the reverse: attempting to leave, only to turn back and be drawn inside.

It was clear now that one could neither enter nor escape the forest—a place with its time-space twisted upon itself. To the world, it went by a specific name: the Forest of Recurrence, one of the Great Demon Realms.

Drip-

And at its center, cut off from the world and perpetually silent, wandered the wounded gray-maned Beast King, oozing black viscous fluid as he staggered aimlessly.

Splat!

Slime and fragments of organs fell incessantly from the wounds throughout his body. Under normal circumstances, Beast King’s regenerative abilities would have healed such injuries long ago. Alas, the distorted time-space of the Forest of Recurrence denied even that.

Slither-

The slime and organ fragments that had fallen to the ground crawled back up his body like living creatures, re-entering the wounds—only to spill out again the moment the reversal ended. He was trapped in a state of having preserved injuries, neither healing nor worsening.

Unable to do anything but endure the involuntary torture, Beast King couldn’t stop his face from twisting.

“Damn it… why am I the only one stuck in a place like this…?”

When Puppeteer died and Lunatic collapsed, Beast King—who had been fighting Jason—fled immediately as planned. From the start, their odds had been slim. And with both Lunatic and Puppeteer’s awakening failing, it had become impossible to defeat humanity no matter what they did.

Unfortunately, his opponent that day had been the most combat-capable among the seven Perfect Ones: the Trailblazer.

“Hit.”

All it took was a momentary opening for seventy percent of his body to be literally pulverized by Jason’s fists.

“Damn it…”

Crunch-

Recalling how he barely managed to flee, Beast King ground his teeth and clenched his trembling fists. Starting from when the Trailblazer—then known as the Fist Saint—had first beaten him before becoming a Perfect One, how many times had he lost?

At first, Beast King could excuse it as carelessness. But even after becoming a Ten Evil, the disparity was still undeniable. Each time, he had only survived by relying on his regeneration and fleeing with help from the other Ten Evils.

True, the other Ten Evils had also failed to defeat a Perfect One one-on-one—yet Beast King could not accept it even then.

I implanted the Azure Dragon’s Orb, the Black Tortoise’s Carapace, the White Tiger’s Heart, and the Vermilion Bird’s Eyes in myself. I should be incomparably stronger than before…!

By all rights, he should have had the strength to defeat the entire Ten Evils by himself now. So why?! Why couldn’t he overwhelm the Trailblazer?! Why did he continue to survive, barely clinging on thanks to regeneration?!

Splat. Slither-

“Ghk…!”

Slime and organs spilled from his wounds once more, crawling back inside. The feeling endlessly reminded him of that day’s pain and humiliation.

If only… if only… They gave me the Harbinger Shard instead of the Puppeteer…!

He could have properly seized the power of a Harbinger of Destruction and killed Jason—and everyone else!

Like that, as he endlessly wandered the forest, Beast King’s thirst for revenge and power deepened without end. Eventually, his thoughts turned to Tuner, who had sent him to the cursed forest in the first place.

Why did he send me to this place…?

Was there something here meant to make him stronger? Or… had he simply been discarded now that his usefulness was spent? Grinding his teeth at Tuner’s silence, Beast King kept walking.

In truth, he was praying Tuner had left some arrangements. That he still had a role to play. That he would not be discarded like the others—

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

A grotesque voice suddenly echoed from somewhere within the forest.

“I should have gone out to greet you sooner, but my body isn’t in great condition…. It’s been decades since I suffered this wound, yet it still hasn’t healed.”

A strange voice that sounded both like was being directly spoken to and a remnant he was hearing from long ago—past and present intermingled. Listening to the voice that was warped like static-filled noise, Beast King heightened his guard and immediately scanned his surroundings.

“…Who’s there?”

“Hmm? Ah… now that I think about it, we’ve never met in person. Please wait just a moment.”

Footsteps approached slowly from the right. As Beast King turned his head, he sensed someone parting the bushes behind him.

“?!”

Startled, he tried to turn toward—his face snapped back to the right before he could even catch sight of the figure, as time-space had reversed.

This is…

It was as though the Forest of Recurrence itself were actively preventing him from seeing the other party.

The incomprehensible phenomenon left Beast King frozen still. In that state, he heard the strange voice once more.

“My name is Golden Wheel.”

The first demon chosen by the Elder Lord—Golden Wheel, had shown themself.

“I can help you make the dagger that could kill the Regressor.”