chapter 145
145. A world without martial arts (2)
Yuma opened his eyes.
“….”
The clothed body appeared opaque.
‘It was successful.’
Entering Clone’s dream was successful.
Yuma looked closely at the scenery in Clone’s dream.
The scenery was drawn so elaborately that it was hard to believe it was a dream.
Yuma slowly walked through Bell’s nightmare world.
So much so that there is no significant difference from the current reality. Yuma walked into the imperial palace to find Clone.
***
Clone walked into the first floor of the imperial palace.
On the first floor of the imperial palace, there was one person who had already taken a seat.
Clone looked at Belle sitting on the dining table chair.
Toouk.
Belle put down the fork she had raised with her right hand.
Belle slowly opened her eyes.
“Come, Clone.”
Clone looked at Belle intently.
Unlike himself, he was a very solid person with no significant changes in his face. Bell envied Clone’s mental strength.
Belle walked towards the training ground.
Belle was swinging her sword. He swung endlessly.
Clone looked at the scene closely. Bell sweatdropped and picked up the sword he had put down.
“haha.”
Belle wiped off the sweat with a towel. Then he got up again and swung his sword.
Clone approached Bell and slowly opened his mouth.
“sister.”
Belle raised her head at Clone’s words.
“Uh, Clone.”
“Are you okay now?”
Belle tilted her head.
“what?”
Clone hesitated, then opened his mouth again.
“…It’s Yuma-sama’s business.”
Belle furrowed her brows.
“Yuma.”
Belle continued speaking quietly.
“How can it be okay? There’s no way I could forget that.”
Belle’s eyes filled with venom.
“I have to kill the guy who killed Yuma. That’s what I’m holding on to right now.”
Wow…
Belle gritted her teeth.
“I’m going to kill him. That god.”
Bell’s support was anger.
Belle suppressed all of her anger and just swung her sword.
“I loathe myself.”
Clone began to be overcome with various emotions as he faced Belle, who began to confess her feelings very honestly.
Bell continued.
“I hate myself for not being able to protect Yuma…and I hate Emperor Brigitte for not being able to do anything in the end.”
Belle’s pink eyes were clearly staring into Clone’s golden eyes.
“And…no.”
Clone was able to easily anticipate the next words that came out of Belle’s mouth.
Clone, I hate you too.
Clone said something that Belle never said.
I think of words in my head alone that I might not have thought of. She imprinted it.
Clone came out of the training hall and headed back to the Imperial Magic Tower.
Towards the third floor where his laboratory is located.
Clone sat on a chair in the lab and quickly scanned the data in front of him. I looked at the documents about <Time Reversion> again and again, but it wasn’t enough.
Clone sipped his coffee and looked at the document countless times.
This is because no matter how much I read, there was not enough material on <Time Return>.
There were too many cases to keep in mind.
Someone was standing behind Clone, looking at her intently.
Yuma, who succeeded in entering Clone’s dream, is looking at Clone.
The number of coffee cups piled up next to Clone gradually increased.
Yuma could only quietly watch Clone’s exhausted appearance from the side.
Even if I opened my mouth and spoke, I could not reach this dream world.
‘In the end, Clone himself has no choice but to wake up from this dream.’
Yuma clicked his tongue inwardly.
I even tried to speak. He even tried to signal something. The conclusion is that they are all impossible.
In the end, Clone had no choice but to realize that this nightmare was not reality but a dream.
“I must…make it successful.”
However, it didn’t seem like Clone would be able to escape this nightmare easily.
Clone seemed too immersed in this nightmare.
Clone continued to read the document with a stern expression.
Yuma sat across from Clone’s chair and looked intently at Clone’s concentration on research.
“Reversion…even if it itself causes my body to become distorted. I have to try.”
Extremely dangerous remarks continued to flow from Clone’s mouth.
Yuma recalled the conversations he had with Legores, who seemed to know quite well about the <Curse>.
-Wizards are excellent at responding to all other curses, but they are surprisingly vulnerable to dream-type magic.
-When wizards enter <Nightmare>, they usually fall into the swamp of <Return Magic>. Rather, 3rd and 4th circles have almost no knowledge of time magic, so even if they enter the nightmare, they do not show such a strong obsession with regression. However, strangely, when wizards of the 5th circle or higher have nightmares, they think of a spell to escape from the blemishes in the nightmare. That magic is <Time Reversion> magic.
-Can you say it is the curse of knowledge? There is a strong possibility of failure, but anyway, there is a small chance of success, so we keep obsessing over it and become buried in it.
-A very small sense of discomfort that comes from being different from the real world… Ignoring all the discomfort that clearly exists, I only think about regression magic.
Yuma couldn’t help but ask Legoras a question as he continued to talk endlessly.
Is there any chance of successful regression in a dream?
The answer came right away.
-It is possible. It is possible because it is a dream. However, even if regression is successful in <Nightmare>, that is still a problem.
When I asked why, the answer I received felt like a pretty strong slap to the back of my head.
-The regression continued. Of course, in <Nightmare>. The theory of the futility of regression, which is one of the contradictions of regression, is implemented in a nightmare.
Regressive dance theory?
-This phrase comes from the question of whether a regression can solve a problem that could not be solved at the time of encounter. It is said that endless, repetitive regressions often occur in the dreams of wizards.
Yuma returned to his conversation with Legoras, a member of the join race, and focused on the clone in front of him.
All I could do now was trust the clone.
Rather, Yuma felt a sense of helplessness that he had never faced since coming to this world weighing on his shoulders.
It was a curse spread by a spirit world god solely for the purpose of cursing the target to be trapped in a dream.
There was no way a human clone could easily recognize that.
Clone continued to read the document as if possessed by something.
Another half day passes. The sun was setting.
Grumble-
Yuma turned his head towards where the door was. The person standing there was none other than Emperor Brigitte.
She walked towards the clone without even looking at where Yuma was.
It was natural for Brigitte not to see Yuma.
Because Yuma was a being who did not belong in this nightmare.
Brigitte had a look Yuma had never seen before.
A lot of matted white hair.
Red bloodshot eyes.
It was a side of Brigitte I had never seen before.
“…Clone.”
Brigitte quickly approached Clone as if possessed by something.
“How is the research on time regression going?”
Brigitte put her face in front of Clone’s face with a grim expression on her face, as if she were some kind of twisted person.
“… Through time regression, Yuma can go back to the time before his death. If you figure out the principle, you can definitely succeed. Clone, you said it with confidence. Everything… everything is yours, Bell’s, and mine’s sins.”
Brigitte showed a broken side that had never been seen in real life.
Yuma had no choice but to watch this situation with a stern expression.
Brigitte clenched her hands into fists.
His arms trembled, he opened his mouth and began to chant softly.
“If we had been able to give Yuma just a little bit of strength, this disastrous outcome would not have happened.”
Crash.
Brigitte ground her teeth.
So strong that the sound leaks out of your mouth.
Brigitte raised her right hand.
Clone just stared at Brigitte, who raised her hands up with a blank expression for some reason.
Sigh.
The sound of Brigitte’s right palm striking Clone’s left cheek echoed throughout the laboratory.
“…Quickly, complete the time regression magic as quickly as possible. We have to save Yuma.”
Jump and jump
Brigitte poured out her words as if she were vomiting, then turned her back and walked toward the door.
─Thud.
The door closed strongly.
The inside of the lab was quiet, as if a storm had passed.
“…I.”
Clone’s faint voice reached Yuma’s ears.
“You said that if you know the principles of time regression magic, you can succeed…? If you cast it, you will definitely meet Yuma-sama?”
affirmation.
Those were the words a wizard should avoid the most.
Clone’s left cheek turned bright red, but she didn’t even care that Brigitte had slapped her.
I just thought about the words Brigitte said.
Clone’s eyes were on the ceiling and floor. And then I headed towards the walls on all sides.
“It’s strange. Something’s strange….”
Clone began to have doubts.
A very serious suspicion.
But for Yuma, the doubt was more than welcome.
Yuma recalled what Legores of the Join tribe said.
-Recognize <Nightmare>. Are you talking about the breaking process? There is no such thing as a grand process. Rather, it is about discovering, one by one, the contradictions in the nightmare in which one is trapped, starting from the slightest doubt… That’s the normal process.
Clone said with wide eyes.
“I…wizards…don’t make that kind of affirmation.”
Clone, who said that while looking at the ceiling, jumped up from his seat and cleaned up all the books and papers spread out on the lab floor.
And then I started drawing a circular magic circle.