For I Am A Side Character - 119: A Regressed Past-Bastard

In the city where the fires raged like hell itself, where buildings crumbled like a cascade of falling dominoes, ashes and bodies lay scattered across the scorched earth.

One man remained standing, his body battered and broken, against an enemy who wore the charred armor of a dragon-ashed knight.

His left arm hung in tatters, and the right side of his face was seared beyond recognition. All he could do was glare with smoldering resentment at the knight before him.

The sole monster responsible for this ruin… A man who had lost everything, a man who once desired nothing but peace.

The dragon-ashed knight stood unmoved before the last living soul in the city of Diamond Reef.

The man fortunate—or perhaps cursed—enough to survive: Conner O’Niel.

“…Just do it. Kill me now,” Conner rasped, barely able to stand under the weight of his injuries and the suffocating aura of the knight.

“How long has it been?” the ashened knight asked, his voice a cold echo in the desolation.

Conner’s breath hitched as he struggled to remain upright, the oppressive pressure of the knight’s bloodlust crushing his will to live. “…How long since what?” he stammered, fear creeping into his voice.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” the knight snarled, his patience thinning. “I know about your mistake… about how you abandoned a thousand people on that ship.”

Conner’s eyes widened, the nerve of guilt struck deep. “T-that was a long time ago,” he whispered. “I paid the price for it.”

“If you hadn’t run, they would have survived. The Demonic Sea Beast wouldn’t have wrecked that ship so easily… and I would have been there in time to finish the job.”

“…”

“If you had stayed, the sins wouldn’t have piled up.”

Conner’s lips curled into a bitter smile. “Says the most sinful man alive.”

The knight’s silence was heavy with unspoken truth. “…Right.”

Conner’s laugh was hollow, devoid of any joy. “Heh… Was it such a big deal that I left? Any man would’ve tucked tail and ran when they saw that monster.”

“Yeah,” the knight replied, his tone icy. “They’re called cowards.”

“And what do they call someone like you? Someone who was once hailed as a hero for killing the Demon King. Now that you’re here, standing over the bodies of those you killed, what should I call you?”

The knight exhaled, the sound more like a sigh than an admission. “…Pain changes a man. Losing a wife, losing a child… it can turn you into something you never thought you’d become.”

Conner’s eyes narrowed, his voice dripping with contempt. “Murder is still murder.”

The knight nodded, a trace of sorrow in his voice. “…Right. Murder is still murder.”

“So that’s your excuse?” Conner spat. “You went on a blood spree and slaughtered an entire city because Jessabelle died… because you failed to protect your daughter? You killed them all without mercy.”

The knight’s gaze faltered for a moment, haunted by memories. “…”

“You even killed your friends… John, Jason, Audrey… All of them died because of what? Because you couldn’t handle your grief? You’ve been a psychopath since the day you set foot in the academy.”

“…”

“Have you ever heard of a prayer?” Conner’s voice trembled with fury. “Don’t you believe in someone like God?”

The knight remained silent, his expression unreadable.

“You’re going to be the biggest sinner this world has ever known, right next to the Demon King,” Conner continued, his voice growing more desperate. “Heaven’s going to rain judgment down on you.”

“…God is dead,” the knight finally said, his voice tinged with resignation. “But it’s thanks to me that the heavens still function as they do.”

“What are you talking about?” Conner asked, confusion momentarily breaking through his anger.

“I know I’ve sinned,” the knight replied, his tone weary. “Like you said, I’m the biggest sinner of them all. But before all this… before God died… I was different. If only God hadn’t died… If only I hadn’t been pushed to the edge.”

“…”

“If only…”

“…”

“Conner,” the knight said, his voice softer now, almost pleading. “Do you think I could have done things differently?”

For the first time, Conner saw the knight as something more than a monster. The man removed his helmet, revealing a tear-streaked face, one eye filled with anguish and regret.

But the moment passed as quickly as it came. Hatred flared in Conner’s eyes, and he spat his final words with venom. “Fuck you, Soril.”

In a swift, merciless motion, Soril’s blade cut through the air, silencing Conner forever.

And so, in this godless world, the ashened knight stood alone—once a warrior born to serve God, now a man severed from the ties of fate.

But as the sun rose the next morning, Conner found himself alive once more.

For some ungodly reason, he had regressed back into the past.

“…What?”

Before him was the sight of a familiar ceiling.

Through all the confusion that was put into his mind, he was sure that he had died…

But to see his perfectly unburned face and his fixed arm, one could only imagine that all of his experiences were nothing but a dream…

But those fears…the sight of a thousand dead under his feet, it was no mistake to judge that it wasn’t a dream.

“H-how am I here?”

Yet despite all the question put out into the air, no one would answer.

So only one thing was possible.

This was but a miracle if nothing else.

***

On the day that Conner was sent here was the day that the first event ever started.

He took every consideration to go through the day to think about why…how…and what he should do.

But nonetheless, what he did, did not matter.

Because the moment he came into the academy, his eyes were set on only one person.

The one responsible for the future’s catastrophe.

Soril Remus…

‘Right now, he shouldn’t be as strong as he will be in the future. Now, what should I do?’

But as he observed to Soril from the distance, keeping his eye on him to see each action he made, something felt off about him…something strange.

‘What I know about his history was that he showed his potential in the second year, but right now in the first year, he didn’t do much. What else…right, his relationships. Because of how his wife and daughter died in the future, he lost all sense of morality. Now, from the rumors I know from the past, he had a relationship with Jessabelle…this was a kept secret all up until the graduation ball where Jessabelle revealed that she and him were dating, yet they started their relationship since the first year. For four years, they kept their relationship a secret.’

‘…And along with that, Soril was friendly with Jason…it was like they were best friends. If my memory serves me right, they should be close.’

As time went by, Conner kept observing Soril’s actions and his relationships…

And to his notice, something was off.

‘…What the fuck? I thought Jessabelle and Soril were in a relationship, why is someone else beside him acting like that? I don’t think I know her name though…what was it? J-Jessica? Right, her name is Jessica…’

It was weird that while Soril was acting close with a girl like Jessica, not once has he interacted with Jessabelle who from his observation, Jeassabelle was instead furious about Soril…They were distant with one another.

And another thing that caught his eye was Soril’s relationship with Jason…they were just as distant as his relationship was with Jessabelle…

Once the event ended, he was even more shocked to find out that Jason and the rest of the Class-A students were beaten and taken to the hospital. This accident lead him to look to Soril…and once he did, he saw a glint in Soril’s eyes that reminded him of a cold thirsty murderer.

‘What is going on? Why is everything acting so different from what I know?’

Soril should be chummy with Jason…

He should have started a relationship with Jessabelle by now…

And most of all, this incident shouldn’t have happened…

Why was everything so different?

Feeling a bit confused, Conner decided to stop for a moment and think.

With the days passing by little by little, he started to gather more information that didn’t fit with his knowledge from his own past.

It was confirmed that Soril was in a relationship, but not with Jessabelle.

Along with that, he saw that the principal of the academy was still alive.

It was at this point that the principal should have been killed by some sort of incident in the library…it was said that a terrorist group went to steal something from the principal and it resulted in the principal’s death…

But what he learned was that the library was simply closed down and the principal was in perfect health…

Each day he learned more and more things that shouldn’t be what they are…

‘I don’t get it…why are so many things different from what they should be?!’

To this question, he tried to calm himself down…

Through what he learned as a hunter..and as a future S-rank martial artist, he meditated.

Because of his knowledge, he knew one of the ways to quickly raise his strength. One of those ways was Mana-Qi Meditation.

If he follows the steps right, in just a year, he might reach S-rank once again…and if all goes according to his growth, he might just have the strength to kill Soril before the second year arrives.

‘…if I time it right, I should be able to ambush him in the second event…all I need to do now was prepare.’

And so he did.

All he did for the past couple of days was train his mind and body…

Little by little, his strength was reaching that of an A-ranked hunter…

‘Is this enough? Is it enough to beat him? I’m sure I have more strength than him and in experience…’

At this time, he didn’t know what true power Soril had to overthrow an enemy…

Because of how many things are different, he wasn’t entirely sure…

‘But if I do it right…I just might be able to do this…I just might be able ot save the future.’

So with that, the day finally arrive with the second event.

The Tail Back-Dorm place was a perfect for an ambush…

And like so, the moment his bus stopped in the middle of nowhere, he immediately took action and started looking for Soril.

***

And like so, here he was. Laying down on the stump of a crushed tree…beaten and barely conscious enough to stand on his own two feet.

‘…W-what’s going on? How is someone like him that strong?! Not only is he young…but the strength he holds is just like an S-ranker…how is this posible?!’

Question yet again keep coming into his mind…and like so, he couldn’t do anything but grit his teeth in anger.

“Whats going on!!” he shouted to Soril as he felt utterly confused and powerless in the moment.

People of power often do this in a moment of weakness…

They shout in their own confusion…in their lack of strength.

“Why did you go after me?” asked Soril as he went to grab Conner by his throat.

“…Khk.” and as Soril did this, Conner chocked…and realized that yet again, he was placed in the same position.

He was being looked down upon by the same person…

With the same cold eyes…

“…Are you going to kill me again?” he asked as he felt truly in despair.

“…What?” but Soril was simply confused by his question.

“It’s happening all over again…” said Conner as he closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate towards death.

But instead of death reaching for the boy, what he got instead was a soft release from his throat.

Little by little, Soril slowly lets go of his throat.

“…?” once he did, Conner turned to him in question.

‘Right…the bastard still hasn’t lost his mind yet. He’s still reasonable.’ he thought.

But even so, he flinched when he say the same cold eyes put on Soril’s gaze.

He felt fear…and through this fear, he unconsciously reached for his throat.

The thought of being beheaded yet again was simply not his choice of death.

“Let me ask again, who sent you after me?” asked Soril.

“…” but as Soril questioned, Conner simply kept his mouth shut.

‘What do I do if I tell him? What would he do to me?!’ despite his silence, conner was afraid.

“Answer the question…if you don’t, I’ll kill you here and now.” said Soril as a bluff.

And that bluff was all it took to bring back all the bad memories stored in Conner’s head.

“…No one sent me to kill you.”

“So you did this all on your own? Why?”

“…” pressured by his post traumatic experience, he couldn’t help himself and he spilled…

“I…I…”the screams from the people who died that day…the people who burned into nothing but ash…they burned in front of the ashened knight…he could hear it all as he once again faces the ashened knight in front of him.

It kept replaying in his mind over and over again…

Despite how much he tries to keep himself strong, his mind was too weak to even bear the burden of it all.

The PTSD was so strong, that Conner vomited on the ground…

“****”  “*****”

“…?” As conner struggled to keep his mind in check, Soril was curious as to why Conner acted in such a way.

Conner could barely keep himself straight in front of the man who was responsible for his trauma…no one could blame him, but Soril didn’t understand why he was acting like such.

Soril could see just how shaken Conner was…the fear put in his face as he vomited showed that he was shaken…like a child.

“…” seeing him in such a state, Soril decided to simply do one thing.

Let him go.

“*sigh*…Go, get out of here.” said Soril.

“..!?” Conner was shocked.

“W-what?”

“Leave…before I change my mind.” said Soril.

After that, Soril turned his back to Conner and left the forest where the fight was made.

Conner was left all alone…alone and confused.

‘Why did he let me go…?’

Any moment then, and he would have told the truth…

But that didn’t mattered to Soril.

He knows where he can always find Conner…one way or the other, he will return to finish what was started.

And once he does, Conner could only wish that he was prepared to cooperate.

But for now, some things are more of a priority.