I Got Reincarnated as the Game's Villain-Chapter 34: Another...?

"Well... how should I say this?" the man frowned, then turned to ’look’ at me.

"… There is a certain someone who wanted you... all to herself. A certain someone who betrayed and destroyed everyone around you to make you hers." He paused as if weighing his words. "Something about... she wanting you back—wanting the ’you’ they all feared. So, she recreated everything, this time to make you hate them all and only love her. But to do so, she stole your soul from the keeper..."

"....Why?"

"I don’t know. But.... if I were to guess; it would probably be since she had no control over the cycle of reincarnation and couldn’t know where you’d end up next."

I felt a strange chill.

"She forcefully took your soul... incarnated you using a forbidden method. It led to an immense amount of dark karma being placed on you… the records and reality themselves then made to reject your existence," he explained.

"She...? This... certain someone... Is she the ’she’ you spoke about?" I asked, feeling as though fragments were beginning to align.

"... I don’t know," he replied, after a while.

"Then—" I tried to say, but he interjected.

"But... this was what you once told me to tell you, should you ever ask about all of this," he said, before walking back to where the leader of the shadows and Ellie waited.

"I... told you?" I asked, my frown deepening.

"Yes. In fact, I sometimes question just how much that version of you knew. You also told me I would meet you here, in this exact timeline. It’s as though he expected me to fail... perhaps even anticipated me giving you the Chronos Lock. Sometimes, I wonder… just who is he—who are you—to know all you know?" he said, his tone laced with intrigue. We now stood before them, and he gestured for me to step forward and grab Ellie.

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"That ’me’... what was he like?" I asked, now curious about that self of mine.

"Well, he was... a mystery. You see, the Chronos Lock was originally just an idea I had when I discovered this realm. I studied theories from the gods of time here and, after stumbling upon the ancient world you’re now in, I created a relic... just based on theories I’d gathered. But it was worthless, so I left it here. However, in a certain timeline, that version of yourself appeared... he told me things about time I hadn’t even considered possible. I thought he was mad until I learned he possessed the bloodline of time, destined for its blessings. I tested his ideas, and... it saved my life," he said with a chuckle.

"To think... a mere mortal could pull that off," he said, then turned to face me. "It seems he has... plans for you. That’s what I’ve come to realize. It’s as if all of this—from meeting me, to indebting me to you—was orchestrated for this moment... all for the Chronos Lock."

It all began to make sense.

This same thing happened... with Stem. It sacrificed itself to implant those memories, to play that record...

The more I think about it, the more frustratingly obvious it becomes... just how manipulative that version of me was.

Just how many things are happening behind the scenes that I’m unaware of?

*Sigh.*

"But... what does all that have to do with my ’aversion’ to death?" I asked, still struggling to make sense of it all.

"Well, since you lack Ignia’s Breath, you’re unaccounted for in the records. And if you’re unaccounted for in the records... reality itself overlooks you. So, your death wasn’t set in stone; it wasn’t a ’canon event.’ The Fates wouldn’t notice if something like you continues to exist... even after you died."

"So... I’m not dead?"

"You are."

"So—!"

"But you’re still alive... at the same time." He gestured to my form, which was still suspended by the hand of darkness.

"That version of yourself... will continue to exist, even as you do," he said, though none of this was making any sense—it all felt like gibberish at this point.

"You..." I rubbed my temple. "...aren’t making any sense."

"Sigh," he smiled softly. "Time truly is... a complex thing. Let me simplify it for you. Imagine... an academy, where as long as you’re not registered as a student, you’re not accounted for. You can attend all you want, but... you’re invisible to the system since you aren’t recognized as a student."

"...Still makes no sense," I tried—really, I tried to understand, but...

...I’m hopeless.

"Are you really that dense, or are you pretending?" At this point, he sounded exasperated. Honestly, I’d be mad at me if I were him, too.

"I just don’t see how this connects with an alternate timeline not forming," I said.

"IT’S SO SIMPLE, YOU DUMBASS!"

Ah.

I was... speechless.

"BECAUSE TIME ITSELF DOESN’T SEE YOU! YOU CAN EXIST AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE IN A SINGLE TIMELINE, BUT IT WILL REMAIN BLIND TO YOU! THE ONLY TIME IT WILL REACT IS WHEN YOU ENTER A CANON EVENT AND ATTEMPT THIS!"

Oh.

I see.

But...

"Why during the canon event? If it can’t see me before, why does it detect me then?"

"Sigh. Because even if your soul is practically invisible... the body you inhabit remains part of this whole... plot of existence. When the canon event begins, you won’t be able to do this again, as you’ll become visible to time, to fate... and even reality. The only reason this world hasn’t rejected you as an anomaly is the body you inhabit... Amael is essential to the plot itself," he said.

Then... would fate even allow me to die if I were that important?

"I know what you’re thinking… and, well, I don’t know. Perhaps... someone else would be made to take your place of that does happen. Or... would you like to find out?" he asked with a sly smile.

But I already had my answer.

The point in the game when Christina… became the ultimate villain.

....Author’s Note.....

Yes...

I am incompetent.

But don’t crucify me yet...

... I have been having trouble with electricity lately, can barely charge my phone not to talk of my laptop.

Drop some Golden ticket if you have any, i plan to burn the night candle to drop three to four chaps tomorrow, so cheer me up!

Pretty please....?