My Illusion Is Survival - Chapter 3

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 3

At this moment when everyone’s attention was focused on us, my voice rang out clearly through the unnaturally heavy silence.

“…If you awaken that power now, you’ll surely regret it.”

Though the concentrated gazes should have been burdensome, I was surprisingly unaffected.

After all, I was used to this kind of attention, and what mattered to me now was Azel’s reaction.

“So please, stop.”

“What’s this about?”

I was actually thrilled by Azel’s cold response.

The fact that he answered my words meant he was at least willing to have a ‘conversation’ with me.

Despite my heart pounding with excitement, I bit my lip pretending to be hurt, and soon Azel’s voice followed.

“I don’t know what nonsense you’ve been spouting since earlier.”

“It’s not nonsense.”

I deliberately paused as if hesitating.

“…No, it’s not nonsense. If you use that power now, you’ll surely regret it.”

“You know what this is.”

“I know.”

“…”

“What that power is, what you want. I know everything.”

I could feel Azel’s incredulous gaze, but this was all true.

I knew that awakened Azel would regret it, and that he wanted to stop his regression.

This wasn’t a lie.

‘I even know worse things than that.’

This World has secrets.

-I don’t know who wrote this story, but they’re really a damn villain lol

The hidden truth of the game that once set the community ablaze.

Azel was actually, strictly speaking, not an infinite regressor.

Azel’s life was tragically picturesque.

The entire story began with this single sentence.

Born as the heir to a Prominent Family, but his family was destroyed under false charges of rebellion. Young Azel barely survived through his mother’s sacrifice but had to live a miserable life.

Then one day, an opportunity came to him too.

The Stone of Gaspata.

He accidentally obtained a mysterious gem called by another name, the Regression Stone.

But that was the real beginning of his misfortune.

Even after completing his revenge through eight regressions, the regressions didn’t stop.

Ten, twenty, thirty… and then a hundred.

After going through ninety-nine regressions, Azel went completely insane. And that problematic 100th cycle was the setting of this game.

‘The developers added some trash setting here too.’

The Stone of Gaspata that kept making Azel regress.

That mysterious gem actually had limits.

‘The regressions stop after ninety-nine times. And they reveal this setting only right before destruction – are these really sane people’s work?’

In other words, Azel’s regressions had already ended from the game’s starting point, but this chaos happened because no one knew that fact.

What’s worse, this damn setting is only revealed after Azel’s awakening.

“Your regressions have already stopped, Azel. So please, stop!”

“It’s already too late, Yulia. Even I can no longer control this power.”

Thanks to this, Azel, consumed by corrupt power, couldn’t control himself and destroyed the world.

In the end, it was a structure that could only result in a bad ending.

‘Thinking about it again makes me angry.’

Anyway, I had to use this truth from now on to survive.

So would the right answer be to boldly say ‘Azel Viotz’s regressions are over!’?

‘No way. That crazy bastard would never believe those words.’

Above all, there was no evidence.

In the end, to stop Azel, I had to make him believe that his regressions had ended.

In that sense, what I could do was…

“Nonsense.”

Just then, a cold voice cut through my long contemplation.

Eyes as cold as the voice were now glaring at me, filled with displeasure.

“Annoying.”

He didn’t believe me, and was offended by my presumptuous declaration of understanding.

After all, Azel despised those who dared to babble about understanding him.

Sure enough, he reached his hand toward me.

What he intended to do was obvious.

“You shouldn’t kill me.”

“As if.”

“If I die, you’ll never find peace, will you?”

My back was soaked with cold sweat, but there was no time to hesitate.

Taking advantage of the moment when death approaching right before me paused briefly, I quickly moved my mouth.

“You want to stop. That’s why you’re trying to destroy everything. Thinking it would all end that way, …like a fool.”

“How dare you speak so carelessly, pretending to know something.”

“The Stone of Gaspata.”

“…!”

“Does this answer your question?”

The expression instantly disappeared from his face that had been showing displeasure.

At that moment, Azel in front of me vanished. No, he moved so fast that my eyes couldn’t follow.

By the time I realized this fact, Azel had already grabbed my shoulder. I felt burning pain in my shoulder but barely swallowed my scream.

Terribly hollow eyes were already glaring at me as if to kill.

“…What are you.”

“No matter how much the world is destroyed, it won’t end. As long as you made a wish to that stone, your curse will repeat forever.”

Of course, it was a lie.

Azel’s regressions had ended.

‘But even if I tell you the truth, you won’t be able to believe it.’

Then wouldn’t it be better to lie instead?

After all, humans are more easily swayed by bad news.

“How, do you, know that.”

As expected, Azel’s eyes looking at me trembled palely.

He didn’t want to believe my curse-like words.

Now what should I do?

‘I need to bring the drama to its climax.’

“I’m asking you. How do you know that!”

Just as Azel pressed for an answer, I burst out with the emotions I had been holding back.

“…Why wouldn’t I know?”

“What…?”

“Why did I come all the way here. …Why, how did I come all the way here!”

“What do you mean,”

All of this is nothing but an act.

The ‘me’ on stage has some kind of connection with Azel.

However, Azel doesn’t remember such a ‘me’. It’s heartbreaking, yet I understand him and stand in his way.

That was the ‘me’ I had to act.

Meanwhile, Azel’s gaze fell on the tears flowing down my cheek.

“Even if the world ended dozens of times, no one would save you. That’s why I came all the way here.”

“…!”

“I know you won’t believe me. But I…”

As I whispered in a painfully piercing voice to those eyes, the grip on my shoulders weakened.

“I came here to save you. Azel, only for you.”

Just as the unfocused pupils floating in the air trembled briefly.

CRASH!

With a tremendous explosion, dust clouds blocked our view as the one we’d been waiting for appeared before us.

“Stop right now, Azel Viotz!”

Yulia Francis de Fleur.

The female protagonist had entered the stage occupied by the mastermind, male lead, and extra.

However, Azel’s red eyes were still directed at me, unlike before.

As if a fixed future was about to change.

*

“I came to help, Bellode.”

“Yulia!”

The protagonist wasn’t alone, as expected.

“You’re in better shape than I thought? I expected you to be half-dead.”

“I’m glad you’re safe, Lord Bellode.”

“Is this really the time for leisurely greetings? Let’s rescue the hostage first.”

The strangely rough one was Shane,

The polite one was Theodor,

The only one concerned about the hostage’s safety was unusual.

They were the male protagonists of this game, just like Bellode.

And it wasn’t just them. Knights and soldiers came swarming in droves to the terrorist attack in the Capital City Center.

‘Finally, they’re here.’

Since I knew the protagonist group would appear around this time, it wasn’t particularly surprising.

On the other hand, Bellode seemed not to have expected Yulia’s appearance, shouting with a desperate expression.

“Yulia, why did you come to such a dangerous place yourself!”

“How could I just wait in a safe place when I know you’re here.”

“Yulia…!”

How sickeningly sweet.

‘Is this a Bellode route worldview?’

As long as it wasn’t an Azel route, it didn’t matter much, so I predicted the next scene with dry eyes.

‘Our protagonist will probably spout more lines full of female lead power.’

“Why did you do such a thing, Azel! Why! Why are you going this far!”

Since Yulia was a typical flower garden-type protagonist, it wasn’t difficult to predict her lines…

“Moreover, how could I just hide when that disgusting trash dared to appear boldly in the square.”

…What?

Soon, a cold silence descended over the entire square.

“I should chase after him right now and kill him.”

Sorry, but this wasn’t in my expectations.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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