How a Villain Defies Destiny Chapter 143

It was immediately clear that the being she was pointing to was Nanna.

 

‘As long as we’re connected by the divine pattern, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say every single action and movement is being monitored.’

 

Like a puppet that has lost its freedom, forced to perform the play to the rhythm and tempo that Nanna desires.

 

While inwardly gauging and pitying Selene’s situation, a voice that cut through my thoughts rang out.

 

“So I’m fine.”

 

Snapping back to attention and looking ahead, I saw her staring at me with an expressionless face.

 

Meeting her calm, sky-blue eyes, I hurriedly erased the pity that had unconsciously welled up.

 

When the person herself says she’s fine, sending unsolicited sympathy as a third party can only hurt the other person’s feelings even more.

 

In the end, I decided to talk about the original story.

 

“Got it.”

 

Even though I tried to remove as many game elements as possible and focused mainly on the story, listing all the endings of every capture target ended up taking quite a long time.

 

“This is as far as what I’ve read.”

 

“It’s certainly heavily biased toward the emotions between characters.”

 

After listening attentively to the long, long tale, she muttered this with a face that had gone noticeably pale.

 

She seemed quietly but deeply shaken.

 

“Um… Are you okay?”

 

Thinking that hearing one’s own story come out of someone else’s mouth could be shocking in itself, I asked while studying her expression. 

 

Selene let out a faint sigh and gave a small nod before speaking.

 

“Honestly, it’s hard to say I’m completely unaffected since it’s making me recall memories I’d rather not revisit… but even so, I think I’m glad I asked.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because while some parts are pointlessly detailed, some fairly important matters are completely omitted.”

 

“There are things that were entirely left out?”

 

“Yes. For now… it doesn’t seem to be clearly written in the novel that Laura read, but the time given to me is five years.”

 

Not exactly terminal, but… five years…?

 

While I was still dazed and unable to immediately grasp what exactly she meant by “five years,” Selene spoke in a listless tone.

 

“From the moment I awaken, after exactly five years pass, time will inevitably turn back.”

 

“…!”

 

For a moment, my mind went numb as if I’d been struck in the back of the head with a sledgehammer.

 

I had anticipated that Selene would regress after the ending, but I never imagined there would be such a precise, fixed duration.

 

‘Come to think of it, all the children of Selene who appeared in the illustrations were newborns!’

 

As I recalled the game content, it hit me, exactly as she said, that even the epilogues where she marries someone and has a child all occurred within those five years.

 

While I was still reeling from the bombshell she had dropped…

 

“Miss Laura, are you alright?”

 

In contrast to just moments ago, Selene was now the one asking about my condition.

 

Looking into her eyes that resembled the spring sky helped calm my turbulent heart somewhat, though the tension didn’t fully dissipate.

 

“…Is there perhaps any other information I don’t know about?”

 

I figured that if there were facts I was unaware of, it would be better to hear them all at once.

 

“There are a few more, but at this point, most of them are things that have already passed. Only one remains.”

 

“I-I see.”

 

“It could be called the single most important issue we currently face, but please keep in mind that this is purely my own speculation.”

 

I swallowed hard and waited for Selene’s next words as she spoke with gravity.

 

“Once a life begins, it seems Nanna cannot forcibly turn back time.”

 

“…”

 

This time, for the completely opposite reason from before, I couldn’t muster any response at all.

 

I already knew that because the gods had made a solemn pact among themselves, they could not directly interfere on the mortal plane.

 

“Up until now, there has never been a single instance where time was forcibly rewound before my unique ability could activate.”

 

“Wait a moment. What does that have to do with your unique ability?”

 

However, the words that immediately followed from her were more than enough to plunge me back into shock once again.

 

“Of course, because my unique ability is to repeat a fixed period of time.”

 

“Huh? Not manipulating the time of targets, excluding yourself to heal living beings’ wounds or restore objects?”

 

“That’s just a secondary ability.”

 

Selene began her explanation in a calm tone.

 

She said that her true ability was to endlessly repeat the five years from the moment she awakens, and that as long as something is included within that period, she can also designate and manipulate the time of specific individual objects, like how she restored buildings in Dilbat.

 

“However, even the secondary ability cannot go beyond the fixed period. That’s why things like ancient relics can’t be restored either.”

 

With a smile on her lips, she gave a playful, joking example in a mischievous voice.

 

Thanks to that, I was able to understand her explanation with relative ease.

 

Even if she reversed time to the maximum extent possible with her unique ability, she still couldn’t go back to before the game began.

 

‘Wait a second, then even without directly opposing Nanna, it’s possible to end the regression?’

 

Just as I cautiously opened my mouth to confirm the question that had flashed through my mind.

 

“If that’s the case, then in other words, if Nanna-nim withdraws her divine power and your unique ability disappears…”

 

“This tiresome regression would finally end.”

 

Before I could even finish my sentence, Selene cut in and gave the exact answer I had been hoping for.

 

‘I should’ve asked about this sooner.’

 

I felt a pang of regret realizing that all those days I had racked my brain, unable to figure out how to end her regression, had been a complete waste of time. 

 

Then, suddenly, I noticed something astonishing.

 

Right now, Selene’s divine power was exactly the same as it had been before I lost consciousness.

 

“But Selene… why is your divine power still the same?”

 

Back then, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I had absorbed most of her divine power.

 

The reason I could sense divine power like this right now was precisely that I had originally absorbed Selene’s divine power.

 

On the other hand, Selene didn’t seem particularly surprised.

 

“Well… I definitely felt like an enormous amount of divine power was taken from me by you, Miss Laura, but strangely enough, after I slept and woke up, it had returned to normal.”

 

Unlike stamina or mana, divine power wasn’t something that got consumed through use; even if it disappeared for some reason, it didn’t recover.

 

Divine power moved solely according to the will of the god.

 

Therefore, the fact that Selene’s divine power had recovered probably meant it was Nanna’s will.

 

“Selene, this isn’t something to brush off lightly. Divine power doesn’t—”

 

She seemed to be taking it far too casually, so I tried to point out the issue with divine power, but she cut off my next words.

 

“I know. That’s also why you asked earlier if I was an incarnation of a god, right?”

 

Just as I was about to ask why she was letting it slide even though she knew, Selene spoke first.

 

“It’s just that I had already more or less expected that Nanna-nim wouldn’t let me go so easily, so I wasn’t particularly shocked that my divine power had recovered.”

 

“Ah…”

 

I let out a short exclamation.

 

Unlike Fenrir and Huluppu, who were born from divine power, she, who had originally been human, wouldn’t die even if all her divine power disappeared, but her unique ability would vanish.

 

‘But until Nanna achieves what she wants, Selene’s regressions have to continue.’

 

That was probably why, as if to prevent Selene’s unique ability from disappearing prematurely, the divine power had been immediately replenished.

 

“Then how can we get rid of your unique ability?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“If there were a way, I wouldn’t be suffering like this.”

 

It was an argument with no room for rebuttal.

 

‘Well, let’s think positively. At least meeting the goddess Astarte gave us a clue to ending the regression… Ah, right!’

 

All of a sudden, I realized there was still something I hadn’t told her.

 

“I completely forgot to mention it until just now, but after I lost consciousness while absorbing your divine power, I met the goddess Astarte in a dream.”

 

I looked straight into Selene’s wide-eyed gaze and recounted the story of meeting the goddess Astarte in the dream.

 

“And because of that, I have to meet the dragon that attacked Dilbat. Would you like to come along, Selene?”

 

After all, the center of all these problems could be said to be Selene herself.

 

I asked because I judged that she had every right to know why she was going through all of this, but suddenly Selene’s expression darkened.

 

“Is there some kind of problem?”

 

“Actually… if I meet that dragon… time will turn back.”

 

Excluding the hidden character route, it was an absolutely mandatory event that always occurred, so I had naturally assumed that if we didn’t visit Dilbat, a regression would happen.

 

But she told me something completely contrary to what I knew.

 

“The reason I arrived at dawn before making the support request this time was that I couldn’t stop the dragon anyway, so at the very least I wanted to arrive early in Dilbat and save even a few more people.”

 

It was a moment that made me understand why Endymion trusted Selene’s character so deeply, but right now, the dragon issue was far more pressing for me, so I grabbed her shoulders tightly and pressed her.

 

“Please tell me more in detail.”

 

“Huh? No, even if you say ‘in detail’…”

 

“Anything related to that, however trivial, please tell me everything.”

 

“It’s just that my ability activates when I meet that dragon…”

 

Perhaps finding my face leaning in and urging her burdensome, Selene answered while shrinking her shoulders even more.

 

“When you said you felt an unpleasant aura from Huluppu last time and mentioned the dragon was that a lie?”

 

“That was really, truly real!”

 

When I kept pressing her with repeated questions, she desperately shook her head, pleading her innocence.