Can Regression go Wrong?

Five years.

Five years had passed since then.

Standing in front of a rock was Lucas, holding a sword. His back muscles were developed to their peak, his breathing was heavy, and sweat was making his body glisten in the presence of the sunlight.

"It's time for me to return."

Lucas went to his tent after a quick cold bath to pack his belongings. Everything was kept in a bag except for a dagger. He burned the bag as it would be a huge pain to carry it all over, only to be left behind, because in two days, the tower would make its first appearance.

Walking down the mountain was easy for him now; it only took a day. Lucas's senses were sharpened to their peak, and the same was true for his body. He could now vaguely sense a strange energy that was flowing; it was soul essence. 

Utilising even a little of soul essence can generate huge bursts of power, even if it is not refined and impure by blood. His trek down to the mountain came to an end, and he had reached Geneva, using the train from there to Munich.

His car was still there, no one had taken any notice of it for five years, but its whole body was covered in drawings made from spray paint. Ignoring the art done by kids, he popped up the hood and took out the extra clothes he had kept in a separate bag.

Lucas entered a public bathroom, and after a few moments, he came out of it, wearing a black shirt, dark grey pants and black leather boots.

The final touch to his majestic appearance was his long black overcoat, and his long silver grey hairs were tied neatly in a bun.

Today was the day, the beginning of the tragedy that would reshape this world and its population. The tower appeared in Munich on 22nd March 2030 at 6:30 pm, sending its invitations all over the world.

Lucas didn't understand why the tower appeared in Munich of all places. Perhaps it was because the tower liked Hitler's deeds and the plans he had made in Munich. 

It would take seven hours for me to reach Munich, which means I would be there around 6:15 pm.

Lucas's Pov

I entered the train and, to my luck, I found a seat for myself. Surprisingly, there was no one sitting beside me; I was alone sitting in the four-seater. Well, it is their loss, if someone had sat beside me, they would have been saved by me, not my problem now....

Staring out of the window, I felt a little sad. I will leave this home of mine soon today forever maybe. Somewhere deep within my heart, I just want to decline the invitation, die with no regrets and dissolve in this fragrant soil.

I felt that doubt or my inner desire, whatever it was slowly taking over my mind, clouding it, corrupting my way of thinking, silently. A seed of doubt was slowly blooming, perhaps, but something then ignited in me, and all the memories of my suffering came back to me.

I chuckled.

I chuckled at my foolishness; it looks like I was suffering from some regression depression.

I will not let go of my spite so easily.

My eyes glinted with dark glee.

In these five years, I have trained my body with methods used by the giants, optimising their level to my human physique, and I have probably surpassed the peak of what it is capable of.

I have a lot of time, so a little nap wouldn't be bad... it wouldn't be, right? Ah fuck this, I already started to feel drowsy. I closed my eyes and rested my head on the seat, slowly and steadily drifting to sleep.

...

It was 4:51, I had woken up twenty minutes ago, and from what it seemed, it might take half an hour to reach Munich, not that it mattered to me that much.

I am bored.

I took out my smartphone, which was now working after a few updates, and scrolling all over the web novels I used to read, I noticed an unusual novel in my library that couldn't be opened, "SSS-class Regressor Heroine"; it had no cover.

Did I read these kinds of things back then?

The novel was published by someone named 'kotlr4951', and there was a co-author too, but their name wasn't shown. It was a very absurd novel in my library, so I just removed it.

"What a good way to ruin my mood." I muttered.

Lucas felt that few people gazed when he had entered the train, when he was sleeping and even when he was using his smartphone. He didn't pay any mind to them, as most of them were whispering about his looks, some were jealous, and some even took a secret photo of him, not that these things would matter anymore.

The train stopped at a stop. Lucas looked at the cabin becoming more crowded, the seats were now filled, he could save many people now, people were sitting beside him also, but they were a little uncomfortable, not that Lucas knew it.

In another cabin, a young man entered. His hair was dark black, and his eyes were oceanic blue, clad in a white shirt and black pants with white sneakers, a loose black tie around his neck and his arm was holding his coat while his hand was scrolling through the smartphone.

Grey's Pov

What a bad day...

My name is Grey Parker, a 29-year-old young man working at Macrosoft Pvt Ltd I was fired today. It was a hellish day for sure, I worked my ass off for months on a project only for my hard work to be recognised as the work of my teammates, this was the reason for me to get fired from my company.

I sat in a seat, scrolling through my phone through social media, liking and commenting on some of them. Then I was bored with my phone too, I stopped using it then. 

I wonder where my life went wrong... Was it because I stopped writing web novels? 

I was a web novelist, or rather, some people called me a plagiarist at that time...

I wrote a web novel called "SSS-class Regressor Heroine", after getting inspiration from a Korean web novel— it was a story about a regressor, a reader and a writer.

The regressor was the main character of the story, which the reader read before it became a reality.

The story was a complex one.

I just copied a few things, or maybe many. Some considered it a copy, but it wasn't; it had its own power system, but people never really cared to read it except one, who went by the alias 'kotlr4951'.

I wrote many chapters before stopping in between as I had lost all hope of becoming a famous web novel writer, but it was surprising when my sole reader 'kotlr4951' bought it from me for a total of ten thousand dollars.

This was five years ago, I had joined the company to become its employee and was now thrown away as trash. I sometimes wanted my life to become like the famous Korean web novel I had read in my young days.

"Ding..."

A notification popped up on my phone, but I was too lazy to check it, so I left it unread. I rested on the table thinking about useless things, and what to do now, thinking of doing suicide sounded like a very good option to me.

Soon, these thoughts also became very boring.

I sighed. 

I should check that notification I received a few minutes ago...

I opened my smartphone, and the notification was an email from an unknown email address. Since I had nothing to do, I opened it to read its contents. It was a message from kotlr4951; this person somehow found out my email address, which was a little creepy.

I read its contents.

-Dear author, this is me, kotlr4951, the sole reader of your web novel 'SSS-class Regressor Heroine'. I bought this from you five years ago for some special work, and it worked out. Today, the novel 'SSS-class Regressor Heroine' will start again and will be aired in a very realistic way.

My web novel will be airing once more, but in a... more realistic way?

I read further.

-Since you are the co-author of this novel, I suggest you not be too surprised and enjoy it. Also, a piece of advice from me, the novel is not the same as you think, a variable will always be there. Now that my advice is over, I should hereby announce to you that the novel will be airing at 6:09 pm.

The time was a little funny, I looked at the clock, it was 6:05, four minutes, and my web novel would start uploading once again, but this time I would be a co-author. It was nice, though I still didn't understand the advice, nor did I understand the meaning of 'realistic way'.

kiiiiiiiiik-! The train groaned as it suddenly came to a halt.

Then a sound was heard.

[The has identified the planet 8178.]

[Initiating the removal of ...]

The space around the centre of my cabin seemed to be twisting. The fabric of our reality was torn, and a small figure emerged from it.

The being was covered in snow-white fur, its stature was equal to that of a young dwarf, and it would have the appearance of an angel if not for its two obsidian horns protruding from its head; the menacing flames flowing out of its eyes made the figure overall look terrifying.

That is a... Yaksha!

That was the turning point that reshaped my life's trajectory.