I caught department head Rindo in my arms and set him down on the ground, and then released all my bloodlust to intimidate the demon. Yessir, cool anime intro was complete!
“Kukukukuku, what an interesting human. Saving that other human in the nick of time and daring to release such an insignificant bloodlust against ME. You shall pay for that, you ant.” The creature, probably a demon from my guessing, charged at me. That’s when I realized I ticked off the wrong enemy. “Come on man, chill out!” I said as I dodged his attacks. Left, right, up, down, center, heart, gut, brain, kidney, his attacks were everywhere and I barely managed to dodge all of them by zooming in between them at a very hush speed by bouncing mama particles inside my body to move at almost a godlike speed. However, this technique was dangerous as it resonates mana throughout your body making it weaker so you can’t use it a lot. However, once you become a master of this skill (like me) your body’s condition barely deteriorates (lower than 0.1%) and you can move at very high speeds, which is why I use that skill to get me out of a pinch whenever I need to.
“Kukukukuku, this technique is very interesting and seems to be reliable too.”
“Yeah, but you know what isn’t reliable. Your confidence.” I grinned after saying that statement, but my friends slapped the head with their palm.
“Let’s see… throwing your trashy bloodlust at me, daring to dodge my attack AND saying the worst line I’ve ever heard… I feel bad for you.” Damn, even the demon was sympathizing with me now.
“Can we please just get back to the fighting part?” I asked. The demon grinned.
“This foolish human sure is cocky”, he stated, and then charged at me.
He did a quick jab to where my face was, but I instantly dodged and countered with a mana-coated hand slash which he managed to dodge. We kept this routine for a while and eventually picked up the pace.
“Huff…puff…huff…puff…” I was breathing heavily after an intense 13 minutes against the toughest opponent I’ve ever faced. Now I can see why the guild leader was losing, as he was unscathed and my body was almost riddled with minor injuries.
“Damn, you’re pretty strong.” I said to the demon.
“You finally understand, human?” The demon replied.
“Heh… even though I’m losing, I know I can win.”
“Well, you’ll pay for your ignorance, human.”
After a brief 1 minute of rest and talking, we charged at each other again. The demon hit me in the arm, causing my first major injury. “Seems like you can’t use that arm anymore, human. Also, how do you feel. You came here probably with the intentions of backing those people behind you, but in this situation they aren’t backing you.” The demon said, obviously trying to manipulate me. The thing was, though, he was correct. I did so much for protecting those people behind me, and what did they do in this fight. Wait, they can’t even fight this demon in the first place since they aren’t strong enough. And the people that could fight are injured severely so they can’t fight. Simple.
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“Well, I don’t really care since I’m gonna take you down.” I replied. We charged again. This time, however, I won the bout with 3 fake punches and then dodging a heavy attack in order to back kick the demon. The back kick is probably the most overpowered kick, since it sent even this demon flying to the wall on the other side.
“A back kick? I… did not expect that move. How interesting.” The demon stated, and got up. This was my moment. I rushed in at the speed of light… and my left arm went missing. It just got chopped off, in front of my eyes. I took a deep breath to compose myself, and jumped backwards to get somewhat momentarily get out of the fight.
“Well, it seems like your overconfidence was your losing point, human. Before I kill you, may I ask what your name is?” The demon asked.
“…Joe.” I replied.
“Joe?” The demon said, curiously.
“JOE MAMA!” I shouted and ran at the demon while he was still processing how he fell for a Joe Mama joke. I was able to hit a few solid hits and the demon went crumpling towards the ground. From the injuries it’s taken, it seems to be down for the count.
“Well, can’t believe my strongest enemy has lost to a Joe Mama joke. I feel bad for you, man.” I started to walk back to where everyone else was, but their eyes widened in shock.
“What?” I asked, and instinctively looked down at my chest. My heart was pierced by a mana blade. I could see the blood slowly spilling all the way to the ground.
“Like I said earlier, human, your losing point is your overconfidence.” This time the demon did not speak in his previous playful and arrogant tone, but in a serious one now.
“Well, guess it’s over for me. I’ve had a good life and I went out fighting a strong enemy. I’m sad that I couldn’t get the promotion, though and save up enough money to retire early. Oh yeah, as my last will and testament, sell everything that’s mine and combine that money with the money I’ve saved up and use it for the guild. At least I’ll still be able to help you guys even after I die.” I said, and slowly closed my eyes.
“No, you’re not dying.” The guild leader said out of nowhere.
“Huh?” I replied, confused.
“If you’re strong enough to fight the demon to that extent after your prime, then we need to make sure you use all of your potential during your growing years.”” She stated. I was confused, but when I looked behind me, the demons face contorted into one of anger. Suddenly, a blue light surrounded me, and a meter in front of me when from 0% to 100% in just a split second. The demon got even angrier at this.
“YOU… YOU DARE TO ATTEMPT TO REGRESS HIM?! I WILL MOT LET THAT HAPPEN!” The demon said, howling in anger. The guild leader remained with an expressionless face while everyone else (me included) were shocked at this sudden development.
“There’s nothing you can do. He’s already filled out the bar and is going to regress in a few seconds, just one before he dies.
“WELL, IF I CAN’T STOP IT THEN I’LL JUST DO THE NEXT BEST THING, SEAL HIS MEMORIES!” The demon shouted, and a red light entered my brain.
“No, this is bad! Well, good luck John, you’re going to need it.” The guild leader said, and the blue light entered me. It dragged my soul away, into a different body in a different timeline and eradicated the previous-existing soul in that body to replace it with mine. Then it merged with the red light that entered my brain and surrounded me.
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Author’s interlude: Now, the story will become told in third-person for a while. We are planning to switch it back to first person after a certain arc is completed.
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4TH UNIVERSE, JOHN’S REGRESSION
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John woke up, with an old but new soul in his body replacing the real one, the one that should have been in that body. Right then, he saw a screen in front of him saying the words: Welcome to Your Locked Regresssion.