SSS Ranked Awakening: I Can Rewind Time!-Chapter 47: Rise In Dark Fragments.

My vision —though blurry, slowly returned to me. Surrounding me were familiar dark abysmal trees, their nightmarish branches reaching for the heavens as though to pierce through them. Along with them were numerous towering terrains, each jagged and uneven in inconceivable ways.

The hazy sight sent a wave of relief through me.

’I am finally back.’

My hazy vision slowly started to clear, and I could now hear a distant voice. With each breath of mine, the voice got nearer and became more distinct.

"Dean, Dean!" The owner of the voice called out.

Drip! Drip--!

"What’s wrong, what’s wrong...?" Her voice cracked as she broke down.

"Please come back Dean... Please."

She begged and pleaded in tears. And then came—

"AAARGH!!!!!!"

The loud piercing scream.

The loud cry elicited a sharp wave of pain within me. A-Almost as if my heart was being tightly clenched together.

The owner of the voice seemed to be in despair.

Creak.

The voice was soaked in despair.

"..."

A crimson long hair flooded my vision, and the blurry figure grasping me in their hands slowly became more pronounced. Following that was a piercing pain, one that reverberated through every inch of my mind. In that moment, the nine leaf petal insignia on my forehead started to dim.

"Ugh!"

With a light groan, I realized that the endless darkness clouding my vision was slowly clearing, as though a veil of shadows had been lifted up my mind. Andit was then that I saw her. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"...."

The figure.

Her graceful figure crumbled on the ground, and she held me to her chest, tears streaming down the corner of her eyes.

Drip! Drip--!

The sound echoed through the deafening silence.

For a second there, she couldn’t feel his heartbeat, nor his breath. I-It almost felt as if he was in some sort of deep state where all sense of life was slowly crawling out of him.

Seeing her pale face, a searing pain lanced through my heart. But at the end of the day...

I could only force a weak, fragile smile. In that moment,

"...."

Her gaze caught mine, and for a moment, she froze, unsure of how to react.

Ba- thump! Ba- thump!

Her heart pounded against her chest.

And all she felt was a deep sense of relief. It was blinding, and overwhelming, as if she had been holding her breath for eternity.

"It’s good that you’re okay.... It’s good."

Her voice cracked, barely a whisper, as though talking to herself, than to me.

To that, I could only force a nod. An act I quickly regretted.

Right about then, my expression turned unsightly, face contorting from the sheer agony. However, slowly but surely, my skin began to regain its healthy glow— well, whatever it was before that.

***

Sitting on a rock outcrop, a frown crept up on my features. And it was all because of a single figure:

The boy shrouded in mist.

’If I was right, he should be me. A regression self? Or maybe, the younger me? And I had a feeling I had seen the figure somewhere. But where?’

I couldn’t seem to remember.

...I also wasn’t really sure of which one it was. But remembering the pain and the agony I had felt from killing Azrael, I was more or less leaning towards the figure being a younger version of me.

Or maybe it was even both? Which was very well possible.

A frown marred my features. ’Or, could it be something else? Something that I had no idea about.’

I pondered harder on it, but with the little clues I had, I knew this was practically pointless.

"Ugh!"

Groaning in annoyance, I was about to rise to my feet when—

"...."

Shimmering runes appeared before me.

[You have slain an awakened Evil, Dark Shadow.]

[Your darkness grows stronger]

[...You have received an Arcane Relic: Monochrome Thorn]

I paused, my eyes widening in disbelief.

Not at the fact that I had gained an Arcane relic. Rather, in that moment, I realized that I’d grown stronger. Not just any much stronger, I’d grown every little bit stronger, faster, and... better.

With eyes still wide-open in disbelief, I quickly summoned the runes.

Dark Fragments: [115/1000]

’H-How?’ I stood there in shock, baffled by the abnormal rise in dark fragments.

Normally speaking, every single awakened creature, regardless of their class, gave me two dark fragments. So how? How did I gain fifty dark fragments just from killing the dark shadow?

The question brought a deep frown to my face.

’...There should be a reason. Everything in this world follows one. But... what could it be?’

I pondered hard, harder than I could have thought possible. However, no matter how hard I pondered on it, I wasn’t able to arrive at a logical conclusion.

And suspicious I was, but since I could do nothing about it, I decided to suppress the paranoid thoughts rising within me. After all, I had an even more unsettling strain of thought to gather together. One that didn’t make me any bit less comfortable.

A deep scowl marred my features as I exhaled shakily.

"Haa..."

I had previously thought the Djinn to be the Dark Shadow. More so, because all clues pointed to it being linked to me. However, the presence of Azrael contradicted this. But...

The scowl on my face deepened.

’If the Djinn wasn’t the dark shadow, then why was it drawn towards me? Was it because of my supposed relationship with Azrael, or... was it something else?’

Somehow, I had a feeling it was the latter. And that thought brought a dark expression to my features

I had, after all, previously made an assumption based on the knowledge I’d on various esoteric means, ranging but not limited to: divine revelations and visions. And one unassailable fact was that the event could only be brought forward by the inconceivable complex weave of fate, or... the worst of it all, an external influence.

A being.... an entity, strong enough to influence fate to a larger degree.

Though I doubted it was the latter.

There was no way I was escaping the inevitable fate of death, provided that such a being wanted me dead. But... knowing my luck, and with the presence of numerous fractures in my memory, although I didn’t want to believe that to be the case,

...But, what if it was so?

’And, if that was the case, who or what could it be? And why does said being want me dead?’

"Agh! Damnation!"

The endless questions sent a surge of pain through my head. Groaning, I was about to stand up to meet up with the others when—

"..."

Step.

"True, I haven’t checked the Arcane Relic."

I paused.

With narrowed brows, along with a faint sense of unease, I summoned forth the runes.