Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

“……This is where Aria is.”

Leona, with a slightly troubled expression, looked around. The explanation she had received from the Heavenly God and the Demon God wasn’t very pleasant, so she felt even more down.

The gate, formed by the last remnants that clung to Aria as she suffered in time, meant that the stronger the monsters that appeared here, the greater Aria’s pain.

Even before we could enter, Maker, a former Demon Lord’s Legion Commander, suddenly appeared and attacked us. Although the combined might of the Empire’s core forces had crushed him in a few seconds, it was still a bad omen, so we decided to rescue Aria as soon as possible.

“Let’s hurry. Doing this as quickly as possible is the best we can do.”

“Yeah. We should.”

Leona, with a determined expression, firmly gripped the handle of Eternity. We won’t bring the Holy Sword or the Holy Spear with us, as there was a possibility that the remnants floating in time could attach themselves to them.

The Heavenly God had said it would be fine, but the mere possibility was a problem, so I had refused on my own accord. The Heavenly God was probably outside, blocking the monsters that were trying to escape.

“……Yeah. It’s my story. I have to finish it with my own hands. Come on, Leona. You can do it.”

Although it was a soft voice, it wasn’t completely inaudible. Leona mumbled to herself, steeling her resolve.

That was why only Leona and I had entered the gate, leaving the others behind. To end the story with the original protagonist’s hands, and with my hands, which had taken the place of the original protagonist next to Aria.

Laura had refused, saying that she didn’t have the right to end this world’s story.

“Here it comes.”

“Confirmed.”

Not long after, a mass of light gathered and formed the figure of a massive monster. It was a centaur covered in golden light, with one side of its face completely caved in, wielding a double-bladed axe.

Its severed shoulder was covered by dozens of faces, which had stuck to its upper body, obscuring half of it. Moreover, its lower body was in a terrible state.

Leona aimed Eternity at the centaur. Although she felt a bit awkward, as she was not using the Holy Sword she had used for years, her body quickly adapted, and blue mana enveloped her.

Her blue hair was covered in blue mana, flowing wildly. Her golden irises sparkled. She charged at the charging centaur, matching its pace.

—Chaeeeng!

Eternity clashed with the double-bladed axe. Despite the significant difference in their physiques, Leona held her ground and showed no signs of being overwhelmed. The blue mana that wrapped around Eternity gradually intensified, causing the centaur to be pushed back.

The blade sliced through the golden light, cutting the centaur in half. The severed body rolled on the floor, and then, as if reversing time, the pieces stuck back together, and it charged at us again.

“Leona! Watch out!”

A mass of golden light appeared in the empty space, and I quickly warned her, running towards it. The mass of light wriggled and took on a form.

It was Kirke, a former Demon Lord’s Legion Commander, who had been team-killed by Astaroth, the Demon King.

Her pointed hat towered above her head, and she walked with a limp, her glamorous body, covered in tattered rags, contrasted with the golden light.

Most notably, tongue-like tentacles protruded from every orifice of her body—her left eye, nostril, ear, and mouth.

Her right eye, the only normal one, was half-lidded, devoid of focus, and as the tentacles in her mouth went in and out, her throat grotesquely expanded and contracted.

Behind Leona, I swung the Dragon Slayer and sliced Kirke’s body into pieces, then chopped her upper body into dozens of fragments, each of which I imbued with magic and scattered in different directions. This would buy us a few seconds.

However, from the remaining lower body, light-like tentacles shot out and aimed at Leona, who was just a step away from me, instead of me. I had just cut off the centaur’s legs.

The lower body fused with the centaur disappeared in a flash of light. The endlessly repeating time, which had been in a constant struggle with Leona, came to a halt as she stared blankly at the scene.

If she hadn’t dodged, she would have been wrapped in those tentacles.

“……What is that? It was definitely cut.”

“Well, if we try to judge what’s happening here with human common sense, we’ll be in big trouble, so it’s probably related to time, as they said.”

If the goddess was advising us not to judge things with common sense, it was better not to think about it at all. The Heavenly God and the Demon God had given us that advice for that purpose.

“Let’s keep moving. Anyway, all they can do is buy time.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

As long as we didn’t separate the core, the mangled time would endlessly repeat itself, and because of that, killing the monsters was futile, as they would endlessly revive. So, our top priority was to reach the core. This was also the advice given to us by the Heavenly God and the Demon God.

We faithfully followed their advice and headed towards the center of the gate. Along the way, we encountered countless fragments of time.

Former Demon Lord’s Legion Commanders, the first world’s monsters, the monsters that appeared inside the gate, and this world’s monsters.

Even the Pope of the Starlight Church.

He walked like a zombie from a 1900s horror movie, his skinny arms reaching out to attack us.

Leona looked at him with disgust, remembering how he had been burned to death by the sunlight, his skin charred and his body half-reduced to bones, now golden in color.

“You don’t look happy, Leona.”

“I never expected to see that face here again. In the past, I wouldn’t have known, but now I know exactly who he was and what he did. I know how he treated Rosalia, what he thought of the saint, and how he looked at me. There’s no way I can look at him favorably.”

Rosalia was only able to maintain her purity because she was a saint, and if it weren’t for Leona being the hero, who knows what would have happened to her. The fact that the traitorous demon was a Succubus Queen says it all.

Leona, who didn’t have any good feelings towards Astaroth, would have hated that guy. Leona, with a blue blade, sliced through the zombie-like Pope.

The body, sliced by the blue blade, turned into golden light. Perhaps because he was an ordinary human, he didn’t show the same level of regeneration as the other monsters we had encountered, who regenerated as soon as they were cut by a sword.

“I wish more of those guys would come out.”

Leona said with a hint of disappointment. It seemed like she had a lot of pent-up frustration.

“We’re almost there.”

The closer we got to the core, the more unstable time became, as if to prove it.

The space, where shattered fragments rose upwards instead of falling downwards, was attacked by flying monsters, and as we stepped on floating fragments, the gravity acted differently, causing us to slide to the side.

The space was twisted, so when we reached out our arms, they appeared far away, and certain sections of time were endlessly rewinding, repeating the last five seconds forever.

We fought through all of that and finally reached the core, only to find it in a state far beyond our expectations. Leona, with a tense expression, let go of my hand. I held her hand to calm her down.

“…….”

Leona, startled, squeezed my hand even tighter and interlaced her fingers with mine.

“Aria.”

Her lips called out the name of her old friend. The Aria in front of us was wrapped in countless golden threads, struggling desperately.

Golden light flashed through the thousands upon thousands of threads, and with each flash, Aria’s fingertips became fainter.

She looked like a spider sucking out her fluids. Leona, at a loss for words, approached her and grabbed her arm, pulling her towards me. The golden threads that surrounded her body broke surprisingly easily.

I caught her as she fell weakly to the ground. Aria, in my arms, gasped for breath, her face pale. Her body stopped fading, but her weak expression remained.

The fragments of time that had swarmed us from all sides melted away, as if they were dissolving. The gate seemed to be holding up for now. We didn’t need to escape immediately.

Blink, her eyelids opened.

“……Mr. Mira.”

Blue irises, just like Leona’s hair, looked up at me.

“Yeah, Aria.”

“I…… I tried my best. I pulled in everything that was left in time…… It’ll be safe now…… Everything…….”

The hand holding my arm tightened. But it didn’t last long, and it crumbled, flowing out of her hand. It wasn’t just fading; she was truly disappearing.

“It’s okay. Let’s go outside and talk.”

“……But I might not be able to leave.”

“Who says that?”

I turned around. Leona, who had been listening to the conversation, approached Aria with a pale face. Her eyes frantically scanned Aria’s fading arms and legs.

“……What do you mean, you might not be able to leave? What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean, what? It’s nonsense. I won’t let you disappear here, so just know that.”

“I’m sorry, Leona…… For the things I said to you back then…… Everything…….”

“……Stop it! Just focus on getting out! I’ll get mad later, but for now, let’s just get out of here!”

Leona frantically looked around, trying to find a way out. But with Aria’s body fading, she was only getting more anxious.

“Leona…….”

“Stop it! Don’t say anything! I’ll save you somehow……!”

……

“She seems fine to me?”

“She’s fine.”

“……Huh?”

Leona, who had swallowed her tears and exited the gate, was stunned, her face pale, as the Heavenly God and the Demon God said she was fine. The others, including Aria herself, were no exception.

“But didn’t you tell us…… that if we removed the core, there would be no problem?”

“We did say that, but why are you asking us to save her?”

“Then, what about her body fading away?!”

Leona protested, feeling wronged, and the Heavenly God pointed to Aria. Her body had returned to its original color.

“She was just temporarily unable to adapt after being trapped in time and released.”

“…….”

“…….”

Leona and Aria, who had hugged each other and cried in the middle of the conversation, blushed at the same time.