The Man’s 101st Bad Ending

He had believed it was coincidence.

Perhaps a god, pitying his plight, had granted him a chance to set things right. He had lived with that belief, every decision based on that assumption.

If asked if it felt futile, how would he respond?

That he had expected it all along? That it wasn’t futile, that he just had to defeat the Four Dragons?

For three hundred years, he had blamed himself. He had believed his failures were his fault, his inadequacy.

“But… it was all intentional.”

The Minotaur nodded.

Adriana and Verod weren’t present.

The Four Dragons’ power, as he had suspected, was the manipulation of time.

They had imbued the Moonstone with this power, leaving it behind to orchestrate their resurrection.

“Why me?”

“They likely deemed you the most suitable vessel for their return. Only they know the true reason, but most would break after a hundred deaths. Many crumble after just one. It’s a wonder you’re still sane.”

He had broken many times.

There were times he had lived as a madman, lost in despair. If he hadn’t become numb to death, he would have succumbed long ago.

He was confused.

Unanswered questions lingered.

Where were the Four Dragons now? Why did Kaitel’s manipulation of their residual thoughts remain unchanged?

“Are the Four Dragons’ residual thoughts different from their consciousness?”

They wouldn’t allow a human to manipulate their consciousness so freely. If they intended to use his body for their resurrection, they would have contacted him directly.

Wasn’t that why the Moonstone resonated with artifacts?

He had believed it was a mechanism to guide him to their residual thoughts.

Yet, nothing happened when he touched the artifact containing those thoughts.

Many things felt amiss.

Why hadn’t the Four Dragons contacted him? Why could Kaitel manipulate their residual thoughts?

The Minotaur considered his question, then began to explain.

“It would be easier to understand if I explained how the Four Dragons were sealed. That should answer some of your questions.”

The story was long and complex.

The origins of the Four Dragons, their sealing, their retreat into distorted time.

The creation of the Moonstone, their plan for resurrection.

As he listened, some questions were answered, but new doubts arose.

He wasn’t confused. He simply felt that something was wrong.

The Four Dragons’ intentions and his experiences didn’t align.

Something was amiss.

Their plan wasn’t proceeding as intended.

What was wrong? Why did everything feel so disjointed?

“Do you have any more questions?”

“No, that’s enough.”

“Then I no longer need to earn your trust. Have I convinced you that I have no intention of harming you?”

He nodded.

The Minotaur chuckled, glancing at its missing arm. Its gaze held not hatred or resentment, but curiosity.

He couldn’t decipher its intentions.

He would have preferred outright hostility.

A demon, driven mad by battle, now calmly assessing the situation.

It had even shared information about the Four Dragons, something he hadn’t anticipated.

This conversation felt strangely amicable.

He couldn’t understand the Minotaur’s apparent goodwill. It could have easily turned hostile.

It was a demon, their enemy.

“I should go now. If we meet again, I hope you’ll sever my other arm.”

He wouldn’t be foolish enough to provoke it now. He wouldn’t draw his sword again. The Minotaur would regenerate faster.

He was pretending to be fine, but he was on the verge of collapse.

He would have fainted without Adriana’s support.

He had to think strategically. His immediate priority wasn’t defeating the Four Dragons.

He knew the masked figures were plotting their resurrection, and that there were three more demons to contend with.

He had learned that Kaitel intended to use their residual thoughts to summon the dragons.

The missing pieces of the puzzle were why the Four Dragons hadn’t contacted him directly, and why they remained trapped in distorted time.

With the power to create the Moonstone, they could have easily escaped.

Why use an artifact to search for a suitable human vessel?

Only one solution came to mind.

The Minotaur dissolved into black smoke, the mana barrier dissipating.

He didn’t return to Adriana.

He took the artifact from his pocket and channeled his mana.

The communication device, once linked only to Miragen, could now connect to one more person.

“Arwen.”

She needed to come to the North immediately.

Robert’s actions became more decisive after the battle with the Minotaur.

Adriana, who had watched the fight with bated breath, found this concerning. But Robert wasn’t acting as recklessly as before.

Arwen’s research on the ruins, her knowledge of the Four Dragons.

Robert relayed everything the Minotaur had told him. In doing so, he realized something.

The discrepancy between their accounts lay in the Four Dragons’ objective.

“They seem to be searching for someone to kill them. That is, if my research accurately reflects their intentions,” Arwen said.

“But… if they wanted to die, wouldn’t they simply remain sealed?”

Why break free from their prison, only to seek death?

It was contradictory.

It didn’t make sense.

It didn’t explain why Kaitel was involved with the Four Dragons’ residual thoughts, or why they had initiated the regressions.

If they wanted to die, they should have come to him, not Kaitel.

If these regressions were meant to prepare him for this task, then all those repetitions were a waste of time.

He traveled to the Moon Tower, then to the Imperial Palace, searching the imperial archives with Arwen’s help.

He scoured every document related to the Four Dragons, searching for any mention of undiscovered ruins or artifacts.

He found nothing. But the absence of information revealed something else.

There were almost no records of hostility towards the Four Dragons in the imperial archives.

While the Church considered the Four Dragons their sworn enemies, the imperial family seemed to have erased them from history. It was strange.

In an empire that worshipped the Moon Goddess, shouldn’t there be countless records denouncing the dragons? Did they consider the very name of the Four Dragons an abomination?

“That can’t be right.”

They weren’t erased for that reason. There was something they were trying to hide, something they wanted to bury.

Could he have noticed this discrepancy if he had been more thorough during his previous infiltration of the archives?

No, he wouldn’t have.

He wouldn’t have sensed the incongruity without the Minotaur’s information.

He frowned, staring at the book in his hand.

He saw it now.

The reason why the imperial family had so meticulously erased the Four Dragons from history.

He glanced at Arwen.

She stared into space, her face pale, as if she had realized the same thing.

“I hate hypotheticals. But if what I’m thinking is true…”

“I think we’re on the same page. Do you have a theory?”

“The Four Dragons were sealed. They retreated into distorted time. The Moon Goddess must have known. She wouldn’t stand idly by while they created an artifact that caused regressions.”

That was his question as well.

What had the Moon Goddess been doing all this time, while the Moonstone caused his endless cycle of death and rebirth?

The goddess, weakened from sealing the Four Dragons, would have needed time to recover. But she wouldn’t have remained passive.

The archives shifted and warped under Arwen’s magic.

Cracks appeared in space, twisting and merging.

The distorted landscape revealed one of the ruins related to the Four Dragons in the South.

An inscription became visible,

‘Only one who has endured eons can slay the dragons.’

Arwen channeled her mana into the inscription.

“Perhaps…”

If it was written with the Four Dragons’ power, it should glow red. But under Arwen’s mana, it shimmered blue.

Lunar mana.

These characters reacted only to lunar mana.

There could only be one explanation.

“Some of these inscriptions weren’t written by the Four Dragons’ followers. They were written by the Moon Goddess herself.”

Her words brought a chilling realization.

Inscriptions written by the Moon Goddess.

The Four Dragons’ residual thoughts, strangely linked to Kaitel. The missing records in the imperial archives.

And finally, the name of the capital.

Eclipse.

“Eclipse refers to a solar eclipse.”

A solar eclipse, when the moon obscures the sun.

The name of the empire, built upon the worship of the moon, the sealing of the sun-like Four Dragons. But it wasn’t just a solar eclipse.

“It can also refer to a lunar eclipse.”

A lunar eclipse, when the earth obscures the moon.

Perhaps the imperial family…

…had been connected to the Four Dragons from the very beginning.

[Translator Notes]

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