The Regressor Can Make Them All - Chapter 556

Chapter 556

A vintage mansion that seemed vaguely familiar with a towering white spire that stretched high into the sky beside it. Observing the backdrop, Lea soon recognized the location.

This was Babel in the past.

Madurk Mansion, which now housed the Chairman’s office, used to be the main building of Babel decades ago. It made for an unfamiliar yet nostalgic setting, which a doll slowly stepped into under the spotlight.

The doll resembled a brown-haired woman whose features resembled Lea’s, yet carried a far colder impression. It wore an old version of Babel’s student uniform, and on the name tag pinned to its chest, the role it was playing was written: “Reyna Claudel.”

Now it was clear the third act was set before Lea’s birth, showing the story she had only ever heard in fragments. And soon enough, Lea found herself subconsciously captivated by the doll and the stage portraying that story.

Click, clack-

There was nothing particularly special about Reyna’s upbringing. Her father died in battle before she was even born, and her mother, a professor at Babel, worked tirelessly to fill that void.

Thanks to her, Reyna had never really felt any sense of something lacking during childhood. She had even decided on her career early on upon awakening the mana within her and discovering her innate talent for enchantment.

Click, clack-

Her life truly followed an unbroken, uneventful path. Even enrolling at Babel had changed nothing much. She went back and forth between the same lecture halls, the library, the lab, and the dormitory day after day, preparing for the future after graduation.

The backdrop flowed like a panorama, displaying the same four locations in rotation, while the doll portraying Reyna wandered aimlessly in front of it. Her life was monotonous and repetitive, devoid of any color.

—Act Three, Scene Two.

Click!

The backdrop suddenly froze in place, stopping at the library.

Then another doll appeared.

“Excuse me… if it’s not too much trouble, could I ask you a few questions about enchantment?”

The doll portrayed a young man with long hair tied to one side that reached down past his waist. Again familiar. Lea’s eyes naturally drifted to the name tag on his chest: “Dane Blair.”

“…”

It seemed the next act was about how her parents had first met, something she had only heard in passing from her grandmother. Her father’s portrayal, brought to life so vividly on stage, filled Lea with a mixture of longing and disgust.

“Uh… if you’re not interested, I understand…”

“One minute.”

“Pardon?”

“I have one minute before my next appointment. I’ll give you that much time.”

Typically, she would’ve ignored him altogether. However, thanks to a prior appointment being coincidentally cancelled that day to give her a sliver of free time—and because his question was about enchantment—her interest had been piqued.

“And as for this technique… oh, that’s one minute. We’re done here.”

But that interest lasted only as long as the clock allowed. Once the minute passed, Reyna rose from her seat without hesitation and was gone from the stage before he could say another word.

Slide-

She gave absolutely no room for second chances.

With that, Reyna’s life resumed as normal, continuing without further deviation. Day after day passed, and when Dane had all but faded from her mind, the stage once again froze on the library.

“I used what you taught me last month to write this thesis. Could you take a look? My professor insisted I get your opinion.”

He had been repeatedly brushed off, yet Dane continued to approach her without hesitation. Thankfully, his overly friendly demeanor masked his annoyingly persistent personality, and Reyna, unfamiliar with such people, had felt more curiosity than irritation.

Those two things made Reyna glance at the library clock after a brief deliberation.

“Two minutes.”

“It doubled!”

From that point on, what began due to a coincidence gradually evolved into inevitability through their shared academic interests. Reyna’s life was gaining color.

“Four minutes.”

“Eight.”

“Sixteen.”

The more they met, the more time she spent with him. Eventually, their conversations exceeded two hours and began encroaching on other parts of her schedule.

Realizing that, Reyna attempted to end their relationship—only for Dane to react in a way completely unexpected to her.

“Then I’ll just help you free up more of your time.”

Doing the opposite of backing off, he became even more involved and spent nearly every moment of the day with her. Whether it was classrooms, libraries, or labs—everywhere but the dormitory to sleep—they were always together. At some point, to Reyna, it felt like counting their time spent together became meaningless.

Baffled by the question that had so belatedly occurred to her, Reyna searched through books to find an appropriate label.

“Dane.”

“Yes?”

“Do you… like me?”

“Cough- hack!”

“Thought so.”

Watching Dane’s flustered reaction, his face flushed beet red as he failed to clear his throat, Reyna finally understood why she herself hadn’t pushed him away.

“I think… I like you too.”

That day, the two who had been neither friends nor lovers became an official couple. And before long, after graduating from Babel, they held a wedding ceremony.

Rumble-

The entire stage changed, now displaying a single cozy two-story house atop a hill. Hand in hand, the two dolls looked up at the newly unveiled backdrop and began their life together as a married couple. The first fruit of which came in the form of a child.

“Say hi to Mommy~”

The first time Reyna saw the baby cradled in Dane’s arms, she didn’t feel much of anything. There was just a faint sense of achievement every time, like a long-standing task of hers had finally been completed.

That is, until watching Lea grow changed her.

“Ah ah…”

“Haha. Looks like Lea prefers Mommy, huh?”

Just seeing a living being born from the two of them brought her a fulfillment unlike anything she’d ever known. Had something about her changed during pregnancy, or had the maternal instinct always existed within her, unnoticed?

Either way, Reyna awoke to the feeling of motherhood. In time, she also realized she had created a happy family.

“Happiness…”

Reyna wasn’t someone born without emotion or corrupted by a twisted worldview. She had simply been slower than others to feel or recognize her emotions.

But through Dane, she bloomed. And through Lea, that bloom turned into a full blossom of happiness. Reyna finally understood the overflowing amount of joy she had never felt before. At the same moment, she also understood her one genuine wish.

“I wish this happiness would last forever.”

If everyone could remain happy, just like now—that alone would be enough. She was well aware that her wish was both simple and impossibly difficult, but she wasn’t worried in the slightest

After all, as long as Dane was by her side, they could overcome anything.

—Act Three, Scene Three.

Unfortunately, the worst possible tragedy—the one thing she vowed to herself never to allow—arrived despite her conviction.

Rumble-

The stage changed again, showing Dane lying in a hospital bed. Lea had just passed her first birthday when Dane suddenly collapsed, coughing up blood.

“Dane…!”

“I’m sorry… for worrying you…”

Even in his weakened state, Dane worried more about his family than himself. In truth, Dane had a congenital condition known as Hypermana Resistance Syndrome, which flared up when he was exposed to demon aura during her pregnancy.

In resisting the contamination, his mana circuits had mutated to become hypersensitive to mana—rejecting even his own body.

“I’ll surely recover after some rest. Don’t worry about it too much.”

Yet despite the severity, Dane still tried to reassure his family. And naturally, he failed to settle Reyna’s only growing fears.

What if he worsened? What if he left them?

“…No.”

She could never let that happen. In fact, she wouldn’t allow it. From that day on, Reyna dove deeper into the field of Biological Enchantments, focusing specifically on a technique to anchor souls to the body. Reyna fervently believed that she could suppress the rejections by fixing Dane’s soul to his physical form.

Cough, cough!

Alas, years passed without results as Dane’s body continued to deteriorate more and more. Because his innate talent kept unconsciously amplifying his mana, his body would not recover.

Slide-

The stage backdrop changed to a room stacked high with books and papers. It was a place Lea recognized immediately.

The lab…

For as long as Lea could remember, the underground lab in their home had been off-limits. Now… she knew why.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Reyna scribbled down enchantments like a possessed person, clawing at her head. Her nails dug in repeatedly, tearing at her scalp to draw blood.

Drip, drip.

Even as her papers were soaked in blood, she didn’t stop… not because she was immersed in her work, but because all of her work was worthless and expendable.

“AAH!!!”

Crash!

She flung her arm wildly, sending books and scrolls flying off the desk. She clutched her head in agony.

“No… No… Please…”

She had to complete the soul-fixing enchantment before Dane reached his limit. But, but, but no matter how hard she tried, no matter how high she climbed the tower of knowledge, she found no answers.

“Why… Why…!”

Where had she gone wrong? What needed to change? Spiraling, Reyna came to only one despairing conclusion.

“No… it can’t be…”

There was no longer a way to save Dane. The talent and vision that had never once failed her… now denied her only wish.

Crack- rip-

Rejecting that conclusion—rejecting herself—Reyna tore into her skin and searched for another answer. She suffered from the conundrum, all alone—

Click, clack-

Dane appeared and gently embraced her from behind.

“It’s okay… We’re all going to be okay…”

He offered her empty reassurance, spoken with no basis in reality. Just months ago, that touch had comforted her. Now, his frail and bony frame only reminded her of the end.

“Sob…”

“…”

Their story was a traumatic sight, not meant for any child to witness. That was especially true for Lea, whose expression hardened as she watched the scene unfold.

Slide-

The stage changed once again, now showing the worst night of their lives.

Beep, beep, beep-

Hearing the alarm blaring across the stage, Reyna jolted awake with wide eyes. Beside her, Dane lay still, his lips dark with blood.

“Dane…?”

The lifelessness of his body told her all she needed to know: he was dead. The feeling of his… no, the lack of his beating heart brought about a despair that shattered something inside her.

“…”

The limits of the soul and the confines of the flesh—everything she had tried to overcome was now breaking apart, transforming, and awakening anew.

“Yes…!”

The idea of soul expansion and physical liberation filled her mind, making her reach for the enchantment pen on the table.

If Dane’s body was at its limit… then she could just offer her own, right?

“Huh…?”

She needed to act quickly. Now, while she still had clarity! Straddling Dane’s chest, she reversed her grip on the pen and slowly raised it overhead.

“…Reyna?”

With Dane barely regaining consciousness, Reyna stabbed the pen into his chest.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

She drove the pen down, over and over, blood splattering across the bed and walls. As her enchantment took hold, Dane’s previously limp hands suddenly closed around her neck.

Crack-

Even though he was clearly dead, his body moved. She was being strangled by Dane’s reanimated body, yet… Reyna smiled through her tears.

“Now we can all be happy…”

Snap!

Her neck broke, and the lights on stage went dark.

Crunch, slice, rippppp!

In the shadows, flesh twisted as blood sprayed. The two of them clawed at each other, merging into one another, now forever bound through that one enchantment.

Stop…

The technique of combining the flesh of unrelated beings was never simple. Husband and wife, Renya and Dane, though, were not such. Renya’s body held traces of their daughter Lea’s genetic blueprint—created from the union of the two.

Stop it…!

Blood spilled from the bed, soaking the floor.

Eventually, when Dane’s corpse spasmed one last time before collapsing, Reyna looked down at the shell that had once held his soul. She had finished the procedure.

“So this is the limit.”

Click, clack-

The ritual was a success but imperfect. Using Lea’s genetic blueprint appeared to result in an unstable fusion… which meant that was the ingredient she needed next.

Reyna turned toward the girl now standing onstage, frozen in fear by the horrors occurring before her. She, the last component needed to make their fusion whole, was right there…!

Reyna instinctively reached out—

“Not enough…”

She stopped, realizing that Lea’s body and soul were still too immature to serve as a unifying vessel. Withdrawing her hand, Reyna walked past the girl without hesitation.

It was enough for now that she had kept Dane from slipping away. Before the vessel was ready, what she needed to do was rebuild her technique. And to do that, she needed more test subjects, more samples.

“I have to…”

It was all for her and her family’s happiness. Repeatedly reminding herself of that, Reyna—no, Puppeteer—walked out of the house with a grotesquely twisted wish—

“Stop!!!”

Lea’s scream blared across the stage.

“Pant, pant…”

Crushed under the stage’s coercive power, Lea gasped for breath. Her thoughts were completely scrambled, her heart stabbing with pain.

“Lies… This is all a big fat lie….”

That… that madness… couldn’t possibly be the past she had lived. Stricken with splitting headaches, Lea violently pounded her forehead with her fist, then looked back up at the stage.

“Tell me you just killed him… that you conducted an experiment on Dad and failed! Don’t talk to me about merging or whatever the hell that was…!”

It had to be. The entire stage, the play, had to be some sort of sick attempt to shake her. It had to be…! Lea’s desperate prayer cut off, her eyes having landed on the woman now standing onstage.

The cold-faced woman had scars on her forehead and collarbone.

“…”

At that sight, she instinctively knew: those scars alone were proof enough. But what truly shook Lea was the look in her eyes—warm and familiar. In them, there was a sliver of someone… who wasn’t supposed to be present.

“Lea.”

Puppeteer—no, Reyna? She called her name. Lea instinctively stepped back.

“Shut up…”

Don’t look at me like that. Don’t say my name like that.

Unfortunately, despite Lea’s internal begging, that same gentle voice from her memories continued to resound.

“You must be quite overwhelmed right now. I know it’s a lot to accept.”

“Shut up… I said shut up…”

“Reyna… we truly lived for you. All we ever wanted was for our family to be happy—”

“SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!”

Slide-

The stage shifted again, merging with the audience seats to become one. Now, across from her, Reyna held out her right hand. But in invitation, not attack.

“So please… for just this once, will you believe in us?”

Lea froze. Why was she even listening to her? Why couldn’t she refute any of it? Scrambling for a reason, Lea soon realized. She knew. It was because she could feel the truth in those words.

Is that why… I was convinced?

From the corner of her heart, the possibility that it was her mother’s genuine heart begging for faith and forgiveness bloomed. Faced with a cruel truth, Lea’s will wavered and despair took hold.

What had she fought for? What was she even fighting against? The emptiness hollowed her out.

Weakly, her right hand began moving on its own.

Am I…

Would taking that hand make things easier?Would it bring happiness? The thought consumed her mind as her hand reached for the one extended toward her—

Splurt!

Her left hand stabbed her palm with a purple hairpin.

“Ugh…”

Drip-

Blood slid down the pin’s tip. The pain burned like fire, disintegrating every errant thought and awakening her senses. Regaining her clarity, Lea looked at Puppeteer standing a few steps away.

“Lea…”

Meeting Puppeteer’s eyes full of pity, Lea slowly pulled the hairpin from her hand.

“I really did get a little too emotional, huh…. Must’ve been the stage’s hidden effect,” she muttered.

“…”

“Audience immersion, right? Just like how people lose themselves when they watch their favorite actors, I guess I got pulled into your… no, the Demon Force’s schemes.”

Pop!

Blood spurted from her punctured palm as she pulled out the pin, healing it with an enchantment while keeping her gaze on Puppeteer.

“Anyway, I get it now. You’re saying that you’re still incomplete. Your plan is to dissect me, fuse me with your mess, and become the ‘whole’ you wished for. That about right?”

“That’s not—”

“Don’t even bother. You know I’m not someone you can convince with words.”

Like a switch flipped, Puppeteer’s eyes sharpened, which made Lea smile coldly.

“Yeah. I’m no child anymore. Not that you’d know—you ditched me long ago.”

“…”

As Puppeteer stood silently, Lea continued on with composure.

“Honestly? I still don’t know what to make of any of this. It all feels like a lie. And even if it is true, I still don’t want to believe it. It’s sickening me to my very core. But somehow… I also feel joy. That freaks me out the most. So…”

She clenched the hairpin in her left hand so tight that it nearly shattered, her eyes burning in anger.

“Let’s settle this, as planned.”

She affirmed once again that she hadn’t come here for reconciliation. She was here specifically to end Puppeteer, the monster who had slaughtered innocents, threatened humanity, and ruined her past.

“…Sighhhhh.”

Puppeteer exhaled deeply.

“Looks like you really did end up with the wrong man.”

“If we’re going to start pointing fingers, I’d say it’s more accurate to say I ended up with the wrong parents.”

Her brow slightly furrowing, Puppeteer slowly raised her hand.

“You’re right. We really are failures as parents.”

Rumble-

The stage expanded endlessly. From the audience, hundreds of puppets rose to their feet, each one on par with the Single Numbers.

“Before we start this merging process, I think it’s time for Mommy to teach you some discipline.”

Reappearing at the farthest edge of the theater, Puppeteer watched as the automata descended to surround Lea.

However, unfazed by the terrifying numbers, Lea calmly drew her Sphere and slid the hairpin into a groove within the shaft.

“Try me. Hound Knights, deploy.”

Boom!

Three hound-shaped automata burst forth from the void space, tearing through the enemy forces.