As Monster fell asleep, he awoke to find himself in the same timeline in which he had fallen asleep.
Now he knew that resting wouldn’t help, because it wasn’t just about blood loss; the guy named Cole, who manipulated gravity, and the other guy named Kiriko, who shot that lightning arrow, were the ones killing him in his vulnerability.
He forced himself to stand and considered how he could stop the bleeding.
He looked at his jacket, took it off, and used it to staunch the worst of the bleeding.
Monster is currently suffering from Class 4 hemorrhagic shock and feels dizzy, nauseous, and anemic.
Nevertheless, Monster couldn’t help but feel compelled to fight.
Even death wouldn’t help him, as he could simply rewind time if he died.
Therefore, he is forced to fight them in this state.
It doesn’t matter if he loses; he will always return to ensure her defeat.
Then he heard the voices of the two of them, wandering around and looking for him.
They had no idea that they had any other friends besides each other.
Monster approached, but was then struck by a lightning arrow, forcing him to rewind time using save state.
Then he whispered to himself, “It seems like they know I’m here, but they’re just pretending not to.
So I just have to dodge their attacks, it’s not that hard,” he said, sweating profusely.
His heart was racing, as it couldn’t pump much blood due to the significant blood loss.
He approached and then saw the lightning arrow flying towards him; he easily dodged it because he had moved away a few seconds too early.
The lightning arrow struck the ground—well, that’s what Monster had hoped for, but it didn’t happen that way.
Instead of simply hitting the ground, the lightning arrow multiplied and fired another lightning arrow at him from behind.
He watched it happen before he died and time rewound once more.
He didn’t know much about their abilities, because even in the girls’ memories, their magic wasn’t discussed much.
This time he had no plan; he simply thought of going straight for the jugular, dodging everything while devouring their shadows.
He came out and rushed towards them.
That’s when they saw him, and Cole froze for a moment, seeing someone who should have been dead walking around as if nothing had happened.
Monster didn’t make a sound, even though he was suffering from Class 4 hemorrhagic shock.
Even Kiriko was frozen for a moment, because when a person enters a Class 4 hemorrhagic shock, their blood pressure plummets to near zero because there isn’t enough fluid left for the heart to pump.
Normally, they pass out within seconds.
What they didn’t know, however, was that when the brain perceives a deadly threat, the adrenal glands release a lethal dose of epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol into the bloodstream.
In this state, Monster only has two to three minutes left, which makes him like a machine that only works briefly before it breaks down; after three minutes he is definitely dead.
The adrenaline violently constricts all blood vessels in his limbs and skin (peripheral vasoconstriction).
His body stops sending blood to the legs, arms, and stomach, shunting every single remaining drop of blood exclusively to the brain and heart.
This alters his movement patterns and his perception of the world.
He suffers from tunnel vision and deafness, sensations of ice and fire, and uncontrollable trembling.
His brain is suffocating.
Monster’s peripheral vision goes completely black, leaving him with extreme tunnel vision.
Sound is distorted; it sounds as if he is underwater.
With his blood drained from his limbs, his hands and feet feel deathly cold and numb.
He feels no pain from new wounds, yet his chest burns as his heart beats frantically against empty chambers.
His fine motor skills are gone.
Monster can neither pick locks nor aim precisely with a bow and arrow.
He can only perform raw, brutal, forceful movements – hacking, swinging, or crushing.
Monster is fatally struck by one of Kiriko’s lightning arrows, as he could not see.
Blood gushes out.
He sinks to his knees, and the world around him blurs.
As they step forward to take him down, a primal surge of adrenaline shoots through Monster’s body.
Monster stands up.
To them, he looks terrifying—deathly pale, his pupils dilated, moving with an unnatural, mute rage.
Kiriko was literally even more terrified than Cole at that moment, because he nearly wet himself when he saw Monster’s condition and still determined to fight them, but he’ll never admit it.
The only thing he said was, “What the fu—” Before he could finish the sentence, Monster grabbed his head, slammed it to the ground, and then punched him with full force.
His blows were inaccurate, but they killed him nonetheless.
Then he began to devour his shadow, which allowed him to regain a little vision with his left eye to pinpoint Cole’s location.
Cole wanted to use his ability to manipulate gravity, but he became so terrified of this murderer that his mind commanded him to flee.
He knew of his ability to use save state, but he didn’t know how he knew, since he couldn’t remember Janine or the others.
But when he saw Monster devouring his friend’s shadow, he vomited.
He saw Monster approaching and yelled at him, hoping to make him feel guilty or something so he could use the opportunity to escape, while still vomiting: “Don’t come any closer, you monster!
You’re so vile, unavoidable, and a damned cheat!
Without your ability to turn back time, you can’t do anything, can you?! Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Using your power against both of us is just unfair!
You probably don’t even know how to fight fairly, do you?!
You’re just hiding behind your power that makes you invincible!
Must be nice being so strong, right?
You probably laugh at everyone because they’re all too weak for you!”
Monster offered no argument; he couldn’t hear a word Cole said.
With his last ounce of strength, he strangled Cole.
He couldn’t even feel his hands and therefore didn’t know how tight his grip on Cole truly was.
Cole died instantly, his eyes rolling back, a pitiful grin on his lips.
He probably thought he could make Monster feel guilty after his death.
But Monster felt no guilt.
He simply devoured his shadow and thus gained his memories.
Then Monster’s body goes into a state of decompensation.
His heart can no longer maintain pressure.
Monster is no longer able to stand, collapses to his knees, becomes unresponsive, and his skin turns bluish-gray (cyanosis).
Monster dies again and again, rewinding time over and over, his mind only able to think “Why?” Because Monster has always had bad luck and, after losing his memory, encountered the worst people he could ever meet.
Despite this, he wants to find out who he was, and eating his own shadow didn’t seem right, since he would then be a phantom like the others and wouldn’t be able to turn back time.
Eating his own shadow was therefore not a solution.
Since he could neither see, hear, nor feel, he only realized that he had died because no one had helped him and he had lost three liters of blood.
For his body, only 16 years old, this was an enormous strain.
It’s a miracle that he managed to hold on a little longer to finish the fight before his adrenaline ran out.
Monster didn’t know that he had already died over 3,600 times; this was due to his broken left leg, the blood loss, and the lightning arrow that had hit him.
His save state glitched again.
This time there was no system, but Monster’s body rose on its own and continued walking as if nothing had happened.
His expression was calm and his eyes didn’t blink.
His eye movements were robotic.
He looked around and began jogging to find someone who could help Monster.
As Monster continued dying, his body found a better way to get help by using 100% of its human strength.
But instead of using that strength, he ran at full speed, breaking both legs in the process.
Monster’s expression remained calm, however; he felt neither pain nor fear of death, he was simply trying to survive.
Soon, Monster reached a village where a young woman found his unconscious body.
She brought him to her home and then healed his body using sanguine tether magic.
This is how sanguine tether magic works: Blood cannot be created from nothing.
The young woman must use her own blood – or the blood of a being close to her – as raw material.
The magic works by accelerating and commanding the body’s natural cellular processes.
The young woman uses the magic to force the blood to rapidly clone itself inside his dying body.
To repair Monster’s damaged organs, the young woman must temporarily connect her own nervous and circulatory systems to Monster’s.
The young woman’s healthy organs serve as a template or blueprint that Monster’s damaged organs must copy.
The young woman places her hands over Monster’s wounds.
Instead of closing the skin, the young woman’s magic commands Monster’s remaining blood to instantly coagulate, forming a hard, crystalline barrier of blood armor inside the torn vessels to stop further loss.
The young woman slices her own wrist and presses it to Monster’s wound.
Using blood magic, she forces her own blood to flow upstream into Monster’s body.
The magic strips her blood of antigens on impact, instantly making it a universal donor type (O-negative equivalent) so Monster’s body doesn’t reject it.
Because Monster’s kidneys and brain were failing from lack of oxygen, the young woman initiates a vital mirror.
The young woman’s blood inside Monster begins to rapidly multiply, forcing bone marrow to work at 1000% speed.
Simultaneously, Monster’s failing organs mirror the electrical signals of the young woman’s healthy organs, forcing dead tissue to shed and new cells to knit together in seconds.
The young woman breaks the bond before Monster’s body accidentally starts drawing too much of her, which would kill her.
Then someone from the living room spoke up and said, “Why are you helping strangers again?
Just let the boy die; it’s unnecessary to help someone who might only bring trouble.” The person’s voice sounded somehow sluggish and serene.
She ignored them because she didn’t want Monster to die; she’s truly a kind-hearted young woman.
She was finished and sat down on a chair with relief.
She feels herself growing weaker and weaker; this is the price she has to pay for giving up her blood and essentially having her organs used as a blueprint.
She suffers from temporary blindness and severe tremors. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Monster awoke with a start, gasping for air as if he were drowning.
This made the young woman cry out.
Since she was temporarily blind, she thought someone had broken in, as she didn’t have superhuman hearing.
After all, she was only a heavy blood, a race that allows its blood to expand to 45 liters, and the rest of her was human.
Monster then felt her emotions within himself.
As her blood rebuilt his body, they are now tethered.
This means he can feel her heartbeat for a week, taste what she eats, or experience phantom pain when she is injured.
He blinked against the dim light, his eyes widening as he looked at his savior.
Her long, wavy brown hair cascaded softly past her shoulders, shifting slightly as her tremors began to fade.
She wore a simple, oversized emerald-green sweater paired with well-worn denim jeans—clothing built entirely for comfort.
Even in her weakened state, there was an innate warmth behind her brown eyes, a quiet brightness that made her seem instantly safe and approachable.
She looked like someone who spent her life noticing the small struggles of the world, stepping in with a gentle smile to carry burdens that were never hers to bear, completely forgetting to save any strength for herself.
Then he calmed down and watched her.
She couldn’t see him for a few minutes because she was temporarily blind.
“Thank you for saving me,” Monster said in an unnaturally gentle voice, as if he had softened, but that was only because her presence made him feel safe.
The young woman regained her sight, and the severe tremors also ceased.
Then she smiled warmly at him and offered him her hand: “That’s alright, I’m glad I could help you.
You can call me Yuka, but you can also just call me Akai, that’s my last name, if you’d like to be polite.
But it’s entirely up to you.”
Monster took her hand and shook it as if he had been rescued by an angel.
“Yes.
My name is Monster.” He is still overwhelmed by her kindness.
From the living room, the same person n spoke up.
“Just a first name?
No surname?”
A young man stepped into the bedroom doorway, leaning heavily against the frame with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of a faded grey hoodie.
His short, unruly black hair looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and his dark grey eyes held a sleepy, unbothered look, as if nothing in the world could ever surprise him.
“That suggests two possibilities,” the young man continued, slouched in his baggy black cargo pants and slip-on shoes.
“You’re an orphan, or you have amnesia.
But you say it so casually.
An orphan would just invent a last name to fit in.
A person with amnesia wouldn’t, because they’re still desperate to find their true self.
So be honest with me.
Which history are you hiding?”
It was quite direct, but Monster couldn’t deny that he suffered from amnesia, so he said, “Yes, I’ve been through a lot, but the truth is, I do indeed suffer from amnesia.”
Yuka pressed both hands to her mouth and gasped: “What?
You have amnesia?
How could that happen?”
“I don’t know…” Monster looked down.
He truly had no idea how he could be suffering from amnesia.
He only knew that he had been fed on the lies of the Ink-Weavers, but he had forgotten everything before that.
Yuka whispers to Monster: “He possesses a rare inner calm.
While other people panic in danger, his heartbeat never speeds up.
It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
The young man simply sighed, turning back toward the living room couch.
“What is it?
I’m trying to sleep.” He slouched back onto the cushions, closing his eyes to let the two of them talk.
“Don’t worry about him, he’s pretty unemotional and always keeps that poker face,” Yuka explained to Monster with a small smile, keeping her voice down.
“His name is Kaname Shima.
He always insists it’s pronounced Kah-nah-meh Shee-mah, so just call him whatever you want.
As long as you two get along, everything will be fine.”
She patted Monster’s shoulder gently, then stood up.
“Let me grab your clothes.
I washed the dirt out and sewed them back together for you while you were resting.”