“Uhh…”

"Me and my brother were born to this world a couple months after the war named Mankind's Last Stand," Odiel started continuing out of nowhere. Alec wanted to stop him. Ask more. But he understood that Odiel would explain everything eventually. So he restrained his curiosity and kept listening.

"We lived as vagabonds in those leftover wastelands. Our mother died of unknown causes. Though I assume her body wasn't capable of supporting a deity's children."

"A deity's children?"

"Mm. My brother Hunter and I were the only two children of Uriel."

"Huh? Hunter? As in, Hunter Howard?"

"Anyway. We stumbled through the wastelands for years. We leveled up. Learned magic. I was an all-rounder while Hunter wanted to follow in father's footsteps. Fire magic."

The man disregarded his question once again. But he didn’t refute it either. Alec felt like he was being railroaded into the conversation. It seemed like the man didn’t quite care about his questions. At least for now.

"How did the demons react? What were they doing at that time?"

"Seeing our struggle, they decided to allocate a little bit more resource to their conquest," Odiel said. He slowly got up from his seat and gestured for Alec to follow him. He took him through a previously unnoticed door, into some maze-like tunnels. Finally, they found themselves in a gargantuan chamber with a raised platform right in the middle.

"What's this?" Alec asked. The questions in his head almost overflowing.

"Get on," Odiel urged him. Once they both got on the platform, it rumbled into motion. It started descending ever so slowly. Alec was confused at first, but long, clear windows appeared to decrease his confusion.

They were in the sky. On an elevator. Inside a gargantuan column that when Alec looked up, noticed it to be carrying the entirety of the academy grounds. He still couldn't see what was under them as the clouds blocked his vision, but he saw that crimson sky again. This time, that gaping, black hole in the sun's place didn't give him horrifying headaches and demonization.

"The Lens of Nocturne. It's a demonic kilo-structure. They sent it over after the big war," Odiel said, poisonous hate flowing from his voice. "It pollutes the sunlight. The mana in the atmosphere... A human with no levels? They are instantly demonized once they go out into the light. Only mages like us can bear looking at it. The weaker ones would meet the same fate."

"That's horrific..." Alec muttered, his eyes still plastered on the thing. It was like an eclipse. Just more intimidating.

"Yes. We thought the same too. And humankind was pretty much doomed from then on. Until me and Hunter found our last bit of hope."

"And it was?"

"A stray Concord scout vessel crashed onto our planet one day. Me and Hunter were lucky enough to find it. We did our best to crack their codes. Fortunately, the holy system seems to have united this galaxy with its language. Our language, Toalqeshi was born from it. And it seemed the other species was blessed with it too. It was quite easy to decipher. For some text from an alien civilization, I mean."

Alec nodded along while watching the slowly lowering platform.

"We had wondered where the demons had come from. They seemed to only infect humans. We thought they were some sort of parasite at first. But apparently, that wasn't the case."

"It wasn't?" Alec couldn't help but repeat. He had also assumed demons to be some sort of soul parasite.

"No. It seems that they were simply embedded into the human psyche and physique. They were a natural occurrence for us. The humans across the galaxy could spontaneously convert," he continued. He thought for a second, then continued. "Are you curious about how demons could become so prominent in this galaxy?"

"Yes," Alec answered honestly. Sure, they were a problem. But couldn't those other species steamroll over them with whatever superweapons they had? Couldn’t they have nipped it in the bud?

"First of all, you have to know that humans are the most magic-attuned species in this galaxy," Odiel said. Alec's mouth opened and closed. So no space elves. Got it. "And that leads to greater individual power. For demons, who are entirely human-based, it amplifies. They are individually strong, but they also don’t have internal strife. They are perfectly coordinated under a hive-ruling class. The Concord records mentioned seven notable demons from seven different origin planets—demon kings if you will."

'Ah. A Classic,' Alec thought. He found some comfort in that cliché trope, albeit heavily distorted.

"They are entities of unimaginable strength. However, they were once humans too, just like us. Maybe a bit different because of the different planets, but nevertheless similar."

'I wonder if humans somehow spread throughout the galaxy and got disconnected from each other. Why would there be humans on multiple different planets?' Alec thought to himself.

"In The Concord records, we found some information on those demon kings. Interesting, information," The Headmaster said, emphasizing the 'interesting'.

"It seems that they were once otherworlders too. Just like you," Odiel nodded toward Alec.

'Oh. It's that kind of thing.'

"In fact, they had much more in similar than that."

"Like what?" Alec asked, slightly uncomfortable. He shifted in place, trying to calm down.

"They were... All students."

Alec's heart skipped a beat. He didn't know why, but it did.

"Magical Academy students. A concept pretty much alien to this world. We didn't have those sorts of places. Magic was privately taught by masters. Not by schools."

'So they were some people like me... Poor souls. Their endings were bad. They fell to the demons,' Alec thought. Although he tried to mentally distance himself from them, he felt a really bad premonition that kept biting away at his heart.

"Humankind was lost. We had no choice left, Alec Greenwood. Or whatever your name is, Otherworlder. Nobody knew the magic behind those otherworlders. But they all had unimaginably special powers once they came over."

"Did you know any of their... Names or something? Were there any records regarding that? Maybe about those special powers?" Alec asked hastily. Although Odiel's brow rose for a second, he answered seriously.

"I only know about one. It is the Demon King that rules this segment of the galaxy. His name is..." Odiel seemed to have a hard time remembering. Maybe it was a problem so far beyond him that he disregarded it. "Kim Jung Ha. His power is related to time somehow. But The Concord couldn't figure out its details."

The world came crashing down on Alec for a moment. He froze. He felt his heart stop. His vision became blurry as he felt sweat flooding from every pore.

'N- No... That doesn't make any sense! How!? How can that be the case!' he shouted in his head. His breathing became ragged. He started wiping his hand on his pants repeatedly. His leg became jumpy. His emotions started getting the better of him. 'The... The Daily Regressor's Academy Chronicles? It's that! It's definitely that!'

Alec knew that name. He knew that power. He knew it dearly.

It was the main character of his first famous webnovel after all. A story about some dude getting transmigrated into another world, going to a magical academy, and having a regression ability that lets him return from death once a day.

'So the six others are...'

He had seven novels. It was a habit. He liked ending them on bad notes. He liked it when the main characters fell to the demons. He had found some sort of solace in that. At least he wasn't in that bad of a situation.

But now...

It had somehow come back to bite him.

He wanted to puke. He wanted to dig his heart out. He wanted to forget what he had just learned.

'All this suffering... I created it?' He couldn't help but ask himself. However, he managed to stop. If he spiraled down that path, he would have never come back. He had to go on. Go with the flow. He had to do what had to be done.

He had to push on.