It was in his 59th lifetime in the trial that Skyler started feeling a hollow dullness in his heart once again, even though he only remembered 13 of the numerous lifetimes.
In that lifetime, he climbed the Throne of Darkness and decided to ignore everything and rule Hell. He even became part Demon after eating the heart of the King of Hell.
After that, his eyes turned pitch black.
He also gained a pair of horns.
Yet, he died again.
And the one who killed him was Max.
Skyler’s eyes widened in disbelief as the Blade of Aethel suddenly pierced through his heart. He had never expected that the person he remembered as the kindest in Eldoria would be the one to end his life.
In his 60th lifetime, Skyler began climbing the Battle Royal. This time, he didn’t enter another realm or went to destroy Heaven.
Although he had never actively climbed the Battle Royal in his past lives, he had always been eligible. After all, he was dragged into the preliminary test at the age of 18 every time—and he had cleared it without fail.
Along the way, Skyler found Max and his team. He watched them closely, smiling.
And when Max finally reached the peak, Skyler stole the Blade of Aethel from him and ended his life within the trial without even a hint of hesitation. He watched as Max stared at him with wide eyes, blood trickling down his lips, while Max’s team shouted, attacked him, and called him a devil. Skyler’s eyes were dull as he flicked his fingers, sending them all flying back.
"Yes, I am a devil."
His voice remained indifferent.
"If you can, then come and kill me."
With that, he chuckled mockingly.
In that life, what amused Skyler the most was discovering that Max Hales actually had three beautiful ladies by his side, one of whom was even Skyler’s own sister.
A perfect little harem.
Yet, the more Skyler observed them, the more they seemed different from what he expected. None of the three were truly kind, and even his sister carried a sinister heart.
He clicked his tongue, staring down at Max’s body as it slowly grew cold.
"Why does it feel like you are the protagonist of some story?"
He then fell into thought.
"And here I am, dying again and again for many absurd reasons, like nothing more than a mere cannon fodder. How unfair."
After killing Max and earning the hatred of his teammates, Skyler left the Battle Royal.
In the 14th life he remembered, Skyler finally understood one thing. No matter how many times he died, his life would restart again for a reason unknown! And that realization was driving him insane.
Something was wrong with this world.
Very, very wrong.
However, before he could find the answer, he died once again. The God of Extinction had come following the first calamity that descended upon Eldoria. After he sensed Skyler’s strength, he attacked only him. The two fought as equals, and in the end, they died together, leaving behind the gleeful Higher Beings who had been watching.
When Skyler woke up in his 61st life, he no longer wanted to do anything. He simply wanted to disappear and embrace death.
But knowing that his life would just restart itself once again, he couldn’t even do that.
Still... deep within his heart, there was a very strange feeling—a thought that Skyler wanted to find someone, and that he would start to love his life again if he found them.
Yet, he didn’t know why he felt that way.
Ultimately, he returned to the Spirit Realm once again.
After all, that was where everything had begun. Perhaps there, he would find the reason his life had started rewinding itself—and uncover a way to finally put an end to it.
Once he was strong there, he intended to make the Queen of Spirits submit to him.
But fate led Skyler to a new place.
He accidentally stepped into the ancient tomb where the Sapphire of Serenity lay, and seeing that it could avoid the Higher Beings’ detection, he decided to remain there for a while—unaware that it was a place connected to countless timelines.
There, he encountered another version of himself from a different timeline and, for the first time, learned of Riruru’s existence.
In his 61st lifetime, Skyler finally met the owner of the crimson eyes—the one who had saved him when he first entered the Trial and fell into the Spirit Realm. Yet... before the two of them could even truly know each other, he could only watch as that pretty woman died before his eyes.
At that moment, although Skyler did not feel a deep love for the woman who had just died, as they had only met for the first time, he still felt as if someone important to him had been taken away. Holding her body as it scattered into light, he looked at the Spirit Queen with a very gloomy gaze.
"Why?"
The only response he received was a choked whisper.
"She was incomplete... It’s all that man’s fault... My daughter... No, it’s all my fault!"
The Spirit Queen cried in grief.
Skyler lowered his gaze.
"Incomplete?"
Then, he heard her story.
To think that someone had lived a life far more miserable than his own.
Her soul had been shattered during the battle between her birth parents, and not just once—she had endured the same fate over and over every time his life restarted.
As her body slowly faded away into countless fragments of light, Skyler rubbed his fingers together.
"I don’t like this feeling."
Muttering these words, after learning everything about Riruru, he left the Spirit Realm. He wanted to find all of her soul fragments, but in that lifetime, all of her soul fragments had already perished.
It was too late for him to do anything.
With an indifferent hum, he decided to end his own life, planning to simply start over.
However, he heard the news about the Wheel of Time and went to investigate the artifact. There, he encountered Max once again, kneeling before the Wheel of Time in a bloodied state, seemingly on the verge of death. Skyler raised a surprised eyebrow.
"You have actually come this far?"
Seeing him, Max’s eyes trembled.
"Skyler?"
His golden eyes, once filled with confidence, now carried madness.