It shattered something inside me.
Frey Starlight?
Who was Frey?
My main character…
the protagonist I created…
No.
My eyes widened ..
reality vanishing for a second.
A second that brought everything crashing back.
Memories flooded into my mind with brutal force.
Frey Starlight wasn't a fictional character.
He was real.
That miserable hero who stumbled through endless suffering wasn't a figment of imagination—
he was flesh and blood.
Veins pulsed across my forehead as I roared in pure, unfiltered rage:
"WESKER!!!"
Rage like I'd never known before.
They had tricked me ..
not once,
but twice.
The fog-covered demon…
and now Wesker.
I screamed, drawing every ounce of aura I could muster,
desperate to tear that bastard apart—
But I couldn't move.
With a mocking smile, he looked down at me.
"Still just an insect."
"What are you trying to accomplish with this?!"
I roared, completely unhinged.
Cursing them ..
those who had twisted my memories of my family,
who had forced me to live through the agony of losing them not once, but twice.
And cursing myself ..
For allowing it to happen.
I wanted to do something.
Anything.
Anything to break free from this cursed illusion.
Anything to ease the storm raging inside me.
But I couldn't even escape his grip.
Let alone fight back.
With ease, Wesker hurled me across the room with enough force to tear the very space around us apart.
"Once more."
He smiled as I was swallowed once again by the rushing torrent of time.
In the chaos,
I clutched my head and grit my teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
"Remember…"
I kept repeating to myself—
"You are Frey Starlight!"
This isn't a novel… it's real.
"Remember!"
I screamed at myself with every ounce of strength I had.
"Don't lose yourself!!"
Don't let it happen again.
My family… they were gone a long time ago.
This ... this was nothing but a lie. A fabricated illusion.
"Remember!!!"
I shouted one last time, pouring everything I had into that cry ..
just before time itself came to a halt once more,
and that familiar room began to take shape.
Seated around the usual dinner table…
my family smiled at me again.
"Welcome back."
They spoke in unison.
I stared at them in silence for a long moment.
A strange buzzing filled my ears,
and a sharp sense of loss overtook me—
like something important had just slipped away.
I was certain I had been repeating something to myself…
something vital.
But what was it again?
I struggled to remember,
but my mother's warm hand pulled me back.
"Son?"
Meeting her gaze,
I suddenly realized ..
I hadn't responded to their greeting earlier.
That's right… I'm with my family now.
What was I trying to remember again?
With a smile, I finally answered them all:
"I'm home."
Back home.
…
…
…
Sometimes, pain is just a word used to describe a feeling.
But what most people don't realize ..
is that pain comes in many shades.
And Frey Starlight had just begun to understand a new one.
A color unlike anything he had felt before.
Something far beyond the physical pain he had grown used to over time.
A cycle.
An endless loop of joy, love, warmth…
followed by sorrow, rage, and death.
Over and over again.
That cycle repeated during loop number 27.
After watching his family die again,
he was thrown right back to the beginning.
Back to the familiar living room.
Where his family welcomed him, once more, in perfect unison:
"Welcome back."
And Frey ..
the real one ..
stared at them for a moment before answering with a smile:
"I'm home."
He said it happily…
But he didn't understand why his body was trembling so violently.
His mother and the rest of his family looked at him, surprised.
"Son…"
"Brother…"
They asked in unison ..
"Why are you crying?"
"…Huh?"
Startled,
Frey touched his cheek—wet.
Tears,
falling uncontrollably.
"Why are you crying?"
"I… I don't know…"
he said, his voice catching in his throat as a silent sob nearly choked him.
"I'm really happy…"
He was surrounded by the people he loved.
His precious family.
"I'm happy… so why am I crying?"
Why wouldn't the tears stop?
Why did his chest ache like something had been torn from it?
He didn't have an answer.
Time kept flowing.
And the loop repeated once more.
Again…
and again.
Loop 41.
Kneeling at the feet of the devil.
Frey collapsed, clutching his head in agony as his memories returned once again.
He wept tears of blood, overwhelmed by the sheer weight of it all ..
by the grief of losing his family forty-one times.
His heart was tearing apart.
Crying, broken, pleading…
"Please…"
He begged the demon before him, utterly shattered.
"Stop… no more…"
But the demon simply reached out—
and with a flick of his hand,
sent Frey flying once more.
"Once again."
At some point,
Frey felt his very soul beginning to tear away from his body—
dragged into another realm of agony.
He struggled.
Again and again.
Living through the same torment,
repeating the cycle without end.
From above,
it was watched.
Standing there,
Frey's ideal self—the one from before—
gazed down at him.
His eyes were filled with sorrow,
watching Frey descend into a whole new kind of hell.
An endless loop.
"A loop designed to place him at the peak of joy…"
The ideal Frey spoke,
quietly analyzing the suffering unraveling below.
"…only to strip everything from him in the cruelest way imaginable."
"And worst of all—he won't remember anything until the very end,
making each experience feel new and fresh every time…"
To survive what was coming,
Frey would need to reach a state of madness-level composure ..
an inhuman resilience ..
just to endure the suffering hurled at him.
To be broken again and again in such a vicious, methodical way…
The ideal Frey,
watching himself unravel,
could only pity the soul below.
"What kind of monster are you trying to create… Engineer?"
He whispered,
as Frey continued to fall deeper—
slowly consumed by madness.
...
...
...
A.N : We've officially entered a crucial stage in the System Secrets arc.
Thank you so much for reading and supporting the novel up to this point!
Apologies for any delays ..I'll do my best to publish the extra chapters as soon as possible.
And don't forget… castles can always unlock bonus chapters!