In a place of complete darkness, without a single speck of light, if someone were to look upward, they would see countless glowing "stars" that stood in stark contrast to the void below. These "stars" contained various images—scenes Klaus had seen before. Upon closer inspection, the stars were connected by thin, silver threads resembling mercury.
Amidst the endless darkness, a blonde-haired woman sat on the ground, hugging her knees. Her head rested against them as she slept peacefully in the silence. The white dress she wore, along with two pairs of angelic white wings on her back, gave her a sacred and serene appearance.
Suddenly, around her, countless projections began to appear. Each projection showed a girl who looked exactly like the angelic figure sleeping in the center. When observed closely, the edges, backs, and interiors of the projections contained endlessly shifting, overlapping text—symbols and words that constantly moved and changed. Staring too long could induce nausea or even drive someone to madness.
Memory Projection activated using the "Law of Memories"!
The girl featured in all the projections—and the owner of those memories—was Mary.
The projections began to move, showing the journeys of many different versions of Mary across timelines.
The first projection showed a confused Mary as she was thrown into a strange world, shocked to learn she had been sent to the past. She embarked on a journey to seek power in order to survive.
Before her death in the Great Asia-Europe War, initiated by Zhao Lianyun, there had been no true intercontinental wars. Each continent had been preoccupied with its own internal conflicts, exploration, and the development of civilization and trade. However, Zhao Lianyun successfully unified nearly all of mainland Asia and launched an invasion into Europe.
Caught off guard by this unprecedented development, the future-descended Europeans couldn't react fast enough and were quickly pushed back behind the Ural Mountains. Even after mobilizing, they struggled to hold the line due to their severely depleted population—Europe had just endured a massive famine and the Black Death, leaving them with far too few soldiers for defense.
After her death, Mary awakened in a pitch-black world, surrounded by countless stars connected by silver-mercury-like threads. In front of her, she saw projections of her own journey playing out in third-person perspective, exactly as she had remembered them when she first awoke in the past.
Her body trembled in fear from the silence and darkness. She instinctively tried to cast fire magic for light—but froze.
Inside her, all the Time Fragments she had absorbed or consumed had vanished—or more accurately, her physical body had vanished!
Mary now existed as a soul, a slightly transparent form layered with unreadable, ever-moving, overlapping inscriptions. Although her Time Fragments remained connected to her soul, they were significantly weakened here, suppressed by a mysterious and powerful force. They orbited around a massive, unfamiliar Time Fragment located at the center of where her heart once was.
Mary was shocked. She had no memory of obtaining this Time Fragment, nor any knowledge of its effect. She focused her soul's perception on it to access its information.
Regression: Possessing this Time Fragment allows a small portion of the user's soul to be stored within the River of Time and Fate. Upon death, that soul fragment transmits memories from previous regression cycles back to the moment the user first awakened the fragment. This process cannot be interfered with, except by a god who controls the Laws of Time—specifically branches tied to the past, memories, or by obliterating the entire universe and all within it.
The information made Mary furrow her brows in confusion as she struggled to comprehend it. But gradually, her expression shifted to one of joy and determination. She could now change her fate—and the fate of those who died during the war. Mary swore to stop Zhao Lianyun at any cost.
And so, the first memory projection came to an end, followed by the second, third, fourth, and countless others.
From the 2nd to the 10th regression, Mary did everything she could to save as many people as possible. But every loop ended in failure, much like the first.
From the 11th to the 20th regression, Mary lasted up to 60 days, minimizing casualties by taking leadership and discovering that time itself shifted in intervals—either to the distant past or closer to her original future.
From the 21st to the 46th regression, Mary began to experience intense loneliness and despair. Although no longer facing enemy armies, the survival difficulty increased with each time shift. She and the others were thrown into the Jurassic Period, approximately 200 million years ago!
They had to rebuild civilization from nothing while avoiding interference from roaming dinosaurs. Though carnivorous dinosaurs weren't yet dominant as in the Cretaceous, survival remained a constant struggle. Continuous failure led Mary to question the point of her powers, feeling crushed by unbearable isolation.
From the 47th to the 128th regression, Mary met Lily, a silver-haired woman with amethyst eyes from the American continent. They quickly became close friends, and together they helped a large number of people survive not only the Jurassic era, but also the brutal times of World War I and II.
Despite their progress, they nearly fell before the might of the Martial Emperor of Africa and the Black Emperor, who was allied with the Knowledge Empress of Asia. Though they succeeded in killing the Martial Emperor, the remnants of his empire joined the Black Emperor's growing power. Mary and Lily suffered the most defeats at the hands of this fearsome duo during the Mythical Era War.
However, no matter what method Mary tried—whether it was ensuring her own death by worsening her illness before meeting the Black Emperor, killing him directly, or preventing their meeting through indirect means—she continued to face nothing but disappointment.
Mary encountered only three possible outcomes:
One,The Black Emperor and Zhao Lianyun still ended up meeting.
Two,Lily met the Black Emperor instead, taking Zhao Lianyun's place and earning the title "Dragon Empress."
Three,Both Zhao Lianyun and Lily met the Black Emperor—and both became his consorts!
Everything that happened before her eyes dealt a heavy blow to Mary's fragile mental state, which was still in the process of healing. Mary fell back into the depths of depression and loneliness, just like before she met Lily, as all her efforts had ended in vain.
She could only grit her teeth and continue her journey through a dark path filled with pain and solitude. From that moment on, in the following regressions, Mary no longer aimed to save everyone or become a saintess. She simply wanted to survive and seek pleasure by wandering and discovering new things in search of the 'path' destined for her.
Thus, Mary's journey that began in the 129th regression commenced. She met and befriended many people from different countries, discovered many new and fascinating things, and experienced so much more. But,when the memory projection neared the 200th regression, the 'angel' Mary, standing at the center of the projection, opened her eyes!
The space trembled. Shards of the river of time and fate pulled at one another in the vibrating space, and the memory projection ceased, returning to its original form as if to welcome its master.
The Angel of the Past and Memories, the Empress of Mercury—Mary—had awakened!
Mary regained clarity in her eyes and immediately examined the state of her body—her soul—and her surroundings. The expression on her face was a blend of joy and excitement.
"How cruel, to kill his wife and make Her go through a few more regressions," Mary said after calming herself, though a wide smile still played on her lips. "Well, a few loops are nothing compared to the 200 I've endured."
After her soul had been tempered through 200 regressions and countless experiences, a few more didn't matter anymore. Because…
"I should get going now. I can't wait to see the ending with my beloved Klaus~"
This is The Way of the Regressor.