21~29 Love Story That Always Fails a Thousand Times.
Alternative Name: Reincarnation Apple
'I hated my mediocre self. I despise my colorless life.'
A single woman thought as she took a mouthful of apple.
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'I became the pioneer who led humanity to the new world.'
'But I lacked the gift to love, and I was all alone when I realized it.'
'Oh, I screwed up,' thought the woman as she took a mouthful of an apple.
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'I became the strongest Pokemon Master whose each Pokemon is capable of destroying stars.'
'But from pursuing the power too much, my Pokemon confronted me.'
'Without a choice, I destroyed the very thing I raised.'
'Oh, I screwed up again,' thought the woman as she took a mouthful of an apple.
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'I became a savior.'
'Respected and worshipped by people, I shared unconditional love across the world.'
'But in my pursuit of kindness, I became too innocent. Evil deceived me and enjoyed trampling over my achievements.'
'Oh, I screwed up again,' thought the woman as she took a mouthful of an apple.
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'I became the god of magic.'
'The control of my mana extended to the atmosphere, gravity, and even time.'
'As a result, people began calling me an evil god and the universe joined hands to slay me.'
'In retaliation, I annihilated every living being in the universe.'
'Oh, I screwed up again,' thought the woman as she took a mouthful of an apple.
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'I stood at the peak of martial arts.'
'Martial Artists could analyze every single movement I made and study it to be called the god of martial arts.'
'But he appeared.'
'I lost even with the martial arts I was proud of.'
'For the first time in 781st tries, I remembered the sensation of individual defeat.'
'I've... lost?' thought the woman as she savored the taste of apple under the bloodied sky.
The woman despised the man who was an obstacle to her perfection, but she was laughing when she ate the apple.
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'Again...'
'And again...'
'Why do you always stand in my way whenever perfection is just within my reach...'
"Why are you even so fixed on perfection?" the man sat above her decimated body and asked her the question.
However, no voice escaped from the girl's mouth.
Seeing this, he sighed and took the apple from her pocket.
The familiar yet unfamiliar man shoved the apple into her mouth and said, "Stop trying to achieve the impossible."
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'I reviewed, improvised, and fixed myself to not lose for the next battle."
'I, who have retried a thousand times, who should be unknown to the conception of a rival, couldn't defeat a single person.'
'I enjoyed our contest but it frustrated me. In spite of how much I improved myself, and how much I exceeded in one aspect, he always adapted to my strengths and surpassed me with his everything by a single thread.'
'You are akin to the karma which I avoided and accumulated my entire life to obstruct me from ever reaching the life I fantasized about.'
'Perfection in every aspect.'
What began with the thought of becoming a gifted person slowly turned into an impossible goal as the girl pursued to atone for her mistake.
"Let's end everything here," the man standing at the opposite side of her in front of the corpse mountain said nonchalantly as his short white hair split in the center was swayed by the wind.
At this moment, the girl felt in her instinct that everything—her meaningless life, her ambition that will never come true—would truly end.
In fear, the girl held the apple tightly.
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Under the countless stardust and on the dying planet, the two faced each other.
One looked up at the man while the other looked down at the woman on her knee.
Under the messy sky of the rotating stars that moved at unbelievable speeds due to the broken gravity the two's fights caused, the man smiled.
"You couldn't beat me in this save data once again," grinning at the result of their battles the white-haired man spoke in a clear voice.
Then, he squatted at the spot to view the kneeled girl on the same level and continued his talk. "I had a little exploring upon what you call, [Memory Library] but... are you an idiot?"
Being in the universe where the Fantasy Energy expanded, the white-haired man naturally attained the ability to look upon the person's memory. Fortunately, memories were like a book to him, and 'reading' was his specialty.
"I do think—storing your memory in the library to protect your brain from the strain of unlimited reincarnation—is smart but why won't you review those books (memories) like the students before an exam?"
"There were so many clues as to why I am here and standing against you. But instead of reviewing it, and eliminating me before I reached this potential, you let it happen like the demon king sending out his subordinate to give the protagonist exp."
In contrast to his cold appearance which is strengthened by his white hair, the man before the girl was talkative and even played with his opponents during their serious battle.
His talkative features didn't disappear despite this missing right arm, left eyes, and the countless holes that opened in his body due to the aftermath of battles.
"And... you even failed to figure out the identity of mine that gives you the biggest impact, which will lead you to figure out the strangeness that continued 1000 lives."
"Even from my eyes, I could read the brief frustration of my parallel version you fought. Let's see..., [If there is a next life, I hope you find me once again as you did in the junkyard]"
The girl kneeling in front of the man gave him a perplexed look as she failed to understand what her greatest obstacle said to her.
"Poor me, even after all that sacrifice and loyalty I gave you in your 2nd life, you altered how you remember it and left it rotten in your memory library... whatever, ahem." The white-haired man cleared his throat.
At this moment, the girl widened her eyes as if something locked inside her was unsealed.
"Stop trying to achieve the impossible and," with a swish, the man snatched the apple in her hand and gave it a bite.
After grinding the apple inside his mouth a few times, he continued. "Let's end this boring side story. The story where I'm a villain & all edgy is boring and empty."
Finishing his sentence, he pulled the girl's chin and... moved the apple in his mouth to her... *gulp*
*haaap* after being released, the girl greedily sought breath as the process of reincarnation began.
"Good luck with your final next life."
"What, you're worried that don't know what to do? Just live your own life unshackled by crazed pursuits. And if you happen to be in trouble, seek me."
"Don't worry, the early version of me is pretty kind, although it doesn't sound so convincing coming from a man feared by the decillions of lifeform across the universe," the man patted with his remaining hand the enemy whom he was fighting for life just earlier.
Irritated, the girl smacked his hand off and continued retracing her unsealed memory.
[...]
[...]
[...]
The girl's body began to shatter into particles as the white-haired man waved his remaining hand cheerfully.
"[The Love Story That Fails a Thousand Times] Completed!" The white-haired man came up with a name on the spot and announced it.
After which the girl completely disappeared, the white-haired man replaced his facial expression and waited for his limbs to regenerate.
[Gluttony]
That day in that timeline, half of the universe was engulfed by a single enormous mouth.
"Told you." Smiled coldly the white-haired man toward the creatures of higher dimensional being.
♦= = =♦
Behind-The-Scene Story.
[Reincarnation Apple],
Enables you to make an apple that allows you to reincarnate yourself to the time when you first came to this world.
Upon consumption, your original body of that timeline will die and your soul will move to another timeline.
Once consumed by players other than the skill user, they will die.
It is also possible to directly summon the apple in 'consumed states' meaning even if you are dead, you can still reincarnate.
Reincarnation Apple was a unique skill the woman attained when she was dragged to the parallel world of Earth. However as amazing as the skill is, it has a hidden effect that even the woman doesn't know.
[Hidden Effect of Reincarnation Apple]
Karma Accumulation: The more fate you avoided or change the direction, it will accumulate and come back to you in a different form in the future.
This is the source of the woman's tragedy and the reason why, no matter how powerful she is, she always comes to an ending that she didn't wish for.
If she is too strong -> The world would fear her and unite against her.
If she is too kind -> She will be manipulated by the great evil.
If she developed the Earth's science in hope of making everyone's lives better -> Her major breakthrough would be used for mass-destruction weapons.
If she is too strong that nothing can block her way -> The accumulated fate will create a protagonist in form of either villain or hero to stand against her.
The paragraph above this is an important case. It's because, in the future, the woman became so strong that even 'Fate' couldn't stop her.
That's why it had to create a person that she couldn't ever surpass. That's why the appearance of the man only appeared in the later part.
Also, to fulfill her promise to the man to make this life of her the final life, she destroyed her own unique skill Reincarnation Apple.