"This is the fifth scene... damn it, when is it going to end?" Daniel found himself in a royal palace built in Western architecture, similar to that of his previous world. He looked around and immediately recognized it—it was the place where he had spent the second half of his previous life.
He glanced at his clothes: the uniform of a military commander, decorated with various medals.
"Why don't you come sit down? Don't you want to hear the final request of your loyal servant?" a familiar male voice echoed in Daniel's ears.
He recognized the voice—it belonged to the greatest regret of his past life.
'So this is how you want to play it, huh?' Daniel hadn't expected the River to even dig into his past life.
With some difficulty, he turned around and saw a handsome young man sitting on a chair not far from him. The man had short black hair, brown eyes, and glasses.
He, too, wore a military uniform adorned with medals. For a moment, Daniel felt a sharp sting of pain. He had never thought he'd see the man again—the one who had meant more to him than even a brother.
He walked over and sat in the chair opposite him. Between them was a simple table with a chessboard on it.
"So, you want to play?" Daniel asked, trying to control his tone. It was hard—too hard to keep himself from reacting.
"Why not? I'm going to be executed soon anyway, so please grant me this final request," the man said as he made a move on the chessboard.
Daniel looked at him without saying a word. In his previous life, he had hated this man so much that he didn't even grant him the simple wish of playing chess. He had just sat there and watched his agonizing death with a smile on his face.
But now that he had a second chance, he wanted to at least make up for this regret. He responded by making a move on the chessboard.
Minutes passed slowly in silence until the man finally broke it.
"I'm sorry. I never meant for it to happen this way... but it was the only hope left to save this world."
Daniel could feel the regret and sorrow in his voice. He sighed and looked into his brown eyes.
Back then, he had been furious. Why? Why would the man who was dearer to him than a brother betray him like that?
But now, thinking back on it, maybe what he did wasn't wrong. Maybe his friend had never actually betrayed him.
'But am I regretful?' Daniel thought. The answer was simple: no. He wasn't sorry for anything he had done in his past life, because all of it had been done with a clear mind.
"You know, Isaac... I don't blame you. What I did was wrong, and you tried to stop the destruction of everything... but unlike you, I'm not sorry."
Rohan's eyes sparkled with surprise for a moment. Clearly, he hadn't expected Daniel to respond.
"Haha, yeah... maybe if they hadn't done what they did, things wouldn't have turned out . Maybe if they hadn't taken away your only reason to be human, the two of us would've been out there somewhere with our wives and kids, just relaxing."
"Sounds strange... but beautiful," Daniel said, closing his eyes for a moment to imagine such a scene.
"I hope after I'm gone, you get the life you truly deserve," Rohan said with a smile, then suddenly coughed up a few drops of blood.
Daniel opened his eyes and looked at him. Rohan's body suddenly began to shrink. Within minutes, he looked like all the flesh on his body had melted away.
And it wasn't wrong—his flesh, muscles, and other organs really were melting.
His eyes slowly vanished. His skin peeled away from his body. All of his blood spilled out from the holes and torn flesh.
Every cell and chromosome in his body burned away.
Daniel watched it all with pain, barely able to stop himself from crying. He had inflicted the most painful death possible on someone he once called a friend.
Death by radiation... Daniel wanted to shut his eyes to escape the scene, but unfortunately, how could the River allow something like that?
He was forced to watch every moment of his friend's death all over again—this time fully experiencing the emotional pain and sorrow.
With every second of watching his friend suffer, he hated himself more. Was it really necessary to go that far? Why? Why would he do that to someone he called a friend?
Just because his friend had tried to protect the world from someone as insane as him? There had been better ways to punish him...
The scene around him slowly began to collapse. His mind could barely endure the weight of such sadness and grief. But—
"This still isn't enough to break me," Daniel said, exhaling deeply, breathing hard. He had just faced the greatest regret of his life.
The mechanism of this scene was simple: back in his past life, when Daniel had ordered the execution of his friend in this way, he had been consumed by hatred and felt absolutely nothing during his friend's death.
But this time was different. After being reborn, he had a mother and a sister—and because of them, he had broken free from the hatred of his past life and learned to look at everything with a rational mind.
And now, he had felt an overwhelming sorrow watching his friend die.
[ You have successfully gained 140 Mental Power ]
A notification appeared in front of Daniel, and he looked at it. Instantly, a new scene began forming around him.
This time, he found himself next to a tree. It looked ordinary, but Daniel knew it well.
"You wouldn't dare show me that scene," Daniel growled—but unfortunately, his nightmare had come true.
"Daniel," a woman's voice echoed in his ears.
'No, no, no, no.' His heart started pounding uncontrollably. He didn't want to turn around—but it was as if something forced him to.
A beautiful girl stood behind him. She had long black hair and green eyes—a beauty so stunning that even words couldn't describe her in Daniel's eyes.
But tears were streaming down her face. And Daniel knew exactly why: the man standing behind her.
"Hey Daniel, been a while. Missed me?" said the voice of the man Daniel hated more than anything in all two—no, three—worlds.