The Regressor Can Make Them All-Chapter 381

In a dressing room filled with clothing, a small girl hid.

On any other day, her heart would have been pounding with excitement at the thought of surprising her parents.

Today, however...

Splatter!

The door was slightly ajar. Through the small gap, she could see her parents’ room drenched in blood—and the monster that had caused it.

“Hey, are you really not going to talk? Hm?”

Stab! Stab!

The demon, its voice grotesque, plunged its sharp claws into her father’s torso. Her father’s body convulsed violently on the floor.

“I just don’t get it. Is that damn relic really more important than your life? It’ll all be meaningless if you die here.”

“Ugh...”

“Just tell me where it is, and I’ll spare your life. Or do you actually want to follow your wife over there to the afterlife?”

The demon grabbed her father’s head and forcibly made him look at the mutilated corpse of her mother. Yet, even then, her father bit his lip and remained silent.

Seeing that, the demon sighed in frustration.

“You should be begging for your life by now.... You really are one greedy bastard.”

“Hey! Wrap it up already!”

“Tsk, okay.”

The demon sighed and stood up.

“Judging by the situation, you must’ve hidden it somewhere with your daughter. Well, once I find her, I’ll make sure she wishes she were dead.”

The demon raised his right foot. At that moment, her father, now completely drenched in blood, turned his head barely toward her.

And upon meeting his eyes, which were filled with desperation—with the raw intensity of someone staring death in the face—the girl tried to channel what little mana she had into the brass-colored sword she had clutched in both hands.

Please... please...

If the Legendary-tier sword that her father cherished truly still had its power, then even her weak self might be able to defeat the demon and save her father. Clinging to that final hope, she squeezed out the last of her mana and pleaded with the weapon.

But nothing changed.

Woong-

Because of her lack of qualifications.

Without being able to do anything, she could only watch as the demon’s foot stopped rising. And at that instant, her father’s gaze, which had been locked onto her, slowly closed as if resigning to his fate.

Crunch!

The scene through the crack was painted red once more.

***

“...”

Se-Hoon opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom, a sight he had grown accustomed to over the past year.

A moment later, when he was more awake, he slowly raised his hand and wiped his face. Something had smeared there.

“Are these... tears of blood?”

Was it because he had experienced every emotion the protagonist in the dream had felt? Using his Blood Art, he cleaned away the dried bloodstains near his eyes before getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom.

Splash-

Washing the cold sweat from his sleep away, he changed into fresh clothes and walked into the living room.

The sun isn’t even up yet.

Gazing out at the dim scenery of Babel at dawn, Se-Hoon recalled the dream he had just seen.

Parents were brutally murdered by the demon; the Legendary-tier sword that refused to respond due to her lack of qualification; and the powerless girl who could do nothing but hide—he saw it all with his own eyes.

I never thought I’d learn it like this.

Before regressing, he had only heard stories about his master’s past. Was it because of the Blood Pact they made yesterday? Or was it stored within the Demonic Blood Crystal she had given him at the conference back then?

Maybe... it goes back even further.

With countless thoughts racing through his mind, Se-Hoon sat on the living room sofa and recalled what Meirin had told him yesterday.

“There are traces of the souls of others mixed into yours.”

For most, the thought of one’s soul containing fragments of other people’s souls would be terrifying. But for Se-Hoon, who wielded the power of Boundaries and freely roamed the Netherworld, it was nothing special.

Still, it wasn’t something he could just ignore. His soul should have been free from impurities since he mastered Soul Honing.

Traces of the souls of others...

Meirin had created Soul Honing to refine both body and soul, cultivating a pure sense of “self.” If he had truly mastered it, foreign souls should never have been able to mix with his own.

But it still happened.

Typically, he would’ve dismissed it as a mistake made by the other. Meirin, however, wasn’t someone who made errors with such fundamental matters.

And more than anything else, Se-Hoon himself had a hunch about what she meant.

She’s referring to the impurities in my soul.

The same impurities that had caused his synesthetic mindscape to collapse may have even influenced his regression. If what Meirin said was true, and those impurities were actually remnants of other souls, then everything suddenly made sense.

If other souls have merged with mine, that would explain the berserk tendencies of my Demonic Blood Art... and why I suddenly developed talents that didn’t exist before.

The scattered clues that had refused to align for so long finally fit together perfectly. And naturally, his mind drifted to the cause of it all.

Just when had he begun absorbing other people’s souls? If he thought solely about souls, no answer came to mind. But there was one similar thing—something that raised suspicions.

“Whew...”

Letting out a long breath, Se-Hoon brought up his status message in midair. Looking through it, he focused on a particular skill among the many entries.

[Sever Bond]

[Allows one to extract “—” using their own Fatestone.]

Staring at the message of Sever Bond—which he had gained as an additional skill to his unique skill, Blacksmith of Bonds, when his own bond had reached level three—a strange distortion flickered across the text.

Then, the part that had been obscured previously revealed itself.

[Sever Bond]

[Allows one to extract “souls” using their own Fatestone.]

“...So that is how it is.”

Se-Hoon let out a deep sigh. The changed status message confirmed his suspicion.

Knowing that no skill appeared without cause, the impurities in his soul—whose origins he could never pinpoint—had all stemmed from his unique skill, Blacksmith of Bonds.

Now that I know, I feel like an idiot for not realizing it sooner...

Just Bond Recreate should have been enough proof. After all, every time he used it, the impurities in his soul increased and placed an even larger burden on his synesthetic mindscape.

Of course, given the nature of Bond Recreate—a skill that allowed him to replicate other’s synesthetic mindscapes—such side effects were inevitable. His mistake was that he never bothered analyzing the exact cause.

But something about this still doesn’t sit right.

If the impurities were actually fragments of other people’s souls, and if Blacksmith of Bonds was the root cause, then logically, the contamination should only happen when using the skill. If that truly were the only cause, he should have experienced the same issue before regressing, having used the same unique skill back then as well.

Not once did I have this problem before, which means...

There had to be another factor, one that altered Blacksmith of Bonds or himself after regression. Realizing the unsettling truth, Se-Hoon furrowed his brow and shifted through his memories with his arms folded.

And it didn’t take long before he sighed.

There are too many variables. It’s just way too hard to pinpoint the cause.

Both of the forbidden powers he had used to defeat the Harbingers of Destruction and the countless battles he had fought against the Demon Force were events that could have corrupted his synesthetic mindscape—so much so that everyone except him and the Three Dogs would have gone insane.

Trying to find the exact cause among so many was simply just impossible for now. That was why, instead, Se-Hoon focused on what he could.

For now, I’ll adjust my body to align with Blacksmith of Bonds.

Although he couldn’t modify his unique skill, he could at least alter his physique or learn new skills to minimize the side effects. Right now, though, he had to deal with the conflict between Blacksmith of Bonds and Soul Honing.

I remember Master said that was the biggest issue, too.

Last night, Meirin had given him several warnings about his condition. And the one thing she emphasized the most was his use of Soul Honing.

“I don’t know what kind of Blood Art you’ve learned, but having someone else’s soul mixed with yours is dangerous. The nature of your blood, your body, and even your synesthetic mindscape could collapse instantly from the conflict. You need to either purify your soul or modify your technique.”

Among her suggestions, severing the connections between his soul and the impurities was one option—which he could do using Sever Bond—but that was just a temporary fix. To address the root, Se-Hoon was set on revamping Soul Honing instead.

However, that was easier said than done.

The entire foundation of Soul Honing is built on maintaining a ‘pure self.’ If I want to change that, I basically have to rebuild the entire skill from scratch.

Originally, his plan was simple: recruit Meirin and have her adjust Soul Honing to resolve the impurity problem. But now, the challenge was on a completely different level.

Just thinking about it was making his head hurt.

Buzz-

The sudden sound broke his focus, turning his attention away.

Jake: You awake?

Huh?

Seeing how Jake’s message had a strangely loaded tone, Se-Hoon raised an eyebrow and sent a reply.

Se-Hoon: I just woke up. What’s up?

Was he caught up in another incident, like during summer break? Or worse... had he messed up something again? Just as Se-Hoon was considering waking up Amir to check the news, Jake called him directly.

“Hello?”

—Ah, Se-Hoon. Sorry for calling so early...

“It’s fine. What happened?”

Jake's unusual tone and his low energy—something was definitely wrong.

—Well... umm...

Jake hesitated over the line for a long moment, clearly gathering his courage. Then, finally, he blurted out what he wanted to say.

—Make me stronger!

***

The first division of Offering was founded by Caden Miller, the disciple of the Sacred Craftsman. They had an underground research facility, which had been running for decades, boasting technological supremacy in blacksmithing that even surpassed Babel in some areas.

Fwoosh!

From the massive blast furnace—the Starfire, fueled by the core of a celestial body—to a mass production line for Hero-tier equipment and countless specialized devices, it looked like a collection of all top-secret infrastructure used by major workshops across the world.

And, in truth, that wasn’t an exaggeration. Many master craftsmen had actually shared their techniques with Offering in exchange for their advanced methods.

“How’s the Heroes Association holding up?”

“Three of our spies might be able to infiltrate, but we need to be careful. They have really tightened security lately.”

“Is that so? Well, it’s fine. We can still use our existing contacts.”

Unlike the cult-like Dawn, which was religiously driven, Offering operated through pragmatic exchanges—information, technology, and resources. Their networks were looser, but that didn’t mean they were careless.

Once a blacksmith stepped into Offering, they became trapped by their own greed, ensuring that Offering’s secrets remained protected. That was the secret behind how Offering always stayed ahead in technological advancements.

But now... things were different.

“Speaking of which, what about the Meisters?”

“Don’t even bring it up. All three of our recent recruits were assassinated by the Visionary before we could make any use of them. Same goes for anyone who even tried to make contact.”

The researcher’s face darkened.

“Just like the UD Group, they’re completely locked down.”

“Yeah.... There’s been a flood of new tech lately, but we can’t get our hands on any of it...”

With major organizations, they had always been able to find an inside contact by stirring things up.

But the Meisters and UD Group were different, being connected to Se-Hoon. Anyone who tried approaching them either got caught or was eliminated outright.

Because of that, Offering failed to steal most of Se-Hoon’s technology. Except for one thing, that is.

Bubble-

Inside a massive incubation capsule, Demon’s Edge’s form wriggled, turning the surrounding nutrient fluid pitch-black. The dark liquid then settled at the bottom, filtering into dozens of smaller incubation chambers through pipes.

Crunch-

Having absorbed Demon’s Edge’s synesthetic mindscape, the black organic matter began growing flesh-like masses, which, once they reached a certain size, moved to the next set of chambers.

Like that, mass-produced bioweapons—infused with the power of the Demon’s Edge—were created.

Watching the entire process from above, Caden couldn’t help but mutter in awe.

“I never imagined it would be this efficient...”

Even when using Se-Hoon’s mass-production sword aura technology with Meirin’s assistance, they had only achieved a three percent success rate. But after adapting it to bioweapon productions, everything changed.

Their success rate shot up, reaching nearly ten percent.

At this rate... we might really pull it off.

Their final goal was to create a special forces unit—an elite force of demons wielding the same power as Demon’s Edge.

Caden went silent, calculating the growing feasibility of their goal.

“The analysis report on the latest test subjects has arrived.” An eerie voice suddenly resounded in the air.

“Speak.”

“The Moscow experiment subject was completely subdued by Lee Se-Hoon. The human and armor used for the experiment were completely separated, leaving clear traces of dismantlement, which shows an urgency to refine our fusing method.”

Pondering the report for a moment, Caden shook his head.

“That only happened because of the anomaly, Lee Se-Hoon. Proceed with the experiment as originally planned.”

“Understood. Next, the Hokkaido subject was captured after a thirty-minute battle led by Inoue Ren, Inoue Erika, and Japan’s other high-ranking heroes. The engagement involved fifty-eight participants—three dead, eleven injured.”

“That should be enough data. Trying to recover it would be a waste; leave it as is.”

“Yes, sir. As for the subject in southern Indonesia, it was exterminated within five minutes by a Pilgrimage Church investigation team, which included Aria Myers and Jake Myers. The operation had fifteen participants, with one injury—Aria Myers.”

Hearing the name, Caden’s expression changed to one of slight surprise.

“Aria Myers was injured?”

“Yes. She shielded her younger brother, Jake Myers, and suffered a cut on her shoulder.”

“The younger sibling dragged her down....”

As Caden murmured to himself, he suddenly felt a presence watching him.

He glanced downward. freeweɓnøvel~com

Inside the incubation capsule, Demon’s Edge had turned its head toward him. It had reacted to the mention of “Myers.”

So you’re that interested in them, huh...?

Recalling the plan he had heard from Doppelganger, Caden turned to his subordinate.

“Any news on Doppelganger?”

“They instructed us to prepare by exterminating the unidentified undead occupying the Silent Volcano once the first squadron of the Demon’s Edge Corps has fully formed. And also...”

Sensing the weight of the words he was about to say, Caden’s subordinate hesitated for a moment before finishing a tone of utmost seriousness.

“They intend to kill another Perfect One.”

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