yasinovel Chapter 129: Not the Same
Chapter 129: Not the Same
"Found you, Blindy."
The words landed like a blade between Junior’s ribs.
His heart didn’t just skip; it stopped entirely for a single, terrible moment before slamming back into rhythm twice as fast as before.
His mind went into overdrive. Hundreds of thoughts stirred at once, each one clawing for attention.
’How is this possible?’
He could sense the lunatic from the battle stage.
The Frostflame user’s mana signature was clear as day up there, visible and loud.
So how?... how was the same voice now breathing down his neck from the spectator stands?
’I can sense him from the stage. So how... how is he beside me?’
Cold sweat broke across Junior’s forehead, tracing slow paths down his temples and the sides of his face.
His blind eyes darted toward nothing. His hands curled into fists at his sides.
"W-what do you mean?"
His voice came out thinner than he wanted.
"Do I know you?"
The hand on his shoulder slightly loosened as the other party laughed.
"Haha... hahaha."
The sound was light, almost friendly. That made Junior even worse.
"Blindy, I didn’t know you were bad at lying."
Junior’s face drained of color. He tried to shift his weight, to angle his body toward escape, but the hand might as well have been made of iron.
Before he could take a single step, the other party chuckled again and said,
"Interesting. This is my first time meeting you, yet you know me. I wonder why?"
Hearing those words, Junior’s heart sank.
’First time meeting me?’
He replayed the words in his head, turning them over like stones in a dark river.
Then it hit him.
The person using Frostflame up on the battle stage, and the person standing beside him right now, were not the same.
Two different people. Two different lunatics.
’Indeed. That makes sense.’
Junior’s breathing slowed as the realization crystallized. During his loops, each time he had encountered the other party, they had acted differently.
Different words. Different tones. Different moods.
And now, knowing they were different people, everything fell into place.
But before he could follow that thread any further, the world twisted.
The roar of the crowd vanished, as if someone had reached into reality and simply erased the sound.
The warmth of bodies pressed together in the spectator stands disappeared.
Even the smell of the arena, sweat, dust, and excitement, evaporated.
In its place came the familiar stillness of his dorm room.
Junior’s breath caught as he realized that this was his dorm room.
’Was that space element?’
The other party removed his hand from Junior’s shoulder and stepped in front of him.
"Tell me."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere.
Junior reached out with his senses, his mana perception, his presence detection, every trick he had learned over three hundred years of life.
Nothing.
The other party had vanished from his perception entirely. It was like trying to reach an unreachable thing.
Junior forced his voice steady, even as his hands trembled at his sides.
"What do you want to know?"
He already knew the question. Class. Skills. The same thing every version of this lunatic had asked.
He had died to that question four times today. He was ready for it.
But contrary to his expectations, the other party asked,
"How do you know me?"
Junior’s heart began to pound faster and harder. Loud enough that he was certain the other party could hear it.
This was new. This was dangerous.
He knew the lunatic before him had a way to verify truth from lies, or something like it. Every death had taught him that much.
But he couldn’t reveal the heavenly book.
That secret was worth more than his life. At worst, he would die again and turn time back. Another loop. Another chance.
So, he stayed silent. His jaw locked. His lips pressed into a thin line.
The lunatic let out a soft chuckle as he asked thoughtfully,
"Was it related to... time?"
Junior’s entire body went rigid. Every muscle locked at once.
"H-how?"
The word escaped before he could stop it.
How had the lunatic guessed it?
Just how?
Could he read minds?
Was that the real skill behind the truth detection?
Was that why the other party always knew whether he was lying?
"It seems my guess was right?"
As soon as junior heard those words, he understood that by saying the word "how," he just exposed himself.
Junior didn’t know what to think anymore. His mind raced in circles, chasing its own tail.
Was that just a guess? A random shot in the dark?
Or was the lunatic messing with him, baiting him, watching his reactions, reading his thoughts through the pauses and the panic?
Either way, Junior realized with cold certainty:
He was being toyed with by the lunatic.
Junior gritted his teeth and asked,
"Just who the hell are you? Why in the hell were you after my class and skills?"
Junior finally lost his cool. He knew he was going to die again, so what of it? He didn’t fear death.
He was someone who had lived for centuries. Someone who wanted to become a celestial.
Even though the balance between his current body and soul was disturbed, what of it?
With the help of the heavenly book, he could do things people never even imagined.
So how could he be toyed with by a junior?
He wouldn’t suffer humiliation like this.
Meanwhile, the lunatic, hearing Junior’s question, paused for a bit and said,
"Actually... I don’t have a name yet. And even if I had one, what makes you think I would say it to a time element user?"
Junior paused for a moment and said,
"At least tell me, why do you want to know my class and skills?"
Suddenly, the lunatic burst into laughter and asked,
"Tell me... when did I even ask about your class or skills? Or were you... telling me you see the future? Or lived in it?"