[Lord of the Mysteries] Death Regression, but Together with the Fool

As the title says, this is about an unlucky guy who keeps dying and returning, and Klein, who gets dragged back in time with him and gets the chance to make up for his regrets.

The protagonist becomes a sacrifice from the start and is swept into a blood sacrifice. Cultists brutalize him until he dies, again and again (literally). Every time he dies, he returns to an unpredictable point in time, only to be killed again for some new reason.

Only the Sequences he has already advanced to are retained. Everything else rewinds along with time.

At first, he's terrified of pain, death, injuries, and being beaten. But after dying enough times, he gets used to it. When faced with a crisis he can't change, he even starts over on purpose.

It still hurts, but even if he's just died, it no longer keeps him from acting.

For some reason, he discovers that after each death, he can enter a space filled with gray fog and meet someone who calls himself "Klein," but is actually a fellow transmigrator from his homeland.

As he investigates, he discovers that he's not the only one in this world who can return after dying. Whenever he dies and returns, Klein's consciousness and memories travel back in time with him.

In the end, he uses his repeated returns to find a way to escape the cult and team up with the authorities or some other relatively upright secret organization to destroy the cult's hideout.

By then, his Sequence is already fairly high, thanks to the Beyonder Characteristics the cultists provided. Feeling that he has nothing left to aim for in life, he decides to meet his fellow countryman in person and see Klein face-to-face.

When danger strikes, he calmly kills himself in front of everyone. They're all shocked, but xxx doesn't care. Once time resets, they won't remember anyway.

He pulls the trigger. Time resets.

Everything starts over.

Klein has always known that time in this world occasionally jumps backward, abruptly and without warning. He never understood why, and no one else could retain their memories from before the reset like he could.

That is, until he meets xxx.

At first, Klein doesn't notice anything strange. Then he realizes that the moment after xxx kills himself, time starts over and everything returns to before the crisis. And xxx knows what's coming, acting even more like a Seer than he does.

Klein, familiar with all kinds of classic ACGN plots and memes: "...Looks like I've found the source of the time distortions. So death regression really does happen in real life."

Klein again: "Bro, hold off on dying for a second. I think there's still a way out of this one."

Klein be like: I used to think I had it rough, but then I remembered I know xxx, who's genuinely cursed with terrible luck, and realized I'm actually pretty lucky sometimes.

Obviously, the protagonist will treat Klein, the only other person who retains his memories, as his emotional support. Later on, he may be an utter mess, and Klein will patch him back together. (In other words, after raising a scruffy dog, Klein's mental state improves a lot.)

But xxx is always reliable when it comes to his abilities and solving problems. Never underestimate the willpower and strength of a player who can reset time!

The crazier he gets, the more he dies. The more he dies, the stronger he gets. The stronger he gets, the crazier he becomes. An endless upward spiral.

He's probably a handsome Latino guy who seems pretty sunny, at least on the surface. In reality, his mental state is so precarious that not even several Psychiatrists could pull him back from the edge.

He can't go home, can't die for good, can't escape, and can't find a way out. A handful of obsessions keep dragging him back into the same cycle.

And because he's been tortured to death so many times, he has PTSD. Since he can't stay dead, he just keeps dying, but no one knows what he's been through before. (Except Klein, so it's perfectly reasonable that he's so dependent on him.)

So he's a real nutcase who looks sunny and cheerful at first glance but only reveals his true nature when he's about to kill himself: a ghostly menace in both mind and body. (The Wraith potion goes down like a dream. Amazing, right!)

xxx's changing state of mind:

I'm going to blow up the world, I want to die so badly. Why can't I die?, Why am I still alive?, Finally, I blew them all up, Why am I still alive?, Wait, my fellow countryman!, Why does he return after death with me?, Thank you, Klein. (Devoutly), Praise the Fool, I offer the entire world to Mr. Fool.

He's probably on the Chained Pathway, a member of the Source Castle faction. Since he's not on one of the three Seer pathways, he can't use Source Castle. Other than being able to enter Source Castle and meet Klein every time he returns after dying, he has no other special abilities.

If he really is on the Chained Pathway, then there's no doubt he's part of the Indulgence Faction: the sort who's incredibly direct, proactive, and honest about both feelings and desire.

The premise may sound pretty bleak, but I don't like tragic stories and won't write one. Setting aside his returns after death and his terrible luck early on, the protagonist should find success in both his career and love life. Think, "I want it, I get it, I make it happen, I succeed": he takes down the cult and the Outer Deities, and finds mutual happiness with the person he loves.

This story has no Sentinel/Guide setting, but once I worked out the premise, it somehow felt perfect to make the protagonist a Sentinel and Klein a Guide. (When I finally finish writing it, I swear I'll write a Sentinel/Guide AU extra.)

P.S. The blurb needs work (it's already different from the first version), but the core concept hasn't changed. Posted on 2026.6.4

Theme: Stay true to yourself, never give in, and keep moving forward.