Joel.
A name the young Morningstar had not heard for a very, very long time.
An identity that was now more or less forgotten.
"How do you know that name?" he found himself asking in disbelief, his eyes widening.
His bewilderment kept mounting by the second. First was this, the fact that he had somehow, some way, gone back to his past self, and second was the system. Of course, he knew what a system was. He knew it just as much as he understood what the word 'Regression' meant. After all, this young man was not from this world to begin with, and that was the reason the system had addressed him with the name Joel.
That was his name back on Earth, the name of a young man who had been falsely accused of murder and hanged to death for that crime. The only reason he never cried over the trauma of his former life in this one was because, from the moment he first woke up, he never believed himself to be Joel. Instead, he subconsciously adopted the mindset that he was Aurelius Morningstar, but with the memories of Joel Carson. At some point, he completely forgot that he had ever been Joel and fully immersed himself in the life of Aurelius.
"A system," he muttered, shocked.
Back then, he had expected something like this. From the memories of Joel, he was familiar with concepts like reincarnation and transmigration, all tied to the existence of an ethereal algorithm called the system. But throughout his first life as Aurelius, he never had it. With time, he let the memories of Joel become nothing more than background noise in his life.
The only thing that truly stuck with him through all that time was the memory of a novel Aurelius had bought when he was in high school. A novel that, for some reason, he could recall with staggering clarity, far more than any other memory. At some point, he realized that the story was not normal for this world, but that was it. He never took advantage of this knowledge, not even when he had realized who he was and what his fate would be.
Perhaps it was fear. Maybe the notion of being alone scared him far too much, and he subconsciously came up with excuses to stay with the very people who were destined to cause his death. He thought it was because of his character, so he changed it. Way before he got into Avalon, the young Morningstar became a different person altogether. He completely forsook his promiscuity and endless conquests, trying to build something more solid, something real.
But it still ended the same way. No, it was worse.
In the original story, Aurelius was indeed betrayed by the people he loved, but not to the point of them being the ones holding the blades that sent him to the afterlife. In fact, it was never confirmed that Aurelius was dead, only that he disappeared after an event that most definitely seemed like the end for the young Morningstar.
That was not the case for his first life.
Not only had the girl he fell in love with left him for another man, the protagonist, she had been in on the plan to kill him. A plan she single-handedly brought to fruition, of course with the help of all the other heroines, the protagonist, and his lackeys. It was supposed to be a plan to bring down House Morningstar, which was ironic, since he had long been disowned after the first battle of heirs.
The undeniable truth was that they simply wanted him dead.
They wanted to rid themselves of the young Morningstar, since they had never liked him from the start. Perhaps that was it. Aurelius had been far too consumed by his love for Diana, and his need for people he could call some sort of family, a place where he could feel like he belonged, that he never sensed the animosity they held for him.
At the end of the day, he was a Morningstar, and that alone was enough reason for them to kill him with their very own hands, even as he cried and refused to fight back.
"ARGHHHHHHHHH!"
His fury was unmistakable. With unbelievable rage, the young Morningstar punched the mirror, shattering it to pieces, his fist bleeding.
[SYSTEM COMMENCING PROTOCOL]
Suddenly, Aurelius felt as though his whole being pulsed with a single heartbeat, and he staggered back, crumbling to the ground, his hand instinctively going to his chest.
"Damn it," he cursed, but it was no use. The pain radiated through him.
[SYSTEM ASSIMILATION COMPLETE]
[MEMORIES ARE INTACT AND IN ORDER]
[TIMELINE IN ACCORDANCE]
[COMMENCING EMOTIONAL REPROGRAMMING]
"E-emotional..." he tried to say, but the next instant, he completely shut down, like a device whose plug had been pulled from its power source.
[EMOTIONAL REPROGRAMMING COMPLETE]
[COMMENCING COMPLETE FUSION]
[FUSION COMPLETE]
[UNNEEDED USER EMOTIONS ARE NOW FULLY RESTRAINED AND SET TO BE ERASED]
[HEIGHTENING SELECTED EMOTIONS]
[COMPLETE]
[START BONUS AWARDED]
[STARTER BONUS SOLD AND CONVERTED TO EXP]
[EXP CONVERTED TO SYSTEM POINTS]
[SYSTEM POINTS ATTRIBUTED TO CHARM, SELECTED PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES, AND VITALITY]
[ALL AUTOMATED SETTINGS ARE A GO]
[USER CAN NOW ACCESS STATUS BY MENTION OF STATUS]
[...]
[USER CAN NOW ACCESS STATUS BY MENTION OF STATUS]
[USER CAN NOW ACCESS STATUS BY MENTION OF STATUS]
[TROUBLESHOOTING]
[IT HAS BEEN ASCERTAINED THAT THE USER IS UNCONSCIOUS AND HENCE CANNOT RESPOND]
[COMMENCING BACKGROUND PROCESSES]
[TIMELINE SYNCING]
[IT HAS BEEN ASCERTAINED THAT THE USER ONLY HAS A YEAR LEFT BEFORE THE TIME KEEPERS SPOT THE ANOMALY]
[SET TIME TO LIVE: 360 DAYS]
[CALIBRATING]
[THE PLAYMAKER SYSTEM IS FULLY ACTIVE]
[ADJUSTING ALGORITHM TO ENSURE USER PERFORMS BETTER TO SATISFY THE PLAYMAKER]
[CONFIGURING]
[DEEP THINKING ACTIVATED]
[IT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED THAT THE EXISTENCE OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS IN OPPOSITION TO NEUTRALITY WILL STEER THE USER ON A PATH TO SATISFY URGES THAT ARISE FROM SAID EMOTIONS, HENCE THE USER WILL REMAIN DETERMINED ON THE PATH OF REVENGE]
[CONFIGURING TO BALANCE EXISTENCE OF RAGE]
[DONE]
[THE PLAYGROUND IS SET]
[SYSTEM WILL NOW FALL INTO DEEP SLEEP TO PREPARE FOR THE CANON]
"Your Highness! Your Highness!" a voice, unmistakably feminine, cried out at the sight of the bleeding mess of the young Morningstar slumped in the bathroom.