Transmigrated to a Dark Fantasy World of SSS-Rank: King of the Void-Chapter 49: The Memory

’Herald of the Unnameable, huh...’

Still lying on the broken remains of the table, Mitsuki let out a sigh—it was too obvious, after all. His transmigration to this world had to have an explanation; it was just that this explanation would give rise to an endless chain of tragedies he knew nothing about.

His arrival in this world marked the beginning of a new era, yet he had been too busy being a pathetic man. His gaze was lifeless, tears soaked his face, blood stained his skin, and a gloomy atmosphere filled the place, wrapping around him like a depressing cloak of pure misery.

’Well... now I can see notifications like this too...’ he thought. His inner voice was resigned. ’How convenient.’

Tired and broken, he struggled to stand—pieces of wood fell as he rose. He took a step forward, staggering; took another, and on the third, he collapsed to his knees.

He coughed, spitting blood. Then he cleared his throat and forced himself up once more. All of this was witnessed by Lulú, who showed signs of wanting to help as she approached Mitsuki hesitantly.

He reached the stairs, placed his foot on the first step, and fell, weakened, face-first onto it. Blood dripped from his forehead, and his long black hair covered his eyes. He raised a trembling hand and grabbed onto the railing. He stood again and climbed the next step.

"Mitsuki..." Lulú murmured.

She followed him up the stairs until they reached the door of that room. There, Mitsuki took the key from his coat pocket, opened the door, and without another word, shut himself inside. Lulú stared at the door in silence, wishing she knew what to do in this situation. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do for him.

Mitsuki fell face-first onto the bed and immediately closed his eyes. The pain from the blows was unbearable, but he didn’t feel any broken bones or fatal injuries. Ellegaard had made sure to beat him thoroughly without killing him at the same time.

’I’m sleepy...’

The system showed him a message.

[ The skill "Progressive Healing" has been activated. ] 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

[ Estimated recovery time: 12 hours. ]

[ Your body will enter a resting state while the skill takes effect. ]

’Huh... I see... that’s why I’m so sleepy. That’s fine... I’m tired... I want to rest.’

His mind sank into darkness. He felt as if he had fallen into a deep, cold pit, where something whispered in his ear in a language he couldn’t understand. That voice sounded broken and lonely, but also extremely tired—just like him at this moment.

When he opened his eyes, he didn’t find the next day, but something he had already seen many years ago. Laughter and playful shouts of children in an old park located in a distant suburb of Tokyo, Japan.

It was the year 2010.

"This is... why am I dreaming about this? What does this have to do with what happened earlier?"

He looked at his tattoo, expecting an answer. There was nothing. Apparently, this thing only spoke to him through messages whenever it felt like it. Disappointed, Mitsuki sighed and resigned himself to exploring the place. He walked along the cobblestone paths through the beautiful, perfectly kept grass, ran his hands over the old playground equipment where children played—but he noticed something about them.

"Why don’t they have faces?"

In truth, it wasn’t just the children. Everyone—including the adults accompanying them—had blurred, unrecognizable faces. At that moment, a faint spark on his forearm answered him. Mitsuki pulled up his sleeve and looked at the tattoo.

[ Because you didn’t care about who was around you, that’s why you don’t remember their faces. ]

It took him a moment to respond.

"I don’t care about that. What are you? Are you alive? Are you a conscious system?"

[ ... ]

There was no reply.

’Guess that’s how it’s going to be.’

Once again, he resigned himself to silence and continued. Soon, he reached the gazebo area, where a young Mitsuki Kirishima was sitting, playing on a handheld console from the 2000s. Seeing him, the older Mitsuki couldn’t help but let out a nervous sigh.

"I’ve never dreamed of seeing myself in third person before. This is weird," he commented with a crooked smile. "But since I’m here..."

He approached the child and sat beside him. It seemed the boy couldn’t sense Mitsuki’s presence—in fact, no one could. This was, without a doubt, just a distant, forgotten memory buried deep within his strange mind.

The child pressed the buttons eagerly as the character on the screen dodged platforms and enemies without stopping. Even at such a young age, it was clear he was extremely skilled at video games. However, suddenly, the character died, and the life counter dropped to zero.

Annoyed, the boy closed his eyes as a vein bulged on his forehead. Mitsuki smiled at the sight, as it was a habit he still had to this day—though sometimes he was even more explosive in front of the screen.

"I remember that game... It was so bad that I got frustrated many times trying to beat it. The mechanics were garbage, the level design made no sense, and the enemies were absolute trash. At least the soundtrack and art style were fun."

The child had nothing left to lose, so he started the game again—something that surprised Mitsuki. He raised his eyebrows as if he had just discovered something important and looked down with a faint, pained smile.

"Damn... I remember this day..." The expression on his face darkened. "I remember... this day..."

The young Mitsuki paused the game and looked forward, slightly upward, as if he were staring at someone tall. Then, a bit nervously, he asked, "Who are you? Why are you looking at me like that?"

The child’s voice caught the older Mitsuki’s attention. He assumed it was nothing important, but when he looked closer, he realized the boy was talking to himself. Just a second later, a sharp headache struck him. Ethereal purple sparks burst around him like crackling lightning.

A blurred memory of a dark being flickered in his mind, hitting him hard and causing him to fall to the ground. He groaned in pain as he crawled. Then he looked toward where the child was staring—and there he saw it:

A dark being, like a long-haired shadow, was watching the child with glowing, hollow white eyes.