WHITE.
Not light. Not absence. Just white.
Endless. Tiless. Spaceless.
Rama existed in it. But he shouldn’t. He’d died. Dissolved. Ceased to be.
Yet here he was. Aware. Thinking.
Confused.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
The words appeared in the white void. Not spoken. Not written. Just... there.
[CHAMPION RAMA KUSUMA]
[HEROIC SACRIFICE: CONFIRD]
[THRESHOLD GUARDIAN: DEFEATED]
[PERMANENT GATE: PREVENTED]
[EARTH: SAVED]
[MORTALITY: ACCEPTED]
Yes. He rembered. He’d fought the Guardian. Gone to 100% corruption. Forced himself back to human. Died in the process.
That was the end.
So why was he thinking?
[ANALYZING SACRIFICE...]
[CHAMPION GAVE LIFE TO PREVENT EXTINCTION]
[CHAMPION CHOSE HUMANITY OVER POWER]
[CHAMPION SUCCEEDED DESPITE IMPOSSIBLE ODDS]
[VERDICT: WORTHY]
Worthy of what?
[REGRESSION PROTOCOL: AUTHORIZED]
Rama’s awareness sharpened. Regression? What—
[YOU PREVENTED THE WORST TILINE]
[YOU SAVED EARTH AT COST OF SELF]
[YOU DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE]
[TILINE RESET: INITIATING]
No. Wait. He’d accepted death. Made peace with it. Saved everyone and let go.
[CHOICE DETECTED]
[DO YOU ACCEPT REGRESSION?]
[RETURN TO PAST WITH ALL MORIES]
[CHANCE TO SAVE EVERYONE WITHOUT DYING]
[YES / NO]
The question hung in the white void.
Did he want to go back? Relive everything? Try again?
He thought of Sekar. Sobbing over his death. Alone. Grieving.
He thought of the people he’d failed to save. The champions who’d died. The soldiers. The civilians.
He thought of the impossible tiline he’d just lived. The desperate choices. The corruption. The transformation. The death.
Could he do better? Knowing what he knew now?
Could he save everyone without sacrificing himself?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
But he had to try.
[YES]
[CHOICE CONFIRD]
[PREPARING REGRESSION...]
[TILINE RESET TO: OPTIMAL INTERVENTION POINT]
[LOADING PREVIOUS SAVE...]
[RAMA KUSUMA - LEVEL 1]
[DATE: JANUARY 15, 2026]
[54 DAYS BEFORE FIRST TILINE DEATH]
The white void began to fade.
Sensations returned. Weight. Temperature. Texture.
Sound.
Sekar’s breathing beside him.
[REGRESSION COMPLETE]
[WELCO BACK, CHAMPION]
Rama’s eyes opened.
He was in bed. His bed. The one in Sekar’s penthouse.
The ceiling was familiar. The morning light streaming through windows. The sound of Jakarta traffic outside.
And beside him, sleeping peacefully, was Sekar.
Alive. Whole. Unmarked by void corruption or battle.
Beautiful.
His hands—both hands—were clean. No void corruption. No blackness. No translucence.
Just normal.
He sat up slowly, heart pounding.
This was real. He was back. 54 days before his death. Before everything.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[REGRESSION ANALYSIS COMPLETE]
[STATUS RESTORED: LEVEL 1]
[MORIES RETAINED: COMPLETE]
[SKILLS: RESET TO BASE]
[KNOWLEDGE: TILINE 1 PRESERVED]
[SPECIAL STATUS: REGRESSOR]
A new window appeared.
[REGRESSOR BONUSES GRANTED]
[EXP GAIN: 300%]
[SKILL LEARNING: 500%]
[SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY: PERFECT]
[HIDDEN QUEST: AVAILABLE IMDIATELY]
[VOID KNOWLEDGE: RETAINED]
[CORRUPTION RESISTANCE: 50%]
[WARNING: REGRESSION IS ONE-TI PHENONON]
[DEATH IN THIS TILINE = PERMANENT]
[NO FURTHER REGRESSIONS POSSIBLE]
[USE THIS CHANCE WISELY]
One chance. One tiline. No do-overs.
If he died again, that was it. Final death.
But he had all the knowledge. All the experience. All the mories.
He knew what was coming. When. Where. How.
He could prevent it. All of it.
The deaths. The corruption. His own sacrifice.
This ti, everyone would live.
Rama looked at Sekar, sleeping beside him. In Tiline 1, she’d watched him die. Scread his na. Lost him.
Not this ti.
This ti, he’d save her. Save everyone.
And survive to see the world he’d protected.
He reached out carefully and touched her face. Real. Warm. Alive.
She stirred, eyes opening.
"Sayang?" Her voice was sleepy, confused. "What’s wrong? You’re crying."
He was. Tears streaming down his face without him realizing.
"Nothing," he said, voice thick. "Just really happy to see you."
"We literally saw each other last night. Are you feeling okay?" She sat up, concerned, touching his forehead. "No fever..."
"I’m fine. Better than fine. I just—" He pulled her into a desperate hug. "I love you. So much. I need you to know that."
She hugged back, confused but accepting. "I love you too, you weird man. What brought this on?"
"Just a bad dream. Really bad. But I’m awake now."
"Want to talk about it?"
"No. It’s over. It was just a dream."
Not a dream. A nightmare. A real tiline where he’d died and left her alone.
But that tiline was gone. Erased. Replaced by this one.
This ti, he’d do it right.
Sekar pulled back, studying his face. "You’re acting strange. Different."
"Am I?"
"Yes. More... intense. Like sothing changed."
"Maybe sothing did. Maybe I just realized what’s important."
She smiled. "And what’s important, oh wise husband?"
"You. Us. This." He gestured at the room, the mont, the peaceful morning. "Not taking any of it for granted."
"That’s very philosophical for 6 AM."
"I’m a changed man."
"Since last night?"
"Since right now."
She laughed. "Okay, Mr. Changed Man. Want breakfast? I was thinking we could—"
His phone buzzed. Multiple ssages flooding in.
From people he knew. People who’d died in Tiline 1.
Yanto: "Morning, Rama! Network eting at 10. You coming?"
Budi: "Yo! Dungeon run today? I found a good C-rank."
Seeing their nas. Knowing they were alive. That he could save them this ti.
It was overwhelming.
"Rama?" Sekar’s voice. "You’re crying again. What’s going on?"
He wiped his eyes. "Nothing. Just grateful. For everything. For you. For this life."
"Did you hit your head or sothing?"
"No. I just woke up. Really woke up." He stood, energy flooding through him. "And I know exactly what I need to do."
"Which is?"
"Save everyone."
"Save everyone from what?"
From void entities. From death. From the nightmare I just lived through.
But he couldn’t tell her that. Not yet. Not until the right mont.
"From themselves," he said instead. "From making mistakes. From not appreciating what they have."
"That’s very cryptic and vaguely concerning."
"Trust . I know what I’m doing. For the first ti in my life, I actually know what I’m doing."
He pulled up his System interface. The one that had granted him power in Tiline 1. The one he’d use even better in Tiline 2.
[RAMA KUSUMA - LEVEL 1]
[STATUS: REGRESSOR]
[TILINE: 2 (PERFECT RUN)]
[KNOWLEDGE: COMPLETE]
[MISSION: SAVE EVERYONE]
[TI UNTIL VOID HERALD: 54 DAYS]
54 days to prepare. To train. To build the army Tiline 1 should have had.
To do everything right this ti.
Rama smiled. A real smile. Full of determination and hope.
"What are you smiling about?" Sekar asked.
"The future. It’s going to be different this ti."
"Different how?"
"Better. So much better." He turned to her. "We’re going to save the world, Sekar. You and . Together."
"We are?"
"Yes. You just don’t know it yet."
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind. Maybe he had. Maybe dying and regressing did that to a person.
But he’d never been more certain of anything.
This was his second chance.
His perfect tiline.
And he wasn’t going to waste it.
"Co on," he said, pulling her out of bed. "We have a lot to do. And only 54 days to do it."
"54 days until what?"
"Until the war begins. But this ti—" He looked at her, morizing her alive, healthy face. "—this ti, we’re ready. This ti, nobody dies."
"Rama, you’re scaring ."
"Don’t be scared. Be ready. Because everything is about to change."
"Change how?"
He grinned. "You’ll see. Just trust . And whatever happens in the next few months, rember—I know what I’m doing. Even when it looks crazy. Even when it seems impossible. I’ve done this before."
"Done what before?"
"Saved the world. Died doing it. And now I’m back to do it better."
She was definitely thinking he’d lost his mind.
But that was okay.
She’d understand soon enough.
When he started leveling impossibly fast. When he predicted events before they happened. When he saved lives that Tiline 1 had lost.
She’d understand.
And when the ti was right, he’d tell her everything.
About Tiline 1. About his death. About the regression.
About how much he loved her and how far he’d gone to get back to her.
But for now, he had work to do.
54 days to build the perfect tiline.
54 days to save everyone.
Starting now.
Rama Kusuma, Level 1 Regressor, opened his System interface and smiled.
[HIDDEN QUEST AVAILABLE]
[REACH LEVEL 50 IN 30 DAYS]
[REWARD: SSS-TIER (CHAMPION DESIGNATION)]
[ACCEPT?]
[YES]
Let’s do this.
This ti, the right way.
This ti, everyone lives.
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