Webcomic / A Returner's Magic Should Be Special

Desir Armin's magic is indeed special.

I will not allow this second chance to go to waste!

A Returner's Magic Should Be Special (귀환자의 마법은 특별해야 합니다 - Gwihwanjaui Mabeobeun Teukbyeolhaeya Hamnida) is a 2016 Korean Webnovel series written by Jeon Sun-Wook, currently being adapted into a Webcomic series by the author and illustrated by Yoo So-Nan. The webnovel was completed at 8 volumes, while the first season of the webcomic consisted of 70 chapters, and the second season continues from chapters 71 and onward. An anime adaptation first aired as part of the Fall 2023 anime season.

In a world where people have the ability to utilize magic through the use of magic gems, humanity is constantly under threat of the Shadow World; a parallel world that opens up every year to eat away at the human world until there's nothing left. The Shadow World consists of infinite historic events that took place in the past, and the only way for humanity to push back this shadow threat is to complete missions within these events. Once enough missions are cleared, the path to the final boss will appear for humanity to finally save their home from the Shadow World for good.

The story follows Desir Armin, a tier-3 magician who along with five others finally manage to kill the Shadow World's final dragon boss, Bhromier Napolitan. Despite the victory, they were the only six survivors (including Desir) amongst the 150 million people who originally entered the Shadow World together 10 years ago; meaning that all their friends up to this point had been killed off. Before getting the chance to return home, the final boss had a last minute trump card to blow up its dragon heart like a bomb upon death, which overtakes Desir and the other five survivors. Instead of dying to the explosion however, Desir is instead sent back to where he was 13 years ago. He's now back to the day that he's about to take the entrance exam to enter Havrion Academy, the greatest magic academy in the Havrion Empire.

With the knowledge he now has of what he experienced the past 13 years, Desir readies himself to retake his school years at Havrion Academy once more. The restart also provides Desir with the opportunity to train up his fellow classmates so that they don't die in the Shadow World this time around.

The webcomic series is licensed by Tappytoon for English digital purchase and can be read here.

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A Returner's Magic Should Be Special shows examples of:

• Achievement Test of Destiny: Havrion Academy tends to provide tests to get an understanding on how good their students are.
  • The academy entrance exam is this. Applying students are gathered up into groups of 4 to face off against each other in a simulated Shadow World created by the academy. Once the exam is over, the academy teachers go over the efforts put up by the 4 students within their group, and decide which students should be put into the academy's Alpha or Beta class.
    • The entrance exam that Desir takes part in ends up being an 8 kilometer racing event. 4 students take part in a race on the Plains of Earnest where the 4 can utilize their magic to help them reach the finish line, even if it means outright attacking the other 3 racers. The first to cross the finish line of the race wins.
    • Another entrance exam is mentioned where a group of students had to fight a giant troll.
  • The Havrion Academy promotional exam is also this. 30 students that are teamed up in small groups are put into a Tier-5 Shadow World battleground to complete missions, and battle it out against one another. The students that put in a good effort can advance up from the Beta rank to Alpha rank. The top-9 students who put in the best efforts can be granted the top "Single Ranker" title above the Alphas.
    • Against 27 other students, Desir takes part in a promotional exam with Romantica and Pram as his teammates. The battleground they're put into is a dense forest area with a tall structure (Frevius' Clock Tower). While battling the other teams, some of the missions they deal with include battling a demonic creature (Kildra Mouse), and to be the first that stops the clock tower from working by destroying its power source.
• Action-Based Mission: Some of the missions the Shadow World provides end up as this. If the original Shadow World event results in a loss for one faction, then the mission that the human receives will be to change the outcome by leading said faction to victory.
• Alternate Universe: The Shadow World is a parallel universe that consists of infinite past events that took place in the human world. Humans who enter into the Shadow World will be tossed into past events that go about repeating itself, which people will need to complete missions for before moving on to the next past event. Once enough events are eventually completed, people can finally take on the final boss to end the threat of the Shadow World for good.
• Amplifier Artifact: These are sometimes found in the Shadow World. One particular artifact that Desir found in the original timeline is the "Toa's Crest" glove, which increases the mana capacity of the wearer.
• Ancient Conspiracy: The Outsiders, or at least some of their membership, are older than any of the world's current kingdoms.
• The Antagonist: The students of Havrion Academy aren't villains, but they still serve as opponents that Desir and his teammates end up fighting against. Most of this stems from the Nobles discriminating against the Commoners, which leads to fights between the Noble's Alpha class and the Commoners' Beta class.
• The Archmage: It's said that only high tier magic users who have full knowledge of magic and runes are capable of doing complete Analysis against their opponents moves. Desir is capable of pulling off Analysis due to his 13 years of experience in the original timeline, as well as being someone who studied magic since very young despite being a Commoner. Given that one of his comrades in the original timeline was the Sage of Wisdom (Joad Exarion), it can be assumed that Desir learned how magic works from the best there is. Overall, it makes Desir a genius when it comes to how magic works.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Nobles, and those that are Alpha class, aren't directly evil people, but they do harshly discriminate against the Beta class Commoners. Professor Pugman really showcases this by throwing parties that are solely exclusive to the Nobles and his Noble Alpha class while proudly boasting about there being no commoners to much applause. A lot of nobles hate commoners to an almost murderous degree, fearing that if they stop sabotaging them and give the commoners the slightest inch, the commoners will revolt a second time and kill them all.
• Asleep in Class: The Alpha Nobles appear to all be falling asleep in Freljord's class since she's mainly just repeating exposition as to why the Shadow World is a threat.
• Bag of Holding: The subdimensional inventory is this, which is a type of magic gem that can store and take out items. The way it works is that the user imagines a specific item that they want to store in or pull out of the magic gem.
  • Pram imagines to store his Blacksum rapier into the magic gem that's attached to his uniform, which disappears from his hands and is put into the subdimensional inventory. He then summons his rapier back out when he imagines it in his hands again.
  • People can also take items out of the subdimensional inventory without having seen it originally as long as they know that something is in there. Romantica knew that Desir left her a gift, which she imagines the gift in her hands, and it ends up being a magic sniper rifle.
• Barbarian Tribe: The Estebans are this, which are larger and more muscular than normal humans.
• Bazaar of the Bizarre: Havrion Academy is shown to have a market district where Desir purchased many things from in the original timeline.
• Berserk Button: Seen throughout the series amongst the characters where they will suddenly become angry about something specific. An example would be whenever Donovan has to deal with anything related to Commoners.
• The Berserker: Esteban barbarians tend to enter into a berserker state if they're enjoying a fight.
• The Bet: During his North Sea style chess match with Joad Exarion, Desir offers to make a bet where the loser has to comply with what the winner requests. Desir mentions that he achieved "Single Ranker" in the recent promotional exam, which impresses Joad enough to offer Desir a future job in one of his magic engineering departments if Joad wins. Desir's request if he wins is offering a trade in return for sponsorship from the Tower. The trade Desir offers is the ability to power up magic gems before they're properly enchanted. After Desir wins the match, and witnessing Desir's ability to power up dead magic gems before they're enchanted, Joad accepts the trade for the Tower to sponsor Desir. In the end, Joad also appoints Desir as a technical advisor for the Tower.
• BFS: Given the size of the Estebans, they're usually seen wielding large weapons in order to show off their strength.
• Black Market: Wujuken runs a very questionable antique shop in Havrion Academy's market district. It's not confirmed, but it had black market scheme written all over it. Wujuken himself is a very questionable fellow where it's clear that he tries to rip people off.
• Blue Blood: The Nobles are this. They act like the hierarchy that rules over the Commoners.
• Boarding School: Students live on the campus of Havrion Academy. The dorm room that Desir stays in is part of the Starling Dorms.
• Broken Bridge: Wujuken tries to keep Desir and Pram locked in his antique shop until they hand over the Blanksum sword. His entrance door is a strong metal door made from iron ores from the Kihalay Mountain. Unfortunately for Wujuken, the Blacksum sword is easily able to cut open the door.
• Butterfly of Doom: Desir has been using his knowledge of the future to change certain events, causing other events to either not happen or be pushed sooner than originally planned.
• Call-Back: When Desir and Pram are discussing in the Shadow World about the Estebans attacking the Evernaren estate, Desir reminds him of the berserking Esteban that Pram faced off against in Wujuken's antique shop. This is to remind Pram that Estebans tend to get excited when they face a tough challenge, which means that they will no doubt attack the heavily defended and fortified estate.
• Capital City: Dresden is mentioned to be the capital of the Havrion Empire.
• Character Development: Characters that Desir interacts with usually receive some focus to develop their character. Romantica, Pram, and Adjest in particular get the most development through their interactions and training with Desir.
• Chess: Chess exists in this world, and comes in different versions of the game. These versions include the Imperial rules, the Western Kingdom rules, or the North Sea's rules.
  • Desir and Joad are shown to be good chess players. However, Desir is only good at chess because he learned the game from Joad for 6 years in the original timeline when they needed to do something to bypass the time.
  • The North Sea's rules uses a chess board that's 5 rows wider, which provides more starting chess pieces to work with to create battle tactics similar to real warfare. There's no Queen piece, but instead has 2 Warship pieces. Pawns have a new mechanic where if it doesn't move for one turn, the row it's on becomes a Supply Line where other pieces that go into the supply line are able to move twice in one turn. Lastly, Knights and Bishops are increased to 4.
• Civilization Destroyer: One of the Outsiders' major goals is to put an end to human civilization. The motives of most of them are unclear, but Crow Mask's faction at least wants to do so to put an end to the nobles that they hate.
• Civil War: A civil war took place 12 years in the past where the Commoners tried to rise up against the Nobles to try to form a Commoner republic. The civil war was silenced due to the Nipheleka family stepping in and executing up to 80,000 Commoners.
• Cliffhanger: Sometimes appears in this series. An example is a newly appeared terrorist (The Outsiders) group showing up at the end of a chapter ready to attack the Tower of Magic.
• Clocktower: Frevius' Clock Tower is a key location and mission objective in the Havrion Academy promotional exam. It's used to summon the demonic enemies that attack the students, and the first team who manages to stop the clock from working is declared the winner.
• Color Contrast: Students at Havrion Academy tend to wear white uniforms. However, the 9 top "Single Rankers" are provided black uniforms.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Sometimes, characters are usually associated with certain colors to help differentiate them.
  • At Havrion Academy, blue-and-white school uniforms usually means that they're one of the professors.
• Cooking Stories: When Desir enters the Shadow World for the historic North Orlanne Region event, his first mission lands him in a kitchen where he must complete Jeffran Eastwood's "Dinner Service" quest. After working non-stop with Jeffran on cooking meals to better his relationship with the chef, Desir spots rare Maesil fruits that he chooses to use for the quest, which turns into a hidden quest "Dinner Service - Above and Beyond the Expectation." Desir decides to use the Maesils to make a special tea that will go along with Chef Jeffran's cake.
• Cool Chair: Adjest quite literally sits on a throne of ice when she uses her Ice Palace spell.
• Cool Gate: The gate to the Shadow World is a large magic circle on the ground of the human world that teleports people within it to the Shadow World.
• Cool Sword: The rapier Pram wields was first believed to be a cheap iron sword. It turns out to be more than meets the eye, and is actually a unique sword called Blanksum. The sword is said to be made of material that makes it feel light weight, and is stronger than steel to the point of never breaking or wearing down, which is something that all swordsmen covet.
• The Coup: The Nobles were dealing with many coup d'etats within their Dresden capital during the Commoner civil war. This allowed for the Noble Nipheleka Family to rise up the ranks to the point of becoming a Duke, and allowed for them to go about executing 80,000 Commoners.
• Credit Card Plot: A brief one where Joad Exarion provides Desir with a credit card to have a bit of fun after their chess match. Romantica wants to use it to buy pretty clothing while Pram wants to go to the theme park.
• Custom Uniform: Before taking on the Shadow World, Desir shows off to Pram and Romantica their new "Single Ranker" black uniforms. However, unlike other uniforms, the uniforms provided by Desir have been upgraded by the Tower of Magic.
• The Cutie: Pram is so dainty and agile that most people that meet him end up becoming delighted with him.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Some characters end up dealing with this, such as Pram never knowing his father, or Donovan watching those close him die due to a Commoner revolt.
• Dark Messiah: Skull Mask is The Chosen One of a god, Goddess Athena. By her will, he has engineered countless tragedies in order to destroy the current world so that she can create a "perfect" world In Their Own Image.
• Dawn of an Era: The discovery of using magic gems 50 years ago caused this. Once the Tower of Magic's Joad Exarion learned how to properly utilize the mana within the magic gem cores, it created a new era of magic where anyone, no matter how strong or weak, could use magic. The usage of magic gems was also what finally allowed humanity to begin to make progress at pushing back the threat of the Shadow World.
• A Day in the Limelight: Characters that Desir interacts with will usually get some time to shine, whether it be for character development, or powering up.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: After Bhromier Napolitan dies, his heart blows up with a mana explosion that's much greater than Tier-7 magic. The explosion supposedly kills the 6 remaining survivors, but Desir's mind is instead sent back in time 13 years.
• Deflector Shields: The Tower of Magic uses these for defense.
  • They have magic barriers installed on their structures to defend against attacks. However, as seen with the "Outsider" attack, it's weak to taking magical and physical attacks at once.
  • For the "Single Ranker" uniforms, the Tower of Magic added magic gems into the 2nd generation clothes line in order for them to have magic barriers that deflect physical and magical attacks at the same Tier-level. Desir shows this off to Romantica and Pram when they get their "Single Ranker" uniforms in chapter 52 by using Fireball on the uniform only for it to be deflected by the barrier.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Occurs in the first chapter in order to jumpstart the story. Just when the 6 survivors thought everything was over after defeating the final boss of the Shadow World, the boss' dragon heart bomb goes off.
• Disappeared Dad: Part of Pram's story arc is him dealing with his Noble dad being out of the picture, and the fact that his own Commoner mother wants Pram to stay away from him given that Pram's an illegitimate son between a Noble and a Commoner.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Desir training up Romantica to go from being a Tier-2 magician to Tier-3 magician has a lot of suggestive moments when Desir had to form new mana-controlling magic circles within Romantia's body by pressing on her back. Readers compared the chapter 50 images of this event to Desir and Romantica having magic sex.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Pram, to the point when Kayria first met him he mistook him for a little girl. Then at the end of their training again asked if he really was a guy, but at this point he was most likely messing with him.
• Earn Your Title: The top-9 who perform the best in the Havrion Academy promotional exam are granted the "Single Ranker" title.
• The Emperor: The emperor of the Havrion Empire is said to be named Gilltian Jedgar F. Roguepalace. He hasn't been seen as of yet.
• The Empire: The Havrion Empire is this. Havrion Academy is situated with it, and Dresden is said to be the capital of said empire. It's implied heavily that the Nobles discriminate over the lower-class Commoners within the empire. This led to the Commoners trying to initiate a civil war against the Nobles 12 years ago to form a new Commoner Republic, but they were put down when the Nipheleka Family stepped in and executed over 80,000 Commoners.
  • In the past, there was once an empire called the Holy Empire of Artemis that fell to the Shadow World. The first legitimate Shadow World that Desir's team enters is based on a past event from the Holy Empire. Their Shadow World event takes place in the North Orlanne Region, which was the last remaining territory of the empire before it eventually got eaten.
• Elemental Powers: The magic used by humans come in all forms, but many are seen specializing in using the elements. Examples include Romantica being a wind user, Radoria being a fire user, and Alheim being a water user.
• Eternal Recurrence: How the Shadow World works. An event plays out in the human world, which becomes an event added to the Shadow World. This event then repeats within the Shadow World which people can take part in to complete missions to possibly change the outcome that happened in said event.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Crow Mask views himself as a Well-Intentioned Extremist with a noble cause and considers the sadism of the other Outsider factions disgusting.
• Exposition: At times, there will be scenes that dump a lot of information, such as explaining how the normal or Shadow Worlds work, as well as Desir dropping information given his 13 years of knowledge from his previous timeline.
• Fancy Dinner: The Noble parties are shown to have these.
• Faceless Goons: As seen with the 6 "Outsiders" mooks, they wear gray skull masks that have a layer of upper white teeth.
• Fantastic Caste System: As a major theme of this series, it's seen throughout, at first with the Nobles vs. Commoners found in places like the Havrion Academy (and all throughout the 'modern' world, not helped by uprisings against corruption). In past reflections via Shadow World, others exist, such as the discrepancy between Mages and Warriors. While the biggest threat for Desir is the creation of the final Shadow World three years after his return, he's constantly confronted with the knowledge that his plan to get the world to work together in preparation may not be as viable as he once hoped, least of all with the Outsiders throwing monkey wrenches into the workings of peace.
• Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: Rare fruits called Maesils can only be found in the North Orlanne Region. They have a nice scent, but are too bitter and tart to use for any proper meals. Desir decidesto use them to complete the cooking quest he received from the Shadow World.
• Fantastic Racism: The Nobles see the Commoners more like an enemy tribe than potentially rebellious subjects, to the point that some Nobles even want a Final Solution. As seen with Professor Pugman, it's clear that one of the issues that Havrion Academy is dealing with is Noble discrimination towards Commoners. Pugman desires for his Alpha class to be a home for nothing but Nobles while the Commoners are stuck remaining in the lower Beta class. This also carries over to the Alphas who end up looking down on the Commoners.
  • Within the North Orlanne Region Shadow World event, the Homeless Ones are dealing with this type of discrimination as well. Desir even compares it to feeling similar to what the Commoners deal with in the real world.
• Fantastic Rank System: At Havrion Academy, there are 3 known rankings. The school is split between the lower "Betas" and the higher "Alphas." However, the top-9 students are in a special group known as the "Single Rankers." Those who score great in the Promotional Exam are the ones who have the "Single Ranker" title bestowed upon them.
• Fight Scene: Quite commonly appears in this series given all the magic and sword duels.
• Final Boss: A large dragon named Bhromier Napolitan serves as the final boss of the Shadow World. The human world is saved once this dragon is defeated.
• Final Solution: The Noble Nipheleka Family's answer to calming the Commoner civil war against the Havrion Empire was to exterminate them. They executed as many as 80,000 Commoners.
• First Day of School Episode: Given that Desir is sent back in time to the day of his entrance exam into Havrion Academy, a lot of the chapter content early on is dedicated to the introduction of said academy.
• Flashback: Occurs several times in the series. Some examples include moments for Desir, Pram, and Donovan.
• Foodporn: The Havrion Academy food that the Alphas get to eat is top notch.
• Foreshadowing: During the promotional exam, the clock tower gears pop up from time to time while the duel between Desir's and Adjest's teams goes on. This is to show that Desir's been using Analyze to complete the mission objective, which is to stop the clock tower from working.
• For Want Of A Nail: Desir's entire motivation is to change the past and get people ready for the utter hell of the Shadow World mission in the future that wiped out nearly every person he knows. At first he's got a great amount of leeway thanks to his past knowledge, but as he acts and intervenes in situations that start altering the course of history, the history begins shifting and changing on a butterfly effect - and massive changes start to occur, causing Desir to realize that the past knowledge simply won't apply to most things anymore. The sheer level of divergence eventually becomes so much bigger than should have even been possible, that it suggests that a lot of things had been happening behind the scenes that Desire didn't know about, which his meddling is starting to provoke into action.
• Functional Magic: In this universe, either being able to use magic is a gift from birth, or people who can't use magic have to rely on the use of magic gems.
• Great Big Library of Everything:
  • Havrion Academy has a humongous library that contains the history of each of the Shadow Worlds. Desir gets his teammates to read up on the books so that they get an idea on what Shadow World they'll be entering, such as the Tier-5 Shadow World for their promotional exam.
  • In a way, the Shadow World is a version of this since it basically keeps an infinite amount of past events in storage.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Why do Shadow Worlds appear, why does closing them involve the process of Set Right What Once Went Wrong, and what is the Outsiders' main motive? The leader of the Outsiders, Skull Mask, is a servant of the Goddess Athena. Goddess Athena's ultimate goal is to destroy the current imperfect world and rewrite history to create a "perfect" timeline In Their Own Image. She has been creating the Shadow Worlds so that her followers can harvest the resources necessary for her plan. However, Skull Mask also suspects that Desir's very opposition to his work is also a part of his master's plans, so there might be some Omniscient Morality License involved.
• Handicapped Badass: Desir permanently loses sight in his left eye after defeating a massive dragon, causing problems with his depth perception and susceptible to attacks on his left side.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Having the training and capability to Analyze is usually for breaking down situational information and understanding the runes and workings of spells one sees for replication or counters, which great for supporting and strategy but ineffective in direct combat if the user cannot have the time to observe against a dangerous foe. Desir, having 13 years of experience on his shoulders and having observed much if not all of the mainstream magic out there, turns it into Awesomeness by Analysis and no small amount of Power Copying, near-instantly pulling up counters and copying spells to send right back at his opponents. This turns his average self with untapped potential in the original timeline, into a near-unstoppable prodigy in the new one.
• Heroic RRoD: There have been several systems developed for controlling magic. The system that was used by the long extinct dragon race was the most powerful ever created, too powerful for mere humans to handle. When the Outsiders release an ancient demon from its seal to end civilization and eradicate most of the human race, the situation crosses the Godzilla Threshold badly enough for Desir to try it. It works, but at a price, landing him in a hospital. And while his left eye is physically undamaged, the dragon magic makes him permanently unable to see through it.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: The Outsiders are divided into several factions. All of them want to end human civilization. Out of them all, only Crow Mask's motive, his wish for Revenge against the nobles, is known. All of the other Outsider factions remain a mystery.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Desir has his hair cover his left eye ever since he lost his sight in it.
• Hint System: The Shadow World usually provides information updates when they complete a critical part of the event mission they're on.
• Idle Rich: The people who get into the Alpha class at Havrion Academy are usually rich Nobles.
• Impoverished Patrician: The original Eru Family was this. Despite their name they didn't have any money. So Romantica's father, a wealthy merchant, purchased the Eru name from him to become a Noble Family.
• Improvised Training: Due to the lackluster resources Havrion Academy provides to the Betas, Desir uses the little he has to work with, such as simple balls and soda cans, in order to train up his fellow Beta classmates.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Romantica has a habit of being obsessed with cute things, to the point when she first saw Pram she stated she would spend her entire life savings to adopt him.
• Informed Poverty: Several cases.
  • It's implied heavily that characters are living in poverty if they've been classified as a Commoner. It's also hard for Commoners to get a better life if they attend Havrion Academy since they are forcibly assigned to the lower Beta class due to the Nobles that discriminate towards them.
  • In the Shadow World North Orlanne Region event, Desir passes through an area where people known as the Homeless Ones are living out on the streets. There are many migrating to the area due to the nearby esteemed Lord Evernaren taking in people who are homeless.
• Instant Runes: Magic runes appear throughout this series a lot whenever people cast their magic.
• I Was Told There Would Be Cake: Professor Bridgette provides Desir, Pram, and Romantica with a victory cake for not only winning the promotional exam to graduate from the Beta class to the Alpha class, but for also putting in such a good effort in said exam that they've each been given the "Single Ranker" title.
• Jerkass: The Nobles, including those in the Alpha class, tend to be this when they act like they're above the Beta Commoners.
• Killed Off for Real: Millions died in the original timeline when they took on the Shadow World alongside Desir. Some of his friends that died include Romantica and Pram.
• Knighting: The quest Pram ends up with in the Shadow World North Orlanne Region event is to distinguish himself as a soldier for the yearly battle against the Estebans. Doing so will reward him with the rank of Knight.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: When the demon of destruction — the Calamity — is unsealed in Romantica's home, Desir orders the rest of his party to flee. Pram and Romantica put up some resistance there, but Adjest agrees. He'd join them in their flight, too, except that his plans are waylaid by the reappearance of Crow Mask, who he has to analyze to prevent causing even more damage.
• La Résistance: In the past, Commoners at Havrion Academy rose up against the Alpha Nobles in order to form a Commoner's Republic. It has since been put down, but the Nobles continue to push the Commoners into the corner as the useless Beta class to make sure that another Commoner revolt doesn't reappear.
• Limited Wardrobe: The students and professors of Havrion Academy are almost always seen in school uniform.
• Long-Range Fighter: Wind-mages tend to be best suited for long range sniping attacks given their ability to fire off magic attacks that are fast and long ranged.
• Love Confession: A part of how Donovan tries to recruit Romantica into the "Blue Moon Party" is that it was love at first sight for him. This sours in the end after Romantica reveals to him her Commoner background.
• MacGuffin:
  • Pram's character arc is centered around his unique sword, "Blanksum."
  • The "Outsiders" attack the Tower of Magic in order to steal a Tier-2 magic gem called the "Tear of Reganel."
  • Desir's primary goal in the first legit Shadow World that his group takes on is to locate the "Toa's Creat" artifact that he used in the original timeline.
  • While taking on this Shadow World in the North Orlanne Region, the food storage at Evernaren's castle estate ends up being this since an Esteban tribe raids the castle in order to steal food.
• Mage Marksman: Magic users are capable of wielding gun-type weapons that fire off magic using the magic gem installed within it. Thus making them a magic gunner. Romantica basically becomes this when Desir gifts her with a magic sniper rifle.
• Mage Tower: A mage tower exists in this universe known as the Tower of Magic. Said tower is situated in the City-state of Alteia. Joad Exarion, who was one of the 6 Shadow World survivors in the original timeline, serves as the Tower's head sage.
• Magical Accessory: Accessories with magical properties exist in this universe. Donovan for example is seen using rings and a necklace with magical properties for battle. At one point, Donovan offered Romantica the necklace when he confesses to her, which she returns to him when she rejects his offer to join the "Blue Moon Party."
• Magic and Powers: Seen throughout the series since it's a universe where anyone is capable of using magic powers.
• Magic Knight: Some of the top fighters in the series are said to be Magic Swordsmen that are capable of combining magic with aura and swordsmanship. The primary example of this is Adjest. Magic swordsmen are considered to be amazing, because while it's easier to specialize, a person who does manage to master both magic and aura can boost themselves past the separate limits of either.
• Mana:
  • Mana plays a key role in the series since its required for humanity to use their magic. A person's capacity for magic is decided at birth, meaning that many lack the talent to become mages at all. Mana is also stored up within the magic gems, which allows for humans to possibly use higher tier skills above their current magician tier (For example, a Tier-2 mage using a Tier-3 spell). However, using a spell higher than the magician's current tier results in the user tiring out.
  • There is an alternate form of supernatural power called aura, based on training the body. Unlike magic, anyone theoretically could learn to use it. Aura is used to reinforce the body beyond it's normal limits, enhance the users weapon, and at higher levels, can even be manipulated into solid shapes.
• Master Swordsman: In a world where sword usage is common, some people eventually become this. Despite his young age, Desir considers Pram to be one.
• Meaningful Appearance: Desir's outfits tend to be the 'slacker student' variety, with his tie regularly not: indeed, during the Ranker Trials, Romantica and Pram even comment that for once, he's got his tie knotted correctly. Romantica's aren't too far off, as she's got the not-quite-in-dishabille look as well, and when she's out of uniform she goes for tomboy attire. Pram is a little bit more formal except for the fact that he wears shorts all the time, and finally, Adjest has the 'Student Knight' look with immaculate attire and hair. That many of the antagonistic Alpha class also wear their uniforms in an unkempt way also shows their disdain for not just their fellow students, but the world around them.
• Mental Time Travel: The initial premise of the series. Instead of dying to Bhromier Napolitan's dragon heart bomb, Desir's mind ends up getting sent 13 years back in time. His mind is put into his past self where he's about to take the entrance exam to become a magic student at Havrion Academy, which he spent 3 years at before entering the Shadow World for the next 10 years until finally encountering the final boss.
• Mentor Archetype:
  • Due to his 13 years of experience in the original timeline, Desir serves as a teacher of sorts to train up his fellow classmates in the new timeline.
  • During the Havrion Academy entrance exam, Desir and Adjest are assigned 2nd-year student mentors in Radoria and Alheim respectively.
• Militaries Are Useless: In the North Orlanne Region Shadow World, Evernaren's castle estate is protected by guards, but are disposed of pretty easily by the Esteban raid. The estate would have been lost right away had Desir's group not been around to help defend.
• A Million Is a Statistic:
  • It's said that at least 150 million people died taking on the Shadow World in Desir's original timeline.
  • Another comes up when it's said that Professor Pugman's Nipheleka family executed over 80,000 Commoners in order to calm the civil war that went down 12 years ago.
• Mission Briefing: The Shadow World tends to inform humans of the missions they need to complete through their minds.
• Mooks: Basic soldiers appear at times in the series. Some examples include Kraiken's "Outsider" fighters who attack the Tower of Magic, and the Shadow World Estebans being led by a leader Esteban that attacks Evernaren's estate.
• My Greatest Failure: Desir is greatly driven by the events that led to the destruction of the world in his previous life, but among his greatest losses was losing Romantica. He is so elated when he meets her in his new life that he can't contain his tears and hugs her, even though they had never met before at that point in time. This, of course, leaves Romantica bewildered.
• Nebulous Evil Organization: A group of outlaws that call themselves the "Outsiders" came into existence due to the rise of magic gems. Their primary goal has been to steal magic gems for themselves. Desir even warns Professor Freljord of the Outsider attack that will go down on the Tower of Magic's Ellueli Branch to try to steal a Tier-2 magic gem.
• N.G.O. Superpower: The Outsiders possess a lot of technology the rest of the world doesn't and are powerful enough to destroy entire kingdoms.
• Nouveau Riche: Romantica's family is barely considered noble. They are wealthy merchants who bought their title from an Impoverished Patrician, which means that in the eyes of most nobles, she isn't a real noble, but a filthy upstart commoner.
• One-Word Vocabulary: An Esteban's words become somewhat broken and one-worded at times when they're in berserker mode.
• Opulent Outfits: Nobles are usually seen wearing these types of outfits at their parties.
• Our Demons Are Different: Demonic Shadow World creatures, such as the Kildra Mouse, exist in this series.
• Our Dragons Are Different: A race that has long gone extinct, they were the most powerful magic users the world had ever known.
• Our Humans Are Different: This series stars the human race, but these humans are capable of using magic abilities. It's mentioned that humans are provided magic gems to cast magic if they have the skills and strength to do so. There's also the existence of the Esteban race, which are large barbarian-like humans.
• Our Mages Are Different: While pure magic-users exist in this universe, some are only capable of utilizing magic through the use of magic gems.
• The Paranoiac: The Nobles are living the high life at Havrion Academy as the Alpha class, but are paranoid that the Commoners could rise up against them, which they did in the past when the Commoners tried to form a Commoner's Republic. Commoners to this day are put into the useless Beta class in order to keep them locked down and weak from ever possibly revolting again, but with the threat of the Shadow World growing, they know that their precious high world exclusive to Nobles is crumbling until they will be forced to accept help from the Commoners.
• Paying in Coins: Pram sells his sword to Wujuken for 90 copper, which Desir then buys back for 40 silver.
• Peggy Sue: Desir is suddenly sent 13 years back in time.
• The Plan: Due to knowing a lot of what happens over the next 13 years, Desir puts together a plan to make sure that he and his companions are prepared to take on the Shadow World.
  • Desir believes whole-heartedly that the reason millions of people died in the Shadow World during the original timeline was due to the Alpha vs. Beta discrimination that Havrion Academy was dealing with during his academy years. That more people would have lived if the lower class Betas had proper training and education similar to the Alphas. As a result, Desir makes it his goal in the new timeline to end the academy's Alpha/Beta discrimination by training up the Betas himself so that they can stand and fight at the same level as the Alphas.
  • The first part of Desir's plan is to take his initial 3-man Beta group of himself, Romantica, and Pram, and advance them all up to the Alpha class. Winning the promotional exam will achieve this, and ending up in the top-9 will grant them the "Single Ranker" title. His goal is to make it clear to the Nobles of the Alpha class that they will no longer have an excuse to discriminate against the Commoners if he proves to them that the Commoners they forced into the Beta class can overcome the Alpha students.
  • Desir's next part of his plan is to gain the commission support of the Tower of Magic. His way in is to warn the Havrion Academy professor who has connections to the tower, Ms. Freljord, that the "Outsiders" are planning to steal the Tower's "Tear of Reganel" magic gem. Helping put a stop to the Outside thieves allows for Desir to get a meeting with Joad Exarion, which Desir offers a trade where he shows Joad how to power up dead magic gems in return for the support of the tower.
  • Following that, Desir chooses to take on a specific Tier-4 Shadow World event from the North Orlanne Region that requires at least 4 people in his team to take on. Since his current mana capacity is so low, Desir's primary goal is to find the mana capacity increasing "Toa's Crest" artifact glove that he found while taking on said Shadow World event in the original timeline.
• Poverty Food: The food the Betas are provided at Havrion Academy isn't that great. Romantica is usually seen eating, and complaining about the rock hard bread.
• Power Crystal: The magic gems are this, which are said to be pure mana essence that take the form of crystals. It's stated by Professor Freljord that it was the discovery of magic gems that allowed for humanity to finally begin to push back the threat of the Shadow World. In addition, magic gems are rewarded for completing missions in the Shadow World.
  • Magic gems have two layers: the "Outer Mana Constitution," and the core known as "The Inner Mana." The outer layer acts as a barrier to block access to the core layer, and taking the outer layer off will cause the core layer to dissipate into the air. To solve this issue, the Tower of Magic came up with a technique where they drill a miniscule hole to the magic gem core in order to harnass the mana of the Inner Mana layer. Once the Tower of Magic's Joad Exarion learned how to properly use the Inner Mana, it allowed for anyone to become a magic user.
  • One specific magic gem at the Tower of Magic is called the "Tear of Reganel," which is a Tier-2 magic gem that the criminal "Outsider" organization goes after.
• Power Copying: Those who understand magic very well have the ability to "Analyze" their opponents attacks in order to create runes that copy their opponents moves, and use it against them. Desir in particular is usually seen using this Analyze ability.
• Power Trio: Teams are usually seen in groups of 3. Particularly during the Havrion Academy promotional exam.
  • Desir's 3-man group basically turns into this with him as the knowledgable leader, Romantica as the ranged wind-magic sniper, and Pram as the up-close swordmaster support. This gets turned on its head after Adjest becomes the 4th member of their group.
  • Adjest's promotional exam team consisted of at least 7 people from the "Blue Moon Party." However, her, Donovan, and Percival made up the core 3 of the team. Adjest as the team's ace magic swordsman, Donovan as the magic-using tank, and Percival as the skilled swordsman.
• Pragmatic Hero:
  • Desir's magic combat abilities consist of finding the shortest ways to negate his opponents' attacks and land hits as efficiently as possible. He has had to find shortcuts because he doesn't have a particularly big source of magic power to pull from, unlike most other magic users around him.
  • Desir's teaching methods also amount to these, as he has experience from his previous life teaching people how to tap into their magic as fast as possible.
• Precursor Killers: This world once had elves and dwarves. The oldest of the Outsiders is a Time Abyss responsible for destroying them. He has also ended multiple human civilizations.
• Pride: Commonly seen amongst the Nobles who pride themselves as the Alphas that look over the Betas.
• The Protagonist: Desir Armin serves as the protagonist of the story that the readers follow along with.
• The Proud Elite: Opposite the Commoners is a group of people known as the Nobles that are living the elite high life. At Havrion Academy, these people are assigned into the higher Alpha class that looks down on the Beta class, which is comprised of the Commoners.
• Quest Giver: The Shadow World and its inhabitants provides quests to humans who enter its historic events. The missions continue in a quest-chain until the human is officially done with the Shadow World event, and receives his quest rewards.
• Rain, Rain, Go Away: Rains during the Havrion Academy promotional test, which provides a brief breather under a tree for Desir's team.
• Rank Up: It's possible for Havrion Academy Beta students to graduate up to the Alpha class if the right conditions are met, such as putting in a good effort in the academy's promotional exam. The 9 students who do even better than that are given the "Single Ranker" title. Desir and his teammates, Romantica and Pram, all rank up to Alpha and become 217th year "Single Rankers" by winning the promotional exam. Adjest is also named a 217th year "Single Ranker" due to her putting in a great effort in the exam.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Within the North Orlanne Region Shadow World event, a group of Estebans attack and pillage the Evernaren estate in search of food. In order to complete their mission for this Shadow World, one of the quests is for Desir's team to protect the estate from the Esteban attackers.
• Reality Warper: It uses up magical energy, but a homunculus can manipulate cause and effect to negate damage. At full power, they could theoretically even erase magic from the world.
• Recruited from the Gutter: Donovan believed he was doing this for Romantica, whom he saw as a Noble that was mistakingly assigned to the Beta class. Unbeknownst to Donovan, Romantica actually is a Commoner, and in the end, she declines his offer to be a part of Desir's team.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Sometimes seen on characters throughout the series when they're battling.
• Relationship Values: Humans who enter the Shadow World events will sometimes need to work to gain the approval of certain Shadow World people in order to push forward the event mission. The Shadow World will inform the human if they gain or lose approval from the person they're interacting with.
• The Republic: 12 years ago, the Commoners tried to create a new "Commoner Republic" when they initiated a civil war with the Nobles of the Havrion Empire. However, their plan ended up failing.
• The Reveal: Learning something crucial about certain characters happens quite often with this series. The biggest one is probably when it turns out that Adjest is a royal princess.
• Revenge Before Reason: In order to destroy the nobles, Crow Mask unseals an ancient demon with a realistic chance of driving humanity to extinction. He is actually offended that anyone would try to stop him and automatically assumes that they are all nobles.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: As seen in Donovan's flashback, the Commoners revolting against the Nobles had them guillotining people.
• Rich People: The Nobles are this. Professor Pugman even throws rich parties at his villa ex
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Desir appears to be the only one who remembers the previous timeline. Even Adjest, who was also present during the final event of the previous timeline has no memory of it.
• The Rival:
  • Havrion Academy and the Western Kingdoms are said to be rivals when it comes to gathering as much of the magic artifacts from the Shadow World as possible.
  • Rivalries also happen amongst the students of Havrion Academy, whether it be the Alpha vs. Beta discrimination, or magic and sword duels. Some of the more obvious rivalries are Desir vs. Adjest, Romantica vs. Donovan, and Pram vs. Percival.
• Rousing Speech: In chapter 52, the Havrion Academy chairman provides one of these to his students before sending them off to the Shadow World.
• Royal Blood: Gilltian Jedgar F. Roguepalace is the emperor of the Havrion Empire. Adjest's last name is then revealed to actually be Roguepalace, which means that she's actually royalty.
• RPG Elements: It's downplayed in this series, but some RPG aspects are still there. Examples include people wielding different kinds of weapons, and receiving rewards provided by the Shadow World.
• Saving the World: The human world is under threat of the Shadow World eating away at it until there's nothing left. So to save the world, humans enter the Shadow World to stop it from eating at the human world by defeating its final boss (Bhromier Napolitan). Only then, the Shadow World is officially defeated.
• Secret-Keeper: Desir and the professors at Havrion Academy know about Romantica's secret as to why she was put in the Commoner class despite being a Noble. Her family started off as simple Commoner merchants that traded with the Prillesha Kingdom, and were able to bribe a Baron of said kingdom to buy the title for themselves. Thus making Romantica's family come off as Commoners that are masquerading as Nobles. The fact that the Alpha's Professor Pugman is someone who hates Commoners doesn't help her situation.
• Secret Shop: In Havrion Academy's market district, Desir and Pram visit Wujuken's Antique Shop in a back alleyway in order to retrieve Pram's rapier sword.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Desir, after being reincarnated to his past self with bitter memories of the future via his thirteen years of Shadow Labyrinth experiences, has set his goal on making his party members grow stronger than ever before in order to prevent their deaths from happening.
  • This is also what the missions in the Shadow World itself tend to involve, preventing tragedies that happened in the real world's past from repeating inside the Shadow World's representation of it.
  • Setting right everything that went wrong is the ultimate goal of the Greater-Scope Villain, Goddess Athena, and her motive for creating the Shadow Worlds.
• The Siege: In the North Orlanne Region Shadow World, Desir's group has to protect the Evernaren castle estate from an Esteban raid that numbers at least 100 enemies.
• Simplified Spellcasting: A part of getting better at magic in this series is to train oneself to be able to cast spells without having to say the spell's name outright, which increases the speed of which spells can be casted.
• Sliding Scale Of Videogame Objectives: While it's not a video-game, the Shadow World basically acts like a gameworld where mission objectives need to be completed to pass historic events that the Shadow World provides. Missions can end up being anything from needing to win a race, to winning a battle, to killing specific creatures, or even something specific like stopping a clock tower from working.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: A major source of conflict. The nobles keep the commoners repressed and do everything they can to crush talented commoners, to ensure that bloodline and social status will always be more important than skill. The commoners themselves have also participated in some very bloody revolts against the nobles, and one faction of the Outsiders consists of extremists who basically intend to get their revenge against the nobles by ending civilization.
• Smoke Screen: The promotional exam fight between Romantica and Donovan gets covered in an ice fog due to the duel going on between Desir and Adjest.
• Sniper Rifle: Joad Exarion eventually invents sniper rifles that fire off magic using magic gems that are installed within the rifle. Desir actually learned how these are made in the original timeline from Joad, which he then informs him about the basic idea and theory behind it in the new timeline. This allowed for Joad to invent the magic sniper rifles much earlier than he would have originally.
  • Desir gives Romantica a magic sniper rifle as a gift for her becoming a Tier-3 magician. Her strength combined with the power of the rifle is said to allow her to damange even those at the Tier-4 level.
• Sole Survivor: Out of the 150 million people that entered the Shadow World together, only 6 survivors are left after defeating Bhromier Napolitan. The 6 being:
  • The Tier-3 Magic Circle Magician, Desir Armin.
  • Adjest Kingscrown.
  • The Paladin, Raphael (the Sword Saint 'Knight of Light')
  • The King of Esteban, Donovan Asylan
  • The Tier-7 Magic Circle Magician, Joad Exarion (the Tower of Magic's 'Sage of Wisdom')
  • An unnamed female mage. Priscilla as revealed in the novel
• Speech Bubbles: Special speech bubbles pop up here-and-there. An example would be speech bubbles becoming all black with a red border to show that the character is giving off bloodlust.
• Spell Blade: A technique unique to Magic Knights is the ability to combine magic with one's sword. Notably, this form of magic is immune to an enemy mage's attempts to take it over via analysis.
• The Sponsor: The Tower of Magic usually sponsors for people at Havrion Academy. Professor Pugman is once seen boasting that he and his Blue Moon Party have the Tower of Magic as their sponsor. For Desir, he makes a deal with Joad Exarion for the Tower to become his sponsor.
• Standard Bleeding Spots: During magic or sword fights, injuries tend to show off blood cuts.
• Starter Villain: There have been antagonists beforehand, but the "Outsider" terrorists who attack the Tower of Magic to try to steal a Tier-2 magic gem are the first true villainous characters the Desir and his teammates face off against.
• The Stoic: In the beginning, Adjest shows little emotion beyond small amounts of arrogance.
• Stout Strength: The Esteban barbarians are shown to be large, muscular and strong.
• Sucky School: The school-life for Betas at Havrion Academy isn't exactly in the greatest of conditions given the discrimination that Commoners face,
  • The classroom for the lower-class Betas is rundown, dirty, smelly, beat up, and lacks decent food, compared to what the Alphas get. In addition, the professor assigned to teaching the Betas only offers pointless or meaningless lectures.
  • The academy's main training facility is exclusive to the Alphas, which leaves the Betas a single room on the top floor that's beat up, dirty, filled with pointless storage, and is infested with rats. Since Desir requires a place to train Pram and Romantica, they spend some time cleaning up the training room until it's perfectly clean.
• Stealth-Based Game: Some Shadow Worlds could end up as this.
• Storming the Castle: In the North Orlanne Region Shadow World event, a quest called "Invasion" starts up where Desir's group has to protect the Evernaren castle estate from an Esteban raid trying to steal the castle's food.
• Summon Magic: During the Havrion Academy promotional test, a Shadow World demonic creature is summoned for the students to battle against as a mission. The one Desir's team faces off against is a Kildra Mouse.
• Swarm of Rats: Pops up from time to time in this series, such as infesting the top floor of Havrion Academy's training center, and as mission creatures of the Shadow World.
• Sword Fight: Fighting with swords is shown to be quite common in this series. Havrion Academy is also known to train people with swords, which leads to some students, such as Pram and Percival, engaging in sword duels.
• Take a Moment to Catch Your Death: After defeating the final boss of the Shadow World, Desir and the other remaining 5 survivors take a moment to catch their breath, and discuss what to do next when they all return home. Moments after, the dragon heart bomb of the final boss' corpse goes off.
• The Team: Groups of students amongst the Alphas and Betas go about forming teams after becoming part of Havrion Academy. In order to become an official group recognized by the academy, a team has to consist of at least 3 people.
  • For the Alphas, Alheim leads the more elite team of the school known as the "Blue Moon Party," which is run by Professor Pugman. Adjest, Donovan, and Percival are other known members. Though Adjest officially departs from this party in chapter 46. At one point, Donovan tried to recruit Romantica into the party. During the promotional exam, Adjest serves as the party's leader, which consists of at least 7 people. However, she, Donovan and Percival are the only ones that duel Desir's group.
  • Desir decides to form his own team that he recruits Romantica and Pram into. Later on, Post-chapter 46, Adjest decides that she wants to join Desir's party after being impressed by his group acting more like a party rather than the Blue Moon Party. He accepts.
  • An Alpha named Gabriel is seen leading a 3-man party colored in red during the promotional Exam. One of his party members is named Janette.
  • Another 3-man party colored in green is seen in the promotional Exam called the Pine Tree party.
• Tier System: Tier rankings appear to exist for multiple things.
  • People who use magic are situated into certain tiers depending on how powerful they are starting from Tier-1 as the lowest. As an example from the original timeline, Desir is a Tier-3 magician, and Joad Exarion is a Tier-7 Magician.
  • As mentioned by Kayria, sword users appear to have a tier system as well based on people's skill in swordsmenship. While training Pram, he mentions that the boy is currently almost skilled enough to be at the level of the Swift Sword Tier.
  • The Shadow World has a Tier system depending on how tough the events are. The promotional exam took place within a Tier-5 Shadow World created by Havrion Academy. The first legit Shadow World that Desir's group takes on is at the Tier-4 level.
• Time Abyss: Skull Mask is older than the human race, and can even remember the Precursors who came before them.
• Took a Level in Badass: Thanks to Desir's mentoring, some of his classmates become stronger as the series goes along.
• Training Montage: Mostly seen with Romantica and Pram as they're trained up under Desir's mentoring.
• Tricked-Out Gloves: The "Toa's Crest" glove is this. Said glove is a C-rank artifact capable of increasing the mana capacity of the user that Desir found in a Tier-4 Shadow World during the original timeline. In the current timeline, he takes on the Shadow World once more in order to get the glove again.
• Tsundere: Played with in the case of Romantica, by design. She even wears twintails and all, but she starts getting mellower and more affectionate as time goes by.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Because of Desir changing past events, even intervening directly in the thefts and attacks of the Outsiders, they attempt to kill the king and his advisors long before they're supposed to and even summon a Dragon demon of sorts to destroy the entire city in the raid when the heroes manage to fend off the powerful attackers. Desir did not see this coming.
• Villain Respect: Skull Mask says that only two people have ever posed any noticeable threat to his plans, the mysterious hero who wielded the frost sword, and Desir.
• Weak, but Skilled: Desir is tremendously skilled enough to analyse any spell and even imitate dragon magic, but his mana capacity is very low.
• We Buy Anything: Wujuken buys anything to then sell at his antique shop.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Pram and Romantica react badly to encountering rats, with Pram outright fainting.
• Wide-Open Sandbox: Some Shadow Worlds could end up as this. The Promotional Exam for example is basically a wide open forest with a clocktower structure, and contains up to 30 people to fight and complete objectives in.
• Wine Is Classy: If it wasn't already obvious that they're rich people, the Nobles are usually seen drinking wine.
• A Winner Is You: The Shadow World will declare a winner once a mission is completed. Some examples include Desir being declared the winner of the race for the Shadow World entrance exam, and when Desir's team wins the Shadow World promotional exam when he succeeds in stopping the clock tower from working.
• Winter Warfare: The Esteban's raid on the Evernaren estate ends up being this type of battle since the fight takes place in the Shadow World's North Orlanne Region, which is a snowy location.
• Wizarding School: Havrion Academy is said to be humanity's best magic academy in the nation. Desir attended it along with many other up-and-coming magic students before they took on the Shadow World.
• Wizard Duel: Given that this is series where people have the ability to use magic, wizard duels between people are seen throughout.
• Worthy Opponent: Desir goes out of his way to defeat Adjest, the future World's Strongest Woman, because her current level is still nowhere near enough for what is coming, so he presents himself as a challenge for her to overcome. His efforts are successful, with her mastering the Spell Blade technique far earlier than in the previous timeline in her efforts to overcome him.
• Your Days Are Numbered: Starting from the end of chapter 45, a countdown appears showing the days remaining until the gate to the Shadow World opens. The day arrives on chapter 52.

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