The Regressed Mercenary's Machinations - Chapter 34

Well, demonicscans successfully shamed me into paying for a subscriptiothickn, but I’ve returned here because this site doesn’t have a 500-word posting limit and ‘succinct’ isn’t something I’m good at.

With this, I’m downright intrigued about what happened in the original timeline. We know that Vanessa learned a mysterious cultivation technique which made her incredibly powerful, and that she then used that power to go on a rampage.

Initially, I assumed her rampage was the magic equivalent of a spree shooting – she’d been driven over the edge by years of torment at the tower, and she eventually decided to repay the devil in kind. However, Ghislaine describes her as having become ‘a disaster driven by instinct’, which implies a loss of control.

One possibility is that her master Ronato kept his promise, and returned with a cultivation technique that she could use. However, while she hadn’t completely snapped yet, she was still beyond desperate to become a true mage, and in her desperation, she pushed too far, too fast.

When Ghislaine describes her as ‘falling into an endless abyss’ (along with the visual of her chasing a glowing runestone downward into darkness), he’s describing how her haste led to some kind of catastrophic backlash. Heart Devils, Qi Deviation – whatever the details, Vanessa was driven mad by her own cultivation technique and became a crazed engine of destruction.

Alternatively, maybe Ronato never returned, and losing hope (or being told of his death) was what triggered the massacre. Instead of literally losing control of her power, Vanessa was just so overwhelmed by hatred, misery, and anger that death was the only conclusion she would accept.

In any case, Ghislaine is definitely laying it on thick here; as if he’s decided that she’s always going to be unstable, so the way to manage that is to make himself the pillar that holds her up. Honestly, as long as the author doesn’t try to tell us that this is some grand act of virtue, I’m 100% on board. He’s acting based on his memories of that future Vanessa, who had completely fallen apart at the seams, and jumping the gun rather than trying to get a complete read on the person she is now. It’s a nice moment of characterization.