Time Looped

Hundreds of arrows flew at one another, devastating the surrounding area in the process. Occasionally they would hit head-on, bursting into splinters that quickly faded away. Far more often, they'd brush against each other just enough to take them off target. The force they came with, however, didn't seem decreased in the least.

A car exploded in front of Will. The unfortunate driver hadn't felt a thing, just trying to get to his destination as quickly as possible. The series of arrows shot by the archer made sure to leave that for another loop. Her real target, though, remained Will.

"What the hell?!" Dozens of scarabs flew in the general direction of the archer, only to be shot down within moments.

The number of arrows was ten times greater than those targeting Will, yet it wasn't difficult to notice that not a single one went anywhere close to Luke.

"Get out of here!" Will shouted. "She's not mad at you. She just—"

A row of arrows struck the street and pavement a foot away from Luke, indicating that the archer had no intention of letting her brother go anywhere. Will couldn't say he was fully familiar with the woman, but from what he had seen so far, he could tell she was the sort of person to kill someone just to make a point. The fact that she hadn't so far only meant that she wasn't fully sure who to focus her anger on.

Will fired five arrows up into the sky. He knew that he couldn't hope to hurt the archer. Rather, his hope was to pique her curiosity. Single class skills were relatively easy to acquire, given enough time in eternity. Having multiple ones from the same class brought on questions. In this case, either Luke had leveled up to the point he could copy others' skills, or Will had managed to boost his own skills and equipment on his own.

All fire arrows were shot out of the air, followed by a cascade of projectiles aimed right at him. None of them hit the rogue or caused any damage. At the same time, he was observant enough to notice that each passed precisely an inch and a half from him.

"You win," he shouted as panicked people fled the area as fast as their legs would carry them. "Do you seriously want to talk here?" Will took out his mirror fragment.

A message appeared on it. Clearly, the archer had planned this from the start. That was good—it meant that she didn't intend to kill him right away.

"Putting it away," Will said, then slowly placed his bow into the mirror shard.

"It would have eventually happened," Will said. Despite being in a prediction loop, he felt the tension of being in the archer's sights. "You know that better than anyone. Eternity chooses the participants."

"It was also his choice what to do once it happened." Will held his ground. "He could have gone to you at any time. He chose not to because he knows I'm right."

There was no answer.

"You know I'm right," Will continued. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have taken so long to—"

An arrow struck Will in the chest. Clearly, that wasn't the correct response in the situation.

The obvious answer was no.

"You know I'm right," Will said. "It's the only chance we have. Danny's back, and he's reforming his party. If we don't get him this reward phase, we'll never get him."

Thankfully, no attack followed.

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"If you don't trust me, ask him. He'll tell you."

"Luke has no idea what you've gotten him involved in." Lucia's voice said as loud as if she were there.

Both Will and Luke looked around. It didn't take them long to see the source of the voice. It wasn't the archer; getting so close was a risk her class would be stupid to take. Instead, she had to use one of her skills to appear on the mirror of a nearby shop. That also explained why she was that good at aiming.

Sneaky, Will thought. Clearly, she had some skill that made use of the mirror realm as well, although it fell short of actual travel. He could see that she wasn't in it, just used mirrors to serve as projectors.

"I know enough," Luke said.

His character, now influenced by the enchanter class, had made him even more vocal. Plus, there was a bit of resentment that he had to learn the truth about his older brother from a stranger rather than from his own sister.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Luke approached the mirror. "I asked you lots of times and you—"

"What could you have done?" Lucia interrupted. "I've spent thousands of loops learning about eternity and hundreds more to get back at the person who killed him and how he's back."

"If you'd told me we could have taken him down for good and—"

Faster than anyone could react, the archer readied her bow and shot an arrow at her brother. There was no time for him to do anything. The walls of scarabs proved useless, as the projectile weaved its way through them, hitting the boy in the throat.

Damn it! "That was a bit harsh," Will said. Maybe there was a time when he'd have been shocked. Not anymore, though. "He hasn't died till now."

"So, it's time he learned how," the archer replied unapologetically. "I've no idea what you told him, but—"

"I told him it's the only way to finish this. You couldn't fully take him. I tried and failed. It'll take the three of us."

There was a moment of hesitation. In his mind, Will could almost see the "you have made progress" message appear in the air. For all her skills and experience, the archer had a tell. Hesitation of any sort meant she didn't have full conviction in what she was doing. Will would go as far as to say that she agreed with him, even if she didn't want to admit it yet. Thanks to the clairvoyant skills, all this had become a matter of trial and error. Some might argue that it wasn't ethical, but it was necessary.

"Luke will never talk to me again," Lucia said, confidence and regret mixing in her voice. "I just made sure of that."

"We'll see."

"Luke has no idea what you've gotten him involved in." Lucia's voice said from the mirror.

"I know enough." Luke approached it. "Why didn't you tell me? I asked—"

"It'll take the three of us to finish this," Will interrupted. "You couldn't fully take him. I tried and failed. And Luke needs to grow."

There it was—the pause of hesitation that indicated the archer agreed with him.

"Danny has started recruiting his new team. He's got the thief. When he finds a new knight and crafter, he'll win the reward phase again, and this time he'll make sure what you tried before won't work."

It was a guess, of course, but one that had merit. Will knew that if he were in Danny's position, that's the first thing he would do. Apparently, the archer thought the same, for she remained silent for ten full seconds. A few times, Luke attempted to add to the conversation, but a quick reaction on Will's part ensured that he didn't give the archer any pretext to kill him again.

"What's your plan?" she asked. "All of it."

"We get him in the contest stage," Will replied.

"That's not what you said before."

"Plans change. Without Ely, Danny doesn't have protection. Alex's chosen to go along with him for now, but he doesn't trust him. The moment we prove Danny's weak, Alex will drift away doing his own thing."

"Alex is back?" A flicker of fear passed through Lucia. It was brief, but Will managed to catch it. Was she afraid of the goofball? Just how powerful had he been in the past?

"Partially," Will said. "His memories are messed up, and he doesn't have all his skills." Though he does have some. "He knows something happened, but seems to think that Danny is the best person to lead him forward."

"That's… that's sick."

For the first time, Will saw the archer display emotions so openly. Some would have called it refreshing, but from his point of view it was outright scary and completely out of character. Luke seemed to be of the same opinion, for he took a step forward.

"Who's Alex?" the enchanter asked.

"He was a friend of Gabriel." The archer barely gave him a glance. "A very good friend…"

What the hell? Will blinked.

Since he started training Luke, he'd considered himself some sort of Machiavellian character, setting things in motion to achieve his goal. Thanks to his unique skills, his knowledge of the future, and the rogue's nature, it was easy to think he had an advantage over everyone else. That bubble had popped just now as he realized how little he knew about the past.

Alex and Gabriel had been close friends? Why hadn't anyone mentioned that particular piece of information? The martial artist, Danny, even Lucia had gone out of their way to hint at how dangerous the goofball was, yet not once mentioned something as vital.

"And a very dangerous one," she added.

"Not that dangerous yet," Will quickly said.

"I faced him. He's tough, but nothing I can't handle. Once he reaches the reward phase, things might be different."

Sirens were heard nearby. The panic in the area had finally caught the attention of the local authorities. A volley of arrows fell from the sky seconds later, drilling the vehicle full of holes and causing it to escape.

"That's your plan?" the archer asked as if nothing had just happened. "Kill Danny before he forms a team?"

"That's part of it," Will lied. His plan remained the same as before. The only difference was that he wanted to poison Danny's party to make it easier for him to get killed once they had the means to do so. For the moment, he was willing to lead Lucia along and then fall back to the original plan out of necessity. "Luke has to level up to the max, of course."

"He still won't be able to make a permakill weapon," Lucia noted.

"Why not?" Luke snapped as the usual sibling rivalry kicked in.

"That used to be my class," the archer snapped back.

"There are other ways," Will said in an attempt to avoid a conflict. With death being as temporary as it was, he didn't want the archer to kill Luke again just as the result of a petty spat. "The key is to handle things one step at a time. He's already gained two token boosts. A few more and—"

"Okay," Lucia interrupted.

The response started Will. The speed at which Lucia had done so indicated that she had no doubts, and still it felt a bit too easy.

"Did you extend your time this loop?" She turned to Will.

"There's no need. I've a way to start challenges before we hit the limit." There was no point in telling about the mirror realm. For once the enchanter seemed to agree, as he kept his mouth shut as well. "I introduced him to a street merchant, so he can extend his loop whenever he needs to."

"You're paying coins for that?" Lucia all but smirked.

"It's just coins." Will shrugged. "Why? What do you have in mind?"

"Simple." She looked at her phone. "There are about seven minutes until the end of the loop. If both of you survive till then, I'll join your plan, no questions asked. If not, we have nothing to talk about."

Oh shit!

Will darted towards Luke.

The enchanter still hadn't figured things out and was about to ask the obvious question when Will knocked him to the ground.

The arrow flew inches above their heads.

As the two were falling, Will threw a knife at the store mirror. It shattered before any other attacks could be made. From here on, the archer would have to rely on other means of attack.

Why does it always have to be this way?! Will grumbled mentally.

From this moment on, he had six minutes fifty-seven seconds left.