Time Looped

Prediction loops weren't as useful in combat as one might imagine. Will had used them numerous times when challenging past enemies, yet those had been humans. Even then, it quickly became obvious that they were a strategic tool, not a tactical one. Learning what opponents would do and what skills they had at their disposal was a good thing, but it didn't help recreate the fight blow for blow.

Right now, Will had no intention of going through the conversation with the archer again, unless he absolutely had to.

The attacks had gotten noticeably more vicious than moments ago, though not what they were back during the anti-archer alliance. It was clear that Lucia was just gauging their strength. However, Will felt he couldn't leave things like that. Surviving for six more minutes was the bare minimum he could do. If he wanted to have real impact and respect, he had to go beyond. In other words, he had to put himself in a position in which he proved to her he was stronger.

"Hide underground!" he shouted at Luke while shooting out as many of the archer's arrows as he could. The larger part were distractions, which made things easier. He wouldn't have a chance if she had targeted either of them with everything.

"You serious?" Luke protested.

"Cast some anti-smell charm and stay in there! You can't survive the surface."

Just to strengthen his words, Will took a shot at a nearby manhole. A gaping hole formed in the lid, as if it had been hit by a grenade.

"What about you?" the enchanter asked.

"Don't worry about me." Will shot another arrow off its path towards Luke.

Clearly, the archer wasn't giving her kid brother any preferential treatment. Luke shared the sentiment, for he let out his red scarab as he rushed towards the manhole opening. A few seconds later he was gone.

Will had no idea exactly what was in the sewers. At some point, it might be beneficial for him to find out, but that time wouldn't be now.

Conceal. He thought, rushing down the street.

All he needed was one mirror to turn the tables on the archer. Unfortunately, due to his introduction, she was fully aware of that as well.

Damn it! Will really regretted not having one of those mirror fragment watches that other rankers had. Up until now, juggling between weapons and the mirror fragment had been cumbersome, but possible. The same couldn't be said when using a bow.

Spotting the first pub, Will rushed inside. The people were already panicked enough not to react to a boy charging in with a longbow. If anything, those that were still left were rushing to go outside, despite the real danger being there.

No mirrors were visible so Will continued towards the bathroom. The moment he entered, Lucia's reflection was there, aiming straight at him.

In that particular moment, the events of Will's last loop flashed before his eyes. He could already see him failing the loop and returning to restart everything from scratch. At this distance, there was no way she could miss.

A large part of Will had conceded defeat. The archer had outplayed him, clearly winning the round. And still, there was a small rebellious voice in the back of his head urging him to keep fighting. It was that voice that pulled his body to the side, despite the odds of failure.

His rogue skill kicked in. The chance of that happening was less than Will could calculate right now, yet he instantly took advantage of it, leaping forward.

The reaction startled the archer. Used to long-range combat, she inadvertently took a step back, wasting a full second in the process.

Right then, Will changed direction and leaped. It was subtle, hardly noticeable at first. Instead of heading to the mirror with the archer, he went into the one beside it. By the time Lucia had caught on, Will was already halfway in. Then, it was too late—he was safe.

"Damn!" The boy exhaled as he sat on the white floor. That was way too close.

His real body remained concentrating just as it had been since the start of the loop. It was a reminder that nothing was final, yet even so there was a reason that the clairvoyant wasn't a top contender in the future. In all honesty, Will didn't even know who the clairvoyant was. The mirror was located in the mall, but that was about it. Could it mean that Danny had made a deal with the person? If so, that would be bad, suggesting that his former classmate also had a way out of any situation.

No. Will shook his head. Such thoughts were for later. He had enough immediate issues to deal with right now.

"Merchant," Will said.

The entity emerged before him.

"Do you have a fragment holder of any kind?"

The question caused slight confusion, forcing the colorful entity to remain still for several seconds. Will had little doubt that the option was possible. More likely, it was a matter of eternity restrictions. The merchant was probably confirming what he could offer and what not. After a few seconds more, that turned out to be the case.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"No thanks," Will said almost immediately. His first merchant fight was difficult enough. He didn't have any illusions about what would happen if he tried again. Also, there was still no guarantee that he'd be offered what he actually wanted. As eternity said, it was only "further options." It was perfectly possible that he'd have to go through a few more before reaching the option he needed.

The guide suggested.

"Yeah, thanks." Will grumbled.

In theory, that was some sort of solution, though not the one he wanted. The only thing worse than not having his fragment available was losing it mid-battle.

The bow transformed in Will's hand. Shooting arrows was good, but this was better. After the last encounter, Will knew that the archer had to be standing in front of a mirror. Unless she could make mirror copies, that gave him the advantage. Just in case, he decided to hedge his bets even further.

"How much for some mirror pieces?" he turned to the merchant.

Without delay, the entity extended his left arm, revealing three rows of items. Each was described as a pouch of mirror beads containing from ten to a thousand beads. Naturally, the prices rose by a serious factor.

In the end, Will decided that the cheapest option was enough for what he had in mind. Using five of the mirror beads in the pouch, he put the rest in his inventory before going on.

Out in the real world, not even a fraction of a second had passed. Luke remained hidden in the subway, while the archer was pointing a readied bow at the mirror in front of her. Finding out which mirror that was in the mirror realm took the equivalent of half a day.

Unwilling to risk starting time, Will had his mirror copies do the actual peeking. For hours they'd turn to him and report nothing new. Then finally, one of them came with good news.

"She's here," the copy said. "Don't see how you'll get to her, though."

Will didn't need to look to know what the other was referring to. Even if he managed to catch her by surprise, all Lucia had to do was release the arrow to instantly kill him.

The boy looked around. The archer had done a good job isolating herself from any potential attacks. She was at the edge of the city—likely a neighborhood Will had never visited—standing by the only mirror in the building. If there had ever been more, she had made sure to break them before making her challenge.

It was possible to use one of the neighboring buildings to arrive at the scene, but doing so was going to take a quarter minute at least. Normally, storming her with mirror copies was an option, but Will would still have to be able to peek into the real world, and that made him vulnerable.

"You can always smoke her out," one of the mirror copies suggested. "You've got everything to craft a smoke grenade."

"Or you can just buy one," another added.

Both were things Will was considering, yet uncertainties remained. If caught completely off guard, there was a chance that Lucia would use some new devastating skill, killing everything in sight and bringing the loop to an end.

"Or you can use the merchant fabric." A mirror copy suggested.

"She's a ranker, not some—" Will abruptly stopped.

Arguing with a copy of himself was beyond pointless. There was some truth to the advice, though. The merchant fabric would offer some protection. The big question was whether it would be enough.

"We do it all," he said.

The remaining mirror beads were quickly transformed into mirror copies. With some degree of reluctance, Will spent a relatively large sum of coins to buy a smoke grenade. Paying the price hurt a lot, especially since he could make one in less than ten seconds provided he went into the real world. Yet, even ten seconds was more than he was willing to risk.

Once everything was set, Will tossed the merchant fabric to one of his mirror copies.

"You'll take the lead," he said.

The copy didn't argue. It wasn't in its nature to do so.

Everyone prepared. All ten of the mirror copies gathered on one side of the mirror with the one with the protective garment standing head on. Meanwhile, Will approached from the other side. The moment he glimpsed into the archer's world, time would resume.

Closing his eyes, the boy counted to five. Now there were no more doubts. As long as he didn't hinder himself with useless doubts, everything was going to work out. If not, he would at least know in what areas he needed to improve for next time.

"Go." Will took the final step.

All of his mirror copies dashed at the mirror almost simultaneously. As they did, he performed a vertical slice from where he was.

The sound of shattering filled the air. As Will had correctly suspected, the fabric wasn't enough to stop the archer's arrows, let alone slow her down. Faster than the eye could see, she reloaded her bow, sending off a shot at each of the attackers individually. It didn't look like they'd get three feet from her, when suddenly—and against her will—Lucia froze still.

The message appeared, letting Will smile on the inside. He didn't want to say anything out of fear he might jinx it, but it couldn't be denied that he had already achieved more than anyone expected.

One mirror copy remained. Landing next to the archer, it held up its retracted whip blade, almost touching her throat. Just to reinforce Will's victory, a low growl came from behind the woman. The shadow wolf was also there.

"Is this enough?" Will asked as he cautiously came out of the mirror, gripping his weapon tightly.

From what he could tell, he was in some office that had been abandoned ages ago. Dust and yellowed sheets of paper were everywhere, along with scores of shattered mirrors.

"Or must I wait six minutes more?" he stood in front of the archer.

Mentally, he could hardly believe it. Even if Lucia hadn't fully developed her skills, he had lived through eternity hearing how dangerous and overpowered she was. Reaching anything close to a stalemate was impossible until it actually happened.

"Luke did nothing," Lucia said, glaring at Will with anger that could drill holes through battleship steel. "You won him this fight."

"And I'll win the other when the time comes," Will bluffed. "It's not what you wanted, but we still fulfilled all the requirements. Unless you have something up your sleeve?"

This was the moment of truth. Had she prepared for this, or was it actually his win?

"You think you're good. You're not," Lucia continued. "I needed permaskills to kill him last time."

"Which means that you were skilled enough to reach the reward stage," Will countered. "Besides, he wasn't alone back then."

"He's not alone this time either. You told me that."

"Leave that to me. I just want to hear your answer. Will you help us out, or will I have to rely on Luke alone?"

There was a time when Will would have seen this as manipulative. Now, it felt natural. According to everything he had seen now and in the future-past, he knew she wouldn't abandon her brother. Also, she wasn't the sort of girl that would leave her vengeance unfulfilled… just like Helen.

"I'm in," she said.

Will nodded, but didn't retract his whip blade.

"You still need a permakill and that's only offered to rankers."

"There's one more way. But Luke needs to get stronger."

"You're right there."

"Also, there's one more thing I must do alone."