he turned his head backwards looking at who it is.

"You!.." he gasped, his voice weak as his eyes widened in shock. Behind him stood Elara, her once-kind face now cold and unfeeling.

"Surprised?" she murmured, tilting her head slightly as a smile played on her lips. "You really thought I'd let someone like you into my home so easily?"

"Your lies were hard to catch, but that's only true for normal people, not for me," she smiled coldly.

just as she was saying this he moved quickly, thrusting his right hand forward, Mist of Depravity swirling around his fingers as he aimed straight for Elara's face.

For a moment, surprise flashed in her eyes—she hadn't expected him to fight back, much less with a power like this. But she recovered fast, raising the axe in her other hand to chop him down in one swift stroke.

Just as the axe began to fall, he called on his Authority, summoning unseen chains to bind her arm mid-swing.

Her movement halted, her face twisting with fear as she struggled against the invisible hold and watching his hand coming closer to to her.

He was inches away now, his hand filled with Mist, about to grab her.

But before he could make contact, a sharp pain tore through his neck, a blade slicing cleanly from behind. He froze, the world tilting as his head separated from his body.

As his vision faded, he caught a glimpse of another woman behind him, her face half-hidden beneath a hood, a blood-stained blade in her grip.

Elara took a step back, her expression unreadable. "Hmm, this wasn't ordinary," she muttered to the hooded woman, her gaze flickering to his body as it slumped to the ground. "He nearly got me."

The hooded figure wiped her blade on a cloth, nodding. "Clearly underestimated him. His power was… unusual."

She looked down at his lifeless body, then at Elara. "He might not be the only one like this. Keep watch."

"And why were you just standing there? You had a clear chance to chop off his head—why didn't you move?"

"...I don't know... It was as if something invisible wrapped around me," she muttered, her expression unsettled.

"It felt like being chained, but without weight or force—just an unbreakable grip, locking me in place."

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...

In a dark alley...

"What...?"

"Why am I back?" he murmured as he looked around, recognizing the place. This was before he encountered those two men who wanted to capture him and the mysterious woman.

[The Title "First" Condition Met]

"What... System, explain why I'm back here in time. Didn't I just die? Shouldn't I be in my main body?"

[You indeed died, but while this is not your main body, the Title "First" considers it your death. The reason you're back here is due to a hidden effect of the title. You will be reborn at a waypoint in time.]

[As for the cost, exactly 1,000 people will die randomly around the world at the same time you died in the previous timeline.]

"..."

He slowly took a breath as he sat down, trying to process everything that had happened.

"So much in such a short time is hard to take in," he thought. He couldn't understand why that woman had killed him. It wasn't like he had any intention of harming her; he had simply wanted a home to stay. It was clear she was hiding something, and there was someone else with her—the one who had struck from behind.

Right now, he wasn't worried about the 1,000 people who would die. His mind was filled with questions about who they were.

What should he do this time?

Maybe he should avoid them altogether?

but one thing was sure his luck is really bad out of so many houses he had to go to that one with that crazy women....

"Well, well, what do we have here? A tall young man?"

Just like before, two men appeared, and he realized he was indeed back in time. Soon, that woman would show up.

Everything played out as it had before. The men attempted to capture him, but when they found they weren't fast enough, they shifted tactics, trying to win him over with sweet words.

"Don't listen to what these two are saying."

He turned around to find the woman standing there.

She fell silent as she looked at him, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"Why are you staring at me as if you've seen a ghost?"

He blinked, momentarily caught off guard. "I... I didn't expect to see you again."

"See me again??"

She paused, her expression shifting. It was clear she didn't remember encountering anyone like him.

"Have we met before?" she asked.

"Not exactly," he replied, trying to sound casual. "It's hard to explain."

Her brow furrowed slightly, but she didn't press him. "Interesting."

"Ayy! Get lost, woman! How dare you obstruct our work!" one of the men shouted.

"Work? Finding men for that whore of a queen?" she mocked, drawing her sword with a fluid motion.

In an instant, like last time, the heads of both men rolled to the ground. The woman turned to him, studying him more closely.

"Huh. He does look good," she thought, assessing him with a keen eye. She could understand why these two men were so desperate to capture him.

But something else caught her attention; despite his seemingly normal appearance, he lacked the aura of an ordinary person. Even the frequency of his presence felt… off.

"What is your name?"

"…"

He hesitated. How could he tell her he didn't have a name? He couldn't trust anyone here; last time, that seemingly harmless woman had turned out to be something else entirely, and he'd ended up dead.

If it weren't for the title, all his efforts to infiltrate this world would have been for nothing.

"Um, my name is Keeper," he said, using his constellation title—it was the only form of identification he had now.

"Huh, Keeper? What kind of name is that?" she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Never mind,"

"I found you interesting. Would you like to come with me? It would be a hundred times better than staying here, living as a beggar."