The searing pain, the metallic tang of blood in my throat as I flipped through the air and saw my own body in front of me lacking a head, the echoing screams of my students… they all faded away, replaced by… nothing.

Then, awareness returned, a slow trickle at first, like waking from a dreamless sleep. I opened my eyes, squinting against the harsh, sterile white light that filled the room. My head throbbed with a dull ache, and my throat felt like sandpaper.

I was sitting in a chair, my hands resting on a cold, metallic table. Across from me sat a woman, her face etched with exhaustion, her eyes red-rimmed and shadowed. She looked less like a deity and more like… well, a tired school teacher after a long day of dealing with unruly students. Which, considering my recent experience, was a thought tinged with a bitter irony.

“Where…” My voice cracked, barely a whisper. I coughed, trying to clear my throat. “Where am I?”

The woman leaned forward, her gaze intent. “You are safe, for now,” she said, her voice surprisingly gentle. “I am Sancta, the Goddess of this world… or at least, what’s left of it.”

Her words slammed into me, each one a hammer blow against the fragile barrier of disbelief I’d erected. Goddess? This world? What was happening?

As if reading my thoughts, she continued. “The world you see outside, the empire that calls itself Kondur… it was not always this way. They were once a small kingdom, ambitious, yes, but contained.” Her hand clenched into a fist, her voice laced with a quiet fury. “I granted them access to the Hero’s Gate, a means to summon aid in times of great need, a last resort against the darkness that lurks beyond our world’s borders.”

She laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. “Foolish, wasn’t I? To believe in the inherent goodness of mortals? They perverted my gift, twisting it to serve their own greed. The summoning chamber… they use it to fuel their endless wars, to enslave entire worlds.”

“Why?” The word escaped me before I could stop it. “Why not just… stop them?”

Sancta closed her eyes, her face a mask of pain. “I am dying, mortal,” she said softly. “Each attempt to intervene… it weakens me further. My power is fading, my influence waning. Soon… soon, there will be nothing left to protect this world, or any other, from their insatiable hunger.”

“But… you’re a goddess,” I stammered, clinging to the word as if it held some magical power to make sense of this impossible situation. “Why can’t you… fix it?”

She opened her eyes, and for the first time, I saw a flicker of desperation in their depths. “Look at me, Raymond Draws,” she commanded, her voice regaining a hint of its former power. “Use your gift, your divine sight. Tell me what you see.”

The familiar screen, shimmering like heat haze, flickered into existence before me, displaying her information:

Name: Sancta

Moral Alignment: True Good

Titles: World Goddess, Goddess of Dunn, World Savior, Heroine of the Planar Boundary

Danger Level: Hard Won Fight

Sancta is hoping that she can survive long enough to get this mortal to agree to save her world, even if she will die in the process, maybe this person might save the world.

The screen vanished. I stared at her, my mind reeling. The information itself wasn’t surprising, not really. But the raw desperation bleeding through her carefully constructed facade… that was new.

“You’re dying,” I whispered, the words catching in my throat.

She nodded slowly. "Every attempt to use my power… it’s like pouring poison into my veins. Even divination, peering into the possible futures... it hastens the end." Her voice cracked. "I’ve scoured countless candidates of those summoned, searched for a way, for someone… anyone… to break the cycle. Most souls” She shakes her head, “They shatter under the strain. A few dozen loops and they’re lost to madness. You… you are the first to retain your sanity, your sense of self.”

“So, I’m your last resort?” My voice was bitter, laced with a fear I couldn’t suppress.

“You are my only hope,” she corrected, her gaze unwavering. “Help me, Raymond. Save my world. Please.”

The weight of her plea pressed down on me, heavy and inescapable. “What-” I gulped nervously “What do I have to do?”

“You will die, Raymond,” she said, her voice full of sadness, but stating a simple fact. “Again, and again. But each time, you will learn, you will grow stronger. You will find a way to break the cycle, to dismantle their empire, piece by piece, eventually, you may even do it in a single, powerful sweep.”

She reached out, her hand hovering over mine. “I can offer you one boon, Raymond Draws, one gift to aid you on your journey. Ask, and it shall be yours.”

“Bring my students back.” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. “Send them home. Don’t let them suffer this… this nightmare.”

A flicker of something crossed her face. Sadness? Pity? “It shall be done.” She closed her eyes, her hand making a slow, twisting motion in the air, as if turning a key in an invisible lock, a motion of twisting something counterclockwise evoking the feeling of turning something backward as well as the opening of some lock- some kind of limit.

“You may grow to hate me for this, Raymond,” she whispered, her voice fading as a wave of exhaustion washed over her. “But even then… even then, this is necessary. Thank you… and I’m… sorry.”

The world dissolved around me as she faded into nothing in front of me, the white light fading to black.

The scent of ozone and old stone hit me first, a wave of sensory memory that sent a shiver down my spine. I opened my eyes, bracing for the blinding white light of the summoning chamber... but instead, I found myself staring into the blank, emotionless visor of one of the helmeted guards. The guard I now knew, with absolute certainty, was the monster called Dodon.

It was disorienting, to say the least. One minute I was fading into nothingness, the weight of a dying goddess’s plea heavy on my soul… the next, here I was, back in the moment before it all went to hell.

Dodon tilted his head, the gesture almost birdlike in its swiftness. “Strange,” he rumbled, his voice a low, grating sound that reverberated in my chest.

My vision flickered, the strange screen appearing as if conjured from the air itself.

Divine Identification:

Name: Imperial Executor Dodon

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Titles: Imperial Executor, Man of Massacre, Paramount Evil, One of the 20 Perpetrators of the 6 Great Massacres of the Innocent

Danger Level: Impossible

Imperial Executor Dodon is confused as to why they summoned one person and 30 mannequins with clothing on them. He thinks the targeting data of the activation spell must have been off. He is contemplating how much he will enjoy killing the lone summoned individual. He is deciding against it due to how angry his superiors will be if there are none, rather than one.

Mannequins? I glanced back, my blood turning to ice. The other students, my students, stood frozen behind me, their expressions vacant, their eyes empty. They looked… exactly like…

Oh god. Sancta. She'd sent them back, safe.

Did she have to make the mannequins look like them, though?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Another wave of dizziness washed over me, and this time, it wasn’t the aftereffect of a traumatic death. A new screen materialized in front of my eyes, this one pulsing with an internal light that seemed to pull me inward.

Blessing Inventory

Permanent Blessings (2/2):

Divine Identification: Locked In

Authority of the Time Loop: Locked In

Temporary Blessing Slots (0/3):

Empty

Empty

Empty

My gaze snagged on that second blessing. Authority of the Time Loop. It felt… important. As if sensing my focus, a new window opened, displaying the blessing’s details:

Authority of the Time Loop (Passive):

You are bound to the moment of your arrival in this world. Upon death, your existence will rewind to this point.

Each loop grants you one additional unlocked blessing, enhancing your aptitude in a specific area.

Duplicate blessings can be slotted up to three times in the same slot or combined via evolution to gain access to their full potential.

Unlocked and slotted blessings may be discarded back into the inventory to make room for new ones.

All gains in power of any kind are permanent and persist upon death.

Upon the beginning of each loop you will be as if you have rested well, eaten a normal and satisfying meal, and are in peak condition.

I guess this was my new life.

Damn.

—

The guard who dragged me away wasn’t Dodon, thankfully. Not that it mattered much in the grand scheme of things. I was still a lamb being led to slaughter, the only difference being the color of the butcher’s apron.

At least for now.

This guard, unlike his disturbingly polite counterparts, didn’t even bother with pleasantries. He hauled me through the maze of corridors like a sack of potatoes, his grip on my arm bruisingly tight.

“Stupid assignment,” he grumbled under his breath, the words muffled slightly by his helmet. “One scrawny summon. Probably worthless anyway.”

I wanted to laugh at how stupid this was, but something—perhaps the memory of Dodon’s sword passing hing through my chest and then my neck kept the sound lodged in my throat.

We arrived at a cell door, a far cry from the opulent prison of the previous loop. This one was a simple, utilitarian affair: bare stone walls, a rough-hewn wooden bunk, a bucket in the corner that served as… well, I didn’t want to think about what it served as.

The guard shoved me inside, the impact sending me sprawling onto the cold, hard floor. “Stay in your cage, trash,” he growled, not bothering to hide his disdain. “And don’t even think about trying anything stupid.”

He slammed the door shut, the heavy metal bar clanging into place. I heard his footsteps retreating down the corridor, leaving me alone in the suffocating silence of the cell.

“This sucks,” I muttered to myself, pushing myself up from the floor. My arm throbbed where the guard had gripped it, a constant reminder of my helplessness.

Wait a minute.

'Divine Identification.'

The screen popped up, displaying the guard's information.

Name: Jin

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Titles: Dunn Imperial Guard, Thief, Slaver.

Danger Level: Very Dangerous

Jin is wondering why he is guarding a single Summon with such a weak blessing when normally they only guard those with blessings like his in groups of two, and there were obviously better things to do than waste his time on guarding a nobody. His thoughts are a jumbled mess of anger that he got stuck guarding someone obviously worthless while lamenting that his team got a crappy dungeon to raid this week but due to this assignment he can't go so he won't get to steal any loot this time around.

Right now, though, there was something else I needed to do.

I dropped to the floor, starting a set of pushups. The stone was cold and hard against my bare skin, but I ignored the discomfort, focusing on the burn in my muscles.

Six hours and countless pushups, situps, and absolute pain later, a new screen materialized in front of me, startling me out of my rhythm.

Skill: Exercise (Body) has gained a level!

Exercise (Body) is now level 1.

Would you like to open your Skill Board?

'A skill board?' I thought the words, Was this part of Sancta's doing, or was there more going on with this world than I had realized?

Intrigued, I mentally selected 'Yes.'

A blue screen, similar to the Divine Identification display but far more intricate, unfolded before my eyes. It was divided into several sections, each one pulsing with an internal light.

Blessings:

Authority of the Time Loop (Locked In)

Divine Identification (Locked In)

Temporary Slot: Empty

Temporary Slot: Empty

Temporary Slot: Empty

Skills:

Exercise (Body): Level 1

Affiliations:

World of Dunn: Citizen/Outworld Hero

Empire of Kondur: Conscript/Slave

Well. This was… a lot to process. It seemed like I had a lot more options than I’d initially thought. But first things first. I had pushups to do.

This time, I pushed harder, my every movement fueled by a burgeoning hope and a burning desire for vengeance. I didn’t know how many loops it would take, how many deaths I would have to endure. But one thing was certain: I would become strong. Strong enough to break this cycle, strong enough to tear down this empire, strong enough to avenge what they took from me.

I probably wasn't going home, but I was at least going to make the most of it.

—

The rough, scratchy blanket they’d tossed onto the cot did little to cushion the ache in my muscles. I’d pushed myself too hard, ignored the warning twinges as I powered through set after set of pushups, squats, and whatever lunges I could manage in the cramped cell.

But that was the point, wasn’t it? To push past my limits, to break myself down so I could be remade stronger.

The words of the blessing on that screen were a reminder that I could smash myself all I wanted and I would still get stronger.

I wasn’t going to waste a single death.

I’d lost track of time in this stark, silent cell. No windows to mark the passage of day and night, no guards bothering to check on the lone prisoner they clearly considered an afterthought. Hunger gnawed at my stomach, but it was a dull ache compared to the fire in my muscles.

Another notification blinked into existence, forcing its way into my consciousness.

Skill: Exhaustion Resistance (Sleep) has gained a level!

Exhaustion Resistance (Sleep) is now level 1.

Skill: Exercise (Stretching) has gained a level!

Exercise (Stretching) is now level 2.

Skill: Exercise (Body) has gained a level!

Exercise (Body) is now level 2.

I chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. Leave it to a system to gamify the basic human need for sleep. Still, it was a welcome distraction from the gnawing tension that had become my new normal.

The clang of the cell door jolted me upright. Dodon stood in the doorway, his featureless helmet somehow managing to convey annoyance.

“You,” he growled, his voice thick with displeasure. “Forgot to check your blessing. Move.”

He didn’t grab me this time, but I could feel his gaze burning into my back as I followed him out of the cell. So much for their nonchalance. It seemed even monsters could be forgetful.

The walk to the chamber was a blur of cold stone and the ever-present scent of ozone. I kept my gaze fixed on the back of Dodon’s armor, memorizing every detail of his movements, the way he shifted his weight, the subtle clink of metal on metal.

I wouldn't forget a single thing.

He shoved me towards the orb, the same one as before. At least, I assumed it was the same. Did these things come with serial numbers?

As I placed my hand on the smooth, cool surface, a sense of foreboding washed over me. The air crackled with energy, far more intense than before. The orb pulsed, a blinding light flashing between red and gold before it exploded.

The last thing I saw was Dodon’s shocked expression as the wave of energy slammed into me, obliterating everything in its path.

—

The familiar scent of ozone, the echoing silence… I was back.

“Strange,” Dodon muttered, his voice tinged with confusion.

I didn’t bother looking back this time. The mannequins would be there, their vacant eyes staring into nothingness. Another reminder of a home I couldn't return to.

'Divine Identification.'

Name: Imperial Executor Dodon

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Titles: Imperial Executor, Man of Massacre, Paramount Evil, One of the 20 Perpetrators of the 6 Great Massacres of the Innocent

Danger Level: Impossible

Hope, a fragile bud struggling to bloom in the wasteland of my despair, withered and died. Still impossible.

Not that I should have expected anything different.

I was stronger now, tougher. More resilient.

But I wasn't strong enough to fight anyone here.

Not even close.

Not yet.

A new alert in the corner of my eye showed.