Jornak Dokochin sat in a relaxed manner in a restaurant in the capital city of Eldemar as he cut into a rather well prepared sausage. Over the many restarts, he had learned to enjoy the pleasures of fine dinning despite the immense distaste he had for the upper class of this country. A hazard of all his dealings with the ancient Lich, Quatach-Ichl, as it would seem. Albeit, not one he entirely resented.

He had finished his business here in Eldemar already, having broken into the houses of several corrupt nobles in order to look through the incriminating documents and what other information he could get on them. He had already long since discovered all of these materials over the multiple restarts, but he felt the need to refresh his memory on certain key matters from time to time.

Now, this particular restart was drawing toward an end. The festival would begin in three days, and with it the invasion. He had mostly perfected the invasion by the advice he could give the Ibasan forces by this point, so he had no real interest in participating in it at this point.

Suddenly, someone came and sat in the chair across from Jornak. He was shocked at the rude behavior for a moment, but then figured it was probably some Eldemarian investigator wishing to talk about his recent activities in the city. Perhaps he had messed up and been noticed in one of his break ins. Sloppy, but due to the graces of the time loop it would not matter for long.

He looked up to confront this unwelcome individual, but was positively horrified when he saw who was really sitting across from him. It was a youth, around 15 years of age, and dressed in expensive but rather loose-fitting clothes designed for an athletic lifestyle. But, more importantly, this was a youth who Jornak distinctly recognized. Even more importantly, it was a youth who shared in this time-traveling loop. It was someone who Jornak had personally mind-wiped, erasing any and all memories of himself from the youth's mind, hundreds of restarts ago. It was Zach Noveda.

"Hello Jornak," the youth said.

"H... h... how... uhh... I mean, Zach Noveda. To what do I owe the honor of this visit? You must have a pretty great need to seek an attorney such as myself during my visit to a different city. What exactly..."

"You can just cut the bullshit, Jornak. I know exactly who you are and what you did to me," Zach cut him off with a sudden rather severe glare.

All the color drained from Jornak's face as he watched the Noveda heir stand up out of his seat and crack his knuckles. He knew this was only going one way at this point. He jumped up with a speed that sent his chair clattering across the floor, and attracted a lot of gazes from stunned onlookers.

He leapt across the establishment, ignoring the other patrons as he quickly chanted a teleportation spell. As he finished the spell however, he felt a resistance and ultimately it failed.

Meanwhile, the Noveda heir had a large grin on his face as he walked calmly across the venue. "This whole place is warded against teleportation, you won't be getting out that way," Zach said.

Jornak spun around and leapt at a nearby window. Mid motion, he heard what sounded like someone snapping their fingers and wound up running face first into a solid magical barrier inches in front of the glass. He held his nose, which was now bleeding, as the Noveda heir continued to approach him with a grin that now showed pure malicious glee.

The other patrons, having caught onto what was going on, were now abandoning their tables and running to get as far away from the events as possible. Most of them were, anyway. This being a high-class establishment, many of the patrons were high level mages. There was one particular man, a noble who Jornak knew to be a sixth circle mage, who instead decided to march right up to the Noveda heir to confront him.

"Now see here young man. I do not know what squabble you have with the gentleman, but this is not some bar-room where you can..."

"Stuff it old man," the Noveda heir briskly dismissed the man with a wave of his hand, which was accompanied by some form of force push spell which launched the man out a window adjacent to the one Jornak had previously tried to escape through.

Seeing that escape did not seem to be an option at the moment, Jornak drew the Imperial Dagger which he had previously acquired at the very beginning of the loop, and prepared himself for the confrontation. Fighting the Noveda heir would prove a challenge due to the boy's monstrous mana supply, but he really had no choice. He would likely need the assistance of Quatach-Ichl in order to pin the boy down and erase his memory again, but he was not likely to have the chance this time.

Killing the boy was also an option, but that ultimately would put himself at a greater disadvantage. He would need the time to re-acquire certain items and re-establish his connections with the Ibasans. Meanwhile, the Noveda heir was quite dangerous simply with his basic abilities.

This means his best option at the moment was escape. He would escape to Cyoria and recruit help from the ancient Lich. He was relatively confident in his ability to do that much. There should not be much trouble creating an opening in the heat of battle.

"Are you ready? You have absolutely no idea just how long I've been waiting to bash your face in. I'm going to do it again in the next restart as well until I'm satisfied, and then I'm going to return the favor for that little mind-wipe you did on me once I'm done. Although, my control over mind magic is a little crude. I can't promise there won't be some other areas damaged in the process," the Noveda heir taunts.

Well, that certainly complicates things. The boy was quite seriously out for blood.

"Such bravado and blood-lust, young Mr. Noveda. Tell me, how exactly did you discover my tampering in your memories?" Jornak asked.

"Heh," the Noveda heir cracked a smile. "Your procedure was rather sloppy. I managed to find an expert mind mage. He was able to actually restore the exact memories you had erased. I know everything, Jornak. And I do mean everything."

Restoring the memories? Preposterous! Although it would be possible with the time loop for the Noveda heir to accept someone rooting around in his mind like that, knowing their memories of what they'd discovered would just be erased in the restart, it seemed highly unlikely one could find a mind mage good enough to actually restore erased memories.

Other than that though, was the Noveda boy actually insinuating that he knew about the contract with the primordial? While it seemed possible, more so than the story about the mind mage the boy had just told, Jornak's mind simply refused to accept it.

"Well then, I guess that's enough stalling. The bystanders are well out of the way now, so it's time to get down to business," the Noveda heir said and then immediately launched a force ray with zero preparation.

Jornak leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the blast as it smashed apart the wall behind him. He erected a shield just before he was caught by another identical blast that sent him flying through another section of wall, causing him to wish he had erected a full Agis instead of a directional shield as his body did not fair well for the experience.

Jornak smirked despite the battering he had just taken. Even with all those years in this time loop, the young man was still quite unwise. He'd just been given a free exit from the building. Well then, it's time to...

Before he could finish that thought, something struck him very hard from behind. He cried out in pain as he felt his arm shatter and heard his ribs crack. As he flew, spinning through the air, he caught sight of the Noveda heir having apparently teleported and was now under the influence of a flight spell, and was still in position from the devastating kick Jornak had just received.

But wait, wasn't the area under a teleportation ward? What was going on? How was the ward shut down so quickly?

He did not have any time to consider that thought right now. He was fighting desperately to get his chaotic motion under control and to cast a spell to arrest his movement. But, the Noveda heir was already directly in his path and moving at high speeds to intercept him. NO! He suddenly realized it. The Noveda heir had not teleported. There were two of him! The damn spoiled noble brat had learned to cast the simulacrum spell!

Fortunately, he still had his shield spell up from earlier, and it was facing in the direction of the approaching Noveda heir. Now that he knew there was a simulacrum behind him, he slashed with the Imperial dagger toward his back, just as a beam attack was coming at him from that direction. He cut the very magic the attack was made of, causing the spell boundary to break. Jornak's hand was still burned from the residual mana energy before the spell had fully dissipated, but it had been enough to keep him alive.

At the same time, the Noveda heir launched several spells with his true body which all deflected off Jornak's shield. However, the audacious hot-headed battle mage actually followed up this barrage of magic attacks with an actual physical attack, much like the one his simulacrum had just used to break Jornak's arm.

Just as Jornak was trying to figure out a response, something happened to make him loose all hope. Two additional simulacrums flew up and arrived just in time to surround him on all sides. He tried desperately to teleport again, as that was his only hope in this situation, but it failed once again. He was still within the space of the warding spell.

A momentary calm settled over the now areal battlefield as the Noveda heir gave a very smug smirk. In this brief moment, Jornak noticed something that both baffled and horrified him at the same time. All four of the forms of the Noveda heir surrounding him possessed a soul. He could not tell which was the simulacrum and which was real. Just how had the boy pulled this off?

"Did you see something interesting?" The Noveda heir taunted, apparently knowing exactly what he'd just seen. "So, how about it? Are you starting to realize just how completely outclassed you are? I'm sure you maybe thought you could match me in a battle of skill, and the only disadvantage you had against me was one of mana that would place you in a disadvantage in a battle of attrition. Well, unfortunately, it seems I'm superior to you in both capability and mana capacity."

There was a sound of a loud screech in the distance, and eagles were suddenly filling the air and closing in on their position from all directions.

"Looks like we are out of time," the Noveda heir said. "Well, time to stop playing around. I'll see you in the next restart. Maybe we can enjoy our time a little longer in Cyoria."

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Jornak was battered and broken. One arm was completely shattered. His ribs were broken. Now that he'd had a moment to gather himself, he could feel the stabbing pain in his chest every time he breathed. His other hand, which had somehow managed to not drop the dagger earlier, was in severe pain. He didn't dare test out the performance of his badly burned hand in fear any attempt at moving it could result in him dropping what right now might be his only reliable weapon.

He was no longer able to concentrate on spells. It was all he could do just to maintain the shield he had already cast, and he doubted the spell could last even a single hit.

In these conditions, all four of the Zach Novedas surrounding him launched multiple powerful and deadly spells each. There wasn't even anything left of his body to fall to the ground by the time the devastating attack was finished.

-break-

Back at his home in Cyoria, Jornak Dokochin slowly stirred awake. It took him a moment for his mind to catch up with events, but as soon as it did, he sat bolt upright in bed.

He didn't have much time. He had long since confirmed that he wakes up far earlier in the day than the Noveda heir does, but while that was an advantage it was not a luxury he could indulge and become complacent in. He was going to have to use every free minute to shore up his position.

As quickly as possible, he was going to have to make contact with the Ibasan forces, recruit Quatach-Ichl's help in order to face off against the Noveda heir, and then set the groundwork to capture the young man when he is surely onto them and anticipating their movements.

This just became a great deal more bothersome.

-break-

Jornak sat nervously in his seat. He had just been sitting in another fine dining establishment like this a short time ago at the end of his last restart, but this time he was all nerves. Across the table from him was an elderly gentleman wearing extremely fine clothing and holding himself with absolute dignity as he held his glass of wine in one hand and smiled as he considered all that Jornak had just told him.

"So, Mr. Dokochin. You have given me quite the story. If what you say is true, then this young man will most certainly prove quite the challenge to my objectives. Do you posess some form of proof for your claims?" the ancient Lich asked.

"Just read it straight from my mind!" Jornak spat out impatiently. "He is pursing me as we speak! I really don't have time to mess around with your usual posturing! The more quickly we can get on the same page about this, the faster we can..."

As Jornak was mid sentence, something unexpected and horrifying happened. The ectoplasmic disguise the lich was wearing suddenly faded from existence, revealing the metallic skeletal form underneath. Less than a second later, the skeleton collapsed, dropping the wine glass and splashing half it's contents onto the table before it fell to the floor and shattered.

Now, a metallic skeleton lay slumped over before Jornak, grim and unmoving.

He stared at it wide eyed as his mind refused to process the sight in front of him. And yet, as time passed, the skeletal form of Quatach-Ichl continued to merely lay still in the seat, and it was beginning to attract attention.

Suddenly, a heavy hand fell on Jornak's shoulder, and he felt the person lean down next to his ear.

"It is amazing how easy it is to kill a lich when you know how to find their Phylactary, don't you think? It is even possible to have a simulacrum deal the killing blow as you are there to witness the death with your real body in the same room."

Jornak made a strange squealing sound that disgusted him even as he heard it from his own mouth, and he tripped over his own chair as he attempted to leap away from the person behind him with all his adrenaline-fueled but woefully uncontrolled strength. As he scrambled to pull himself back to his feet, the Noveda heir walked across the dining space full of malicious confidence as he looked down on Jornak like one would an insect.

"Now then, how about we continue our game from last time?" He said.

-break-

Back at his home in Cyoria, Jornak Dokochin slowly stirred awake. It took him a moment for his mind to catch up with events, but as soon as it did, he sat bolt upright in bed.

"Damn it!" He swore out loud as he threw off his covers in a ferocious rage and stormed across his room. "How in the name of all the silent gods did that boy figure out where Quatach-Ichl's phylactary was?! And for that matter, how did he reach it in just two gods-damned days?!"

He paced the room furiously as he put on his clothing and struggled to think what he could do next.

He could no longer rely on Quatach-Ichl. Zach Noveda would be actively hunting him. And, he had already promised he would eventually wipe Jornak's entire mind.

This was not looking good on any level. The more he thought about it, the more hopeless the situation looked. The more times he met the Noveda heir, the more likely it was the young man might finally decide he'd had enough of this game and simply finish him off, wiping his mind and effectively killing him in the time-loop, thus rendering all of his efforts pointless.

There was only one conclusion he could reach. This time loop experience was effectively over now. There was no further good that could come from staying in this. He would have to leave and get a very strong power from the primordial. Maybe with that, he could actually match up against the Noveda heir effectively.

Once in the real world, the Noveda heir would still be able to use his knowledge of the phylactary to kill the lich. He would have to inform the Ibasans immediately, and hopefully get Quatach-Ichl to move it.

His mind made up, Jornak set out immediately for the time magic research facility where the Imperial gate was located. It was time to leave.

-break-

In the main entryway of the Noveda estate, Zorian, in the form of one of his mind-connected simulacrums, stood at the foot of the stairs as he messed around with some of the advanced shaping exercises that he himself had invented. He was using nothing but pure shaping to make a magic formula in the air. Not a spell boundary, but a full-on formula. He had another step up in the exercise that could even make these formulas permanent, but for now he was working on the complexity of the formula instead.

He was creating an intricate three dimensional structure using incredibly fine threads of mana. The intention of this structure was to create a spatial pocket dimension. The hardest part of these formulas was to make it so they could actually absorb ambient mana and activate rather than break down like they would with a spell boundary. These were meant to truly act like magic formulas, not at all like spells, thus eliminating the need for the use of divinity.

He could already see his path in the future becoming one where he'd eventually be able to cast every spell known to man using shapeless magic, making all magic the equivalent of shaping exercises to him. At the rate he was going, there was every chance he'd also never even need to spend his own mana on these spells. It was certainly quite the path forward, and it held many interesting possibilities.

However, he was not quite there at this point. It would still yet require several centuries of additional practice.

Across from him, standing at attention like a servant, was Tesen Zveri, otherwise known as Zach's second favorite punching bag. Ostensibly, the man was supposed to be Zach's guardian and interim overseer of the Noveda estate until Zach had come of age and become able to handle the estate himself. In reality, the man had been ripping off Zach's estate in order to enrich himself, making it quite understandable why Zorian's fellow time looper would be rather upset with the man.

Currently, the man was under the effects of Zorian's mind magic, and was instructed to behave like a servant and to accept any physical beatings Zach might decide to direct his way. Over the last two loops, Zorian had simply used his mind magic to direct Tesen away, knowing that Zach would have a far more attractive target lined up to give a beating to. While Tesen had merely stolen money from Zach's estate, something that ultimately didn't matter all that much within the confines of the time loop, Jornak had been guilty of a far more egregious violation. He had invaded Zach's mind and erased several key memories along with many related to his combat capabilities, effectively crippling Zach within the time loop.

Furthermore, Jornak fully intended to have Zach trapped within the time loop, effectively condemning him to death as the loop broke down.

In this restart though, Zach would no longer be able to state his thirst for the violence he wanted to inflict upon the man. Jornak was leaving the time loop. Zorian had been observing the man with his simulacrums, and they had witnessed him heading down toward the time research facility a few minutes ago. As such, his friend would have to settle for the far less satisfying Tesen for the rest of this greater loop.

The door that lead to Zach's room un the upper mezzanine floor clicked open, and Zorian tracked the mental signature of his fellow time looper as he made his way down the hall. It took him fairly little time to make his way down the hall and the stairs. The young man's eyes immediately honed in on Tesen and he gave Zorian an exasperated glance.

"That hairy bastard is back now, I see," he said. "I take it that means Jornak has given up already?

"Yes, that's about right," Zorian daid, never breaking his focus on his shaping exercise. "I am still following him with my simulacrum, but he's most definitely on a straight path to the time research facility.

Zach just sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Man, I was just starting to enjoy letting loose on him. I told you killing the lich in front of him was too much," he complained. "That whole thing with giving me those magic items that duplicated my soul across my simulacrums like you're able to do with yours was definitely way over the top as well. I know we were trying to sell up my ability as a threat, but aren't you at least afraid we stood out a little too much with all this?

"It's not going to really matter," Zorian said. "So far as Panaxeth is concerned, as soon as Jornak leaves the gate will be barred, and he will simply decide that nothing else that happens within the loop matters. We can scare him away as aggressively as we like. What caught his attention last time was the fact that I had deleted Jornak from the loop using the imperial dagger. He was probably watching me from that moment onward, and didn't like what he saw."

Zach groaned. "Fine, whatever. But next time, I'm going to do things my way so far as that bastard's concerned. I ought to have learned a lot more of your tricks by then anyway, so I'll just ask you to butt out of it entirely. And by the way, one of those tricks I'm looking to learn will definitely be having you show me where that old bag of bones hides his phylactery and how to get past the warding scheme. I might just want to use that to my advantage one of these days."

"In that case, I suppose we should add negotiations with Quatach-Ichl to your training schedule for this greater loop. We largely ignored it last time since I had already learned most of what he had to teach, but learning all his peculiarities ought to be valuable to you as well. Interestingly enough, threatening his phylactery seems to actually be a very good way to make an ally of him," Zorian said.

Zorian felt a disruption in Zach's mental energies. It was as though his brain had done the mental equivalent of tripping and stumbling as he heard the information that Zorian had just given him and was not able to quite process it in a normal way.

"Seriously?" Zach asked, and then shook his head. "Man, I never pegged him for the type who would become a friend over threats to his life."

"It has something to do with earning his respect," Zorian said. "Of course, I believe most of the reason it works when I use that approach with him is because I genuinely do not want to kill him, and I make sure to allow that to come across clearly as I have a blade trained at what effectively amounts to the closest thing a lich has to a heart."

"Heh, well, this is definitely going to be an interesting twelve years," Zach muttered. "Speaking of that, since we are relatively sure of our objective now, do we even need to spend the whole remaining twelve years in here?"

"Absolutely," Zorian said. "Remember, the real threat is getting past Panaxeth, and we have just confirmed that he is in active opposition to what we're trying to do right now. We are doing our best to keep him off our scent this time, but you had better believe he will be fighting us very seriously as soon as he notices what's going on."

"And, if that was not enough," Zorian continued, the stakes will be even higher this time since we're allowing the gate to become barred. You are the one most at risk with this approach. I will retain my memories regardless of what happens, but your memories will be erased if you do not leave the lesser time loop, and the gate being barred will make that considerably more difficult for you."

Zorian collapsed his shaping exercise as soon as he finished giving Zach this reminder of the true weight of the situation they were dealing with now. He really did not like using these kinds of theatrics to drive in a point, but he had learned that these kinds of gestures tend to be meaningful for others, and Zach just so happened to be the sort of person who needed this sort of extra weight added to a point.

He could sense that his actions had indeed served to add the needed extra impact as the message Zorian had delivered penetrated deep into Zach's psyche. His fellow time looper had a far more serious look on his face now, and he gave a solemn nod.

"Right. Guess I got to be serous about my training then," he said. and then gave a glance toward Tesen. "Well, in that case, just let me give that bastard over there a few good punches to the face and then we can start on with my magic lessons."