Gaus jerked his head in the direction the voice was coming from, almost breaking it in the process, to see the speaker.

"Where's she?" The speaker, who was now clearly Tyren, said.

The soul bond must be giving his location away. How else would Tyren be tracking him down this easily?

But this was the opportunity he'd been waiting for. The clone currently attached to his body would inform Rachel of the situation and she would come. Until then he had to keep Tyren occupied.

"Where's who?" Gaus asked. His voice was surprisingly calm.

Tyren chuckled. "Oh, please, you know who I'm talking about."

"So," Gaus said. "Assuming I know this person you are talking about, what do you want with them?"

"I'm not the one looking for her," Tyren said. "It's them." He pointed.

Gaus turned around. Three old men stood a few meters away from him.

What?

His mana and longevity senses were up and running and yet he didn't pick them.

One of them was the black-eyed man at the marine headquarters who killed him in the previous loop, but the other two he did not know. They were dressed in flowing white robes with strange drawings of black eyes on them.

"Brat," one of them said. "Tell us where she is and you won't be involved in any of this."

"I don't know where she is," Gaus said. He must hold on until she came. "She was here but I don't know where she went off to."

"His will of immortality is strong," the other man said.

The black-eyed shrugged. "It's more of his affinity for time magic than his will. It's surprising how he does it."

The first one to speak frowned. "Do you think he's responsible for diverting the sentinels?"

"Of course, he is," the black-eyed said. "He's working for Minorita so it will make sense if he goes against the sentinels. Maybe she shares her will with him."

"That will explain it."

While they were still distracted, Gaus used the opportunity to summon his skills.

Blink activated.

*

Promana block activated.

*

Advanced levitation activated.

*

Invisible cord activated.

*

Immaterial cord activated.

*

Sword mirage activated.

*

Focus activated.

*

Martial Throw activated.

*

Mana shield activated.

*

Mana armament activated.

Four against one was an unfair matchup, but he would fight, at least until Rachel got there.

"Young man," the black-eyed said impatiently. "Where is she?"

"I said I don't know," Gaus said.

"You better tell them," Tyren whispered to him. "She's being charged with the illegal smuggling of people into the loop. Just tell them where she is and you'll be free to go."

Illegal smuggling? That was ridiculous. Did Tyren tell them she had the Rewind?

"I can't tell you what I don't know."

"Then you won't mind if I take a look at your mind," the black-eyed said casually as if that was the most normal thing to do.

"No," Tyren said, standing between the black-eyed man and Gaus. "That will kill him and he's no use to me dead."

Tyren was defending him. Amusing.

"Move aside," the black-eyed said, pushing Tyren out of the way with one hand.

Losing his balance, Tyren tripped and fell on his back. Gaus couldn't help but chuckle.

He looked at his timer. Why wasn't Rachel there yet? By now, the clone must have informed her about what was going on.

The black-eyed started walking toward him. Gaus took a couple of steps back and his back suddenly hit a tree. It was surprising since he didn't see any tree there before. Maybe he just missed it since he wasn't looking for it. He tried to go around it but the black-eyed man appeared in front of him.

He summoned a blue dagger and stabbed it in the man's chest just before he blinked above him and stabbed his neck from above. The man dodged both attacks and tried to grab him with his right hand but he blinked away.

By the time Gaus landed on the ground, the man was already attacking again. He didn't notice the small cubes Gaus had slipped in his pocket when he stabbed him. Gaus activated them by sending his mana into the runes and flames erupted. Even the dagger on the ground exploded. Gaus had learned to make explosives out of his daggers and swords.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Fire and dust engulfed the man for an entire minute. When it settled, the man was... unharmed? Not an inch of his skin or clothes was affected in any way. It was as if he didn't notice it.

An attempt to attack the man's cord proved to be impossible since he had no cord, to begin with, which Gaus attributed to cord shedding.

Gaus retrieved his bow as fast as he could and fired four arrows in quick succession. Each arrow multiplied and at the same time managed to maintain its course with the help of advanced levitation. Three arrows hit the target. The arrowheads were covered in explosive runes and Gaus immediately pushed his mana into them and... Boom. Flashes of light and blood filled his vision. He could vaguely see his arm twitching on the ground several meters away from his body. His thigh was cut wide open.

What... happened?

Before he passed out, he heard one of his assailants saying something along the lines of 'he killed himself' and 'kids nowadays are arrogant'. But he did not kill himself. The explosives were supposed to explode with the black-eyed man, not him.

***

Magiwatch has saved twenty-four hours.

A new loop was expected. He was even lucky Gaus's Immortality didn't detect any damage to his mind or soul otherwise he would be starting another seven-day loop at the cost of 5 MP.

He had escaped but what about Rachel and the others? What happened to them after he died? He'd to warn them not to go back to the hideout. He couldn't go there by himself and sending someone would reveal the location of the hideout, so he decided to send them a message. Rachel could interact with the system and even send a message through it. That's how they contacted Abbas in the first place. She wasn't unique in her ability and others could also interact with the system and send a specific message to the connected magiwatch. It was the same magic the academy used to create the interface.

After asking around, three private facilities offered to do it for a cost.

"One thousand ayrids per word," the man said.

"One thousand?" Gaus wasn't sure he heard him right.

"Yes, that's the price. Take it or leave it."

He could look further down the road in the hope of finding a cheaper price but he wasn't confident he could have it. The two facilities he visited before this one charged 1200a and 1,400a per word. Besides, every minute he wasted was another minute Tyren would find Rachel.

He retrieved six blue swords from his inventory and put them on the table.

"Will this be enough?"

The man inspected each sword with glasses before he looked at him again.

"Two words per sword," he said.

"Just two?" Gaus asked. "Each sword is at least four thousand ayrids. You should give me at least three words per sword."

"That's the price," the man said dismissively.

"Okay." He snapped.

Sending the message was more important. He could let himself be swindled just this once.

To Abbas, he wrote: don't go back to the hideout, it's not safe. Let's meet at lunch at the usual place and time.

To Lilat, he wrote: take Minorita and flee the forest. It isn't safe. Contact me as soon as you leave.

That done, he exchanged a couple more swords at 1200a each.

His safety was his priority. Was it safe to go back to the academy? No. He should first know what happened after he was killed. Was his identity revealed? Did Rachel and the others escape safely? Imagine a scenario where one of them was captured and they were tortured into revealing his identity. They would be looking for him anywhere. What if they were already in the academy waiting for him?

But still, he was supposed to visit the spirit realm today. As the class rep, he would lead the class. He might get a spirit even with his zero affinity. How could he explain his absence to Linc? Dammit.

A flash of blue panel interrupted his thoughts.

Tyren Onis has just sent you a friend request through the interface. Accept? Y/N?

NB: you have one slot remaining.

He used the back of his hand to push the panel away. No need to even consider it.

After debating on it for a while, he decided not to go back to the academy and wait until he knew what happened to Rachel and the others. The teacher said the preparations would begin at eight in the morning and the first batch would enter at ten. The following batch at eleven and the last batch at noon. Hopefully, someone would reply to him before noon and he could join the rest of his class in getting a spirit companion.

He went to a hotel, ordered some food, and cleaned up. He even tried some sleep only to be interrupted by the expectation of seeing a new message pop up.

It was after one in the afternoon that he gave up on going to the academy. All his classmates were already in the realm by then and even if he went the teachers wouldn't let him enter.

He went to see Abbas in the afternoon. He wasn't disturbed by the lack of reply from Abbas since the boy couldn't interact with the system like Rachel and he probably didn't have enough money to send the message from a private center.

When he entered the library, the first thing he noted was the absence of the receptionist. A good sign, he thought. At least, she got his message and was on the run.

The appointed three o'clock came and went. Abbas didn't come. It was no cause for alarm. People got late all the time. Two hours later, Gaus walked out of the library and looked around the surroundings. Maybe Abbas was nearby and something had stopped him from coming inside. When he couldn't find him he decided to visit his place. Lilat made sure they knew where Abbas lived before they recruited him.

He knocked a few times and when there was no reply, he created a key from blader and metalmancer. With his levels in mana taming, creating a key was a child's play.

As the door swung open, the sound of an alarm hit his ears.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

"Abbas?" He called. "Are you home?"

Silence.

He swept the house with his senses but nothing came back from it.

"Abbas?" He raised his voice. "Abbas?"

When it was clear he wasn't going to get any answers, he followed the direction the alarm was coming from to the bedroom. Annoyingly, Abbas was sleeping comfortably on his bed.

"What the hell? Wake up, idiot. How can you be sleeping at this hour and with everything going on?"

He kicked him in the leg.

"I was worried about you. Didn't you receive my message? What happened yesterday? Where's Minorita?"

Only silence and the ever-ringing alarm answered him. On closer inspection, the alarm was coming from Abbas' magiwatch. The boy noticed neither the alarm nor Gaus's presence despite all the shouting and kicking.

A quick examination revealed no pulse or breathing. All evidence of life was gone. Did someone break in and strangled him in his sleep? But there was no sign of any struggle. No bruises on the neck. Then it was probably a spell of some sort that killed him. He could look for a doctor but what good would it be? The boy would be fine as soon as it was morning. He decided to just wait.

Now the only problem was Rachel. Why hadn't she replied to him yet? Did Tyren get to her first?

Sigh.

Whatever happened, the day was almost over and they would all be fine once the loop reset.

And so he waited.