Anna’s Perspective.

"Fuck off, girly-brat. You obviously ain't worth a spot in our military. Take your weak and thin, thin weak, and tiny self and get some muscle out of my damn sight!" His words were full of disdain that made rage flow through my very bones. The fact that he says this means he doesn’t even know how magic works and has no idea how the body can be enhanced by training. He might assume that I was somehow improperly trained. I know that my muscles only show visibly when I am moving in combat or doing something strenuous, but I was a young lady in a fancy kimono approaching a military recruitment location and entering the samurai track.

Normally a person without training wouldn’t even know about the samurai track and go for the soldier track.

Shouldn’t this situation give him pause?

This was the exact way the old lady had told me would get me accepted by simply approaching with this appearance.

Weak.

Tint self.

Out of my damn sight.

Aint worth…

I knew his words were worthless and ignorant but they stung like a slap across the face and forced me to grind my teeth in rage.

I was foiled by the incompetence of the person in front of me and not by my own ability.

I glanced at his instructor badge and his beer gut and grimaced. There is no possible way he earned that badge.

My fingers clenched around the hidden hilts of my scimitars.

This ignorant oaf refused my entry into the military for the fourteenth loop in a row.

Two sets of seven loops of time that I wouldn’t be getting back.

I purchased the kimono to give the appearance of someone who can afford training, learned how to apply to be a samurai and not just a soldier, and all I received in return was disdain.

Technically I would get the loops back, painfully, but it’s the principle of the matter!

The thoughts I had and the contemplation of murder of this walking example of nepotism and stupidity in Sarui City.

The irritation that I felt that moment eclipsed the logic I prided myself on.

I would have to die seven pointless deaths in order to reset the loop this time.

I would have to try a different approach next time, but dying hurts!

The thought was as appealing as a mouthful of week-old shit.

It’s a good thing I kept all my objects and strength upon death, otherwise this would all be pointlessly tedious.

I wasn't interested in cutting retorts or insulting banter this time.

I would focus on just cutting.

With a twist of my wrists my weapons of choice slid out of my sleeves, and moved towards the ground.

I kicked them into my waiting palms as they twirled with the hilts landing squarely within.

I charged forward and cut into his neck with barely an effort.

He was weak and clearly wasn't able to counter or even react for that matter.

I was more than worth his place and could do his job a million times better.

I wanted a position of combat, though, not a desk job.

I stepped forward and tore his coin pouch from his hip and decided to gather some resources from some reprobates.

They would be reset anyway. I knew they were real but their reality was temporary. Their life was irrelevant in the grand scheme of the world.

I had decided to reset, but it wasn’t time to do it right now.

I bolted and as I swapped my Kimono's colors I heard shouting.

I had a witchery expert of the enchanting class help me a few loops ago to get an enchantment onto the cloth.

I had asked her to make it repair itself on damage when fed cloth, clean on dirtying when given water along with color and pattern changing.

It only took me a few turns through alleys and I had lost the military based pursuers.

I swapped to an amulet with an enchantment to disguise hair color.

It changed my hair color to red from my natural light violet.

I exited the alley into the streets and looked around.

The city stretched before me as a sprawling labyrinth of cobblestone streets along with many two, three, and one story buildings.

There were the rare few four story towering buildings, but they were usually government owned or belonged to large merchants or businesses.

I moved towards the market and soon arrived after bumping lightly on a few money pouches- sorry, people.

The marketplace teemed with life, sights, sounds, and smells.

As merchants hawked their wares enthusiastically with their voices raised in sales pitches that would make only the most moronic mark approach and buy a ‘bread-loafer’ I ignored the cacophony of shouting and vying for attention.

No one noticed an extra hand or a missing purse before it was too late.

My movements remained silent and precise as I kept an eye out for anyone who could grab me.

I didn’t want to kill market guards to escape.

I wanted money and resources.

I targeted a silk merchant next.

I watched his stall that overflowed with bolts of luxurious fabric.

I knew that silk was a valuable commodity that was easily traded for the coin I needed.

I slipped behind his stall as my green-tinged kimono blended with the grass behind me.

My fingers were nimble and swift as I untied the pouch of coins strapped to his waist as I passed by.

He never even noticed.

The sequence of events of going behind his stall and grabbing his coins lasted a single second interval.

I moved onto another luxury stall and swiftly repeated the movements.

This wasn’t a natural skill gain.

The ring on my left finger shattered and my unnatural skill in theft and stealth left my mind.

It left a bit of my own adjustments and learning and an echo of what it provided, but I was no longer the best thief in a few districts.

I paused as my senses tingled.

A presence that was cold and predatory brushed against my awareness.

I turned as my hand instinctively reached for the hilt of one of my scimitar. A man who was tall and cloaked in darkness stood watching me from across the crowded square.

He smiled, a slow, cruel curve of his lips. "You're quite the nimble thief," he purred.

I could tell that his voice was a silken whisper that cut through the noise of the marketplace. "But even shadows can be caught."

I scoffed internally. He’s wearing an ‘Assassin persona robe.’ that the witchery expert told me she often sold.

When I asked who she sold them to she demanded I not ask and just know that bad people need to look strong even if they aren’t and anyone wearing the robe was weak.

She gave me good information, apparently.

I met his gaze with my expression carefully neutral. I desperately wanted to do my default mocking routine but I needed a way to follow this idiot.

So I played along.

"I have no interest in games," I said with my voice cold and sharp as if I were intreating with an equal instead of a moron who dealt in fear. "State your business."

He chuckled with a low rumbling sound that sent an illusion of a tremor through the air. "My business is with you, little thief. You possess a talent that could prove quite useful."

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I remained silent.

He smiled again, his eyes glittering with amusement. "We shall see about that, little one. We shall see."

He turned and melted into the crowd.

His presence vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

I had already decided to die the required times to go all the way back. The military wasn't an option this time around, but the next loop was a sure thing.

This loop, however, presented a different opportunity.

I watched the recruiter as he swaggered away with confidence.

It was clearly a pathetic attempt to mask his weakness.

Believing he had lost me as I moved out of sight, he discarded the disguise a bit too close to me and disappeared into the bustling crowds of the marketplace.

You are supposed to move into the crowds BEFORE changing your appearance, moron!

Ignoring my disgust at his lack of ability in what he should specialize in, I followed him while keeping a safe distance.

I kept my steps light and silent. My kimono that I had returned to a pink color was a beacon in the crowded streets, so I swapped into a black color and went to the rooftops.

He led me through a maze of twisting streets and darkened alleyways.

His path was erratic and seemingly lacking in any direction, but we slowly moved towards the ‘nice part of town’. Not the good part of town, but the one that shouldn’t be wealthy but has something shady going on to prop it up.

I continued to shadow him from the rooftops as my movements remained fluid and graceful.

Lord Edo’s training was great for this.

The scimitars strapped securely to my arms in their holsters begged me to pull them out again but I was going to be patient.

I leaped across gaps, scaled walls, and balanced precariously on narrow ledges.

He finally stopped before a nondescript building with a crumbling facade that was a drab canvas of peeling paint and cracked brick.

Isn’t this an obvious evil layer in the ‘nice’ part of town?

Why didn’t they try to make it look like the other buildings?

I shoved the thought aside and watched below.

I examined a single door that was heavily reinforced and was guarded by a burly man with a face like a granite statue that was flattened with added triangles for accessories- from the rooftop.

I moved until I was perched on a nearby rooftop ledge and I watched as the recruiter approached the guard.

He spoke with a low voice, I almost didn’t hear the password.

But I caught it. "The shadows fall and the emperor dies," he gave a strange and unsettling password.

That was enough.

I had heard what I needed to hear.

I dropped down from the ledge as I pulled my scimitars as I swung them in a flash. I spit him three ways as I came down.

The recruiter had his back to me the entire time so he never saw it coming.

One side of his body went to the left and one to the right as blood went everywhere.

As the blood covered me I smiled happily and kicked the middle portion that was collapsing forward in a grotesque parody of a bow to the side.

More blood splattered across the cobblestones.

The guard at the front of the door gaped at the carnage before him.

His shock lasted too long for him to live through this.

I smiled, a mocking curve of my lips. "The shadows fall and the emperor dies, despite being alive and ruling the country. Very evil. I appreciate the asinine password, very easy to mock. You know his royal guards would tear you apart by looking at you if a little girl can do the same? You really are funny." I berated with my voice gushing with enough mockery to fill an entire lake with my sass.

He began to panic and fumbled for the door handle as he fumbled with it in fear.

Finally he decided to Ignore the handle like he should have in the first place and tried to slam it shut.

He was too slow.

My scimitars flashed out again, severing his arms at the elbows.

He began to scream as his carved-from-granite expression turned from panicked to terrified and tried to turn to run.

His screams were cut short as a negligent flick of my wrist sent his head flying and bouncing across the cobblestones like a discarded toy.

I elegantly moved into a hall that looked like a chokepoint and slammed open the second door.

The dinghy bar area with my scimitars still dripping with blood.

A savage smile etched itself across my face.

The air hung heavy with the stench of stale ale, sweat, and a surprising lack of fear.

“Mama’s here to punish the bad babies who thought they could get away with murder! Surprise, you can’t! Wow! I wonder what changed?!” I shouted at the top of my lings.

Everyone stared.

From the man in the black ninja suit to the mustache man with the lightning bolt emblazoned onto his martial arts suit.

THey stared incredulously.

Then they opened their mouths and began laughing.

I giggled and then I laughed with them.

Then I decapitated a ninja and continued laughing even as they stopped.

My giggles turned to laughs and then a manically intense laugh echoed through the bar as heads went flying.

I continued giggling as I rushed forward and cut off the arm of the man with the nunchaku before he could do more than get into a stance.

I continued guffawing at the man with the large hammer-wielding man who I hamstrung at the knees and heels and followed by stabbing my blade into his skull and fell to the ground as a lifeless corpse.

Sure, carry a large hammer, but don’t be so slow!

Blood painted the walls, the floor, even the ceiling of this wretched den.

I moved through the bar area as they actually started trying to escape.

I threw my left scimitar and bypassed the person who had the single line of a pointy hairstyle that really looked strange.

What is with these people and sharp triangles?

He found that just because one scimitar was busy impaling a man with a staff to the wall after being thrown, didn’t mean the other wasn’t just as capable of severing his head.

As for the one with the staff, I was aiming for his forehead, but that’s okay because I took his head off too after approaching him.

As I took my scimitar from his corpse I looked around.

With a shrug I moved towards the helpfully labeled training area

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I met with a squat man with a smashed-looking nose.

He charged at me with his axe raised high but I sidestepped his clumsy attack with my scimitars flashing out to sever his hamstrings.

Surprisingly, he moved forward and to the side just enough to avoid that strike and had forced me to bend backward to avoid a slash that might have cut my head in two but instead cut my cheek and scraped a bit of skin off the side of my face.

Used the momentum of my back bend to roll backwards into a forward lunge.

He tried jumping backwards and raised his axe, but I was faster.

He roared in pain and collapsed sideways and onto the ground like a felled tree.

My scimitar had split him in two at the waist.

“You can’t attack me with half a body so…” I finished him with a swift and final stroke.

His blood splattered across my kimono and that was a good addition to the rest.

The training hall was filled with corpses so I returned to the bar area to investigate

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I hadn't made enough noise to attract those upstairs.

The crimson-covered walls of the bar area and training hall were kind of sickening but I had killed enough after all this time to not actually care above the slight disgust that assured me I was still human.

I entered one of the offices after being drawn by the glint of metal on a wall-mounted board.

It was an ‘assassination board’ which was apparently a list of targets with prices attached to their heads.

I scanned the names as my frown deepened with each passing entry.

I pulled out the dossiers they had on the targets, and wow!

They didn't even have the decency to target bad people. They exclusively targeted good ones with charitable ventures that were beneficial.

I pulled out a few documents from a nearby desk and sifted my fingers through the papers with ease.

This was one of many black-action guilds, I realized.

I hadn’t actually seen one in person yet, but I had heard them be talked about.

In rundown bars and restaurants a few had talked about them in hushed whispers.

I was even killed a couple of times by their agents as well as the other way around.

Their operations are a hidden network that keeps the black market thriving.

I tucked the documents into my kimono.

This was some valuable intel for the next loop.

I went upstairs.

The air grew thick with a strange and silent tension.

I forced the silence to be broken by smashing my foot against a door that was clearly labeled with who it belonged to.

"Branch Boss" was etched onto a brass plaque that went flying.

I kicked it open as the wood splintered and cracked under the force of my boot.

"Hello!" I announced, my voice dripping with sarcasm and irreverent cheer. "Here's the big little bitch! That means you! I think your obtuse nature matches your face's shape perfectly. Let's make it a bit sharper, shall we?!"

The Branch Boss, who resembled a mountain made of muscle with a thick neck and a jaw that was a bit too chiseled, in the sense that a sculptor made a massive mistake, kept trying to fix it, and then gave up.

He stared at me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. This was clearly an expression that questioned life itself.

A massive, double-edged sword leaned against the wall beside him, its size a testament to the man's strength. He stood slowly as his gaze fixed on me.

"My face... obtuse? Big... little bitch?" he rumbled as his face melted into an incredulous stare. His voice was deep but gave the feeling of a dumb brute.

The baritone that vibrated through the room with absolute bafflement was confused and the face that it came from was remarkably ugly.

His stunned state lasted long enough for me to continue my verbal assault.

"Yes," I said, my voice hinting at mock concern. "Were my words unclear? Do you need me to buy you an ear enchant? Would you rather me regale you with the fact that your face resembles an icosahedron that shat itself while on ALL of the drugs? What if I told you that if you combined all the little old ladies in the capital city waaaay over in the other direction they would match you perfectly for best girl over the age of triangle award?! Maybe if we got a really good artist they could paint a portrait of your face using only triangles! I’m sure that would be exciting! Or maybe we could just call you 'grandpa-smashed-pointy-face' from now on! What do you think? Is that enough of a good description? Would you like some more?!" I grabbed a hand mirror that I had in my pocket just for occasions where I needed to insult people's appearances. “Here! I’ll break this just for you and put a piece of shattered pumpkin on it! Then you’ll see the reflection of your long lost father who went out for mil-”

His bafflement lasted a moment longer before he grabbed his blade and moved with unnatural speed.

He roared as I barely saw him move before the massive slab of metal filled my vision. Then-

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The scent of dust and sweat filled my nostrils as the sun beat down on my face. It was warm and comforting but the surprise of how outclassed I was lingered.

I blinked as my vision slowly returned.

The familiar training yard of Lord Edo's prison realm stretched before me as its dusty ground littered with wooden practice dummies could easily be observed.

The fact that they all had Darren’s face still creeped me out. and scattered weapons.

The air hummed with a mysterious energy and a subtle vibration that still made me feel on edge every time I returned here.

"Well, now you've seen someone who can use Body Ki.” The familiar voice of the Sword God Emperor came to my ears. “I think you came at a bad time if you wanted to keep the situation a secret, though." Lord Edo continued with his deep and resonant voice cut through the silence. I turned my head towards the sound of a wooden sword snapping from stopping short.

My heart pounded in my chest.

Darren stood there with the wooden katana around the length of a Daito and he was using it for training.

He held it aloft and was frozen mid-swing.

His eyes were wide with disbelief and fixed on me.

His mouth opened and closed, words failing him.

"Anna?" he finally choked out with a voice so full of shock and relief that I actually felt physical pain.