‘What did I do?’ I thought in astonishment.

Somehow, I had killed the guard on the wall… with magic.

‘Magic!’

“You- you monster! You killed Jerard! I will rip you to shreds!” The Cardinal with his sword pointed at my neck yelled.

With a look of pure unrefined fury on his face, the Cardinal leapt forward, stabbing his sword towards my Adam’s apple.

I looked at him as he did so, noting the fact that he moved almost comically slow, and I took a step back, dodging his attack completely.

‘This guy is moving really slowly. Did getting injected a second time give me physical abilities beyond that of a Cardinal?’ I thought in wonder.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp burst of pain, and I looked down at my chest to see a blade covered in blood protruding out of it.

“Fool.” A sleek voice said from behind me.

“The man who killed my brother was a dullard.” The Cardinal in front of me said.

“How disappointing.”

I closed my eyes as his blade sliced my neck cleanly in half.

The world turned black.

_____

I opened my eyes.

I was standing in the middle of the courtyard, again.

‘You have to be kidding me. I forgot that I was encircled. Even if I dodge one guy, there are three more behind me. How annoying.’ I thought in irritation.

I looked up at Jerard as he was getting ready to skewer me with an arrow.

‘Now that I think about it, I didn’t feel any guilt after killing that guy. Well, I guess it makes sense since he did kill me many times. But still, the fact that I killed another human being and didn’t feel a thing, is odd. Is it because of this weird feeling of calm that I’m stuck in? Well, regardless, I’m still gonna kill Jerard again, cause he deserves it.’

I watched as he let loose his arrow in my direction, and I spotted a hint of a grin shadowed on his features as he did so, something that I had never noticed before.

‘Psychopath.’

Tracking the arrow with my eyes, I raised my hand in front of my face and yanked it out of the air.

‘How do you like that?’ I thought smugly as I watched Jerard’s jaw drop to the floor.

“A-a Predom!” He yelled, and then ducked down behind the battlements.

I stood there in silence.

It was almost eerie, how this courtyard that was always filled with action, was now still. It felt… almost relieving.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Abruptly, the world snapped, and the twenty Cardinals appeared around me.

Moving swiftly, I stabbed the arrow in my hand into the eye-slits of the helmet on the Cardinal in front of me, feeling it slide through his skull easily.

Not waiting to see him fall, I turned around and released the heat that I had felt inside of me at the Cardinal who had stabbed me in the back in the last loop.

A bright blue light shot out of my hand and barreled into the Cardinal, causing him to fly backwards through the air.

The Cardinal to my right swung his sword towards my chest and I jumped to the side, dodging it by a hair.

Another Cardinal stabbed his sword at my leg, lodging it deep in my calf.

Wincing in pain I punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the floor from the impact and my hand to bleed from punching his metal helm.

Two more Cardinals both sliced their swords into each of my arms, and I began to see spots of darkness in my vision.

With a roar, I dislodged my leg from the sword caught in it and kicked the Cardinal standing directly behind me. I heard him stumble backwards and gasp, and I spun around to face him.

All of the sudden I felt my vision wobble, and then tilt, and the world flew upwards around me.

“Never turn your back to your opponent.” a voice said from above me, and the world turned black.

____

I opened my eyes.

Once again, I was standing in the center of the stone courtyard, my body very much alive.

“Dammit!” I yelled aloud.

‘I can't seem to beat them in a fight. They are better trained than me, and their ability lets them surround me from every angle every time. The only time it didn't was when I was backed up against a wall. But that doesn't change anything, since I would still die. I was more physically strong than them, and I could move far faster. Yet that made no difference when every direction was filled with a killing blade. Fighting them as I am right now is useless, I need even more power. I need to get an injection from that button again.’ I thought.

Scouring the walls for it, I found the button again and sprinted for it. Behind me, I heard an arrow whizzing through the air and then thudding into the ground.

I reached the button a second later, and without a moment of hesitation I slammed my right hand onto it.

I heard a snap, and I smiled in victory.

I raised my hand to my face, expecting to see the weird blue blood swimming within it, and was surprised to see nothing there.

“What the heck?” I said in confusion.

‘Did it not work?’

Abruptly, the world snapped, and the Cardinals appeared around me in a half circle.

I ignored them, and slammed my hand onto the button once more. Again, I heard a snap, and I looked at my palm to see it empty of any inconsistencies.

“Why is it not working?!” I yelled in annoyance.

“It does not work due to you being a fool.” the Cardinal behind me said.

I turned around and punched at the same time, hoping to teach the hateful man a lesson. Instead, my fist was pushed into the tip of the man’s blade, my arm sliced straight down the middle.

“Fools like you are always greedy for more power. Only the witted live long.”

I felt something impact the side of my skull, and the world turned black.

____

I opened my eyes.

Again, for the sixteenth time, I found myself standing in the center of the stone courtyard within Duke Craitor’s fortress.

‘When will this time loop end?’ I thought.

‘Will it end when I escape the fortress? Or will it end when I kill the Duke? I don't know. All I know is that I don't want to be here, stuck in a stone fortress of eternal death, where my end is constantly imminent. I just want to be at home, living my normal life, without repeatedly having to stand at death's door in a foreign world. Is that too much to ask for? What did I do to deserve this? Again, I don't know. What I do know is that the only way to find out how to escape this loop is to try something different. And the only loop that was majorly different was the one where I was stuck in the cell with Stoney and Clarence. I just need to get that to happen again.’

I looked up at Jerard as he nocked the arrow into his bow.

‘I just need to pretend to have a seizure, right?’ I thought.

I watched as his arrow flew towards me, and as slowly as I could, I positioned my body to stand slightly more to the right.

The arrow clipped the side of my head and landed on the ground behind me.

I felt warm blood trickle from the wound, and I began to scream, falling to the floor. I held my head in my hands and shook my body haphazardly.

I heard another arrow thud beside me, and then I felt the world snap, and I knew that the Cardinals had arrived.

I continued to make my body spasm uncontrollably, hoping that they would believe that I was having a seizure.

“Why are you pretending to be weak? Are you a fool?” a voice asked from above me.

‘Dammit.’

I felt a sharp pain blossom in my skull, and the world turned black.