Class? Rank? All these times I hadn't heard these words before... why now? Warrior class? What does this mean?
Regardless, why do I continue to gain the opportunity to repeat today? Could this be a boon or a curse? Nothing makes sense. As I shrugged off my head, I walked to the gate. "Rino, let me in!"
"Are you sure?"
I don't know what it was, but something about his squeaky voice was irritating enough for me to smash the gates with my fist. "OPEN. THE FUCKING GATES!!" With three hard slams from my right, I had managed to make a hole through the gate. As I pulled my quivering hand back towards me, I saw the blood that dripped slowly from the cuts.
'Had I gotten stronger?'
Was I not reliving the same day over and over again? How could I possibly have gained strength? I know for a fact that I wasn't this strong when I first died, so what was this?
As I opened and closed my hands in curiosity, the gates opened. I ran back to the place I knew as home. With my shield, I repeated the same maneuver as last time, and calmed my wife immediately by embracing her. Moving away from my wife, I held my daughter in my arms as I looked at her warm smile. The peace in my heart returned. Now all that remained, was to make it to tomorrow with my family.
"We have to leave now." This time, rushing to the broken part of the wall was easy. Surprisingly, my wife was unable to catch up like last time. As I put my daughter down, she spoke, "Papa, are you alright?" I could see the concern in her eyes. With the biggest and goofiest smile I could manifest, I responded, "Papa is just fine."
As I began hitting the wall, I noticed chunks of wood fly away. Within a few minutes, I had made a large enough hole for us to pass through. One thing was obvious now; my strength had increased.
As the gates broke, I cleared the hole of the splinters with a few swipes of my shield. "Today will be different.", I told myself.
Grabbing hold of my daughter, I ran hand-in-hand with my wife. We had escaped the village, but to outrun the Northern army was a separate matter. Instead of running away from the army, I tried to run along their length. By running far enough, they could move right past us. Because a major part of the cavalry was slowed down at the gates, the rest of the cavalry had not managed to surround the village yet.
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I estimated it would take another 12 to 15 minutes before we were to run free of the army. With my wife slowly tiring, I lifted her in my arms and began running diagonally away from the army to gain some time. The load on my feet was almost unbearable. As my mouth dried, I looked back to notice I had only made it across half the army's length. Stuck in the middle, there was no way out.
Putting my wife and child down, I caressed my wife's face, saying one word, "Run." She understood what had to be done. Over our years of marriage, we had come to understand ourselves better. Holding my short sword in my right, I stood ready for the onslaught of the horses. As an arrow flew towards my head, I dodged it by tilting my head to the side. This level of skill was nothing compared to what I had learned battling with the red cloth.
Tossing my shield toward the leg of a horse, I caused it to lose its balance and fall, skidding against the ground. With one down, the ones behind tumbled. But this alone, was not enough. With the rest of the army closing in from the sides, I took it upon myself to cut my way out of them. I cut through the legs of horses by the dozen, creating a wall of horses around me. Some men fought on foot and lost, some men tried running ahead of me and failed. Cut after cut, weapon after weapon, I was moving swiftly across the army to prevent them from crossing my family. But as I began to grow tired of their numbers, a single arrow would end this day. Though I managed to dodge it, it pierced my wife's heart.
Dropping my sword to the floor and kneeling down, I waited for death to end today. A man on foot, hacked my head with a scimitar. As my head flew, I saw the sight of the massive army, and another trumpet blew.
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[Failure]
[The 125th Cycle Commences.]
[Class: Warrior]
[Rank: E]
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I had run halfway across the length of the army. In other words, not taking my minor injury in account, I needed to at least double my speed or double my skill. Defeating the army seemed a simpler task then fighting the red cloth. It was frightening, considering I hadn't beat him yet, and was still capable of this feat. I resumed the journey I had momentarily lost track of, and chased after the red cloth with a bow and 5 arrows tucked across the belt holding my shield, along with Chief Umbra's black sword.
Over time, I had gained better control over the sword. Because of how light it was, it was easy to change directions in the middle of a swing. With such a technique, I had made a cut across the red cloth's shoulder before. With the bow to boost Chief Umbra's sword, I could fight from all angles. However, I still had to improve on my aim with the bow. A single pull of the string was more taxing then ever.
Throwing my shield at one of the horse's legs, I sighted the red cloth as it tumbled. "Haham Auckbert! The great God of War! Help me defeat my enemy!"
I charged at the red cloth, with my sword striking his spearhead.
*Clang*