Death's Door

That was the conclusion the nameless man had reached after he finally opened his eyes. This was the day Nur Finnerman first entered the city, no longer was he being tortured inside that prison, he was free. Due to his curse, those events haven"t even transpired yet, yet his memories were still fresh even if his wounds were non-existent.

Nur Finnerman is gone and he is never coming back.

The man chose to hide himself, blend in with his surroundings and diligently watch everything around him.

And watch he did. Every single day, he watched events unfold for an entire week. Then, the big day came.

The execution of the demon named Arin Draco. Several members of royal family including the king and first prince attended it. Then the executioner raised his blade and struck the poor demon down.

Bound by chains, with silver steaks rammed through her hands and legs, and doused with holy water, she was unable to move as her head was cleanly hacked off.

"Behold, the head of the Demon Lord!" the king loudly proclaimed, grabbing the severed demon"s head by the horns. "This is the fate of demon kind, only death awaits them. Rejoice my subjects, for today we have ridden our world of another Demon Lord, and soon their king shall follow! All hail the Great Five G.o.ds! All hail Sun G.o.d!"

Everyone praised the big five G.o.ds protecting them and the king of G.o.ds, Solaris. There are seven well known G.o.ds, but only six are worshipped. The seventh G.o.d was Michael, Solaris"s servant and knight, he was known as Sword of G.o.ds, and the mightiest of the G.o.ds, save for Solaris.

"It seems like their promise was no idle threat." Man whispered as he felt a piercing pain in his chest. When he looked at his chest underneath his clothing, he saw a wound that was bleeding out.

As his heart stopped beating, the man fell on the ground, with other people not even seeing someone fall underneath their feet.

I see. So they have kept their promise. My time is up.

The only reason he would get a fatal wound on his heart was obvious- Sariu was dead. His life was still was connected to hers via the contract. As long as the life link exists, he will die if she loses her life. Any kind of wound she suffers would be reflected on him.

As his eyes faded into darkness, man smiled. This is just the beginning…

* * *

Again, he was back where he started, but this time he knew that his time was truly limited. He could do this week any number of times he wanted, but unless he did something different, he would be stuck repeating this week forever.

It seems like the only way to break free of this loop is to save the demon named Arin Draco, but the only way he could do so was by getting a powerful ally or a weapon.

Mrakus"s words echoed inside his head.

It may look mundane, but this knife is made from a crystal that came from the above, from a falling star, carved into a shape. And the curious thing about it is that it can, not only cut through anything but it can also kill anyone, including a deity. That would be one advice I give you. Go towards the Holy City of Sana, to the Holy Land castle, and retrieve the crystal knife.

That"s right. The crystal knife. Mrakus was implying that this knife was powerful enough to kill G.o.ds, which meant that it could be of tremendous use to him. But the Holy Land castle was guarded by n.o.bleman"s servants, sneaking into there would be just as hard as getting into prison.

What he needed was the ability to conceal himself…

One day afterwards, he ended up witnessing something curious. A mage put on a cloak and suddenly disappeared from sight.

He was astounded, to think he lived through this day thrice and never saw this…he really must have been ignorant…

But if he were to repeat this day, he might be able to do something about it…

* * *

That mage was harder to antic.i.p.ate than expected and even harder to catch and subdue. He spent so many loops tracking the mage down, the worst part? He would disappear and reappear somewhere using his concealment cloak. If he couldn"t loop back and relieve the same day, he would probably have never tracked him down.

It took him five loops to memorize the old mage"s entire route and when he finally managed to do so, he ended up facing unpleasant surprises.

Yet again, the mage disappeared. But now he knew where the mage would reappear, this was the spot. If he could time it just right, he could catch the mage.

However, before he could kill himself and restart his loop, he heard a sound of someone crying out. Out of curiosity he ended witnessing something he should have avoided.

The shape of the creature resembled a woman, a tall, lean woman with good curves, wearing a black dress. In her hands that resembled claws she was holding a heart, on the ground lay a knight, his chest opened up, and his eyes empty. He was dead.

She was eating his heart, blood spilling on her face as her need-like fangs pierced into the meat. He mouth which looked normal for a minute, opened, revealing mandibles, the inside of her mouth was filled with rows and rows of teeth. After consuming the heart, her mouth returned to normal, human-like shape, her long forked tongue licked her lips. For a second, he could see her eyes; all six of them as they were open while she was enjoying the taste of the meat. All six of her eyes were slitted and pure black.

Then, she ended up noticing him. Her face now immediately turned to look human, with her four eyes closing.

"You shouldn"t have seen this. Now there is no choice but for you to die." He didn"t even have enough time to run. Within a fraction of a second she reappeared behind him and stabbed him with her hand through his back.

Her hand was holding his still beating heart. She pulled her hand out, still holding his heart, his body, now with a hole where his heart used to be, collapsed on the ground.

"Auaaahgm!" she swallowed the heart. "What a delicious heart, it tastes much better than that knight. It appears I was lucky today."

To think he would die at the hands of this woman, a carnivorous monster with a taste for hearts. Well, at least he learned something new.

And now that he knew everything he needed to, it was time to make his move.