Do-Over

Losing its prey in a blink of an eye, the monster roared, its enraged voice shaking the ground and the walls alike. It crouched down, preparing for another barrel roll straight to the group – the attack that proved to be the most effective so far. But unlike last time, the raid team was no longer powerless to stop it.

Taking a deep breath, Baihu made his move.

His body was burning up, while his arms tensed harder than steel. Every slightest movement he made, a surge of heat circulated from his head to toes. Even a small punch forward was enough to send a shock of pain all over his body. This was just the natural process of awakening to powers beyond the realms of human understanding – Zhuque had gone through the same thing with her multiple usage, though of course Baihu had no knowledge of it.

Nonetheless, it didn’t stop him from continuing his attacks. From the sides of the cave’s walls, two more giant stone arms emerged, curled into fists and covered the entire army similar to Baihu’s action. As he breathed out and took a step forward, the Huoguo prince threw an uppercut from the left side, and in turn, the rock arm from the left smashed straight onto the beast’s charging path, knocking it up in the air but also shattering on the spot. The resulting stones tumbled down to the ground, but with great luck and organization, missed most of the raiding army and their belongings.

All that was left was a monster utterly confused by the present situation.

But this was no mere beast to be taken out in a single hit like that. The punch from the rock arm did land, but it only managed to lightly shock it – with a shake of its mane, it once again let out a booming roar to signal both its incredible toughness and heightened anger alike.

At the same time, however, it wasn’t only Baihu fighting alone. His attack had bought enough time for the raid army to get back on their feet, and now, the formation was set once more.

Throwing a knife with strings attached onto the opposite wall with all his might, Ryuuhan zipped across the cave like a spider spreading its web for an eventual enrapture. With each swing, the young boy made another layer of trap on the ceiling, all while still shouting each precise order for the men down below:

“Watch out for its left flank! Shielders!”

“The right side is open! Priests, sink its legs!”

The army, now backed with protection both on the ground and in the air, were free to deploy their formations. Archers fell back, firing volleys after volleys again, accompanied by the ever-pressing shields up front. Around the flanks, the priests had also finished their ritual circles, and with a unified chant, the monster’s feet were all on fire.

And of course, taking center stage of the battle was still Baihu, whose power output and precision only seemed to increase after each hit – as soon as his rock arm broke, there was already another one spawning right where it was, creating a rumbling that shook the entire cave to its core. The intervals got shorter as well, going from a few moments to barely a second before each arm knocked the beast sideways. Not letting it rest, Baihu moved forth, each step of his rocked even the tallest mounds.

However, the battle was still far from over. The monster, though suffered from many attacks, still had plenty of stamina to spare. The army’s hits were simply not strong enough, while Baihu’s punches were blunt hits from a part that was not his, and thus only dealt minor damage to the beast’s thick hide. But the prince had realized this also, and the punches he had made so far had only served as decoy for his next step.

Taking a deep breath, Baihu shouted out from the top of his lungs:

“Everyone! Raise your weapons!”

The crowd was stunned before the odd command, especially in the middle of a life-or-death battle like this. Even if Baihu was one of their commanders, as well as the one with the most experience on the field, to immediately follow his order without question was still a tad too far in the moment. The Huoguo soldiers might, but the ones from Watatsumi were showing clear hesitation.

All, except for one.

“You heard the man!” Zipping himself through the lines and landing on a rock pillar nearby, Ryuuhan raised his knives as high as he could. “Weapons up! Now!”

With a second leader giving the same order, there was no reason to linger anymore. Everyone raised their weapons – swords, shields, bows, staff alike. And at that moment, something that could only be described as nothing short of a miracle occurred.

There was but a single gleam on Ryuuhan’s knives. The cave’s interior and its lack of natural light made it hard to notice, but slowly and surely, countless black grains started forming on the small blades. The grains condensed and thickened, bit by bit until each knife was entirely coated in a layer of obsidian, the glowing blue light from the cave reflecting on its dark shine was almost like a miniature universe.

And Ryuuhan wasn’t the only one. Others had started to realize the same thing as well. One by one, their weapons were coated in the same shining stone, sharper and harder than ever before. Naturally, their eyes all gathered around the young man that made it all happen.

Baihu still stood there, assuming his usual battle stance while wearing a triumphant smile. Even he himself didn’t exactly know what would happen – it was just a gut feeling that he thought was just right to attempt, almost like an instinctual awareness of his own powers. And the young man’s gamble paid off – now, with obsidian coated both the army’s blades as well as his own rock arms, there was enough of a piercing force to finally penetrate the monster’s pesky exterior.

All they needed was an order to charge.

Baihu took a step forward. He took a deep breath, ready for the breakthrough of his lifetime.

The Huoguo prince threw a punch in the air. The rocky arm from the ground followed suit, punching the ceiling to cause another rummage.

… Nothing happened afterwards. No order to charge. No attack. Not even a single word.

The army fell to a deafening silence. The young prince still stood, his fist still in the air, but… there was nothing else.

No one knew what happened. No one knew what the problem was. No one, but only a single girl.

Tears started flowing out of Zhuque’s eyes, bawling and raging like a flooded river. In her choking voice, the princess could only utter a single word:

“... Baihu?”

No one answered. The moment she uttered that word, the truth had hit everyone else harder than the greatest thunder strike in their lives.

And the moment that realization hit, crossing from confusion to sadness, and sadness to anger, merely lasted only for a split second.

“Baihu!” Zhuque’s scream was enough to rend her vocal cords to shreds. The girl leapt from her spot through the rocky formation in a blink of an eye, with movement that rivaled the best soldiers in the land, all to reach her brother that was so close, yet so far away.

But it wasn’t enough for her.

Faster. Faster! Her mind roared in a frenzy. Her steps grew quicker and quicker. Her body heated up to the point of smoking. But Zhuque didn’t care anymore.

All she wanted was a confirmation. A stupid smile from her stupid brother. A head pat that said everything would be alright.

Who cared if it was a battlefield? Who cared if their lives were on the line? Who cared if the monster was still alive, ready to strike at a moment’s notice? Her brother needed to answer her. He needed to lead them to safety.

“Baihu! Brother Baihu!” Zhuque continued to cry out. The monster had noticed her presence, and it had already raised its paw for a strike. But as the giant limb came crashing down, Zhuque only sped up even more – it was merely a spark moments ago, and now it had grown into a full-fledged flame, engulfing the girl’s entire body and sending her flying at an inhuman speed.

Flying forward like a shooting star, Zhuque escaped the clutches of the beast by a hair’s breadth. But that wasn’t important right now.

She had finally made it to her brother. Her body was still burning, but the heat within her own heart was much more intense than this. Yet, unlike her rush from before, now, the girl could only dare to take a half step forward, as if all of that worry, the anxiety from before had crystalized into a shackle that held her back.

“B–Baihu,” she called out. “Brother Baihu… aren’t you gonna say something?”

There was no answer.

“Say… something…” the tears that had run dried from the rush now flowed once more out her eyes.

Only silence replied to her cries.

“Didn’t you say… that it’s stupid to sacrifice your own life? Didn’t you? Stupid Brother! Answer me, Baihu! ANSWER ME!”

Zhuque’s scream was loud enough to break even the rocks around her. But no matter how loud she pushed her voice, Baihu could never answer her again.

It was the same situation as Zhuque’s second life. When the human body broke its limits, it would result in awakening to a power beyond their belief. However, it was also a double-edged sword – in exchange for instantaneous power, their life was equally burned away. Baihu should have been less pervious to this phenomenon, but the intensity of the battle as well as his own attacks, combined with his high state from awakening himself had broken his own sense of safety. And the act of coating everyone’s weapon in obsidian, as well as turning his own rock arms into the same material took the final life out of him, before he could even make a single strike towards his enemies.

Zhuque’s knees finally gave up the moment the inevitable truth hit her. Falling down like a lifeless doll, the girl only knew of two things. The burning heat that was outside her body, and the scorching flame that rent her heart.

She wanted to lash out. She wanted to kill whoever was responsible. But who could be responsible when Baihu’s demise was his own doing? And even if there was a culprit for her to vent her rage out… then what? No amount of magic could bring back a life from the dead. No amount of tears could produce a miracle elixir. Baihu was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it.

“... No.”

A small voice came out of Zhuque’s mouth.

“There is something I can yet do.”

The princess, still with tears in her eyes, took out the small dagger that she had been carrying on herself for protection. It was a flimsy dagger, and when wielded by a ten-year old, its damage to even an average adult would be negligible at best.

But it wasn’t meant to harm anyone else.

Zhuque’s mind spun and spun as she racked her brains for a solution. And then, it hit her.

She had had two chances of doing things over now. And both of them had something in common – she had perished after fighting a monster.

The question then remained: was it the monster and the tower that was the trigger of her reincarnation, or was it the death itself? The monster that threatened them was still there; Zhuque knew this. But if she fought the monster, there was an entire army that could assist her… and could stop her should she do anything reckless.

However, if she did what she had to do right here, right now, no one would be able to stop her.

As a worst-case scenario, she would also lose her life for nothing. But the girl had long made up her mind:

“Without my family… I don’t wanna live anyway.”

“Princess, what the hell are you doing?.. Damn it, Zhuque!”

As the knife plunged into her chest while the rest of her body felt the warm, crimson liquid splattering out of her own body, Zhuque could vaguely hear a boy’s increasingly distant voice, as well as his increasingly blurry features as he flew to her side with everything in his arsenal.

“Hehe… Sorry… But I’ll see you… later…”

Even Zhuque herself wasn’t aware of what she had said. But one thing was for certain: this time, the abyss gently embraced her as she closed her eyes and dove head-first into its void.