One Step Forward

Aron's legs kept moving before his mind could even understand it. He kept dying. Again and again. He remembered every single time he died.

This wasn't going to stop. But it was worse than that.

"Every time I die, the world resets. But I still remember everything that happened."

His breathing was rough and uneven, but his legs didn't stop. "Damn it."

"I can do this." He kept running. "We have to get out of here."

Zekai was still standing in the same place where Aron had left him, his eyes closed, his body unmoving.

Aron grabbed Zekai's hand and pulled him. "Get up, Mr. Zekai! Come on!"

"Think, Aron. There has to be some way out of this."

[ ...CONDITION... ]

[ ...Loop...Bound... ...Error... ]

[ WARNING ]

Outcome Fixation Detected

A half-transparent blue screen flickered into his vision, like a TV that couldn't get a good signal. Then his vision became blurry. Everything mixed together and faded into shapeless colors. "What's happening to my eyes?"

Every loop brought something new to the surface. This time, something was different. "I'm not going to keep running anymore."

His voice was low. Almost like a growl. "This time, Knight's the one who's gonna run."

He looked around the ground. A little distance away, dozens of swords were scattered across the stone floor. Some of them were half-buried in the dust.

"What is this? So many swords?" His stomach twisted. "Has someone like us been here before?"

No other choice seemed worth considering. His fingers closed around the handle of a nearby sword. It was heavy, and it felt strange in his hand, making it tremble a little. Aron had never held a sword even once in his life. But somehow, the weight felt right in his grip. His mind didn't know it, but his body did.

"If this is a fight—" His fingers tightened around the handle. "Then I'll fight."

That same sharp sound tore through the air again. King Knight appeared behind him. The moment it appeared, the air around him became heavy.

Before Aron could even turn around, it felt like the ground itself bent down to show respect to it.

It waited silently.

The Knight's eyeless stare sent a shiver through Aron's body. Before fear could stop him, his body moved toward Zekai to protect him.

King Knight still didn't move.

The glitching screen appeared in front of his eyes again.

[ RESPONSE SUGGESTED ]

— Escape (Failure Probability: High)

— Resistance (Outcome: Termination)

— FREEZE (Unknown)

Aron rubbed his eyes, trying to force the blur away. When he opened his eyes again, the screen was gone.

There was only empty air left.

For a moment, a thought came to him. 'Are these loops finally starting to mess with my head?'

After dying so many times one after another, some confusion had started building in his mind. 'When will this end? Or will it just keep adding to my death count?'

His thoughts scattered and became unstable. But none of that mattered right now. 'The fight in front of me is the only real problem right now.'

He knew nothing about sword fighting. But he held the sword tightly. He moved forward, dragging himself along with nothing but stubbornness.

"Fine. I'm a coward, but—" His foot pressed firmly against the ground. "This time, I'm not running."

"Let's fight." His hands were shaking. He used all his willpower to keep them steady. "Come."

The Knight moved forward without rushing or hesitation, with complete confidence. Each of its steps landed heavily.

Aron raised his sword. He forced himself to keep his back straight. "At least I can fight back." He tried to wear that confidence like armor. He tried to stand like someone who wasn't about to die for the seventh time.

King Knight showed no reaction to Aron, treating him like nothing more than an insect. The moment it crossed the distance between them, Aron felt that something was wrong. But standing there wasn't going to change anything.

Taking one step forward felt like stepping into the gates of hell, but Aron still moved forward and swung at the Knight with all his strength. For a moment, the Knight stood completely still.

Then, in the next moment, its sword had already passed through the place where Aron's hand had been. He didn't even see it move.

His severed hand fell to the ground. The cut was so precise that his brain still hadn't understood that the pain had already arrived. Before he could even scream, the Knight crossed the remaining few steps and appeared behind him.

Its leg rose and kicked him hard in the back. That kind of power couldn't belong to a human. "...Aaaaaah!"

Aron's spine bent. His lungs curled inward. The air got stuck inside him instead of leaving his body completely. He was choking and couldn't even open his mouth to speak.

King Knight picked him up and threw him away like he weighed nothing. He crashed into Zekai, with the Knight following right behind him. Its burning sword pierced through Aron's back and came out through his chest. It also pierced straight through Zekai, who was behind him.

Everything stopped.

Aron's final moment. 'Does this really have no end?'

No matter what he tried. No matter how hard he fought. The result was always the same.

Darkness completely swallowed him.

---

He returned again.

Aron breathed heavily. He pressed his knees tightly, trying not to collapse right where he was standing.

"It tears me apart like I'm nothing."

"I can't even touch it."

The reset gave his body back to him. But that loop left him with pain and exhaustion that would remain forever, like scars that would never fade. It was slowly wearing him down. With every death, it kept sinking deeper.

He had been watching from the beginning. Like he always did. If you watched something for long enough, there was always a pattern. In every fighter. In every movement. There was always some rhythm hidden somewhere.

But this was different.

Nothing happened the same way twice. Every kill came from a different angle. Different speeds. Different ways.

There was no rhythm he could read. No pattern he could hold on to with confidence. "...Then there's nothing to predict. If I keep looking for a pattern that doesn't exist—"

"I'll keep dying like this."

Because of this, he couldn't even think about breathing. He tried to pull his scattered mind back together. "Then I'll fight without a pattern."

He was just a normal human.

A normal human standing in front of something that didn't belong in his world, someone who knew nothing about sword fighting.

"I tried everything, but I couldn't even touch it."

"Damn it—"

"What the hell am I supposed to do against this? Am I not even worth staying alive?" Frustration clawed at his throat. "Does someone like me not even get a chance?"

The Knight raised its sword. But this time, something changed. The moment it moved, Aron's body reacted. Different from every death before this.

He tightened his grip. Instead of moving away from the attack, he took one step toward it. In the last possible moment, he shifted his body weight to the side.

The sword brushed past his cheek. It was that close. He could feel it cutting through the air against his skin. He didn't expect to survive. But somehow, his body had moved.

For the first time since this nightmare began, the outcome had slipped away from its usual path.

"...I can feel that I changed something."

He muttered in disbelief and shock. It wasn't enough to stay alive. But it wasn't the same outcome anymore.

✦ End of Chapter 8 — One Step Forward ✦