The city's on fire again.
Leon stands on what's left of a tower. Whole place is wrecked. Buildings falling. People screaming. Big ugly magic beasts stomping through streets like it's a parade.
He wipes blood off his mouth with his sleeve.
"Yeah. This again."
A horned monster smashes through a wall below him. Another one's chewing on a carriage like it's a snack.
Leon sighs.
"I've done this 108 times."
First time? He panicked.
Tenth time? Had a plan.
Fiftieth? Started speedrunning it.
Hundredth? Knew exactly how it ends.
The sky above the city starts cracking open. Not clouds. Not lightning. Just… space ripping. Like something's trying to push through from the other side.
Leon squints at it.
"Bit early this time."
A beast jumps at him.
He moves without thinking. One clean swing. Head gone. Body drops. He doesn't even look at it.
Another charges. He snaps his fingers. The thing just folds in on itself like crumpled paper.
He doesn't smile. Doesn't look proud. Just tired.
"Can we not," he mutters.
The sky tear gets bigger. The air feels heavy. Like the world's about to pop.
Leon pulls a crystal out of his coat. It used to be clear. Now it's cracked all over.
He stares at it for a second.
"Still holding together. Barely."
He starts chanting. Quiet. Fast. Like he's done this way too many times to mess it up.
A circle of light spreads under his feet. Runes spin. The ground shakes.
A spear of weird black light shoots out of the sky and goes straight through his chest.
He coughs.
"Yeah. That tracks."
Blood runs down his shirt. He doesn't fall. Just keeps chanting.
"I fought. I bled. I died. One hundred and eight times."
The beasts freeze mid-step.
The fire stops moving.
The whole world kinda glitches.
"Bought a few years each time," he says. "Best I did was ten."
The crystal in his hand starts glowing too bright.
"But it always ends. Always."
The sky shatters.
The crystal cracks louder.
Everything goes white.
Birds.
Leon gasps and sits up.
Grass. Sun. Nice blue sky. No screaming. No fire.
"…Again."
He flops back down.
For a minute he just stares at the clouds.
Then he groans and sits up again. Checks his chest.
No hole. No blood.
"Cool. Great. Love that."
He pulls the crystal out.
It looks worse.
One big crack down the middle now. Light inside it flickers like it's about to give up.
Leon pokes it with a bit of magic.
It flickers.
Almost goes out.
He stares at it.
"Yeah. No. I'm done."
He drops back onto the grass and covers his face with his arm.
"I am not doing this again."
He's saved kingdoms. Killed demon lords. Stopped plagues before they started. Took down corrupt kings before they got ideas.
Didn't matter.
World still found a way to end.
Every time.
He sits up slowly.
In the distance, there's a small village. Smoke from chimneys. Looks peaceful. Normal.
He knows exactly how that ends.
Unless he steps in.
He looks at the cracked crystal again.
Then back at the village.
Then back at the crystal.
"…You know what," he says. "Someone else can deal with it."
He stands up, dusts grass off his coat.
"For once, I'm retiring."
He starts walking toward the village anyway.
Not to save it.
Just to look.
Probably.
Behind him, the wind shifts weird for a second. Like something didn't rewind quite right.
Leon doesn't notice.
He's too busy trying to figure out what retired people even do.