The fox retreated after slashing Alan's chest with its sickle. Tears streamed down his face as the painful truth settled in—there was nothing he could do. Even with the power of the Dual-Blade ability, Time Loop, it wasn't enough.
His body collapsed onto the icy floor.
For a brief moment, as the cold seeped into his skin, a memory flashed through his mind—how he had sacrificed the battle axe wielder in the first round to secure his own victory.
Ah… I see now, Alan thought as his body began to reform through the Time Loop ability. So it was already fated for me to die here.
[ Blade Skill: Time Loop Activated ]
[ Attempts Left: 2 ]
[ Blade Skill Resets in Each Battle ]
His body reconstructed itself, leaving him lying against the icy wall. However, only his left arm returned.
His right arm remained missing.
It had been severed more than three seconds ago—far beyond the regeneration limit of the skill.
[ LP: 35 ]
"I guess this is it," Alan muttered with a slow, bitter laugh as the Shadow Beast raised its blade once more. "So much for surviving… and taking revenge."
With those final words, he closed his eyes. Tears slipped quietly from the corners of them.
Then suddenly—
A loud voice echoed sharply in his mind, dragging him back to a distant memory. He saw no images, no faces—only the voice remained.
It was his father's.
'Alan… stand up and fight!'
Hearing his father's voice echo in his mind, a crushing pressure built inside Alan's chest, almost as if it were choking him.
He forced himself up.
The Shadow Beast's blade came crashing down toward him, stopping just inches from his face when the voice rang out again.
'Stand up and fight!'
Alan moved instinctively. Before he could even think, his body reacted—he twisted aside and narrowly dodged the blade.
"What… was that just now?" Alan muttered as he began running in circles around the arena, trying to create distance between himself and the beasts.
"Dad…?"
This was the second time Alan had heard his father's voice in his head since the beginning of the game. The strange part was that he couldn't even remember his father's face. His dad had died when he was very young.
So why was he hearing his voice now?
Why remember something he shouldn't even recall… and why tell him to fight?
Before Alan could think any further, the Emperor Fox was already on the move. It charged forward with murderous intent, its sickle raised high above its dark cloak.
In the blink of an eye, it appeared right in front of him.
Their eyes met for a brief second.
The strike came immediately after.
Alan reacted just in time, raising his left hand to block the attack. But his left arm wasn't as strong as his missing right. The fox's sickle tore through his guard and sliced across the side of his abdomen.
"Ahhh!" Alan groaned, pain tearing through his body. The urge to simply give up and die crept into his mind. This battle was impossible, and the freezing ground beneath him was cold enough to kill a person on its own.
Yet his father's voice continued to echo in his head, pushing him forward and filling him with a strange determination.
This is pointless, Alan thought bitterly. Why fight when you already know you're going to die?
As if answering his question, his father's voice rang out again inside his mind.
'Then fight… until you die!'
At this point, Alan could barely move, let alone keep his vision steady. Everything around him blurred as blood continued to pour from the wound on his side.
[ LP: 23 ]
The Shadow Beast raised its flaming sword and launched another attack straight at him.
Move… move! Alan screamed inwardly, desperately willing his body to respond. He knew that if he died again, the Time Loop would only bring him back to the same hopeless situation.
He shut his eyes in terror, completely out of options.
The blazing blade struck him.
In a single brutal swing, it cut him in half, the flames instantly burning through his flesh. His upper body ignited as it fell to the icy ground, while the lower half of his body collapsed beside it, his blades clattering across the frozen floor.
[ Blade Skill: Time Loop Activated ]
[ Attempts Left: 1 ]
The Time Loop activated once again, restoring Alan's body along with his blades. However, his wounds remained severe, the pain still tearing through him as if nothing had changed.
"What is this? Dammit!" Alan shouted in frustration.
The Emperor Fox was already preparing to move again, its sickle glinting beneath the icy light.
"What's the point of coming back to life if I return with the same injuries?" he growled through clenched teeth. "I'm sick of these two beasts taking turns with me."
And that was when it hit him.
"That's it!" Alan shouted.
The Emperor Fox rushed toward him with another sickle strike, but this time Alan didn't try to defend. Instead, he swung his left arm and hurled one of his blades straight at the fox's forehead.
The weapon struck true.
The fox was completely caught off guard—but its attack still landed. The sickle tore across the same wound on Alan's side once again.
[ LP: 15 ]
The Emperor Fox immediately retreated to the center of the circular arena, struggling to pull the blade embedded in its forehead.
Then it was the Shadow Beast's turn.
The creature stretched its flaming sword toward Alan and lunged forward. This time, Alan chose to defend. He raised his blade and blocked the attack, but the sheer heat of the flames burned across half of his face and head. His hair shriveled away under the scorching fire. He grit his teeth. The pain was unbearable.
Yet Alan endured it.
He just needed to hold on a little longer.
Alan forced his screams deep inside his chest. Tears streamed down his face as the flames continued to burn his skin.
"I will not loose… not to the likes of you monsters!" he shouted.
Then, without hesitation, he raised his sword and drove the blade straight into his own chest.
[ Blade Skill: Time Loop Activated ]
[ Attempts Left: 0 ]
Back in the control room, Michael Lee's expression shifted slightly for the first time.
He leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs, a mix of amusement and confusion appearing on his face.
"Why would he do that?" Michael muttered. "He only has one attempt left with the Time Loop ability… and he chooses to kill himself?"
"Is he committing suicide?"
For the first time in years, Michael's assistant noticed him bouncing his feet, as if waiting for Alan to make his next move. A faint smile tugged at her lips. I haven't seen him like this in years… has Alan finally caught his attention? she wondered.
It had been ages since Michael had felt anything resembling hope from anyone. He was always calculating, predicting every possible outcome for others—and for himself—but now… he couldn't even begin to guess what was going through Alan's mind.
In the circular icy arena, Alan's body slowly stitched itself back together, piece by piece—his left arm reformed, the gash on his abdomen still raw but intact. As soon as his body was whole again, he surged forward, every movement instinctive, without a single thought slowing him down. The time had moved three seconds backwards.
[ LP: 35 ]
"That's enough," he muttered.
The Emperor Fox finally yanked the blade from its forehead, blood dripping down its face. The weapon slid across the icy floor, landing near Alan's feet.
"Perfect," he whispered through gritted teeth, enduring the burning pain coursing through his body. He snatched the blade from the floor, the icy chill biting deep into his hand—but surrender wasn't an option.
Alan bit his lower lip, tasting blood as it trickled down, his left hand trembling violently from the icy chill. It was the only way he could push through the cold. Blood from the wound on his abdomen pooled onto the frozen floor. Then he paused, raising one sword in his left hand, the other clamped between his teeth. "This is my ace."
The Emperor Fox lunged again, moving so fast that the eye could barely track it, charging straight at Alan for a deadly strike. Its footsteps barely whispered against the ice beneath it.
Alan closed his eyes, letting his mind slip into a void, focusing on nothing but the rhythm of approaching footsteps. Not yet…not yet, he thought, waiting for the precise moment.
The fox raised its sickle from beneath its cloak.
"Now!" Alan screamed.
In a single, fluid motion, he drove the blade clenched between his teeth upward, slamming the sickle into the icy ground far from them. The impact cracked two of his teeth, blood gushing from his mouth, but he didn't care.
With the fox temporarily defenseless, he swung the sword in his left hand with lethal precision, slicing from its waist straight to the core in its chest. In an instant, the Emperor Fox was split clean in half.
Michael Lee's eyes widened, and he slammed his forehead onto the desk cluttered with keyboards, a shiver running down his spine. He had never experienced anything like this—not once in his life.
"I understand… his holy precision,"
Michael muttered, awe lacing his voice.
"It's holy, just as they said. Magnificent!" He leaned back, marveling at Alan's strategy. "He killed himself because, in his current state, he couldn't execute his full plan. Yet he knew the fox would strike straight with immense speed. He closed his eyes, listened to its faint movements, disarmed it from its sickle, and landed a clean strike on its core. Truly magnificent."
His assistant's eyes remained glued to the screen, horrified yet unable to look away. He really is a genius, she thought, even before her mind could form the words.
The fox staggered backward, barely keeping its shredded body intact, before collapsing and bursting into a cloud of shimmering particles.
Alan's chest heaved, icy mist spilling from his mouth, as his eyes scanned the shattered arena.
The remnants of the Emperor Fox glimmered in fragments around him—but before he could even catch his breath, the ground beneath his feet trembled violently. A low, menacing growl reverberated through the icy walls, louder and far more terrifying than anything he had faced so far.
From the shadows, the shadow beast emerged, taller, faster, and far more sinister than the fox.
Its eyes glowed brighter than the fox's ever did, and the flames licking its sword seemed hotter, more focused—as if the arena itself feared it.
Alan tightened his left handed grip on his blade, blood dripping from his split teeth, and whispered under his breath, "So… this is only the beginning."
Micheal Lee had tapped another red button.