“This is really hard.”

I laid on the ground, panting and out of breath to get up. My dad stood in front of me, yawning.

Taking advantage of his distraction, I lifted my hand at him. The flow of energy gathered at my fingers, and I could feel the air getting warm.

“Exhauire!”

A wind blew. Then-.

“It's good to see you can consistently summon energy, but you're not releasing the energy properly. It wouldn't even be a fair fight. You shouldn't even be running out of energy from using Drain ability. I’ve told you many times, to use LI abilities, you have to concentrate on releasing that energy.”

My dad sighed as I collapsed to the ground again. He stood in front of me, his arms crossed. Then, he gestured to me.

“LI Shatter!”

In front of my eyes, a row of black crystals appeared, forming a wall in front of my face, the fourth time since learning about KRS. 

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

The moment that I finished the thought, a black, silent wave had launched towards the figure at a speed faster than I could blink.

According to my plan, I wasn’t supposed to do anything when I bumped into him.

In the first place, I had figured I was going to run into him, which was why I had a plan.

And yet, when I saw him, I reacted in fear.

The fear of my stomach getting slashed, the sight of my lungs getting ripped from my body, the arm that had fallen off. To think that somehow I wouldn’t cower in fear when I saw him again was a mistake.

Even then, my plan had worked.

Supposedly, he was going to leave me alone, walking off. I would remain alive, and he wouldn’t have noticed.

“LI EXHAUIRE!!”

It was an impulse action. There wasn’t any way to know whenever Khosrow would’ve found Ayaka, ran into Kazane, or anything like that. The truth was, I had very high doubts that I could win.

The shard slammed into the air around Khosrow, and I could feel wind blow back, the edges of my hair fluttering up and down.

Instead of moving forward, the shard just pressed against an invisible wall. Then, there was a large cracking sound as the figure turned around, raising his hand.

As he did that, the shard flew through the wall and slammed into his hand. Exploding, smoke rose from his hand. The fingers on his hand were burned, pieces of black of skin stretching around his hand.

“Interesting.”

Was the only word that escaped his mouth as his head lifted. His eyes observed my figure. The edges of his cloak slowly landed to his side, the effect of the shard slamming vanishing.

Lifting my hand, I aimed for him.

“LI Exhaiー”

In the middle of my chant, Khosrow vanished, before materializing in front of me.

“Too late.”

“ーhk!”

My back slammed into the ground with a large thud. The leaves where I had landed crackled, and felt damp. Where my stomach had been kicked stung, and the verges of its insides spilled in my mouth.

“A-ack!”

Coughing and gagging, I let out a spat of vomit that splattered the dirt, soaking into the leaves around me. As I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and looked up, a dark streak of black flew past me.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

A dark ceiling.

There wasn’t anything but the blackness tugging the corner of my eyes. It could be said that I was in some sort of cave deep underground. No. There was a slight blue glow, and in that, slight specks of the sky. 

I blinked.

“Huh?”

Then, my hand shot to my body, jumping from my chest, to my arm, before my eyes snapped to my body. 

“I…”

Pushing myself off my feet my head spun as it tried to understand my surroundings. 

The trees around me shook slightly, and I felt the rough pavement of dirt. I was in a forest, one far different than the trail. The dirt pavement was covered in dead grass, and shrubs grew at the sides of the trail.

“Where the hell am I…”

Immediately, I thought of the last place I was in.

The trail by the lake. Where I had run into Khosrow twice.

Shaking, I pushed myself up. I lifted my hands in front of my face, and observed their wrinkles, the spots in my skin.

“This makes no sense.”

The first time I had woken up after dealing with Khosrow, I had my head fractured by that weapon. The second time I woke up, I could hardly recall anything. The most that I remembered was that I had run into him again, and he had kicked me. The next thing I knew…

“No way.”

I swallowed the bitter thought.

My hand ran across my body, feeling for any wounds. My hand came across perfect skin, not a single wound on me. And yet, there was a stinging feeling in a line across my chest.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

“I wonder if this is heaven or some sort of after life.”

My murmurs echoed off the trees as I strode the trail, taking looks at the trees around me. 

There wasn’t anything particularly special about the forest I was in. Trees stretched above my head, covering the light from the sun. The sound of water falling. Old, moldy rocks lying across the trail. A few rabbits ran to the side of me.

“No one seems to be around.”

I slowly followed the sound of water, until I found a stream. The water gently flowed, rushing past rocks and taking bits and pieces of the dirt shore with it as it ran deeper into the forest.

“Water huh? As if I’m playing some survival show.”

A laugh in the back of my throat, I slowly bent down, and cupped a handful of water.

Splash.

Water dripped down my chin as my hands slid off my face. Reopening my eyes, I was still in the forest. 

“What the heck? How did I even get here!?”

Clicking my tongue, I kicked a rock. It flew into the stream, making a tiny plop sound, before sinking down to the bottom.

“I don’t get this at all…”

Twice I had been killed by Khosrow. For the first time, I had woken up to some unknown, strange place.

I had a good idea of what was happening, but it was hard to believe.

Somehow, I didn’t die when I was killed.

Of course, it could also have been two dreams at once. Or this entire sequence was a dream. Or I was in some sort of heaven now.

It was impossible to confirm unless I talked to others during the time of my deaths.

“I’ll take a look around, and make sense of something. Otherwise I’ll go crazy.”

With a sigh, I turned and followed the stream.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

“This is…”

The stream slowly spreaded, getting wider and wider until it connected to a large body of water.

A lake.

It looked vaguely familiar, and I was certain I had seen it before.

Standing on dirt by the water, I slowly looked up.

A slight silver railing was on the other side, a city behind it. The city was relatively clean, and the buildings looked very polished.

A breath of relief escaped my lips. 

Even if this was a dream, even if this was some heaven, I was still in the real world.

“That makes me wonder…”

Standing up, I took a look at the lake in front of me.

Peacefully, it rippled softly in the wind, a clear sight of the sun reflecting off it.

A vague voice bumped into my head.

How many more nights, till this city falls?

“Perhaps that’s what you mean?”

The lake didn’t respond to me, it’s waves rolling back and forth, a bird chirping behind me.

I closed my eyes, and reached a hand towards the lake.

“Ayaka, huh?”

The wind had slowed down, and the waves of the lake were smaller, but certainly still moving. A family of ducks swam across the lake, staying in the area where the sun lit up.

“If only I could talk to you…”

My jaw clenching, I looked up towards the silver railing, and a thought jumped into my mind.

Amari Station.

If I had bumped into Khosrow there, and he said he was going to Amari station, since he blew past me with plenty of time then the results were…

“NO!”

A feeling surged in me as my eyes darted around the lake, looking for a quick route.

Even if I was some ghost, there were questions I wanted to be answered, things that I didn’t want to happen. And because of that, I didn’t have any second guesses.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

“Thank goodness there was a bridge not too far.”

Sighing and panting, I stepped into Brightful City.

The buildings formed walls, their yellow, pink flashing lights of a sign.

WhosBurger, a fastfood restaurant, stood in front of us, the entrance to a short glass building. 

Besides it, various other buildings stood. 

“Where the heck was the station!?”

My eyes darted around and I saw a familiar white sign that I had once taken. Sprinting again, I crossed my fingers and hoped nothing wrong happened.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

When I got there, I fell on my knees, panting and clutching my chest. My heart hurt, a sure tell sign I was not anywhere close to physically fit.

In front of me was the familiar red machine, pandas on it. No one was close to the vending machine.

“This is bad.”

The familiar atmosphere that I had felt earlier when I encountered Khosrow lingered in the air. The smell was quite heavy, and I was certain that Khosrow was here.

Sliding on my hood, I walked around the place, to try to see what was happening. 

Then, the shard in my hand fell and hit the ground with a thud, and my eyes widened.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. 

A few meters away from me was a boy’s head. It was separated from its human body, disconnecting blue and red arteries and edges of a bone at where the neck used to be. 

The eyes of the head were rolled up, and blood soaked the tiles of the ground. 

Standing at where the body was, a figure with green hair, Khosrow, hand lowered as he sighed.

“These guys are so easy to assassinate. The human world softens their reflexes so much.”

“No… No… No…”

My lips quivered. Stepping back, my entire body trembled. My eyes twitched, and fear struck through my body.

“This isn’t…”

It was obvious. The moment that Khosrow entered the city, the moment that Khosrow was going to go to the station. The moment that he killed me, I already knew. If anything, it was the reason I ran so fast in the first place.

Deaths were going to happen.

“NO!”

Jumping back, my hand shook violently. 

Despite coming back, I didn’t stop anything, nor did I change anything.

“IーI!”

My eyes shutting, my mouth trembled.

Without even thinking, my hand shot up and Khosrow. The corners of my vision were red, and the only thing on my mind was piercing him and killing him.

“DIEEEEEEEEE!!!”

A shard shot from my hand, and struck towards Khosrow. Like last time, it slammed into his shield. At this point, there wasn’t anything else on my mind but to keep trying to kill him.

“LI EXHAUIRE!!!!!”

A few more shards formed, and launched again. Khosrow spun around, and waved his hand. 

Yellow streams of light swirled in front of him, and the shards cracked into the shield, instantly vanishing.

“...why.”

Falling to my knees, I watched as Khosrow blew away the shards with ease. They vanished into the air, pieces of black falling to the ground, fading as they met the surface.

“...WHY?”

It was obvious what was going to happen next. I was going to die again. 

Despite all the hopes I had, despite all the dreams I had, it was all futile. Taking a stand, laughing, like a madman who thought, “it was for real, an adventure”. Thinking that I was special enough to get anywhere. 

Even with the chances I had, I didn’t get anywhere. Even if I had a few more tries, it didn’t seem like it was going to work. In the end, I was powerless, useless, and it didn’t seem to mean any more than that.

Khosrow sighed as he watched me on my knees. Instead of finishing me off like last time, he observed my figure.

“Not a bad idea to take advantage of this opportunity.”

Khosrow murmured as his hand lifted at me.

A dark streak flew past me.

Then, a gush of blood flew out from under me, and pain shot in my legs.

“AAH!!”

My body collapsed, and my face landed hard on the floor. Rolling around, I suddenly noticed an absent feeling in where my legs were.

“AAAAAAAAAAHH!”

Turning my body with my arms, the two legs that I had were disconnected. They laid several feet away from me, and blood flowed out of the ends of my legs.

Khosrow frowned, and he lifted his hand. 

“That’s no good, you’re going to bleed to death.”

Black tissue formed at the end of my legs, and the blood in my body had stopped flowing out of my legs. With that, Khosrow let out a sigh.

“Well then, I have some questions for you.”

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

“Who let you get here? The gates by the Light are extremely guarded. GRS doesn’t allow anyone but ranks to come.”

Khosrow’s voice was sharp, his eyes narrowed. In his hand was a purple shaped blob, a knife. One that I had the experience of being run through. But he got no response.

“Hmph. Perhaps we need to motivate you some. Nothing I do is wrong, since treason is punishable by death anyways.”

With that, he stepped on my hand.

“If you don’t start talking, you’ll lose your hands painfully.”

But he got no response. Instead, I just stared at the sky, my lips trembling. A streak of water, my face felt wet.

“Hmph. How pathetic. He’s even crying too. He doesn’t even seem to be able to get a hold of himself”

Sighing, Khosrow sharpened the edge of the purple knife.

“Well, I guess I might finish thisー”

“...why.”

My voice was quiet. It wasn’t loud, assertive, nor mean.

“why.”

Nothing made sense.

Why did Khosrow want to kill? Why did Khosrow give me all this suffering? Why was I even a KRS? Why did my life have to change? Why did I realize only now, that things were terrible?

And above all, there was one question that I couldn’t answer. 

Why did I think this was something good?

Khosrow killed me twice now. They weren’t things that I thought were light hearted, and I was certain that my ramblings now were useless.

“Why? Last time, last time, now this time. YOU’VE KILLED ME TWICE NOW!”

My voice shook.

“WHY!?”

There was no reason for any of this. If anything, I wanted things back. If the saying “with great power comes with great responsibility”, then surely it must follow that “with no power comes with no responsibility”. Why did I have to deal with all of this?

Even now, I just wanted to escape from this hell and never come backー

Khosrow frowned.

“I don’t recall ever killing you.”

He said, as he murmured something more under his breath, leaving me to wonder what his words meant.

I blinked.

“ーHuh?”

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Khosrow observed my figure, stuck in rocks with missing legs and broken arms.

“Does the name Saria remind you of anything?”

“ーーーー”

Saria.

A name I’ve never heard. And yet, my eyebrows wrinkled, and my face twisted. The feeling I had, it wasn’t confusion. It was more like recognition. As if it was some nickname of mine.

“Saria…”

“Tch.”

Khosrow clicked his tongue and,

Blood spewed from my fingers, as my hand came off. In the place where my wrist was, the purple shard was stabbed there.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

“So you do have a connection with Saria.”

Khosrow brandished the purple shard in his hand, and glared at me. His eyes seemed to be filled with hatred.

“In that case, I’ll definitely keep you alive. Let’s see how much value I can get out of you.”

Kicking the hand that had come off my wrist, he then formed two shards in his hand, and they pierced my arms. They came off, leaving me with just my head and torso.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Blood immediately spewed from the parts where they had come out, but rocks formed around them, stopping the blood flow.

“Now that you’re incapacitated, I suppose you’llー.”

He suddenly stopped mid speech, looking around him.

“Hmm, they’re getting hungry. Perhaps I should’ve used those guys as food. This guy seems too precious to throw away like that. It’s okay though, they’re going to get plenty of food tomorrow.”

Turning back to me, he narrowed his eyes.

“Saria huh. This is your best play?”

Khsorow sighed as he looked at my screaming head.

“I guess it really is too bad then. If I kill him now, odds are, no information will be left.”

As he thought, a voice leaked out and entered his ears.

“Kill me.”

My teeth clenched, my head looked at him.

I didn’t know whether my life would finally end here or not. Frankly, in the three lives I had, they all were miserable. I didn’t want the responsibility. Even if I threw away everything, even if I didn’t get any happiness, even if I didn’t have good things.

Khosrow gapped at me, and stared at me. His mouth moved, but no words came out. Finally, he sighed.

“Pathetic. But I won’t kill you.”

Glaring at me, he snorted, before vanishing his blade.

“I’ll take you alive, and then see whatーWait!

Khosrow suddenly yelled.

A wind blew, pushing down on me, as if something heavy had fallen down next to me.

It was hard to remember what happened next.

A creature resembling that of a wolf lounged down.

The sinking of a fang into my eyes, blood spewing out, and then

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

“AAAAAAAAAH!”

My body shot up and I clutched my eye. 

“Huh?”

The station was completely clear, and all the signs of blood were gone. The sun was setting, the horizon orange, meaning it had been a while between my deaths.

Lifting my arms and looking in front of them, I noticed.

“I… died again?”

My legs were attached to my body, my arms in perfect shape. Almost as if the attack never happened. No traces of blood were on the ground, and the dead boy that I had seen earlier vanished. 

This city was cursed.

My head and hands shook as I recalled the manner that happened before I died. It wasn’t Khosrow. It was some wolf creature that moves extremely fast. It emitted black smoke, and was too unnatural to be a normal animal.

My entire body trembling, I grabbed my head. Then,

“This is bad, this is bad, this is bad. At this rate everyone in the city willー”

“Sheesh, you sure do wake up violently.”

A voice called out.

Turning around, I saw her gray jacket, her long black hair.

Ayaka Hirano sat at the wall behind me, sipping a box of juice.