"Run." I barely managed to speak under the dense pressure. My domain had been reduced to a shell. "We need to run…" I grabbed the witch's arm, hoping I could drag her along.

My hand slipped off the icy surface of her skin.

"No!" I screamed.

Betty had been frozen solid. She didn't even have a moment to panic.

Only a second later, ice crept up my legs. I fought back, pushing my mana to the bottom exterior of my channels.

The invading mana felt like a poisonous needle. It pricked at my skin, burning and tearing it away. As much as I resisted, I couldn't contain the foreign power. Ice made its way to my knees, thighs, and waist. It crept slowly toward my chest.

It seemed silly that I thought I was so strong. Against sages, I had an upper hand. Mages? It was a whole new world. A world I had no chance of existing in… at least not yet.

The ice stopped once it got to my neck. My vitals had been frozen, and unless the mage released me, I wasn't making it out of here alive. Mana kept me alive, and that was bleeding out nearly as fast as my breath.

I felt very lightheaded and my eyes somewhat blurred. Even though my body was under tremendous pain, it wasn't a new pain.

By the pale moon. Was this what Icy experienced during the loop?

My frozen body had no soul. It couldn't feel pain, could it? It was just a shell. The thoughts brought little comfort.

"You are one interesting mark."

I tried to turn my head to face the newcomer. It was useless.

"You fight like a sage, yet your rank is only that of a squire. The fact that you are still alive proves you have tremendous power. How do you hold back the scream?" A figure flashed before me so fast that I couldn't make out prominent details. The voice was masculine, and I think they had fair skin—or it could've been their ice armor.

"Oh, come on. Do not hold back, Kainoa. Just a little scream. It does not have to be on your behalf either. I just killed your friend." The frozen statue of Betty shattered into thousands of light flakes. "I know that hurt you."

I wanted to yell. More than that, I wanted to tear the limbs off the mage. Rage washed over me like a tidal wave. I channeled all of the anger inward, pouring it into my channels. My mana responded in kind. It stormed inside me. This wasn't the first mage I faced. He was powerful though—perhaps just a score or two below the emperor—and he had me in a tight grip.

"I think it is only fair. You killed dozens of my agents. I killed one of yours." The mage stopped playing his game of hiding and stood in front of me. His posture was rigid and straight, to the point of being uncomfortable. It couldn't be a natural standing position. From experience, it looked like he had frozen his body solid as well.

I didn't know what to say. More than that, I really didn't want to speak to this elf. Not only did he have an uncomfortably straight posture, but he also had a perfect, smooth face and silky, golden hair, and wore a fine purple robe stitched with golden thread and lace. His entire being reeked of entitlement. If it weren't for his mana, I'd think this was the High King.

"A silent islander?" The mage tucked his hands into his sleeves as he held them up in a folded arms position. "Not the first I have killed. Certainly rare though, and so far from home. Tell me, what were you doing with the princess?"

My mana rushed in and out. I found calmness as I focused on my cycling. In and out. Pulling. Pushing. Even though I couldn't resist the mage's domain, I wasn't completely powerless… not that the amount of power I had would allow me to do much of anything. Resistance wasn't much of an option. Still, I held on to the power I had.

"Dating." I finally gave in. "We were dating. That is, until she was killed earlier this morning."

"Do not take this the wrong way. I love that you are talking. Silence does not suit you." The mage took a quick step forward. It looked like he had skipped the distance in a blink. "I do not believe you." His cool breath lingered.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Which part?"

"Both."

"Ae. She was out of my league. I think it started with pity, or I was a distraction. Certainly wasn't love at first sight."

"No. No. No. No. NO." The mage screamed. He dashed another step forward. His posture was still rigid. His face wild and psychotic. "I liked you better silent." He took a deep breath, contemplating his next action. One of his hands motioned erratically beneath his robe, scratching or tapping. His other hand petted my face.

The illusion of power I held onto cracked. I did not feel safe next to this man.

"Tell me. The truth. I want it. I need it."

"Maybe it was my sense of humor. I like to think I'm funny… Well, I think all of us tend to think we are funny in our own ways. After all, if we can't tell ourselves the best jokes, what chance does a stranger have?"

I was grasping at straws. Nervous talks. It wasn't so much that I was scared. But I was terrified, and I needed this unhinged mage to not hurt me.

"Lana didn't like me for my jokes though… Sorry, the princess didn't like me for my jokes. I'm still getting used to her new identity. I actually just found out she was a princess a few days ago. That doesn't make sense to you. Trust that it's consistent."

I was blowing it. I started talking, hoping to pull some information out of this high-ranking Jester. Now I couldn't stop talking, and the elf looked like he was seething. The ice constricted. He was going to break my body if he didn't relent.

"I think she liked that I laughed at her jokes."

"Where is she?"

"Dead."

"Where is she?"

"She died in the Bloodwoods."

It felt like the ice was boiling my skin. I didn't dare look. The pain and steam were evidence enough. The mage and I both kinda broke at this point. He did everything in his power to kill me, and I did everything I could to survive.

It was a futile battle. I was already dead, but I fought to fight. He crushed me with ice. Cooked with steam. Spears pierced through me. Mana and willpower kept me afloat amid the constant attacks. Every second endured was another second of experience. Experience that I could exploit endlessly later.

It wasn't just my mana keeping me alive. My body reset, and the process of resetting it enabled me to push beyond my limits. It was as if my soul had merged with my mana. How could water be destroyed? I embraced the flow of mana, adapting to the storm outside while my mind and splits used the limited time I had left.

Eventually, my mana ran out. I could no longer repair my body to the minimal point of survival. It was a short and brutal cycle. However, I didn't abandon my friend. The small moral victory meant a lot to me.

Foolish? Yeah. But as someone used to say, "Foolish people do foolish things." I was nothing if not a fool…

You Died. Memory loss incurred: 0.017%

Death Count: 182

Memory Lost: 3.03%

I stood alone in a forest of massive trees. Grass and shrubs covered my crouched body, and my hand rested on a tree. Massive trees crashed to the ground a few miles north of my position. They fell with heavy booms that cracked like thunder. Darkness and thick clouds covered the sky, and smoke filled the air.

My thumb fidgeted with the ring on my finger. The transport ring had made it through the loop. It was soulbound to me, so I thought that it would. Lana's ring worked that way before I reached a new recursion point. I wasn't entirely confident, though, and was glad to see that it worked. This meant that gear upgrades would work in the future as well.

As I waited for the battle to end, I meditated on the disastrous encounter with the mage. That elf was a piece of work. He pushed me to the absolute limit of my durability.

While I didn't like the experience while I was in it, my splits were using the knowledge from the encounter to forge my soul into unbreakable steel. As an added bonus, I learned a new skill in the fight leading up to the mage encounter. Summoning the monsters in my head—well, that felt like cheating, and it might put me on par with palers.

I never considered the path of a summoner. My class had always relied on physical and mental cultivation. Summoning classes were more spirit-based. Suppose I was already capable of this kind of power without cultivating my spirit. How much stronger will I be when I have leveled my spirit? The thought sparked my excitement.

Spirit cultivation was a ways away, especially with the extended route of body cultivation I was on. However, it was no longer the dull slog I'd have to endure. It was now another arrow in my quiver.

To be fair, I never thought it to be dull—well, yeah, dull was the right word. I knew it would be useful, I just couldn't see how useful it would be outside domain manipulation. Thoughts for later.

The mages' forest fight ended exactly when it was supposed to. I gathered Lana's ring and sword and teleported to the guild society. It was time to make my way to Mauna.

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