Zu Mari knocked Ruxja's blades aside with his forearms, accepting the deep slashes as necessary, and ducked away. He sprinted for the forest, calling to Death Shadow to join him. The patrol chased after him, but Zu ran with a fleetness only attained by the truly afraid.

He needed to think. He needed time. He couldn't do this right now.

The ranger caught him first, Luzi, firing arrows from the side. He redirected his route toward her, surprised at his fortune catching one of them alone. The team had been so unbreakable, so adept at covering each other, he almost thought it was a trap.

Luzi was quick and evasive, but Zu had the sheer power to overwhelm her once he caught her. She led him a merry chase through the trees, but in the end Zu prevailed.

He pinned her against a tree, staring into her deep golden eyes, slitted like a cat's, and bowed his head. "I am sorry I must end you," he said. "I hope it need only be this once."

"I... I understand," she said softly. She let her snapped bow fall from her hand, raised it to press against Zu's face. "I didn't understand before. But now I see."

Zu nodded. "I am sorry."

"You don't need to be. If I must die for you to live, that is what it takes. But... now that I know you better, I will not betray you. If you wish it, I will follow you. Or I will lead the others away, so you may escape."

Zu considered, but felt her sincerity. "Yes. You are right. You can serve me better alive than dead. Lead them away. I must make a plan for the next loop."

Luzi leaned her face up toward his, and he gently brushed her lips with his own, then released her and sheathed his sword. "I hope that we need never again be foes."

"As do I."

She picked up her bow, looked back at him once more, longingly, then sprinted away into the trees.

True to her word, the others never found him.

Zu found a clearing and sat, Little Otter in his lap, Death Shadow swooping in to rest on his shoulder.

"That is a very poor starting location," Zu said. He considered resetting the loop now that he was safely away, but he’d probably burned his in with the Chartreuse Cougars in this timeline. His best bet was to settle on a way to defuse the situation, convince Ruxja that he was innocent or the time bubble was innocuous, and try the negotiation with Lord Viha again. There had to be some way to gain access to the library. But any attempt at using force would be futile so long as Viha remained nearby.

Zu shuddered at the memory. Viha had utterly destroyed Zu without even lifting a finger, without casting a single spell or forming a single technique. He’d smothered him with his presence alone. Viha Cougar was monstrously powerful.

“Will you teach me to suppress others’ presence now?” Zu asked without much hope.

Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death considered for a moment. “You are not ready,” the sword said at last. “I am sorry. Even if I tried to teach you, it would not be enough.”

“How about expanding my own presence?”

“You have yet to truly understand the power within you. To begin projecting it outward from a place of uncertainty would only lead to chaos and disharmony.”

“For a sword you sure are into this philosophical nonsense,”grumbled Zu.

“I was not always a sword.”

“But you are now. And I know you like it. I can feel your eagerness when we fight, your hunger. So don’t go lecturing me like you’re some paragon of tranquility.”

“Understanding the unity of disparity is essential to harmony.”

Zu’s breath huffed out in frustration. “What does that even mean?”

“You are not one thing, Zu Mari. Neither am I. We are all many things. Knowing that we are compounds, not merely a single trait or purpose, is essential to finding wholeness.”

Little Otter poked Zu to remind him he still hadn’t fed her anything.

“I can take her to the river,” Death Shadow offered. “I can catch some fish for us, or mice.”

“Yes, do that. Good. Return when you’ve both eaten enough. I have much contemplation to do.”

“Finally,” said Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death. “You know how hard it is to get you to do anything remotely peaceful?”

“Perhaps the attempt at becoming someone else has taught me the importance of being myself.”

“I’m not sure what that means, but whatever your motives, I’m proud of you.”

Zu nodded sagely. “Now, how can I kill someone who is clearly at least one realm above me, possibly more?”

“I don’t know why I keep expecting different from you,” sighed Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death. “So, your plan is to… assassinate the Cougar Patriarch instead of continuing negotiations?”

“He’s stubborn and obstinate and refuses to let me read their secret books. What else am I supposed to do? He’s too big a threat to leave wandering around.”

“If you entered the library through stealth and constrained your loop to the building…”

Zu shook his head. “Wouldn’t work. The bubble lets people in, just not out. And being trapped inside a small, short loop with Viha Cougar would only be a long, tortuous death until I let the loop end and died for good. No, I must find a way to take care of him before attempting to read their secret books.”

“What if you overlapped it partly with the doors? Would the interaction between stopped and non-stopped time prevent them from opening?”

Zu shrugged. “It might, but I don’t want to gamble the aforementioned certain, horrifying, endless death on a guess. Even if the doors open outward, enough force would push them in anyway, and then we’re back to Viha killing me slowly over and over. I’d much rather come up with a plan to deal with him decisively than risk everything on a gamble like that.”

“He’s clearly beyond the core formation realm,” mused Heart of Fire and Spirit of Twilight Death. “Truly beyond, I mean, not the technically-perfectly-completed version you have.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? My core is perfectly formed, no technically about it.”

“Yes, but you don’t have the faintest idea what to do with it.”

“It lets me perform spells and techniques flawlessly without soul resonance interfering.”

“See? That’s what I’m talking about. The improvement of the soul, of the self, is supposed to be a personal journey of discovery and harmony. Not a mechanical transactional adjustment toward efficient violence! Efficient violence should be a side effect, not a purpose.”

“Says the sword.”

“The sword who is blocked from ascension for this very reason. Violence as a core purpose doesn’t work, Zu. You can only impose your will on the world for so long before the world imposes back.”

“I understand.” Zu nodded. “I need to be stronger myself in order to take on Viha. Training montage time it is.”