"Ah, you're finally awake!"

Athanasia flinched at the voice in front of her as she woke up. Though she still feels dizzy after what happened with Ijekiel—

Right, Ijekiel!

Athanasia looked up and saw Ijekiel sitting in front of her with a cup of tea in hand, staring at her with a creepy look in his eyes. The Ijekiel in front of her seems different. Familiar different.

She was about to stand up but was stopped by the rope that tied her up. She clicked her tongue, looking back to Ijekiel who watched her struggle with amusing eyes.

Those eyes. Were not the normal eyes that Athanasia always sees on Ijekiel, the beautiful golden color of his eyes were nowhere to be found, instead, a pair of glowing purple eyes staring back at her jeweled ones. That sent a shiver down Athanasia's spine, thinking how scarily familiar those eyes are.

"I-Ijekiel! Is that you right?!" Athanasia tried to call out to him. Denying her assumptions. "Ijekiel!"

Ijekiel laughed, surprising the younger. "Calling his name won't wake him up, dear princess," he said, caressing his cheek. "This boy—Ijekiel, is it? He's no longer the boy that you know."

Athanasia's eyes widened. It can't be... She starts to panic, struggling to get out of the ropes. She tried to use her mana but nothing happened.

"Mana restriction rope." She hissed. She heard Ijekiel laugh hysterically. The sound of that laugh with Ijekiel's voice hurts her ears and her heart. She can't bear to see nor hear him like that.

Not Ijekiel.

"Ijekiel has nothing to do with the loop, Nicholas. Let him go!" She yelled, almost tripping herself down from all the struggle she gave to escape.

"No way," Nicholas, who is in the body of Ijekiel said, glaring down at her. He leaned down and forced Athanasia to look up to him. "It's your fault that this boy went to the dark side."

Athanasia frowned.

"He won't even know the reason why!" Nicholas laughed, slapping Athanasia's face away as he danced in front of her. "So I helped him realize what's this weird feeling he's having and how to erase it!"

"Nicholas, you have hurt a lot of the people who are precious to me! Aren't you satisfied?!" Athanasia cried. It hurts to see Nicholas in Ijekiel's body. "You have hurt me enough!"

"It's not enough!" Nicholas stomped his foot, creating cracks on the floor. Athanasia gasped. He took another step and pushed Athanasia's forehead harshly with his pointer finger. "It is your fault that my family died!! If you should just listen to me that day then my wife, my daughter... they wouldn't have..."

Athanasia frowned. "I was a child back then! I don't know a thing back then! How could you just assume that I would just listen to you?!"

Nicholas took a deep breath, trying not to get his emotions taken over him, his hand ran through Ijekiel's silver locks with his other on his hip. "Yes, and children should listen to the elderly. You were quite a bad child that day."

"..."

"The world will end on the day of your 18th birthday. You will not control your mana and turn the world 1 million years later to the future," Nicholas explained, confusing the younger. "And it's best to kill you now before the time comes."

Before Athanasia could retort something, Nicholas cut her off. "The gods may have made this loop for you as a punishment for trying to stop me, who is the chosen one to save the world! Every loop, you will suffer pain and your loved ones too!"

"I have already mastered how to control my mana, I learned it for the last 7 loops," Athanasia corrected. "There's no need to kill me, I can control time. And there's no way that I was punished, the gods should have taken my time magic away as I'm not capable of using it. The gods have mercy in their way."

"Nonsense!!" Nicholas slapped Athanasia hard, earning a yelp from the latter.

"Everything is all your fault!! My family's death! The end of the world! The loop! If you just died then, nothing of this could have happened!"

-

"What did you say?!" Claude yelled, his eyes glowered in anger.

Diana cried, letting herself fall into Claude's arms. "She just made a mana explosion, almost destroying the palace and now she's gone! What do we do?!"

"S-She's not just gone, empress..." Lucas butted in, suddenly appearing after he had gone to the tower to check if the bottle where Nicholas was in it was there. "She was taken away..."

The King and queen of Obelia frowned, fully facing the magician. Claude glared at him after. "How do you know? Are you behind this?!" Claude was about to use his mana to attack Lucas but Diana was fast enough to stop him. "Dear, let's- let's hear what he has to say..."

"I can't trust him..." Claude muttered coldly. "He just suddenly appeared to Athanasia's side. Immediately knowing about her mana. How could I just trust someone who sounds like he knew all of this would happen?!"

Lucas gulped. The King has some sharp eyes. Never underestimate. He shook his head and focused on the topic. "There's no time to explain who I am, we should all focus on the princess. It's her safety that's most important. I might know where she is."

Claude narrowed his eyes before getting back his composure. "Where?"

"Lucas, please tell us..." Diana said, almost like a plea. Lucas felt guilty that the queen was staring at him with those eyes. She looked like she would also be willing to kneel in front of him, just to find her daughter.

Lucas nodded. "I would. But first, let's call some of your greatest knights. And I tell you where she is and the plan."

Claude hesitantly nodded after seeing Diana's teary eyes. "Consider that done. Felix!"

In a blink of an eye, the red-haired general appeared out of nowhere and kneeled in front of his king and queen. Lucas almost jumped in surprise, despite that he has seen this a thousand times, it always scares him every time Felix just pops out like that.

"Yes, your majesty."

"Call 5 of knights from the western gate of the kingdom."

"As you wish, your majesty."

Lucas watched Felix run away and go to the western gate. He huffed, hoping that the general would be fast enough to call those knights. They have no time to waste. If Nicholas kills Athanasia, the loop will start and he has to go back again to rewrite everything.

In this loop, he has to succeed.

He has to.