Kyrion stood outside of a brothel for the third time, having managed to sneak off during the previous investigation, before his brutal demise. He hated having to come here but dare not risk splitting up yet. The last loop ended too quickly for him and he needed to relax.

“You take me to the nicest places. I get that you died and all but this is a bit much.” Lin said with a deadpan.

“I’m not going in there. But I can sense an anomaly here. You care to buy some stolen goods?” Rion muttered having figured out Midas’ location and relation through information gleaned from Issac.

“No. I just don’t like it here…”

A figure engulfed Lin with their shadow as they began to reach down towards her shoulder.

“ Whoa! Personal space.” Lin turned around only to come in contact with a bald man around 6 feet two inches with a scar across his face. He was quite muscular and intimidating to people shorter or under the rank of fledgling.

“You’re!” The bald man started to reach toward Rion who scowled.

Rion was taller, his muscles a lot more defined, and for all intents and purposes killed someone the day before for less.

“What are you doing mister?” Kyrion asked slightly confused.

“L-leaving. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Then run, she doesn’t need the Power you're offering,” Kyrion added some grit to his voice which caused the man to stumble back and crash into a fleeing thief. Their body much smaller and lighter.

“Oh no!.” Lin went to go help the small thief.

Rion caused a seed he left on the salesman, to grow upward, wrap around the package, then retreat through his domain which was placed in his pocket.

“He wasn’t very strong. I doubt he could have harmed me.”

“Not easily, but with magical drugs and enchanted needles, it's possible. I must admit that I’ve been a bit of a klepto recently. A lack of permanent consequences and the ability to duplicate items through this loop is highly convenient. Too bad that we won’t be able to continue.” Kyrion held out a syringe with a strange silver liquid. The needle was enchanted to go through even an expert's hardened skin.

“What is that?” Lin flinched as a spear of ice appeared in her hands.

“Power. A drug that boosts all of a spirit master's abilities by 400% during a high. It’s very addictive and can have some side effects that lead to infertility, cancer, or death when used multiple times. During a low, they are effectively useless in a fight. The side effects are also a pain to heal when it’s possible to do so. This however has been tainted with a demonic larva.” Rion didn’t discard the drug but instead placed it in his domain. Enchanted needles were hard to come by and now he had three.

“Power. So he was trying to drug me?”

“No. He was going to hand it to you. What's the use in making someone stronger for no reason against their will? When you would probably just kill him because he stabbed you? I just have zero tolerance when it comes to things like that, especially when its been tampered with.” Rion looked to the exit and held Lin’s hand.

“How do you know so much about this drug.”

“Did you forget that I’m a healer before all else? Drugs and their effects are something I memorize for treatments.” Kyrion partially lied.

“I don’t think I ever learned that.” Lin said with a deadpan as she followed close behind.

As they left the underbelly they came in contact with the headmaster of Drisil.

“Why did you leave me a letter saying that you were going to die soon and needed me to keep someone busy?” He asked bluntly.

“A hunch. That and time has been getting reset over and over again. I was checking on an anomaly that had come here. The reason I want to let the assassin get me is because I have a hunch. Not that their interested in that anymore. The Beastblood Emperor is nearby.”

The headmaster seemed unsurprised. “I see. This has to be on a practitioner then. If Imala is preventing experts from remembering past loops, which means it's in your tier of power. To keep some balance I suspect, that’s how it was last time anyways.”

“You’ve been in a time loop before?”

“Quite a few times actually. This is just the most recent occurence. Although I doubt Imala has control over every experts temporal awareness. So be careful.”

“Right.”

Lin shivered, “Whats going on?”

“Lin. If you ever loved me I need you to head to your room and get some rest. Then when the rounds start up again I need you to keep an eye on the fights. It’s either Midas or Nicole, and I highly doubt she’d go to a brothel in general.” Kyrion lied partially as he knew it was Midas, he just wanted far away from what was next.

“I-i don’t love you. But I’ll do that because you seem to have something planned.”

The headmaster looked to Kyrion and sighed. “Thats just like him to not speak his plans aloud. Last time he did this I believe he ended up killing an expert.”

“What? When? How?”

“By having them piss off a stronger expert. Hopefully I can do that again.“ Kyrion stated.

“No. Before that. According to eye witness testimony you killed an expert level beast.”

“The snake? One Lingar did most of the damage. Two someone in our group used a posion meant to kill experts. An extract from the Yatsenv flower, mixed with Three Minuets, and Dead One Walking. The proess to make it is beyond me however and messing up the compound can cause drastic changes..”

“Mixed for, you mean? That doesn’t make sense otherwise.” Lin added.

“No. Three Minuets. Its a mushroom that causes ones core to finish canabaizing itself 3 minuets after consumption. In the wild it’s easy to notice and very colorful. Anything with a brain will keep far away from it. Non lethal by itself and curable over a long treatment that mushroom can't kill on its own but is useful in bringing monsters down a level or two…They are also quite bitter and sour. Do not put them in a soup they make everything taste rotten.”

“You ate one?” The headmaster spat.

“In small doses they can be used to gain a resistance to being spirit broken. I know my poisonous plants better than most assassins. Dead one Walking, makes one immune to pain and damage for one minuet. Unless turened to ashes the corpse will continue on unhindered before suffering from all the pain amplified all at once followed be exhaustion. A target could continue moving even after decapitation. Quite good in small doses for pain relief.” Rion didn’t answer that question but instead changed the subject.

“Why would you even know about that plant?” Lin scowled as she tried to hide her expression with her sleeve.

“It’s only dangerous in higher doses. It can be used for pain relief. Or during an emergency to prolong ones life. So long as its used before dying.”

“So one destroys your core while the other erases pain. How does it kill?”

“Trade secret.” Rion placed a finger in front of his mouth and tossed a bead on the ground filling the area with smoke.

Mamon checked her supply and found everything there and scowled. “When did he steal my smoke bombs, and how did he replace them without me noticing?”

“How many loops passed?” Kyrion asked.

“ I believe this is the fourth.” Lin stated.

.”How certain are you of this fact?”

“I’m not. Why?” Lin looked concerned.

“He’s planning something dangerous. I’ve seen that look before, you should go get some rest.” Headmaster Caeden had seen a similar look on his friend Cordelia’s face when her brother died. Something must have happened to put that evil look in his eyes.

With some prep time and knowledge of one’s abilities, Rion was certain that he would succeed. First, he would follow Midas from a distance while Everest prepared to ambush Edwin. Second, Volain was nearby following some directions Issac gave him. His father had lost his memories of that look and Kyrion decided not to mention it. Finally, he knew how to break the binding but it would cause some backlash. He would need to die and make his way back through the long way while leaving everything to Kyrie. That's what he got for placing a mana link on strangers.

So Kyrion stood in front of Nicole’s window he knocked softly to get the meditating woman’s attention. His natural form was revealed for the briefest of moments, and the chaos would begin.

Nicole shot out of her bed and ran to the window only for the red-haired man she saw, to vanish into the wind. Was he a mirage? A ghost or hallucination? Possibly, this wouldn’t be the first time she saw one of those.

“No.” Nicole noticed a red hair that had fallen onto her window and immediately removed it for a proper examination.

After performing her test she discerned that it was indeed Kyrion’s hair which meant that he was clearly here. But he was in hiding. Was he asking for help? Screw the tournament she was going to be looking for him.

Pulling on a robe she left the hotel and summoned a wolf which she tasked with following the scent of his hair. No something else, it was following Kyrion’s mana signature as expected.

Rion watched his friend run in his opposite direction from a level higher as a violin bow was pressed against the back of his neck.

“Hello Charles,” Kyrion stated.

“Hello, young master Rion. For what reason are you messing with one of my students?” The Buttler held calm irritation.

“Nicole won’t make it to the next day of the tournament this time. That is now set in stone, as she is now fighting Volain isn’t possible. I don’t plan on living past the midday anyways. Today I will die, that's what I decided and accepted as my fate. It’s what's necessary and hopefully, it will end this loop before someone else goes insane.” Rion’s eyes were resolute.

“Your plan is to die. My, aren’t you a reckless one.” Charles sighed and withdrew his weapon.

“Correct. I have a hunch on who it could be but i’m not certain. ”

“If you know who did it why are they still alive?”

“I suspect. If I’m wrong chances are the day restarts regardless.” Rion turned around and saw the blue-haired butler with a rather stony expression.

“Why risk death then?” Charles sighed.

“Because If I’m right, the person with this power is gaining strength after each reset. If I’m wrong then an innocent dies soon after I do and will continue to do so until I can cut off the kill command.”

“What have you already done?” Charles straightened up and scowled.

Rion smirked. “You’ll see soon.” He then fell backward off a ledge.

Charles sighed. “I didn’t expect him to be that quick to lie and kill. But he is her son, so maybe something pushed that instinct.”

Lok appeared behind the old butler. “That's related to my conditioning. He is still acting within acceptable parameters. This is when we lose five years' worth of time.”

“So not 5 years' worth of loops but 5 years of stolen time. That's against the rules.”

“Whose rules? These powers are coming from a demon, and death works at a different timescale.”

“A practitioner no matter how strong can’t affect an entire planet. At most even powered up by a demon, it shouldn’t affect those on another continent.”

“Planet wide and from the surface up. This is a greater time demon we’re dealing with. Those underground will continue to live unhindered. While those above ground will be in stasis.”

“...Doesn’t Kyrion have a teammate that's underground right now?”

“No, they are working at the moment, the doorway has been prepped..”

“... How do you expect Kyrion’s dungeon to survive his death?” Charles crossed his arms.

“Mana lingers even after a person dies. It may weaken, but it won’t end long enough to be destroyed. He won’t be dead long when the world resets and a soul should still keep it running for better or worse.”