Dan’s cold words hit me. Then…nothing. Just blankness. When the world fades back in, I’m holding the Trusted Dagger. It's wet. Red and Fresh with blood that slides down the blade and drips to the ground.

  Whose blood is this?

  What just happened?

  My gaze shifts to where Nico was. He’s still there, but his own sword is now buried through his gut. He’s impaled himself. He’s cold, dead, and the look in his eyes breaks something inside me. This is the third time I’ve seen him die. How did Dan do this?

  I try to speak, but only a wet gargle comes out. I am choking on something. The metallic taste floods my mouth, heavy and warm. Blood. My blood.

  My hand touches my neck and finds an open wound. I’ve cut myself. Just like he commanded. The dagger slips from my grip, clattering onto the stone floor. My fingers twitch, fuckin useless. My breath comes out in shallow gasps.

  I can’t talk. I can’t breathe. I feel as helpless as before. I even feel more afraid than before—more afraid because he managed to get into our heads so easily.

  I now understand just how dangerous Nexus Beings are. This is how they conquer foreign moons. How they make entire planets kneel before the human race.

  The Planetary Alliance and the Galactic Order are run by people like this. Cold demons forged from birth, molded into weapons, their power beyond comprehension.

  They sent us here to become those cold demons.

  Is this what it takes to conquer?

  Damn it. Why is he this strong despite having come from the Spire? Hasn’t he met with the Darkest Night?

  “Don’t stare at me like you’re afraid of Death. You shouldn’t, since you're a soulless being.” Dan spits. He doesn’t sound delusional like Sasha. He speaks with powerful facts and logic, clinging to his words.

  “We were told to kill everyone else who seems too weak to serve the greater cause—they call it Natural Selection.” He continues. He has no humanity left in him. “I wanted to ask myself if there is anything natural about all of this. But I learned that as perfect beings, we are allowed to do nature’s work. We are allowed to cull the herd and give way to better beings. It is what our leaders desire. We only let three become Nexus Beings because Bloodhaul needs more funding. Soon, more perfect, flawless beings will be created after we find the heart.”

  He begins to float, the air trembling around him. “But proud that you’ve come this far, little sister. Be proud of your heroic death and your spirit for survival. Adam requested us to keep you alive…but a silverblood isn’t worth the life of a perfect being.”

  ‘Go to hell!’

  He pauses, his lips curling into a smirk.“We are already in it.”

  Interesting. He’s a telepath. And a strong one with how he made me slit my throat—how he made Nico stab himself. He didn’t just invade our minds; he owned them for a moment. This is an intriguing power because I know just how to counter it. I’ve read about it multiple times, and since Dan is still new to this ability…Maybe I can use it to my advantage.

  ‘So can hear my thoughts, Dan…can you see what I’ve seen?’

  Since I am going to die anyway, I try something reckless. I open my mind. I drag every memory to the surface…especially the countless deaths and the whispers that never stop. I intentionally let him glimpse into whatever has happened to me since I stepped into this world.

  For a moment, silence. Then his expression shatters. His face goes pale. His eyes widen in horror as my memories pour into him. Each one burns through his mind like fire.

  I watch, a weak smile tugging at my lips. My body is failing, but his screams sound like a melody written for me alone. He falls to his knees and reaches for his hair. He digs his fingers into his scalp, pulling out large chunks of hair.

  He screams. I can’t tell if it's from the pain or from the whispers growing louder around us. Something’s influencing them.

  “Make it stop, please make it stop,” he begs to whatever god he serves. But there are no gods here. Only the Constellations are here to watch him suffer as someone who considers themselves blessed.

  I want to laugh so badly, but I can’t. My lungs won’t move. I just lie there, watching him succumb to the madness I’ve been holding back this entire time.

  I wonder how I’ve managed to survive this long without falling like him.

  As the last of my blood spills out, Dan’s screams fade. He draws out a curved dagger with trembling hands, drags it across his throat, and collapses. His body twitches for three seconds—then stills. He’s frozen in horror. I like that look.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  In this loop, I’ve won. A perfect, tragic loop.

  I will win next time.

  [You have died]

  There’s stillness in my body when I die this time. I don’t just wake up like usual with the memories of the previous return. No. This time, my body floats in space. I feel nothing but the cold, and all I see are stars and the infinite Darkness.

  [The Ability Scholar of Time has taken Effect.]

  The system echoes in my ear. I ignore it. My eyes stay fixed on the countless stars around me. It's beautiful. And it would be terrifying if I hadn’t died so many times recently.

  It's quite the calming moment after what I’ve gone through to get here. I thought that the fear of death would be gone after three deaths, but here I am, still hoping I don’t die in the next run. I wonder if the other undying fear death as much as I do.

  Also, I wonder what this place is?

  ‘Am I floating between reality and time?’

  [Would you like to take the Item, Aeolus’s Whistle?]

  ‘A whistle?’ The name doesn’t interest me, but I agree to take it anyway. I want to know what its ability is before I make that decision.

  The window closes, and the whispers from Horus’s Agony return, louder this time. Like screams clawing through my skull. I grit my teeth through the pain until I gasp back to life in the same cave as before.

  Nico is resting in the corner of the cave. He’s still exhausted from the journey. I won’t let him die this time. It is the least I can do after he has died so many times for me.

  I summon the system window right away and look for Aelous’s Whistle’s description.

  Magic Item: Aelous’s Whistle {Tool}

  ‘A tool? So it falls under the same mechanics as the Mirror Necklace.’

  Description: [In a time that no longer exists, a child with unique powers had been created at the hands of alchemists. She was gifted and blessed with the blood of the Blood Monarch, along with his great wisdom. She awakened from the outskirts of Nether and wished for nothing but true freedom and a human family]

  Shit. I now feel bad for Sasha. As I suspected, whoever sent her here knew what she wanted and promised to give it to her.

  Clones don’t have fathers or mothers. We aren’t created from love. We’re created from men playing gods. We are born with a consciousness, aware of our surroundings, and already curious about the world. This is because each of us is born with higher than normal intelligence. A gift they call it.

  Sasha’s curiosity led her to think that things like us can be loved and accepted. This is what those Lion freaks used on her. Those bastards must’ve implanted this nonsense into her as soon as they noticed this.

  I am angry.

  I know I am weak, but I can’t hold back the desire to kill them all. I hate them as much as I hate Bloodhaul. They’re making us kill each other for this “Greater Cause”. They want to rip every shred of emotion and become what conquers star systems.

  […at the end of her life, she prayed to a fallen god for protection. This item was born from that prayer and her desperation to live. This whistle will seize the wind when blown and grant the user breath.]

  I summon the Whistle. It's a normal-looking silver whistle with three lines drawn on the surface to represent wind.

  “Where did you get that?” Tessia’s form suddenly appears. She glows with Ether that lights up the cave.

  “It's nothing special.” I dismiss the whistle. “Also, I’ve been meaning to ask, how long is nighttime. And what time is it?”

  “On average, nighttime in this world is eighteen hours longer than Beta 3’s, and twenty-five hours longer than Eden’s. This is an entirely different reality, not an unexplored planet. The temporal waves here are weird, so time works differently in many places. But if you’re curious, it’s midnight right now.”

  That settles it. Each time I die, I return one day earlier. And if Tessia’s right, the temporal waves keep twisting the curse. Like when I died to the wolf or the flowers.

  ‘I didn’t regress that far because the curse is affected by disrupted time. That means Undying through return gives me roughly twenty-four hours in Earth time. If I die within that window, I return at midnight of the same day. That’s how the loop works.’

  After dying multiple times and returning to this place, I’ve finally figured out the time frame of my loops. That means that if Dan and Sasha die today and I wait out the day, I don’t have to loop and face them again. Then our only enemies will be Devon and the Darkest Night.

  “What is the actual purpose of Bloodhaul?” I ask, switching to the next question that comes to mind. I need answers. Tessia has them.

  “I already told you everything,” Tessia replies.

  “That’s a lie.” My voice comes out colder than I intend. “You’ve carefully guided us through this area because there are things we shouldn’t see, things like the corpse of the Paradox soldier.” I clamp down on my anger, but it bubbles up anyway. “You told me that this is the second expedition.”

  I don’t like feeling like this.

  “Now, tell me, what is the purpose of Bloodhaul?” I ask again, my tone sharp and cold. I need her to understand that I’m not buying whatever crap she’s about to say.

  If anyone knows the truth about Bloodhaul, it’s her, the perfect clone. She never wanted freedom like the rest of us. She and her cohort were flawless. Free of delusions. Free of rebellion.

  Her face turns solemn. She averts her gaze, refusing to meet my eyes. She knows it’s unfair for me to remain this ignorant. She’s known it all along. And she’s kept it from me because she wants me to reach the Spire. That’s her priority. Not me. Not us.

  She bites her lower lip, exhales slowly, and finally speaks as if forcing herself to release a burden.

  “Bloodhaul is a project run by the Planetary Alliance and owned by the Blood Monarch. It’s a weapon and research organization with branches across major planets and moons in several star systems. Our branch, specifically, is tasked with creating genetic weapons for the ruling families.”

  “Perfect beings…”

  “You could say that.” She nods faintly. “For centuries, they’ve created genetic humans designed to obey. Synthetic beings with no conscience, no soul, no freedom. They served well until planetary conquest became one of humanity’s priorities. This era revealed the flaws of the synthetics. Flaws like they couldn’t fight giant beasts or survive alien conditions. That’s when Adam and his deranged alchemists turned their focus toward the Land of Death and the Nexus System. Paradox Nexus Beings were the first to enter this realm and recover the samples that led to the creation of ichor. That discovery gave Adam the idea to create clones capable of becoming perfect Nexus Beings. We consumed ichor that made us ‘special’ before the Nexus Event ever began, turning us into perfect humans.”

  “So what you’re saying is that the Dragon Heart is just the surface?” I ask. “Are they aware of the Chaos in this world?”

  “Believe me. They are. It’s what killed the Paradox Soldiers. But to them, it’s worth it. Because a Dragon Monarch can create a bridge between this world and ours. The true Dragon Heart won’t just create the fourth strongest human—it will make Beta 3 the richest planet in the system. And it will make the Blood Monarch the most powerful man in all of humanity.”