Will of a Prince

Lidia fell on the ground, clutching her eye and groaning in pain.

"What the hell?! Why did the guards-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the two golden guards were already upon her. The one on the left through its spiked gauntlet against her face, sending her flying into the stone wall. The second guard followed up with their halberd, slicing it through the air to pierce Lidia’s heart. Lidia stayed pinned to the stone wall, slowly bleeding out as she watched her attackers loom over her with emotionless expressions under their flawless visors.

"...why..."

woosh

Once again, before Lidia could even get her sense back, the two golden guards were upon her, readying their attack. Suddenly, Lidia realized something that she never thought to think of earlier.

"If I keep my memories, then that must mean the guards do too."

A radiant halberd fell upon Lidia’s nape, severing her head clean from her shoulders.

woosh

Lidia stumbled to the ground once more, grimacing in pain. When she looked up, her attackers were already on her. She rolled to the side of one of their attacks and threw a kick at their shins. She was able to trip one, but the other stood strong and resisted her attack. In mere moments, the sharp end of their weapon had already pierced Lidia’s shoulder.

Lidia grabbed on to the weapon, biting through the pain and yanked it from the guard’s grasp before rolling away and taking a stance.

Blood seeped out of her wound at an alarming rate.

"Don’t tell me this thing is enchanted?"

Now that Lidia was armed with a weapon, the battlefield had been evened ever so slightly in her favor. The guard whose weapon she took a fighting stance using its spiked fists. The other one held their halberd at their side, ready to parry any strike she would throw.

"They’re buying time for the next loop to start!"

Lidia threw the halberd like a spear, sending it flying through the smallest slit in the armed guard’s helmet. The guard was immediately killed by the impact. Even though their friend was just killed, the other guard wasted no time in picking up their weapon they dropped and met Lidia hallway through her charge.

She ducked under the guard’s attack and sent a kick right into their chin. The guard was sent flying into the ceiling. The armor they were wearing was left severely dented and deformed from Lidia’s attack. They crashed down next to her, motionless.

"Serves you right you bastards."

woosh

Lidia blinked and looked ahead of her. The two guards were already charging towards her, as if what had happened to them moments ago meant nothing to them. Helplessness filled her heart.

"No way... I have to defeat these assholes every loop before I find this break and fix it?!"

Normally, Lidia would be able to learn from the previous loop and take advantage of the guard’s repetitive attacks. However, if they kept their memories too, that meant they were also constantly adapting to her fighting style as well. Which ultimately meant...

"...I have to adapt faster."

Lidia was so lost in thought, she never even realized all her limbs had been severed from her torso. The pain was like nothing she had ever experienced. It was as if the guards were purposefully keeping her alive for as long as possible in excruciating pain to mess with her mentality.

woosh

Lidia shook the memory of the previous loop and charged forward, prepared for any attack to come her way this time... but it was useless. Each guard was too strong and too experienced. To top it off, there were two of them she had to fight at once.

Thousands of loops had passed. Each one held a more gruesome end for Lidia. The more she died, the more she experienced pain, the less afraid she became and the stronger her mind felt.

"More..."

Her head was split in two.

"I’m not done..."

Her jaw was severed off her face.

"Like hell I’d ever like these freaks get the best of me."

She was cut in half.

Only after ten thousand loops did Lidia finally start to see a faint bit of progress. One of the guards seemed to be slipping, ever so slightly. Even though they were both adapting supremely fast, Lidia was just hardly ahead of them. Eventually, there was no doubt in her mind she would overcome these trials given enough time... enough loops.

Lidia maniacally laughed as she burst through each loop.

"I SEE IT!!"

Both her arms were cut off.

"THE END IS COMING!"

She was slowly strangled to death.

More than a hundred thousand loops passed. Lidia had successfully made it to the third room. Upon opening the door, a large bedroom was revealed to her. In the corner of the room, there was a large shimmering crystal that radiated energy.

Lidia smiled madly.

"Found you."

woosh

A new loop had started once more, but this time, Lidia knew exactly what she needed to hunt for. However, an idea slowly sprouted in her mind.

"What if I kill these two after the crystal breaks? That would mean their deaths would be permanent!! Or would I not need to break the crystal first? Will they just stay dead?!"

However, each of these ideas was equally taxing on her. Lidia had only managed to kill one of the guards a few thousand times, but she was never able to kill both of them before reaching the crystal. Doing so would require much more effort and planning than simply incapacitating them.

"Who cares about escaping if I don’t get to see these two die the most gruesome, permanent death I can?! HAHAHA!!"

woosh

Lidia slowly pulled more and more ahead of the guards in terms of cunning and wit.

More than a million loops had officially passed. Lidia had almost completely perfected her attacks on the guards. She was able to kill one of them easily and more than ten thousand times, she was able to kill both of them before reaching the crystal. However, her timing needed to be flawless. The past hundred runs, she had managed to throw a halberd at the crystal, but just before it broke it, the loop would reset. She needed one last, perfectly-time loop.

And this loop was going to be the one.

Lidia preemptively started sprinting before her last loop ended so she would start running immediately in this one. She closed the distance between herself and the guards instantly. Throwing a hand towards the first guard, she curved her fingers under his helmet, piercing his skull with nothing but brute strength.

Wasting no time, she grabbed the weapon from his lifeless hands and stabbed the second guard through their visor before they could react.

Using all her strength, she jumped at the door where the crystal stood. Instead of opening the door or kicking through it, she threw the halberd straight through the flimsy wood. The halberd soared through the air at insane speeds.

Right as the sharp, enchanted tip pierced the crystal, Lida was sent flying into the wall as a deafening sound came from the explosion of the crystal. Lidia prepared to start her next loop and started running forward... however, she was never sent back. She blinked and stared at her hands, then back at the lifeless bodies of the golden guards.

A primal anger flooded her heart. She pounced on the corpses of the guards with absurd wrath. She tore each piece of armor from their bodies like a wild beast skinning its prey. Seeing the flesh of her opponents, she started hammering her fists into their rotting flesh. The entire hallway painted in their blood. After the first guard was mangled beyond recognition, Lidia jumped on to their friend. The second guard shared the same fate as the first. By the end of it, Lidia’s entire body was bathed in a dark red crimson hue. Her eyes were manic and tired, both of her fists were completely broken from the attacks, and her hair was in disarray.

Eventually she sat her back against a wall and lightly sobbed to herself.

"I’m free... finally free."