"Kousei! What are you doing?! Listen to me! Run now!"
My father desperately pleaded but I know that if I don't fight now, his fate is set in stone.
I began to steel myself, however attempting to stop me was my fathers hand yanking on my shoulder.
But he couldn't stop me. He slowly was losing his strength and already collapsed to one knee gasping for air.
Blood was quickly draining from his missing arm — he was running out of oxygen.
"Dad! Stay still otherwise you'll lose more blood!"
"Kousei… run…" he heaved out in a fading voice.
"Hehe, So the little kid wants to die like his father"
Calm down. Calm down.
Panicking won't do me any good — I need to analyse my opponent as much as possible.
This demons hubris is out of control, that's my one shot at catching him off guard.
I gritted my teeth and lept forward with the sickle, the moonlight glint illuminating the blade as I tilted it upwards aiming to slice at his neck.
Once I was in range the demon stood still, a grin formed on his face as he nonchalantly stood there.
THK!
The edge of the blade pierced his neck digging a few millimetres deep.
But it stopped abruptly.
I tried putting more force but it was useless, I was naive for thinking that my body could even slice of his neck in one clean blow.
"HAHAHAH! Did you really think you could cut my neck?!"
In the blink of an eye, a pale green hand shot up and clenched my wrist, the nails dug into my skin, as blood oozed out the five punctured points.
I winced at first but the pain rapidly dissipated, making me grateful for my lack of pain response.
I quickly tried to pull back, struggling to regain control of my wrist but the demon just stood there — grinning at me.
Snap!
I heard a sickening crunch followed by the burst of my wrist.
All the force I used in trying to reel my arm backfired, when my hand tore clean off the bone and the skin on my wrist peeled off from the rest of my body making me tumble back .
The amputated hand was launched onto the wall with thud, spasming as it hit the ground with remaining strength left in its muscle fibres.
A wave of paralysis coursed through my body and as I Iooked upwards, my eyes met the bloodthirsty gaze of the demon.
I lost my dominant hand along with my only weapon.
All hope was lost.
Before I could even react, my world began to spin and I saw my own body from a third person perspective.
"Huh? Why is the world upside down? Why can I see my own body?! Where's my head?!"
Those were the last thoughts I could muster before I felt the familiar sensation of death as my consciousness slipped away.
*
"Aah!", I clutched my neck in horror as I regained consciousness.
"What?! How am I here again?!"
In front of me was the demon engaged in a battle with my father.
I recognised what was about to happen, the demon was once again crouched low, ready to pounce.
Splat!
The demon reeled, covering his eyes in pain as the familiar clink of the blade clattered against the floor.
The agonising scream once again rung in my ear. The severed arm spiralling . The thick smell of blood permeating the air.
I trembled.
"There's no way…"
How am I still alive? How am I experiencing this moment again?!
Is my life flashing before my eyes, is this a dream?
No. it feels to real to be a dream.
Breaking me out of the frenzy of thoughts running rampant in my mind was the rough sounding order of my father.
"Kousei run already!"
His arm splurted out blood as he coughed out the sentence.
If I truly did miraculously travel back in time, I can't waste this opportunity.
I rushed to grab the blade assuming the same stance I had done last time.
"So the little kid wants to die like his father."
Without sparing a moment I launched the sickle at his face causing it to twirl in the air.
Whilst the demon was distracted I attempted pulling my fathers rapidly weakening body out of the house.
"Kousei… leave me behind."
"What are you talking about?! We can both esca— "
Snap!
Interrupting my sentence was the crunch of the wooden floorboard.
The demon after having had enough fun tormenting us, flashed forward at a blistering speed, kicking at me.
I coughed out blood and I felt my rib cage break into countless pieces. My lungs collapsed as they were pierced by shrapnel like shards of bone.
My second chance or rather third chance at life was taken just as quickly as I had lost it only moments ago.
I once again involuntarily closed my eyes, drifting away…
*
Then my eyes opened once again.
What I'm still alive! How many chances to do I get?!
Here I was again, awakened moments before my fathers severed arm flew across the room.
This time I was slightly more prepared, the shock from returning by death was slightly dulled after experiencing it before and I was able to regain my composure a lot quicker.
Without another second wasted in thought, I dove to grab the sickle, pivoting on my heel and sprinting in front of my father.
"What are you doing Kousei!"
I didn't respond to him.
My focus was solely on countering the demon ahead of me.
This is my third attempt at this and I'm unsure whether I'll come back to life if I die again.
But I know trying to run is futile. My only shot is to drag this battle to sunrise. If my estimate is correct, the sun should rise in about two hours from now.
Just as I had done the first time, I ran towards him, the ground pattered with each of my steps.
The previous moment flashed in my eyes, the demons grin and my exploding wrist. There's no way I'll allow it again.
I know he'll allow me to get one free hit, so I'll use this to my advantage.
I purposely ran with the blade in his line of sight, his lips curved upwards revealing a malicious sneer.
The I swung once again.
As my blade arced towards his neck, I pulled up slightly, changing the target from his neck to his eyes.
But I miscalculated.
"HAHAHA! Did you really think that cheap trick would work?
His sneer quickly faded and the last thing I saw, was a hand pierced through my chest, lifting me up as my legs dangled in the air.
"Sorry dad, I couldn't save you…"
"KOUSEI!!"
My fathers yell slowly faded.
And once again I died…
*
Opening my eyes I breathed a sigh of relief.
Im back again…
After each death I noticed something, I could feel the memories of every death overlap.
Each time when I returned, I felt a tangible improvement in my reflexes for that particular circumstance. It was like I had a selective photographic memory at the moment of my death.
Is this part of my ability to return by death?
Either way, it feels as though my fighting ability has improved marginally from my last death.
Clang!
It's definitely traumatising to see my fathers arm get severed every time. But if I let my rage influence my actions I'll never get anywhere.
My eyes instinctively locked on to the location the sickle would eventually land.
I dashed, following after the sickle.
It was as though I had choreographed this movement , I grabbed wooden handle of the sickle, squared off against the demon and lunged.
When the demon noticed the arc of the blades trajectory aligned with his eyes, he naturally counterattacked, turning his hand into a blade aiming at my chest.
Almost as though my nerves over rode my conscious response, my body turned sideways.
The demon stumbled forward slightly, carried by his remaining momentum and in that split second my body swooped the blade up subconsciously, resulting in the demons hand being sliced clean off. Leaving an angular slice across his arm.
I quickly jumped back in shock. Did I just do that?!
I felt like I had ultra instinct, the only caveat was that it only seemed to occur when I repeated the same pattern of events.
"Tsk, you're better than I though kid."
The demons wrist began to swell grotesquely as flesh began bubbling at the location of the injury, veins bulged outwards and the wound began healing at an imhumane pace.
The demon had his back to me as he muttered.
"I'm done playing around now."
In a fraction of a second, I noticed his signature cue for an attack, his quad muscles swelled up slightly and he twitched his right thumb.
But just because I noticed the cue for an attack doesn't mean I was able to do anything about it.
However, it still gave me enough time to dodge, his spinning palm swished through the air, I barely dodged in time, bending my knees just enough for the residual wind to flutter my hair.
But as I was crouched low, he used the opportunity to punt my abdomen, launching me into the thatch roofing, blood sprayed out my mouth as I broke through the roof.
The grass rustled as I landed, I tried to move my body but I couldn't, I didn't feel any physical pain but the mental fatigue was building up.
I raised my hand to the sky
"Is this the end…"
*
"I guess it's really never going to end.
I'm back here again for the 18th time…
I clenched my fist and gritted through the fight. The same sequence of events played out exactly as before.
This is the one. I had only died last time due to a stupid lack of foresight, I won't allow it again.
I grabbed the sickle, dodged his slice, severed his hand, causing him to stumble forward like last time.
"Tsk, you're better than I thought kid"
"I'm done playing around now."
This time when I saw his thumb twitch, I swooped down in a fluid motion as the palm came swinging in the air, rather than narrowly missing like the first time it had completely missed.
I prepared my counterattack. Whilst I had ducked down, I wrapped my arm around my body.
I whipped the blade with a delicate precision, slicing the bicep tendon on his arm.
His bicep recoiled back as his arm went limp.
How is this kid managing to do this?!
His brows furrowed and I knew what came next.
He charged forward with his kick blurring towards me but I was already mid dodge.
The timing for his attacks became ingrained in my memory.
As his leg traveled through the air, my eyes locked onto one spot — The Achilles tendon.
After many deaths this was the only viable way to stunt his movement for long enough.
I side stepped the kick, blades of wind pressed against me but I continued.
I reversed my grip on the hilt, swiping across my body.
Snap!
The precise cut, sliced through his achilles so efficiently he didn't even notice.
When his leg eventually stepped back onto the ground he lost his footing as collapsed.
Utilising this moment, I slashed his eyes.
"Wait a second."
"You basta—"
"There it was."
Blood spewed from his tongue as my kick collided with his chin mid sentence, causing his teeth to saw through his own tongue.
He was about to berate me with insults but I preemptively shut him up.
But I didn't stop there, I knew he would continue to regenerate.
A wicked smiled formed when he believed he tricked me into thinking that he was immobile.
But it was futile for him.
I hooked the blade to his neck, blood seeped out with contact of the edge.
Then with my mightiest pull, like trying to start up a chainsaw, I tore through half his neck, cutting just enough to leave the spine exposed.
Crunch!
I swiftly stomped on the exposed spine, then I detached the remaining flesh from his neck like a seasoned butcher, causing his head to dangle as I held him by his hair.
I lifted up the detached head and I stomped it to the ground, ensuring his eyes faced down.
With the tip of the sickle I weaved the blade through his upper palate leaving an exit wound through his right eye , sticking the blade into the ground.
"How dare you humiliate me like this!" He mumbled out in an incomprehensible manner
The head generated a pair of arms trying to release itself but it didn't have enough strength.