Chapter 3 The First Death and the First Loop
Three days had passed, and Leo was quickly realizing that his new life was a living nightmare.
"You are moving too slow, you useless brute!"
Bella’s voice echoed down the long hallway. She turned around, her emerald eyes flashing with anger as she glared at Leo.
She snatched a cup from a servant’s tray and threw it directly at the wall near his head. The cup shattered into pieces, splashing tea across his armor.
The young maid holding the tray began to tremble, her face turning pale.
"I am sorry, my lady! I am so sorry!"
"Get out of my sight before I have you locked in the dungeon!" Bella screamed, her face twisting into a hateful expression.
The maid burst into tears and ran down the hall as fast as she could.
Leo stood perfectly still, his expression calm. Inside his mind, he was just trying to process everything.
Back on Earth, he had dealt with angry customers all the time, so he knew how to keep his mouth shut. But Bella was on a whole different level.
She was a complete monster.
She treated the servants like trash and treated Leo like a stray dog.
"Why are you just standing there like a statue?"
Bella snapped, turning her harsh gaze back to him. "Clean this up. Now."
"Yes, Lady Bella," Leo said softly. He knelt down and began to pick up the broken pieces.
As he worked, he thought about the strange power he had discovered the night before.
When he was alone in his small room, he had accidentally triggered something inside his body.
With a single thought, a glowing blue energy shield had snapped into existence right in front of his chest.
It felt solid and incredibly strong.
The problem was, he had no idea how to move it or control it.
When he tried to push it away from his body, it just vanished.
He was a clerk with zero fighting experience, trapped in the body of an elite warrior.
"Hurry up," Bella said, tapping her foot impatiently.
"We are going to the courtyard. The air in this hallway is making me sick."
Leo stood up, brushing his hands off, and followed her silently.
They walked out into the large courtyard.
Bella walked ahead of him, her head held high, looking around the estate with total disdain.
"Hey, Leo," a low voice whispered from the side.
Leo glanced over and saw Jax standing guard near one of the entryways.
Jax gave him a look of pure pity. "Are you still alive over there?"
"Barely," Leo murmured back, keeping his eyes on Bella.
"Keep your head down," Jax whispered quickly.
"She has been in a terrible mood all morning. Don't give her a reason to—"
Before Jax could finish his sentence, a sudden movement on the roof caught Leo's eye.
Four figures dressed in black clothes dropped silently from the high walls, landing right in the middle of the courtyard.
They all wore dark masks, and their hands held long blades.
"Assassins!" Jax yelled, pulling his sword from his belt. "Protect the lady!"
Chaos broke out instantly. The servants in the courtyard began to scream, running in every direction.
The guards rushed forward as they engaged two of the attackers.
Leo froze. His mind went completely blank, there was real blood and deadly weapons right in front of him.
His legs felt heavy, like they were glued to the ground.
"Leo! What are you doing? Move!" Bella shrieked.
She had tripped over her own dress while trying to run back toward the doors.
She was sitting on the ground, her face full of sudden terror as the third masked man rushed straight toward her.
The assassin raised his blade, which was covered in a strange, glowing green poison.
I have to save her! Leo's brain screamed.
He forced his heavy legs to move, lunging forward.
He reached deep inside his chest, trying to pull out that strange blue energy shield he had practiced with.
"Come on, work!" Leo shouted.
A flash of blue light appeared, but it popped up two feet to his left, completely missing his body.
He couldn't control the placement.
"Die, tyrant," the assassin hissed.
Leo watched in absolute horror as the blade drove straight through Bella’s chest.
Bella gasped, her green eyes widening in shock. The assassin pulled the blade out, and she collapsed onto her side.
Dark red blood began to pool on the ground around her.
She gave one weak, rattling breath, and then her body went completely still. Her eyes became blank and empty.
She was dead.
The moment Bella’s heart stopped beating, a violent, tearing pain exploded right in the center of Leo’s chest.
It felt like his own soul was being ripped in half.
He stumbled backward, clutching his heart as a loud, high-pitched ringing sound filled his ears.
"What... what is this?" Leo gasped, falling to his knees.
He looked up at the sky, but the blue clouds were gone.
The entire sky had turned a deep, red color. The sounds of the battle, the screams of the servants, and the wind all faded away into total silence.
Suddenly, the world around him began to spin violently.
It felt like he had been thrown inside a fast, wild washing machine.
The buildings, the ground, and the sky blurred together into a terrifying tunnel of light and noise.
The pressure in his head was immense, making him feel like his skull was about to burst.
Leo fell completely flat on his face, clutching his head with both hands. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think.
"Ahhhh! Stop! Make it stop!" Leo screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing through the rushing void.
He closed his eyes tight, praying for the agony to end, waiting to hit the ground or fade into nothingness.
Then, just as suddenly as it started, the spinning stopped.
The pain vanished from his chest. The loud ringing in his ears died down.
Leo blinked his eyes open, panting heavily for air. Sweat poured down his face.
He expected to see the bloody courtyard, the assassins, and the body of the dead girl.
Instead, he was standing straight up on his two feet.
The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky. The air was perfectly peaceful and quiet.
"You are moving too slow, you useless brute!"
Leo's heart leaped into his throat.
He snapped his head forward. Bella was standing right there, fully alive, her face twisted into the exact same angry expression from earlier.
She snatched a cup from a servant’s tray and threw it directly at the wall near his head
.
The cup shattered into pieces, splashing tea across his armor.
Leo stood there, his body trembling beneath his armor as the maid began to cry.
He looked at his hands, then at the living girl in front of him. His mind reeled with horror.
Time had just completely reset, and he was completely trapped.
