Chapter 6 The Breaking Point

The familiar clatter of a smashing cup echoed through the room, followed by the sharp scream Leo had heard fourteen times before.

"You are moving too slow, you useless brute!" Bella roared, her face red with anger as she stared at the hot tea on the floor.

Leo did not move an inch. This was Loop 15, and he was completely numb. For fifteen lifetimes, he had blocked arrows, intercepted poison, and taken blades to the ribs just to keep this girl breathing. And for fifteen lifetimes, she had treated him like garbage.

"Are you deaf?" Bella stepped closer, pointing a finger directly at his chest armor. "Clean this up right now before I have you thrown into the dark cells!"

Leo slowly looked down at her finger, then up at her furious face. The endless shouting and the pure exhaustion had finally broken something inside him. He was done. He just wanted to sleep.

"I will get a maid, my lady," Leo said, his voice completely flat.

"No! You do it!" Bella yelled, slamming her hand against his armor. "You are just a dog hired to protect me, do you hear me? A dog!"

Leo didn't say another word. He turned around and walked out of her chambers, leaving her screaming his name into the empty corridor.

Night fell over the Solaria estate. Leo stood guard outside Bella’s bedroom door, his eyes staring blankly at the wall. He missed his quiet convenience store on Earth. He was so incredibly tired.

Suddenly, a strange smell filled the air. Three tall figures dressed in deep black emerged from the darkness at the end of the hall. They held dark swords, and their eyes were cold. These were elite killers.

Inside the bedroom, the door clicked open. Bella stepped out, rubbing her eyes. "Leo? What is that noise? If you are—"

She stopped talking the moment she saw the men. Her face was drained of all color.

"Leo!" she shrieked, grabbing his armor sleeve with shaking fingers. "Kill them! Deploy your shield! Protect me!"

The first assassin lunged forward, his blade moving like lightning straight toward Bella’s throat.

Leo felt the familiar energy swelling inside his chest. He knew that if he shouted the word, his blue shield would appear. He knew he could jump in front of the blade and take the hit. He had done it so many times before.

But as he looked at Bella’s terrified face, and then at the dark blade coming toward her, a sudden, overwhelming wave of peace washed over his mind. Why should I save her? a voice whispered inside his head. If she dies, the loop resets. Or maybe, just maybe, it ends forever. Maybe I can finally go home. Maybe I can finally rest.

Leo looked directly into Bella’s shaking green eyes. He gave her a small, tired smile.

Then, Leo stepped backward, pulling his arm away from her grip. He quietly folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the wall, completely closing his eyes.

"Leo? No! What are you doing?" Bella screamed, her voice cracking with a raw, agonizing betrayal. "Save me! Leo!"

The assassin did not hesitate. The cold, dark blade drove straight through Bella’s chest with a sickening sound.

Bella gasped, a spray of red blood hitting the front of Leo's silver armor. She stumbled backward, her small hands clutching at the wound in her chest as she fell to the floor. She looked up at Leo through the darkness, her emerald eyes full of confusion, hurt, and absolute horror. She couldn't understand why her loyal guard, the one man who had always stood between her and death, had just stood aside and let her get murdered.

Leo opened his eyes and looked down at her bleeding form. He felt a sharp pang of guilt in his stomach, but the overwhelming desire for rest pushed it away. "Goodbye, Bella," he whispered quietly.

Bella gave one last, ragged shudder, her eyes rolling back as her head fell limply against the floor. Her breathing stopped entirely, and her life faded away into the quiet night.

Leo closed his eyes again, bracing his body. He waited for the sky to turn red. He waited for the violent, fast spinning of the washing machine world to grab his brain and drag him back to the morning tea cup. He was ready for the pain of the reset, as long as it meant he could escape this specific moment of exhaustion.

But the spinning did not start. The world stayed completely still and silent.

Leo opened his eyes in confusion. The assassins were gone, disappearing into the shadows like ghosts. The hallway was dead quiet, except for the pooling blood on the floor.

Suddenly, a violent, agonizing pain exploded right in the center of Leo’s chest. It didn't feel like the normal reset pain. This felt like a hot iron rod was being driven straight through his soul, tearing his very essence apart. He collapsed to his knees beside Bella's body, clutching his chest as a wild, broken scream tore out of his throat.

"Ahhhhh! What is this?" Leo gasped, his vision turning blood-red as he suffocated on the floor.

Right in front of his face, a massive, glitched interface screen snapped open in the empty air. The screen was flashing a bright, bleeding crimson color, and a loud, robotic alarm began to wail directly inside his skull, making his ears bleed.

[WARNING: HOST HAS COLLUDED IN THE DEATH OF THE TARGET.]

[CRITICAL ERROR: LIFESPANS ARE SOUL-BOUND. TARGET HAS SEVEN LIVES TOTAL. MINDFLAY AND LIFESPAN SHRINKAGE ACTIVATED.]

[WARNING: HOST SOUL IS LINKED DIRECTLY TO TARGET'S FINAL FOUR LIVES. TARGET HAS COMPLETED DEATH 3. FOUR LIVES REMAINING.]

[ALERT: IF THE TARGET DIES AGAIN, TOTAL DELETION OF BOTH HOST AND TARGET SOULS WILL OCCUR PERMANENTLY. NO MORE RESETS. NO MORE TIMELINES.]

Leo read the glowing red words through his tears of pure agony. His heart stopped beating entirely, and his mind filled with a freezing terror as the soul-shredding pain reached his brain. He hadn't bought himself freedom. He hadn't bought himself rest. He had just used up their safety net, and now they were both standing right on the edge of permanent death.

The blood-red light completely swallowed his vision, dragging his screaming soul down into the darkest loop yet.