Scar nodded, "Exactly. As far as we know, at least three other people have entered this town, and therefore the time loop alongside us. The couple of hunters who led us here, and the man we were hunting ourselves.

By the way, you were gone all day looking for him. Did you get any clues on him at all?"

Cynthia sighed and shook her head, but before she answered she found herself staring at the ground as a slight purple hue spread across her face.

"Well I uh... No, We didn't. We asked around constantly, showed pictures of him to anyone we could but no one had seen him. Or maybe they had, and they simply forgot. That's probably why it's so difficult to find him...

Easy to hide when no one remembers you the next day. He could easily find somewhere that is empty for the day and hide there to gather up his power, then rinse and repeat.."

Scar nodded softly, understanding how frustrating that could be. They were practically searching for a ghost in a town full of dementia patients. Actually, searching for a ghost would probably be easier for him.

Yet he couldn't help but wonder if there was more to the story. Even if that was frustrating, there was no need to be embarrassed about it and blush like she was doing now. He narrowed his eyes, drilling into the side of her head with his silent, questioning gaze until she finally snapped.

A pillar of bubbles rose in her head like fizzing soda, as she let out another sigh.

"Okay fine... We also got a little distracted in our search. You see, we were getting frustrated with the lack of leads and then we just happened to walk past this donut shop..."

"Well well, the mighty, invincible warrior struck down in her quest for vengeance by a mere jelly donut."

"Hey! Not just a Jelly donut! It had pink frosting and a mixture of rainbow and chocolate sprinkles. It just looked so damn good..."

Her face twisted into one of extasy as she remembered the alluring prize calling to her from the shop window. Her entire body melted slightly, drawing some curious and confused gazes from the people who were already giving them strange looks. Scar had to snap his fingers a few time to bring her back to the present as he laughed softly.

"I can't believe you are drooling over a damned donut so much, You know we have sweet treats in Ravenkeep, right?"

"Of course I know that you dolt! But I think you've forgotten after all this time that I still can't taste a damned thing! I couldn't when you used to feed me all the disgusting bodies in our work escape, thank god, but I still can't even now.

I've tried everything. Mimicking a tongue, using the most spicy additives in the new world. I even tried flavoured liquids or different acids in hopes that those would work. But no... Nothing.

Lexi isn't much of a help either. Her taste is dulled too when it comes to normal foods, but she's developed a taste for different minerals. Did you know that according to her sapphire's taste minty?"

Scar laughed softly as Cynthia had an entire existential crisis in front of him, her face painted with despair and heart break. It seemed the loss of the donut and her taste effected her more than the near loss of her life.

"Oh, so that's why you were staring at people when they ate."

"W-what?! Who told you about that?!"

"Astra, obviously. She told me all about how you used to practically loom over her and cling closer than her shadow whenever she used to eat anything in the early days. You know she even thought that you might eat her in those early days, right?"

"Yeah well... It was difficult in those first few weeks. You try losing your taste when you have a huge sweet-tooth, it's not fun!"

Scar chuckled and shook his head at his friends ridiculousness, "Come on, let's go. Clearly you need this to concentrate. Plus, We need to kill some time."

He had Cynthia lead him to the donut shop and was about to head inside, when he realised something crucial. He had no money. All he had was Ravenkeep coins, not something that the shop would accept.

Since they were in a time loop and the old government was already dead, he thought it was justifiable enough to do a small amount of 'borrowing' from an ATM. It was surprisingly easy to punch a hole in it and just pull out the money. All of its heavy protections and thick steel was like wet paper, in fact wet paper might have even put up more of a resistance.

Even if the camera saw him, who was going to arrest him? It couldn't upload and they'd just need to wait a day for it to reset. Time loops really did have their benefits.

With old world money in hand, Scar let Cynthia order whatever she wanted, which almost amounted to the entire shop, before leading her outside and sitting on a bench as they watched the people go by.

Cynthia stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth open as acidic drool dripped from her lips and hissed when it hit the bench, as he ate the donuts in front of her.

He kept his mask on, simply tilting it up to let him take a bite before lowering it again. Cynthia didn't seem to mind all that much, as she was too busy mimicking his biting and chewing, lost in the thoughts of flavours long past.

Popping the last bite of the sugary delight into his mouth, which had so much frosting and extra toppings that it felt like a heart attack in the form of a treat, Scar gestured to the road they were looking out onto.

"Judging by the video, the pair should come from this direction close to nightfall. It didn't seem like they spent long enough with the people to notice what was going on, and spent more time with the ghost pirates.

Since we appeared where we entered the town and at the same time, it logically follows that they would do the same. If I had to guess it should be in the next few hours."

Cynthia nodded absent mindedly as she stared at the crumbs on Scar's chest, before shaking her head and bringing herself back to reality.

"So you're brilliant plan is to just... wait and see?"

"Yup. What's important right now is to understand the rules and the laws of this loop. We need to understand how it works, to know how to break it. You don't want to be stuck here forever, do you?"

"Well... No, but shouldn't we be worried about the man we are hunting? Doesn't he grow stronger when he just sits around doing nothing, kinda like we are doing right now? Isn't every second we waste putting us at a serious disadvantage?"

Scar smirked behind his mask, although Cynthia couldn't see it for obvious reasons. His gaze drifted to his hand, and at the burns that were missing from it. He asked Angel to show him what his senses were already telling him, and the screen floating in front of him only confirmed his suspicions.

[Spiritual Score: 10,000]

He hadn't raised a single point, despite the entire feast he had gorged himself on yesterday. Not only were his burns healed, but the power he had gained had disappeared too. Of course, there might be another explanation for it.

For example, it very well could be that it only disappeared because he consumed something inside the loop which was then brought back, while Cratos could gather his own strength without it and could therefore keep it, accumulating his power with every loop. Their memories had stayed the same, so it wasn't completely out there.

But it could also be the fact that all of them were reset, and that Cratos was as much of a useless prisoner as they were. There was no way to know, not until they understood the rules. Thus, they continued to wait, sharing idle banter and conversation with each other.

Yet even as the sun had long retreated behind the horizon and the ghostly fog was rolling into the town once more, there was no sign of the pair.

It was an outcome Scar had considered. After all, if they were alive then there should have been more reports sent out. Their initial one wasn't blocked by the time loop, after all. So something must have happened to them.

But what... That was the mystery that concerned him.

When the ghostly pirates came into the town, sailing through the streets in rowboats pulled by chains attached to something hidden beneath the rolling fog, Scar once more fought them. He tried to recall some of their faces, but it was no use. There were simply too many that he slaughtered to know if the ghosts had come back, or even if it was the loop that was bringing them back or some other force.

It was unknowns piled upon unknowns, and he hated them all. Then, just like before, when the clock struck midnight Scar simply blinked and found himself standing on that street once more, surrounding by gawking people taking his picture.

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