Chains.

Deadly and captivating.

Harmful and annoying.

He had tried numerous times to break free from these shackles.

To break free from his traumas.

But unlike before, nothing simmered.

The only questions brimming up from the depths of his mind were...

"Would anyone truly love someone as selfish as he?"

Or 'TO sacrifice everyone just for one soul alone, would it cost his sanity?

Or even more, "Would my friends save me, even when I'm immortal?"

And now, "Will Ames think of me differently?"

As questions bubbled to the surface, threatening to burst through layers of deception, Asahi's gaze shifted from the watery world to the cold dungeon cell.

In just a blink, the sight of...

"Master, Asahi. Wake up!"

A rapid, impatient voice sliced through the stillness.

" Master master master! Hurry up, I'm hungry!" Ames was getting on Asahi's nerves.

At first, the cat's antics felt warm and genuine, but now, its presence grated on his nerves.

"Hurry up before I eat all your food..."

Asahi instantly jolted upright, only to be jerked back by the chains. His hands refused to move. If he wanted a taste of freedom—or even breakfast—he would need more than pleas.

"Ames, give the food to me." It was stupid enough to tease Asahi. He thought, how was he supposed to eat food when his hands were cuffed? If only there were someone else. But like reality, sometimes it will be treated most harshly.

"Not if you say the magic word." Ames teased, purring in the midst.

Asahi squinted at Ames, genuinely irritated at its playful approach.

"Ames, now is not the time."

The stubborn black cat teased Asahi by licking one of the potatoes.

"AMES!" Anger blared with his voice.

"Alright, alright. Master. Sorry." Ames slowly lowered his tail and sighed, pushing the plate of food toward Asahi's mouth. He spoke to himself as he planted his face.

"At least they were nice enough to give me a meal."

While silence hung in the air, past traumas began to surface in his brain like the vegetable soup given to him. Devlin and his inappropriate acts, being smothered in... feces. It was enough for him to vomit. But luckily, he hadn't. Now with the Orb of Immortality absorbed, what could he possibly do?

As Ames and Asahi continued their exchange, a distant clatter echoed through the corridors. In the dim light of the dungeons, the guard escorting a new prisoner could be seen approaching one of the lesser cells.

This part of the dungeon, though bleak, lacked the merciless chill of Asahi's cell.

The newcomer was Primrose, her steps faltering as she was guided into her cell.

Once alone, she huddled into a corner, her thoughts drifting back to her own burdens.

A cold chill swept into the room, intertwining with the memories that haunted her.

. . .

(Several years before...)

"The Promise... shall come to fruition."

Just minutes after her mother's death, little Primrose found herself amidst a surreal landscape of white dunes and hills, each surface layered in snowflakes mixed with crimson.

The air was cold and heavy with silence. A mysterious white-haired figure stood nearby, holding onto her black suit and a shard of glass.

As the blood seeped into the ground, the plants reacted, hungrily absorbing it as if melding with the landscape.

The woman's heavy boots crushed the fragile hands of another fallen being, obscured by the swirling snow.

(STOMP)

"The destroyed worlds... the societies... all of it shall be redeemed." Her voice echoed through the stillness, a relentless reminder.... "And this shard of The Prism shall pave our destroyed societies a visage."

In the white-haired woman's hands rested a pulsating prism-shaped entity, floating slightly above her palms, casting fractured light. She swiftly threw it into the air and captured it, seeing her hair turn from brilliant white to dark, dark purple.

As crimson swirled and coiled around the woman, her eyes turned purple, and her old body was discarded, falling into ash. Only her halo remained. Young Primrose reeled back, tears flowing down her face as her footsteps tolled on the hills.

(What do I do? What do I do?! Mom, Dad, where are you?)

As she ran back and forth, the woman started to sing.

"I wish..." She struggled, trying desperately to fight the voices. "I wish!"

Suddenly, young Primrose collapsed on the hill, hearing the woman holler at the top of her lungs.

"I WISH... FOR ELITE HARMONY AMONG ALL WORLDS!"

Once that had been uttered, the shard closed in on itself, imploded, and enveloped the woman along with all the corpses, unleashing a giant beacon of light that illuminated the night sky.

(BOOM)

A gargantuan shockwave ripped through the snowy mountains before suddenly the ashes of the old body disipated.

When that wish had been uttered, just like before when the King of Obrus wished death to all kings, so was her desire granted.

Little Primrose could not stop crying. She just saw her mother getting killed by that... woman... and there was nothing she could do about it. Slowly, she returned to the cabin to deliver the bad news, but Trid had already seen. Quickly, he slammed the door, uttering as one of his wings poked up.

"Dad?"

Suddenly, he hurled Primrose far from the cabin and saw the purple-haired woman approaching closer and closer.

"Run!"

"But... father..."

"Run as far as you can! Go now!"

With no other choice but to listen to her father's orders, she sprinted away, her small feet barely touching the ground as panic fueled her every step. Each stride cut through the biting cold air, leaving a trail of fleeting footprints in the snow. With every glance back, her heart pounded faster, the distance between her and the cabin growing with each heartbeat.

Meanwhile, Trid transformed before her eyes.

As the desperation of the moment thickened, his tail began to expand and elongate, coiling around with an otherworldly force. His wings erupted from his back, tearing through the confines of his clothing, spreading wide and majestic, darkening the icy landscape with their shadow.

The dark-haired woman watched, unimpressed by the spectacle.

With a dismissive shake of her head, she reached out, her hand closing with an iron grip around the transformed dragon. In a fluid motion, she swung him around, the powerful dragon rendered powerless, and flung him with effortless might, sending him crashing into the frozen lake with a resonant thud that echoed across the silent, snow-clad land.

"Nothing... can stop The Promise."

After she hurled the transformed Trid, the woman quickly left as fast as she came, leaving Trid wounded and Primrose motherless. Far in the distance, as she soared into the air, she threw a giant purple lightning bolt and corrupted a monumental corner of the land, transforming it in and out.

. . .

As memories bled into the present, Primrose hunched forward, her body trembling beneath the crushing weight of her past.

Desperation gnawed at her core, threatening to swallow her whole.

Despite the fear coursing through her veins, she fought to maintain a fragile sense of hope, desperately searching for a way forward. Her fingers clenched tightly, leaving imprints in her palms as she tried to steady herself against the emotional storm.

. . .

(Ten days after…)

Meanwhile, in Asahi's cell...

"What do you mean you absorbed it?" A voice sounded with malice as he slapped the face of the white-haired boy. "SHOW me that you have The Orb. That's all we want."

But instead of complying, Ames scratched one of their faces and screeched and hissed.

"Get that damn cat out of the cell, now!" One of the guards ordered Ames to go on a rampage.

"What is it doing here? How did it get inside?"

Asahi, instead of complying, resisted and turned his head away.

"Listen here, boy, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

A single snap could shatter the chains and rewrite destiny. Yet hope rang hollow. Primrose was lost, Trid was falling. Still, the urge to snap lingered—maybe, just maybe, it could set things right.

Asahi stayed silent, waiting for a sign from them. If only he could reach out...

Suddenly,

(SHING)

A knife plunged through his leg. He seethed, biting back a scream as fire tore through his nerves. In a heartbeat, the limb detached, thudding onto the cold stone, dust and blood pooling fast.

"Where is the Orb?" He said as he clutched the knife.

This hunger, this desperate wanting, dragged old traumas to the surface.

(Where are the ingredients?) It reminded him of his hopeless journey back in Pladtioa, where he was compelled to search for something.

And then, back in Linuxinia, where he was harassed and humiliated by zombies, all of it came flooding back.

Now, agony beyond words unfurled inside Asahi.

Immortal as he was, pain still found him.

The truth that even immortals could suffer cut deeper than any blade. As he dragged himself across the floor, suddenly,

(SHING)

Another knife cut his last leg off, spreading blood and ooze into the dungeon. Ames' eyes shrank in horror, unable to know what to do. He tried to scratch and throw his claws, but it wouldn't do. Asahi was now limbless, leaving only his arms. As he screamed in torment and anguish, finally, after all the agony....

(SWING)

His left arm tore free, searing with pain as blood spilled. The chains fell away, but freedom came at a terrible price.

With just one arm left, he clung to hope—if only he could make it in time.

. . .

If he were to fail this chance, the guards would have ended Asahi's life then and there.

Despite absorbing the Orb of Immortality, he would NOT die, even without limbs and parts.

If he wanted to reset, he would have to snap then and now.

If he wanted to regain his senses, he must reset. All that slothfulness, all those no-good thoughts, through this reckless tumult, Asahi's eternal covenant hangs in the balance with these final actions.

Five...

Asahi dragged himself forward, relying only on his right arm.

Four...

Time crawled as the guards finally noticed.

Three...

"CUT HIS ARM OFF NOW!"

Two...

Asahi summoned every ounce of will, praying for the nightmare to end.

One..

(SWING)

. . .

(SNAP)

The dungeon folded in on itself; everything, even the cruel guards, vanished from sight.

After all the turmoil, after every struggle, a bittersweet smile crept onto Asahi's lips.

In an instant, he found himself whole again, both arms and legs restored, the Orb of Immortality in his grasp.

If he was ever to break this cycle of pain, it had to be now, in this loop.

Armed with everything he'd learned in fourteen relentless days and nights, he finally understood how to outsmart his enemies and survive the world's cruelty.

(SHATTER)

With only three chances left, Asahi knew he could not squander a single moment.

Unlike all the other loops.

This time, clarity burned within him—he knew exactly what to do. With Paxon on his side, Asahi was given recollections he thought he had lost.

Just like before, a beacon of light shot up and flowed like a laser, entering Primrose, Trid, and Grandpa.

All of them gained immortality when he shattered the Orb, just as before.

But this time, he knew his path.

This time, he might finally outrun Kika, Yawman, and every lurking evil.

Knowing that slothfulness was not an option, Asahi chucked the Orb of Immortality and shattered the nuisance for good.

Even Ames, his loving companion, emerged from the shadows, greeting him as the three gathered behind him.

With only rage at his disposal, Asahi could only hope. He knew that hope alone might not be enough to overcome the trials he was about to face.

Yet, with determination and the knowledge that each action would shape his destiny, he prepared himself for the battles ahead.

The echoes of his past reverberated in his mind, but this time, with newfound clarity, he vowed to turn his rage into strength and emerge victorious against the shadow of his enemies.

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