She sat on the grass, staring deeply into her lap where her hands were rolled into tight-fists that squeezed atoms out of existence. Her wounds and injuries were healed.
"Why didn't it work? I could've sworn I did everything right this time."
She almost had tears in her eyes as her efforts proved futile.
Back at the same place, after endless attempts; this same grass, this same air - knew it all too well. She didn't even care to look up to see where she was. She already knew.
All her pent-up frustration felt suffocating and there was nowhere to release it as it gnawed at her. In a frenzy, she immediately punched down the nearest tree there was, her strength amplified by her Eye.
This Eye, it gave her special abilities, powers, which she believed was the key to reaching a 'Good Ending'. But, she has yet to reach it. No matter how many times she'd tried, she still somehow reached this 'Bad Ending', that same haunting scene of the city below being ravaged by monsters in a blanket of red hue. She hated it so much.
She took a deep breath, then another.
Meanwhile, a gentle breeze brushed against her face like it was trying to calm her down. This wasn't enough to satisfy her anger though.
An energy coursed through her arm as she charged up her power to prepare for a second punch to a tree, when suddenly, a familiar voice sounded from behind her.
"Are you planning to punch down every tree you see? Will you not?"
That voice.
She recognized it instantly and turned to glare at him. It did stop her from punching down a second tree, but now she was in an even worse mood than before.
"Move."
She pulled herself off the ground and barged past him.
Currently, she was at the entrance of an organization, known as the Jyuvets Organization.
They had high walls, a great security, especially for an illegal organization. And that boy, his name was Effen. He was a pretty well-known teen executive around here. But that also wasn't the only reason he was well-known.
He was ruthless with the way he handled his enemies and was willing to kill them if he got ever-so-slightly annoyed by one, even if they were useful. He was someone who she should be careful around for now until they were allies.
However, she wasn't here to have an idle chat with him, or to anyone for that matter. She needed to start operations as soon as possible.
She crossed the bridge to the heavy black gates, guarded by two people but before she could properly reach the gates, a hand wrapped around her arm.
"You can't enter."
She slowly turned around, irritation reflected in her eyes, though this time, it wasn't aimed at him.
She'd forgotten she was just a foreigner in this run and therefore can't enter the organization as she pleased. This was always the most troublesome part when she goes through a reset since she'd have to gain those rights again, starting from scratch.
In all her previous runs, she'd been an executive and was a trustworthy asset to the Jyuvets. It was her main priority to achieve that executive role, which shouldn't be too hard if things go to plan.
"Let me in, I need to talk to Xen."
She stood her ground.
Upon hearing that name, Effen was slightly taken aback. The leader's name was confidential information that no outsider would know. Except, she knew since she'd been here hundreds of times before. Some members of the Organization wouldn't even know the name of their leader.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to do that."
He replied firmly.
"Well why not?"
She argued back, eyeing him up and down.
"Why should I?"
"Because I need to speak to Xen."
"Just tell me what you need to say and I'll pass on the message."
She sighed. He really wasn't going to let her through. Why was he making this his business? Annoying as always. A moment of silence passed where, from an outsider's point of view, looked as if they were holding a staring contest, until she finally broke the silence.
"It's important information which you don't deserve to know."
"Then leave. You're not getting in either way."
"Why should I leave when I've got business to take care of?"
"What kind of business? Punching down every surrounding tree in the area?"
She paused and stared at him, trying to formulate a reply.
"Okay, fine, whatever."
She grumbled, not wanting to argue with him further.
"I'll leave, it doesn't matter."
Slowly, she turned around and trodded away in small, stubborn steps. Of course, she had no intention of actually leaving like this without getting what she wanted.
If only he was slightly dumber, she reckoned she would've gotten past him which would've saved her time and energy for what was about to happen in a second. She counted her steps in her head.
One.
Two.
Three.
This wasn't the first time she'd used this method. Those guards weren't the smartest or most skilled people, they were there to intimidate outsiders. Well, they could still fight decently against basic intruders and enemies, but they weren't great at it. She exhaled.
On the fourth step, she moved.
In a blink, she pivoted on her heel, quickly closing the distance between her and the first guard who lunged at her with a weapon. She swiftly dodged to the right; her hand latched onto the guard's wrist and twisted with enough force to make the weapon drop to the ground with a clatter.
Before the second guard could raise his gun, she grabbed the first guard by the collar and held him in a tight headlock, almost suffocating him.
"Don't."
Her voice came out colder than she felt.
"See? If you had just let me in, then this wouldn't have escalated."
Backup had already arrived on scene, which was probably the only good quality they had.
She bent down, grabbed the fallen weapon from the ground, and rested it against the head of the first guard. His breathing turned frantic, where a panic ignited in his eyes.
However, her gaze lifted past the guards, locking onto Effen who stood in the centre of them. Why was he just stood there?
The shots rang out anyway.
She dropped the useless weapon and hostage in a fluid motion, and in the palm of her hand, a crystalline, cyan dagger formed, created from her Eye.
Something whistled past her ear.
She tilted her head just in time. A bullet grazed a strand of her black hair. That was closer than expected. Her eyes sharpened towards the direction it came from.
About a dozen bullets tore through the air, but she slipped between them effortlessly, deflecting some with the blade of her dagger.
A bullet came from her blind spot.
She twisted too late, as it skimmed her side, tearing a small slit on her clothing at the waist. She wasted no time to propel herself forward into the guards. With a flick of her wrist, multiple thin, smaller, daggers settled in between her fingers.
They sliced through the air, spinning like tiny blue stars which each struck the guards' weapons, breaking their guns and sending them clattering to the ground while rendering them useless.
With precise and calculated strikes, she performed a combination of martial arts. A quick elbow to the temple immobilized one guard; a sweep of her leg knocked down a row of them.
One managed to grab onto her arm that held the dagger. However, she reacted instantly, twisting, driving her other elbow into his ribcage and sending him crashing back.
Nice. They were adjusting.
...Good.
The remaining guards charged at her with steel blades. So she let them come, as they got closer and closer, until they were in arms length away. At the last second, she stepped in instead of back.
She twisted an arm to disarm, punched another in the jaw, and so on. Until finally, only one guard remained.
She exhaled slowly, grounding herself, then threw her dagger in his direction with intent. It struck his shoulder. Not to wound or harm him, but to simply pin him there. He shouldn't be able to get out easily since the dagger was too deeply embedded in the tree at an angle that pulling it out straight wouldn't work.
In less than a minute, the swarm of guards were sprawled across the ground, on top of each other. This really was a sight to behold.
She steadied her breathing and scanned the area.
There was no need to kill. Not yet. They weren't a threat. Actually, they were way too weak to be a concern to her. Plus, she would be joining the Organization very soon and becoming an executive, so it would be a good idea not to get on bad terms with them so early on.
Her attacks were only enough to stop them from moving but they would recover fairly quickly from these minor injuries. Two or three days at most.
She looked back, half-expecting to see Effen where he stood a moment ago. But he wasn't there.
Did he go off to get more backup?
She knew Effen was skilled in combat himself, which re-raised another question she had asked herself just earlier.
Why didn't he fight her?
Knowing his character, he definitely would've killed her the chance he got. After all, she did just disable the guards.
Just for a second, a thought slipped in, causing her mind to buzz with frustration when reminded how her previous Reset ended in disaster. That familiar sting of repeated failure clouded her focus for a brief moment. Her grip on the dagger faltered.
A flicker of movement caught her eye too late. She tensed up, her body moving before she could sense that something was off.
Instinctively, she raised her dagger to defend, but before she could fully register it, a sudden, forceful strike slammed into her side, knocking the wind out of her instantly, sending her tumbling to the ground.
Pain flared through her ribs as her dagger flew out of her grasp, out of reach. She rolled onto her side, unable to properly inhale for a moment, because with each inhale felt like a stab to her lungs. Her vision blurred to the point where objects merged with each other, staring at her outstretched hand that lay in front of her.
Her body hadn't reacted fast enough. She was distracted. That was all it took.
The last thing she saw before she was swallowed by the void was the silhouette of a figure standing over her, calm and unyielding.
Effen.