Ichirou tightened his grip on his sword and stared up at the dragon.
Drake Helkaiser.
"Bastard!"
He charged.
Steel plunged into the dragon's scales. The blade bit shallow—but it hit.
The dragon roared.
The sound alone shook his bones.
A massive claw came down.
Ichirou met it head-on.
Steel clashed.
He parried and rolled away as the ground cracked where he'd been standing. The dragon's tail swept toward him, fast and brutal—
Ichirou barely avoided it, the wind of it throwing him off balance.
'Too slow.'
He moved again. Side step. Parry.
Another claw strike.
He pushed forward, forcing the limb aside, eyes locked on the dragon's head.
'I can do this.'
Fire gathered in the dragon's throat.
Ichirou froze.
'…Wait.'
The flames erupted.
Pain swallowed everything.
His armor glowed red-hot in an instant. The heat burned through metal, through flesh, through bone.
He screamed.
He fell.
The world blurred.
His body hit the ground, already breaking apart.
'This isn't—'
Darkness took him.
Cold.
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[Reset No. 1]
Ichirou gasped and shot upright.
Stone pressed against his back.
Bars.
A jail cell.
His breath came fast. Too fast.
He looked down at his hands.
Whole.
Unburned.
Alive.
'…No.'
A distant bell rang.
His heart pounded as memories crashed back into him—fire, pain, Jeanne's scream, his own.
His hands started shaking.
'That hurt.'
Not like a game.
Not like a reset.
It hurt.
Ichirou leaned forward, gripping his head.
"…So that's how it is," he muttered.
The world didn't rewind.
Only he did.
And the pain?
That stayed.
Ichirou looked around the cell.
Bars. Stone. Cold air.
'…Was that a vision?'
No.
He knew better.
"What's the matter, Grimm?"
The guard's voice was the same. Same tone. Same timing.
Like it was the first time.
Ichirou didn't answer.
He just looked at it.
Silent. Still.
The guard shifted uncomfortably.
Everything followed the same path.
Footsteps.
Light.
Jeanne appeared, golden hair catching the torchlight. Steel flashed. The guards fell before they could react.
She walked to the cell and stopped.
"You are a strange undead," she said.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"…There is still light left in your eyes."
She unlocked the cell.
"If you hear the voice of God," she said quietly, "move your feet and bring light."
She turned to leave.
"Wait."
Jeanne stopped.
She looked back at him, surprised.
"You can speak?"
Ichirou stepped out of the cell.
"Yes," he said. "And I haven't repaid you for freeing me."
Jeanne blinked, then shook her head.
"There is no need."
Ichirou met her gaze.
"Then at least allow me to accompany you."
She studied him in silence, as if weighing something unseen.
"…Very well," Jeanne said at last.
She turned and began walking again.
Ichirou followed.
This time, he didn't smile.
'If this really is a loop…'
'Then this time… I won't forget.'
Ichirou found the same Green Soul.
He picked it up without comment.
The same Dog-Man guard crossed his path. This time, Jeanne stood beside him.
The guard didn't last long.
Steel flashed. The body fell. Souls rose and vanished into Ichirou.
Nothing felt new.
That was the problem.
They moved outside sooner than before.
The air felt heavier. The wind stronger.
Jeanne stopped and looked out over the land.
"Even now, countless people suffer, turned into demon beasts," she said. "It is my duty to end them."
Ichirou stepped closer.
"I will join you."
Jeanne turned to him, surprised. For a few seconds, she said nothing.
"…I see," she said at last. "I did not expect you to agree so easily."
Ichirou met her eyes.
'Last time, I hesitated.'
Not again.
He gave a short nod. "I won't slow you down."
Jeanne studied him carefully, then smiled faintly.
"Very well," she said. "Then walk with me."
They moved forward together.
Above them, the sky shifted.
And far away—
Something beat its wings.
Ichirou walked beside Jeanne.
"I heard something from the guards," he said. "The shadow of a large beast."
Jeanne glanced at him, one eyebrow rising.
"A giant beast?"
Ichirou nodded as he crouched and gathered medical herbs. "Yes. We should be careful."
Jeanne gave a short nod. "Agreed. Thank you for telling me."
"No problem."
For a brief moment, they shared a small smile.
Then—
Whoosh.
The sound of massive wings cutting through the air.
The world stuttered.
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Ichirou's eyes sharpened.
He moved instantly.
He grabbed Jeanne and pulled her hard to the side—
Fire roared past where she had been standing, scorching the ground and melting stone.
Jeanne gasped, eyes wide, breath caught in her throat.
"…A dragon," she whispered.
Ichirou stepped forward, placing himself between her and the monster.
The dragon descended, scales burning like embers, eyes locked onto him.
'Finally.'
Not panic.
Not shock.
Relief.
This time, he was ready.
Nine deaths.
He didn't show them.
He didn't need to.
The numbers spoke for themselves.
Ichirou stood beside Jeanne, breathing steady.
"Parry the tail," he said calmly. "I'll handle the arms. If its mouth opens—"
He raised two fingers.
"—you have two seconds before it breathes fire."
Jeanne stared at him.
Not in disbelief.
In understanding.
"…You speak as if you've fought it before."
Ichirou didn't answer.
He looked up at the dragon.
Drake Helkaiser loomed above them, wings spreading wide, heat rolling off its body.
'Nine times,' he thought.
Fire. Claws. Screams. Death.
His grip tightened on the sword.
'This time…'
'I won't fail.'
He stepped forward, eyes locked onto the beast.
"I will kill you this time."
The dragon roared.
And Ichirou moved.
Jeanne moved the instant the tail came down.
Steel met scale.
The impact threw her back, but she held—boots scraping across stone as she redirected the force away from Ichirou.
"Now!" she shouted.
Ichirou was already moving.
The dragon's claws slammed toward him. He parried the first, twisted under the second, sparks screaming as metal ground against metal.
The dragon reared back.
Its mouth opened.
"One—"
Jeanne's foot slipped.
The tail came again, faster this time.
She raised her shield—
Too slow.
It struck her side.
Jeanne cried out as she was thrown across the ground, armor bending with a sickening crunch. She hit the wall hard and collapsed.
"Jeanne!" Ichirou shouted.
The dragon inhaled.
"Two!"
Fire erupted.
Ichirou ran straight through the heat.
Pain ripped across his body, but he didn't stop. He jumped, drove his sword deep into the dragon's throat, and twisted with everything he had.
The blade sank in.
The dragon screamed.
Drake Helkaiser convulsed, wings flailing wildly before collapsing in a thunderous crash.
Silence followed.
The massive body twitched… then went still.
Ichirou landed hard, rolling across the ground. He pushed himself up, chest heaving.
'…I did it.'
Souls flooded into him—burning, overwhelming.
He turned.
Jeanne lay motionless against the wall, blood pooling beneath her armor.
"No—no, no, no."
He rushed to her side and dropped to his knees.
"Jeanne, look at me."
Her eyes fluttered open.
She tried to smile.
"…You really are strange," she whispered. "An undead… saving a knight."
"Don't talk," Ichirou said, hands shaking as he pressed them against the wound. "I can fix this. I—"
Her hand closed weakly around his wrist.
"…Thank you," she said. "For fighting beside me."
Her grip loosened.
Her eyes went still.
Ichirou froze.
The dragon was dead.
The fog began to thin.
And Jeanne d'Arc was gone.
His breath hitched.
"…So that's it?"
A sharp pain pierced his chest.
He gasped.
Cracks spread across his vision.
The world began to collapse inward.
"No—!"
Darkness swallowed him whole.
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Ichirou snapped his eyes open.
Heat.
Wings.
A roar that shook the sky.
Drake Helkaiser loomed overhead once more, fire gathering in its throat.
Ichirou didn't scream.
He didn't panic.
He clenched his jaw.
'…Killing it isn't enough.'
His sword rose.
'Then I'll change the ending.'
The dragon attacked.
And Ichirou stepped forward.
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Fire scorched the ground where Ichirou had stood a heartbeat earlier.
He slid to a halt beside Jeanne instead.
"Stay close to me," he said, voice steady. "No heroics."
Jeanne blinked in surprise. "You're changing the plan?"
"Yes."
The dragon roared, wings beating violently as it descended.
"Then we won't be able to finish it cleanly," Jeanne warned.
Ichirou tightened his grip on his sword.
"…That's fine."
The tail came down.
Ichirou moved first this time.
He intercepted it—not to parry, but to redirect, slamming his blade into the joint and forcing the strike wide. The impact rattled his bones, pain screaming through his arms.
Jeanne would have taken that hit last time.
Not this time.
The dragon's claws followed.
Ichirou stepped in front of her.
Steel rang.
One claw. Two. Three.
His guard cracked on the fourth.
Blood ran down his arm.
"Ichirou!" Jeanne shouted.
"Eyes up!" he snapped. "Watch its mouth!"
The dragon inhaled.
Ichirou didn't attack.
He grabbed Jeanne and threw them both behind a broken pillar just as fire erupted, heat washing over the stone like a tidal wave.
They survived.
Barely.
But the dragon lived.
It reared back, wounded—but not dying.
Ichirou knew the truth instantly.
'I gave up the killing angle.'
He had sacrificed position, timing, and momentum… all for one thing.
Jeanne stood.
She was breathing hard—but uninjured.
She looked at him, eyes sharp, alive.
"…You protected me."
Ichirou didn't answer.
The dragon lunged.
Too fast.
Too close.
Ichirou shoved Jeanne away.
The claws pierced his chest.
He felt bone break.
Felt himself lifted off the ground.
Jeanne screamed his name.
Ichirou looked at the dragon's burning eyes and laughed weakly.
'So that's the trade.'
He hit the ground hard.
Darkness crept in.
But he smiled.
Jeanne was alive.
That was enough.
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Ichirou opened his eyes.
Same heat.
Same wings.
Same dragon.
But this time, something inside him was different.
'Victory isn't killing the dragon.'
His gaze shifted—already tracking Jeanne's position, the terrain, the timing of the tail.
'Victory is keeping her alive…'
His sword rose.
'…and then killing it.'
The dragon roared.
Ichirou stepped forward.
Not to win.
But to rewrite the fight itself.
Ichirou looked at Jeanne. "Jeanne, do you have any Spells".
Jeanne looked at her. "Yes, I can cast lighting".
Ichirou looked at him. "Very well, I distracted the dragons you hit the Wings".
Ichirou looked at it. 'No, more flying you basterd'.
The dragon's wings beat once—twice—heat rippling through the air.
Ichirou stepped forward.
"Jeanne," he said calmly, eyes never leaving the beast. "Lightning. The wings. Don't hesitate."
Jeanne tightened her grip on her spear. "…Understood."
The dragon lunged.
Ichirou ran toward it.
Fire exploded behind him as he slid under the first breath attack, armor screaming as heat licked his back. A claw came down—
CLANG.
He parried, boots digging trenches into the stone as the impact nearly threw him off his feet.
"HEY!" Ichirou shouted, slashing across the dragon's foreleg. "OVER HERE!"
The dragon roared, attention snapping fully to him.
Good.
Its wings spread.
'That's my cue.'
Ichirou threw a dagger—pointless as damage, perfect as bait. The dragon snapped at it instinctively, wings lifting higher, membranes fully exposed.
"NOW!"
Jeanne raised her hand.
Blue-white light gathered around her like a storm being forced into shape.
"—Lightning!"
The spell detonated.
A spear of electricity tore through the air and ripped into the dragon's wing, lightning branching violently through bone and membrane.
The scream that followed was inhuman.
One wing spasmed, collapsing inward with a sickening crack. The dragon slammed into the ground, stone shattering beneath its weight.
It tried to rise.
Failed.
Ichirou didn't waste the opening.
He was already moving.
Sword up. Breath steady.
'No more flying.'
He leapt onto the dragon's neck, blade plunging deep between the scales.
Black blood sprayed.
The dragon thrashed, tail smashing into the ground—
—and clipped Ichirou mid-air.
His body slammed into a wall.
Pain exploded.
Ribs cracked.
Vision blurred.
But he laughed.
Still alive.
Still grounded.
Jeanne ran to him. "Ichirou!"
"I'm fine," he coughed, forcing himself upright. "Don't let it recover—again!"
The dragon roared, weaker now, rage replacing dominance.
For the first time…
It was afraid.
Ichirou wiped blood from his mouth and raised his sword.
'This loop…'
He met the dragon's eyes.
'…we finish it.'
To be continued
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