The way to win

"Leon, are you okay?"

"H_huh?"

The bright sun shines directly into my eyes, blinding me in the process. I didn't know exactly why but if I had to guess, it was because my eyes were not used to light due to the previous loop.

"B_BLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

I instantly puked on the ground, and collapsed on my feet. Recalling the events that went down was not pleasant, I may have developed some sort of mental illness from it, shit.

What the hell happened after I died? What the hell were those figures that I saw...

Wait, my head just got crushed...

"BBBBBBBLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH"

Shit! ok, don't recall it. Clear your mind. It's over now, you are okay.

"Leon! Are you okay?"

Silvia...

Wait, the last time I saw her was when she ...

"H_hey, Leon, why are you suddenly hugg_"

"Silvia I'm sorry. I should have never left you alone. I swear I won't make that mistake ever again."

"Leon, calm down. You were in another loop, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was. And I let you die because of my stupidity. I really am sorry."

"Jeez, it's okay. I'm alive now, see? forget about me, you must have had a painful death to be freaking out like that. You poor thing..."

We stayed there like that for a few minutes and finally, I calmed down. The events that went on in the previous loop was a nightmare. I don't think I can handle seeing myself or Silvia get killed in a grisly way again.

Alright, let's forget about the previous loop. The past is the past. I need to look forward to the future. I need to think and gather all of the information I possess.

"Hey, Silvia. The first stage has ended right?"

"Yes, it ended just a second ago."

"I see. So I restarted here because the first stage had ended before I died."

The second stage hasn't started yet. This means I don't restart at the beginning of an upcoming stage if I die after a stage ended, but I restart at the beginning of the gaps between the previous and the next stage. It's good that I figured this out, I guess.

Shit, the second stage hasn't even begun and I already have troubles to deal with. The most important one is Silvia's anonymous acquaintance. If he hadn't stirred up trouble, I would have remained alive at the previous loop. I think I should ask Silvia about this, or I can take her along with me to the gathering and prevent them from meeting at my absence. It's best if I go with the second option, seeing that I don't have enough time to ask her about it. I now need to intervene that man's fight with Paul's group to get attention. Wait, do I show Silvia's power? I mean, in the previous loop when Silvia activated her domain skill, it was way more scary looking and powerful than what she had shown me while we fought in the first stage. If that repeats here, the leaders might get an idea to get rid of her. I can't let that happen. So, it's best if Silvia doesn't show her power.

"Silvia, time to go. Let me tell you something first, though. A man is going to attack me with a slash at some point. I want you to just stand there ok? You can't show your power to these people. You know why right?"

"Yes, I know. It's because they will become scared of me, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'm sorry, but if we want to survive, we have to go on like this."

"Listen Leon. It's alright. I want you to know that I have complete trust in you." She says with a bright smile.

I never knew helping her from despair would make her this loyal to me. Maybe for all her life, she wanted someone to be kind to her. Jeez, looks like I really struck while the iron was hot.

At first, I only thought of her as a resource of survival, but now my view of her has changed a bit. Besides, I can't survive without her so I need to keep her by my side, no matter what.

Now, how do I intervene without getting my body sliced up? If I remember correctly, the aim of the man's slash was my head, so if I just dodge it at the appropriate moment I'll be fine.

But what if he strikes me for a second time after that? there is a possibility of that happening and I'm not planning on risking it. There should be another way, come on think! The fight was about the family of that man being killed because of Paul's group. Because of that, he seemed very distressed. If I calm him down, he might become less violent. Hmm, I might have come up with a good plan.

We went to the center of the argument. The flow of the conflict was the same as last time. They were still verbally insulting each other, it hadn't switched to physical violence just yet.

"Silvia, you know what we have to do right?"

"Yes I do. Please be careful Leon."

As I shook my head, I ran at the direction of the man.

"Do you think I'm going to let you get away with this_"

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH, SOMEONE HELP ME!!"

"What the hell is wrong with this kid?"

Now the thing to take note of was that I wasn't faking the screaming. I actually had Silvia wound me on different spots of my body. It was kind of painful, but I needed to endure it.

I couldn't think about my actions either because of Andrea Sanders's presence. I figured out that she had some sort of a telepathy skill. That's how she knew I was trying to view the leaders stats.

"Everyone look, he's in a bad state!"

Paul quickly rushed to me. I knew he would be the first one to step in.

"Hey, kid are you alright?"

"I_I was just trying to survive... why is this happening to me, I want to meet my family..." I said as I was whimpering.

Most people in my sight were sorrowful at the site of a kid despairing at the situation. A normal reaction.

The man I was focused on approached me with a worrying expression. I honestly didn't expect this type of reaction out of a man like him.

He sat on his knees and leaned towards me.

"Listen kid. I know what you are going through right now. I just experienced the same pain as you. I lost my family, my everything. I have nothing to live for now. But your young and you have a long life ahead of you. Most importantly, your family is most likely alive. So don't give up on life and live happily. Will you promise me that?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He is actually a kind man! I expected this plan to effect him but not to this degree.

Well, I did figure out his situation. He was most likely blinded by rage at the time of his attack in the previous loop, but now because of my interference, he had pity towards me and how his situation was kind of similar to mine. Basically, he had calmed down.

I wiped my tears via my wrists like a child and locked eyes with him.

"Alright I promise! but you have to make a promise with me too. I want you to promise me that you will never get revenge on your family's behalf. I heard why you were doing this and I get that. But you need to understand how your family would feel! would they want you to ruin yourself because of their deaths? I don't think so. Well, do you promise?"

He was shocked. I continued to lock eyes with him until he gave an answer. It looks to me that he's thinking. He better make the right choice or else I will be in big trouble if he kills the other members of the yet to form Sunseekers group.

Come on, I just need you to promise...

"Alright, deal. I promise I won't get revenge."

YES!

"Okay, it's a promise then." I said as I held up my hand.

He did the same and we shook hands as a sign of our promise.

The commotion had calmed down and people were busy talking to themselves.

Wait I just remembered something, didn't this man tell me that he recognized me in the first loop? he said I was the one that was watching people get killed if I remember correctly. Why didn't he mention that? and more importantly why didn't he doubt my injuries? he would have definitely seen that I was inside Silvis's barrier, that I was fighting well and didn't even have a scratch on me after the stage ended. Is it possible that he has just forgotten it? but how is that even possible?

Maybe he's going to bring it up later? damn it, after every positive achievement, I need to have something to worry about.

Let's just leave that out of my mind for now. I have bigger things to deal with.

I have a lot to do. I still don't know anything about the second and third stage. I also need to grow stronger quickly for my chances at survival to go higher. Now that I think about it, I have my hidden title as well. I know that the rest will play out as it did in the first loop, so I need to choose a group that me and Silvia would like to be apart of. The meeting will take place most likely after two hours. I know how it will turn out to be so I don't need to attend it. Now I need to plan our next move with Silvia.

I look up to the sky. It really is pretty.

No matter how many times I struggle, I know that even if I have to do more things and go through more pain, I will find the way to win.