Better yesterday

The creatures charged, their movements quick and erratic. Lex dodged the first attack, but the second grazed his arm, leaving a shallow laceration.

He didn't have time to think or plan. All he could do was try not to get hit, his body moving more on instinct than real reflexes.

Lex dodged, ducked, and weaved. He was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it. A parasite alone was faster and stronger than him in his prime, and fighting two of them in his current state was suicide.

Yet, he kept fighting, even as the creatures landed more and more hits all over his body. He was running on fumes, his muscles burning, and his vision started to blur.

However, the creatures didn't seem to care. They pressed the attack relentlessly. Lex was starting to slow down, his reactions getting sloppier.

Then it happened. One of the parasites pinned Lex's left hand on the ground, forcing Lex to stop in his tracks. Using this opportunity, the other directly launched a tentacle strike at his chest.

Lex's mind raced. He couldn't dodge, not with his arm pinned down, neither could he block. There was only one option.

Without hesitation, Lex twisted his wrist with brutal precision, dislocating the joint before driving his dagger through the loosened gap and severing his hand.

Blinding pain. A rush of warmth as blood spilled onto the floor.

But he was free. He rolled away just as the tentacle struck where he had been. Staggering to his feet, he barely had a second to register the damage before something far worse hit him.

The poison.

Before, his mask and armor had slowed it down. Now, with an open wound this big, it was tearing through him like wildfire. His head swam. His breath came in short, choked gasps. Every nerve screamed. His already battered body was breaking down, his muscles spasming and his joints locking up.

This was the poison present in the guts and the reason why Lex had tried to limit his stay here.

Lex coughed, and a thick spray of blood hit the ground. His lungs were shutting down. Each breath felt like dragging air through shattered glass.

His skin burned, his veins screamed, and his body trembled under the poison's relentless assault.

'...About forty-five seconds before I die.'

The thought was cold, detached, as if he were checking the time. His face remained eerily calm, even as his muscles locked and his vision blurred at the edges.

The shop was right there. He could open it.

He had 14,000 coins. More than enough to buy his way out—an antidote, a restoration, perhaps a way to escape the rift, hell, even an instant kill for the parasites if he wanted.

But his fingers didn't move to activate it. Nor did he ever even think of running away. 

A slow, twisted smile crept onto his face. '...Why waste my precious coins for something as silly?'

'Forty-five seconds is plenty of time,' he thought as he slowly stood up despite his injuries.

Then Lex lunged.

His body was already shutting down, his strength leaving him, but he pushed through. His ruined hand dripped blood in thick, sluggish drops. He barely felt the pain anymore. His body was too far gone for that.

'I only need to kill one. Just one'

One parasite snapped forward, its tentacle lashing out. Lex twisted mid-air; the strike meant for his skull ripped through his handless shoulder instead.

The force sent him spinning, his body slamming into the ground hard. He tasted blood, his vision swimming.

But he didn't stop.

He charged again, his handless arm hanging uselessly at his side. His breathing was ragged, his heartbeat a dull roar in his ears.

The parasite's next attack came faster, aimed at his chest.

Lex didn't try to dodge. Instead, he threw himself forward. The parasite's tentacles were sharp, and they struck his chest, shattering his ribs and impaling his heart.

As the tentacle pierced his heart, his body went limp.

The parasite jerked, its tendril still lodged deep in Lex's chest.

But something was wrong.

Its movements grew erratic, confused. Then it stilled.

The other parasite slumped to the ground, its body twitching. There was a gaping hole in its chest, where the main body of the parasite was located.

Only then did the parasite understood what happened. When the parasite impaled Lex, its tentacle didn't stop—it tore straight through him and into its own kin behind him.

Lex's lips curled into something that barely resembled a smile.

'Gotcha.'

[You have killed a Titan's Hollow Parasite. 1,000 coins have been awarded.]

[Total earnings: 18,380/200,000]

[Coins: 15,142]

It had been nearly impossible. Even with his experience, aligning his body just right—letting the parasite impale him at the perfect angle, the perfect moment—was a gamble no sane person would take. The precision required was absurd and suicidal.

But experience never betrays.

Lex had forced the beast into a rush, playing into its instincts. It had attacked without hesitation, its killing blow meant to skewer him clean through.

And yet, in its blind attack, it had done the one thing it never should have—struck through him, only to land a fatal hit on its own kin.

This movement was a gamble, but it was a calculated one.

Lex had known the risks. He had known the odds. And he had bet everything on the chance that the parasite would strike true. And it landed.

Lex let out a rattling breath, barely audible over the ringing in his ears. His body was failing. No—it had already failed.

The poison had him. His muscles were dead weight, and despite the rift's high ambient temperature, Lex felt cold. His vision blurred, then darkened, even though his eyes were still open. He could barely think. His eyelids were heavy, and his body begged him to give up, to sleep... until the next reset.

"I could always retry…" The thought came to him instantly, automatic, like a reflex born from countless failed attempts. Maybe it was because he was already so tired.

"No... I won't…"

His heartbeat slowed.

Slower.

Slower.

Lex could feel it. His aspect slowly activating, preparing itself to reset everything and bring him back.

Slower.

Slower.

His mind was fading, his thoughts becoming hazy. He could feel the darkness creeping in, the cold, numb void pulling him down.

Lex's fingers twitched. He focused everything—every remaining spark of willpower—on that single motion. It required perhaps more effort than anything he had done yet. More than even the most difficult fight he ever had.

His lungs refused to move, his body demanded collapse, but he refused to let it end. Not yet.

'No, not this time…Just...A little more. I will not reset. I will end this loop.'

[Welcome back, Administrator. 5 coins have been deducted to use your privileges.]

A breath. A flicker of motion.

[Blessing purchase completed - Better Yesterday (15,000 Coins)]