Gia had gotten her spear back.

  Of course she had. He didn't know where, but it was either that, or he was hallucinating something. His only saving grace was that she was a worse spear wielder than he was.

  The taunting, he could do without.

  "I bet you couldn't even satisfy a woman. You're nothing against the power of a pretty face."

  He dodged a savage blow. Instead of focusing on his Soul Magic, he pushed her with Will. She barely moved, and it felt like trying to push rope just to do so. But she did move enough to throw her off.

  "Why?!" Ludere said. "Why are these demons coming like this?"

  "Oh, you poor soul. You poor baby." Gia threw herself at him, loosing her spear. She was clearly going in for a choke.

  "Stop it, Gia. I know you're in there somewhere."

  He hit her with the blunt edge of the spear. She just took it on her chest and kept coming.

  The tears were forming on her face now. "You know what the worst thing is? I actually thought you were cute. Shame that it had to end this way."

  She was trying whatever she could to get him off balance. The clergy and the revelers had already cleared out of the temple. A few stragglers sat by the door as if their presence could do something. Without the right skills, they wouldn't be able to enter the fight on either side.

  Ludere kept hitting her with the blunt side of his spear.

  "You can't kill me, can you? Even now, after all of this; you've got some internal code you've been following this whole time. Pathetic. I don't need you to coddle me."

  Ludere had no more words for her. Anything he said, the succubi would hear. Then it would use that against him. He had lost so much already. He didn't need to kill his friend.

  He slapped her across the face with the broadside of the spear. At any other time, that would have knocked her out. It had to be some effect of the succubi magic.

  "Go ahead. Kill me. Just know that help is on the way for me."

  Apparently she was expecting him to wait around to die. Ludere had no such intentions.

  "No. We're done here."

  He slapped her so hard his arms hurt. Gia fell over unconscious. Ludere checked the Oracle, but she was already too far gone. Gia was still breathing.

  He walked out into chaos. Half of the revelers had been slain. When he saw the succubus working through the crowd, he gasped. One demon was keeping dozens of humans still.

  It had to be the power of Soul Magic. He wanted to harness it. He needed to learn it and level it up, but he just didn't have the time.

  The purple-tinged demon finally noticed him. She pointed.

  Five men rushed him.

  He quickly checked. He knew none of these men. It was no consolation. He could feel his Spear skill tick up again. It was probably due to how he finished Gia in that battle. It wasn't the succubus mind-controlling him. It was just that he knew that the succubus was faster than him. He couldn't do much against it except defend, block, and retreat.

  He knew that over the long term, he would lose this war of attrition. He'd never once beaten the succubus, and this might not be the time, but he had to try. With it being unable to affect him. Thanks to his Soul Magic skill, he was willing to spend a little more time trying to develop that before he gave up—he would never just give up. He was far too stubborn for that.

  But it was something he needed to do for himself. There was a stark difference between stubbornly bashing one's head against the wall, and trying to solve an ongoing mystery. If he could figure out how to save the capitol, he would.

  It might be a one-man show, but he could turn to a one-man legion.

  Over and over he weaved past unarmed middle-aged men whose only crime was that they thought feast day should be everyday. He never wanted to kill his countrymen, but the demons get between them really quickly.

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  With each slash and slam, he moved closer to his quarry. He had never fought a succubus on equal footing. He supposed that was part of why they stuck around in the back.

  If she thought he was a threat, she gave no indication. Quantity had its own quality in his eyes. The amount of men that didn't have any worthwhile skills that she could control was impressive. It was almost as impressive as he was getting with his perfectly balanced spear.

  Ludere had to give it to the manufacturer. He would be chasing the high of a balanced weapon for many loops, assuming he could do that. He would be heading to Senator Celisar's men to borrow it again. If they refused, he would be borrowing it.

  He would get it.

  The succubi in front of him, though? It wasn't giving up, no matter what he did. It needed to be put down. He was going to be the one to do it. He had to. There were too many within the demonic legion. If he didn't figure out how to deal with them now, these loops would be a larger issue.

  She had no weapons, save for her hands. Those hands, with sharpened claws, flickered across his view. He didn't want to admit it, but the succubus was fast.

  It was far faster than any of the rank-and-file demons he had killed so many of.

  Once again, he cursed having swapped out Athletics for Soul Magic. He wouldn't have been alive without it. It was a tough call, but he was going to need to diversify his portfolio. First, he was going to need some more skills that he could lend out that wouldn't hurt him in the long-term.

  He hadn't thought about what he could push on, but in a pinch, Athletics itself was a great one. Otherwise, he was going to have to shift his priorities. Without Soul Magic. If he didn't make it this time, he wouldn't be able to do anything against the succubi. As it matched him blow by blow, he could feel himself losing the will to keep going. He pushed against it using his Will Magic.

  It worked. It was too frustrating, not wanting to punch. And he didn't want to move her.

  He just needed a way to get her to open herself up. He was really relying upon his Spear skill, which was getting close to thirty. The Apprentice level would have gotten him scouted out by any reputable house. It would unlock so much potential that he might be able to get it higher and higher.

  Despite all of his training, he still felt like she could have been playing with him. More than a day had even passed since this had begun.

  There was just something so… New about being hunted for sport by something. The succubus raked claws across his arm. The pain of it made him really want to run. Even there and now, far from his friends and stuck in a vision, it still felt like losing, to attempt to disengage.

  It wasn't a failure to live another day. The more they fought, the more covered in scars he was. In the long run, he would lose. The only advantage he might have in this conflict, was that he could set the stage.

  "How many of your people are invading?" He shoved her back, nailing a cut across her chest.

  "Ah, that would be telling. A good girl doesn't give away all of her tea."

  Ludere reset. His tunic was soaked in blood. She had surely given more than he had taken but she still looked whole. That would be a problem for future him.

  "Of course she doesn't." Ludere grabbed his spear, working through the first form. He created distance, even as the succubus moved in to fill the gap. "Why not make this a fair fight? I'm going to lose anyway, so just give me your battle plans."

  "Revealing our plans to a human?" She slashed at the air ineffectively. "Curious, how you came to have such soul damage, yet my spirit cannot crush you."

  The only thing keeping him moving was the memory of his Athletics skill. That, and his absolute determination that he would retain his skill somehow.

  He would figure out how to keep Soul Magic.

  It was his sole advantage.

  "Would you believe me if I said we've done this dance before? No?"

  "You're not much of a dancer."

  Something had to give. Again, he increased the space between them, dodging towards the door as she attempted to close the gap. Instead of hitting him, her claws scored the stone of the entryway.

  Ludere gasped.

  Had she been holding back?

  And all this time he was thinking about what he was going to have to do to defeat the demon invasion, none of them involved succubi playing with him like he was their food or something. But it made sense. She was looking for a worthy opponent, and if he wasn't, then he was already dead.

  Ludere has never been played with before. It was like she had anticipated his movements. He remembered one thing about the Iosan temple area. On the far side, the temple looked over a cliff. If he couldn't drop her over it, he would have to jump.

  None of his previous plans had taken into account his dying and returning to the vision again. But if the demons were really playing with him, he would have to play the odds and survive somehow. He couldn't survive as he was right now. If he could return to the start of the loop, regain soul magic, and then… Well, he would have to do something about that.

  The pathway to the view of the rest of the city was a simple cobble-stone path. The openness of the air and space out there called to him. Each step backwards was calculated.

  The demon kept pace with him. He was going to need to do something about the succubi that were in the demonic ranks, there was no doubt about it. In the shortest, longest time, he could feel the open air next to him.

  He was no longer confined to the ground. Before he jumped to his death to try and reset the vision, he had to try one more thing. If he could take down one succubus, then he would consider that a victory.

  He knew what he needed to do.

  He just didn't know if he had the will to do it.

  She got in close. This was his chance. Instead of dodging, he closed the distance.

  She expected him to keep moving. Instead, he dropped his spear and stepped forward.

  "Terribly sorry about this. I just wanted to try a little experiment."

  He grabbed her toga and pulled her over the edge with him. They flew over the edge.

  It was not what she was expecting at all.

  Ludere had only enough time to rotate so she was beneath him before they slammed into the ground, hundreds of feet below.

  Edited 2/1/26