A person stood in a vast chamber, and flaming torches alight with infernal flames lined the walls, giving it a ghostly feel.

The man was still, as if he possessed a body, but no soul. Slowly, unmistakably, his body moved, a minor movement, but enough to indicate he was alive.

Their face were hidden, a porcelain mask covering them, cracks bleeding crimson light. When the mask had appeared, he did not know. It was like magic, instantaneous and unknown in its origin.

Like a whisper, a sound entered Leonidas’s ears, drifting but unmistakably distinct. His movements halted, coming to a stop, while his mind slowed.

Willow?

It sounded like her, but Leonidas was confused. He was bewildered. Not by Willow’s existence or survival, but because of the mask that clung to his face.

He sure as hell hadn’t put it there himself, maybe a side effect so it was sinking into his face. His face darkened underneath the mask, the memory unpleasant.

As if summoned by their mere mention, a flood of memories poured into his brain, seeping slowly. Scenes passed as soon as they came, but Leonidas saw more than enough for him to understand what was happening.

...A time loop.

Safe to say, he hadn’t expected anything like it even in his wildest dreams...ok, maybe he had, but that wasn’t of consequence.

Shaking his head, Leonidas slowly went over everything he had come to know.

Willow was currently fighting Root outside, about to die a crushing death.

Root itself was a Vis-ranked pilgrim, yet wasn’t particularly strong, nothing all three of them couldn’t handle. Therein lay the problem...it was a Vis-ranked pilgrim.

Ranks worked the same for both pilgrims and humans, and with the third rank came a particular gift...Manifestation.

One of Root’s Edicts had manifested, the insanely fast creature that had punched holes into all three of them.

Leonidas hadn’t even been able to react to its attacks, despite his raised awareness.

What to do...

Because as much as he wanted to save Willow, his own life was immeasurably more important. Normally, he would have taken refuge in the Sanctum till the danger passed, but Willow had brought the damned pilgrim straight to his house.

A ticking bomb, which, when impatient enough, would barge into his house. Leonidas sat on the cold floor, still mostly naked.

He didn’t bother to wear anything; after all, he would die soon anyway, better to use his time on something more productive.

To make a plan of action, he first needed to fully understand his own abilities and those of his allies.

I have three Edicts, one of which allows me to strengthen things and grow flowers. Weaken others’ will and an ability I haven’t yet used. The third is basically useless.

Then there was his Savior, who possesses an interesting power to say the least. Belonging to the Sacrifice Domain, her ability was a derivative of that.

[Ambivalent] allowed her to choose between two ends, pushing something to its absolute limit. By sacrificing one option, she chose the other, manifesting her wishes into reality.

He had a temple built in Sacrifice’s name, a nexus for his future domain. He knew Willow’s power well enough, and now all that was left was to make up a plan.

Leonidas stroked his chin, rubbing his hand on the cracked mask, trailing along the cracks. He still hadn’t dismissed it, afraid that doing so might mess with his memories.

He sat in silence, mind going in circles, crashing into the same walls again and again. No matter what he thought, all of them ended in death.

A hole pierced through his chest, sometimes his head, but mostly through his torso. His enemy moved faster than sound itself, too fast for them to see, let alone react.

The way the creature attacked reminded him a lot of ’guns’ from Art’s world, weapons capable of ending a man before they could blink.

His Nexus was useless.

Wait...

A sudden idea made way into his mind, practically certain to fail, but the more Leonidas thought about it, the brighter everything seemed.

What if...what if.

This might actually work if I plan everything correctly.

Wanting to check, he summoned Savior, his infernal knight. The woman arrived in a burst of silver flames. The fire was harmless, more of an illusion rather than something material.

From within the smoldering flames she stepped out, towering over Leonidas in all her glory. She stood without fanfare, darkness burning in the depths of her visor. A chilling sight.

Savior stared at Leonidas for a long moment...probably judging his rather weird dressing habits, but she soon left the topic alone.

Savior made a questioning gesture using her hands, and Leonidas nodded at her. He stood up, a crimson robe appearing from nowhere to cover his body.

He circled her, taking in her height and width, her approximate weight and arm length, including many other minor details.

He had to be meticulous; everything would go wrong, and that was something he could not afford.

"Say...can you be smaller than you currently are? Or is this your limit?"

Savior thought for a moment, eyes burning with intelligence, but then she shook her head.

So she can’t go smaller than three meters, and ten meters is probably the current ceiling.

Leonidas held no doubt that after a few rank-ups, Savior would be able to control her powers with absolute perfection; after all, that was how it worked.

Leonidas took a few more measurements, committing the numbers to heart, or soul in this case, then sat back down.

He started counting, and one after another, the time trickled down. Soon, the moment Leonidas had been waiting for arrived.

The Sanctum of Sacrifice shook, this time not of its own accord, but rather because of an external being. Something hard slammed into the walls of the Sanctum with the force of a giant, further shaking.

Obsidian dust fell from the sky like rain, settling softly on the ground. Another tremor passed through the sanctum, and the roof above him burst open in a plume of stone and dust.

A damned root stared back down at him, sending chills up Leonidas’s spine.

Well...here we go.