It was at the deepest of the night as the pale moon shone over the heavens and illuminated the world with its silver moonlight. The starry skies were shrouded by the eternal darkness as thousands of twinkling stars shone brightly along with the pale moon. It was a silent and gorgeous night as its beauty was presented through its scenery.
As it deep into the night, the breeze of wind passing over the heaven and earth were calm and cold. They carried the lily-white clouds that were thick or thin throughout the starry heavens as they rustled the grasses and leaves plastered all over the earth.
Once again, a fateful battle was about to start.
On an ancient amphitheater found in the middle of nowhere where its horizon was covered by mountains that pierced through the sky, a young girl stood on the dirt ground and fell ground at a moment's notice. She lay on the ground as the young girl gazed at the skies with a shocked expression.
Her body was shaking in fear as she remembered things she would rather forget. Once again, she found herself shrouded in the grim darkness brought by chance and destiny. Along with the fear and pain of the past, remembering the first time she had died against an enemy she couldn't resist.
The young girl's name was Alastair Hecate, the Warmonger of an Empire. She had died in a fiery execution and was given a second chance after a thousand years of deep slumber. She took that chance and fought against a monster, whom she called the demonic minotaur. But unfortunately, she had lost against the beast and died a horrifying death.
For some reason, she found herself standing without any injuries and without the monster looking at her arrogantly. Alastair couldn't even puke even if she had wanted to, and she couldn't cry as no tears would escape her eyes. This was the first time she had felt such a feeling.
The feeling of brutal death.
That bastard was a monster, even Alastair herself wasn't that bad to actually do such a thing.
"I died... I died from that bastard!!!"
She shouted in anger as she clenched her teeth. That was the most shameful death that ever had happened to her; even her first death was better than it. Alastair shook her head and decided to calm herself as she must analyze the situation before her. She needed to know why she was back at this damn arena.
Alastair started looking around and began her inspection of the arena once again. She noticed that it was just like before. Before the bastard emerged through the gateway. That could only mean one thing... Alastair turned her gaze upwards and looked at the starry night sky.
She then uttered with a calm voice.
"A loop..."
"I'm in a loop and would always fight against that bastard. To get out of this place, I need to defeat that monster. So this is the test they were talking about. It ain't simple and is incredibly bloody."
The moment Alastair dies, she will return to where she started and start once again. That is quite a helpful tool for survival. But in this kind of situation, it was simply prolonging her suffering. Upon this realization, Alastair clenched her fist as she remembered the prideful look of the demonic minotaur.
"That bastard and that arrogant face... Those that looked at me that way didn't end well. I will always have my revenge."
She clenched first as blood was bleeding through her skin. She then shook herself and calmed herself. She needed to prepare herself for round two. The clattering sound of metal then sounded once again. Alastair looked at the gate where the demonic minotaur emerged and readied herself.
Alastair felt pain as blood was bleeding through her pale skin, pierced by her nails. She was a vengeful lady. Even with the charade of doing good, her ways weren't that different from the devil. She shook her head and calmed herself as she must win this fight.
To win this fight, she must not fight with emotions controlling her body. Instead, she needed to be logical and strategic. Even if she dies, she will gain something from it. The weakness, the fighting style, and the power of the demonic minotaur will become detailed to her later on.
"I'm going to win... Pain will not be enough to stop me."
After saying such words, the clattering of metal sounded yet again. Alastair turned her gaze towards the gate where the monster would emerge. It was slowly opening itself as the clattering of chains continued. She had no weapon, and she needed to last longer than before. That was her first objective.
As the iron gate concluded its opening, Alastair could only see darkness until the hooves of the demonic minotaur revealed themselves. Once again, she was about to fight the bastard that brutally killed her. She might die in this round, but she will continue fighting until she wins.
"Come, you bastard!!!"
It appears that she was rather pissed.
Just like before, the demonic minotaur started charging toward Alastair. She dodged each of the charges coming from the minotaur, which annoyed it. She then ran towards the arena's edges and was cornered to the wall. She then instigated the monster, which made it incredibly angry.
It ran towards her at full speed as she dodged by being a single meter away from certain death.
*Boom!!!*
A deafening sound echoed throughout the arena as the dust slowly enveloped it. Alastair backed away from the impact site and as she saw a shadow heading towards her. She thought that it was the monster standing up. Unfortunately, it wasn't. It was the great sword getting thrown towards her.
It flew through the dusty and misty arena, pointing itself towards Alastair. Alastair couldn't dodge as it was too fast for her and due to her vision being less perceptive than before because of the dusty mist. So she got hit by the blade at its full speed.
The blade pierced through her body and broke her spine in half. Not only did her spine get split in half, her lower and body got separated from each other. Her upper body went flying while her lower body slowly fell to the ground with a thud sounded upon its impact.
Blood splattered everywhere as her internal organs got spewed out once again. Her upper body was a dozen of meters away from her lower half. Her neck got broken while her eyes were still wide open full of shock.
At that moment, Alastair once again found herself shrouded in darkness while standing within the arena. She silently stood as she remembered the memories of her last fight. She simply fell over as her body shook all over. It appears that her brain was triggering a late response from the brutal death.
After a while, Alastair stood back up the same as always. She wondered about the things that happened during the fight. What was the thing Alastair had learned in that fight? Well, instigating a perceptual blockage wasn't as good as a plan she had thought. Also, she would have to be careful against flying swords.
The iron gate then opened for the third time in this test.
The demonic minotaur revealed itself once again, and the fight continued. She dodged everything the minotaur threw toward her. From the flying blade, the kick, and the punch, but even then, Alastair couldn't find a way to defeat the demonic minotaur.
While dodging the demonic minotaur's attack, Alastair thought she was doing well until she could feel something piercing through her stomach. She turned her gaze downwards as she could see a tentacle coming from the back of the demonic minotaur.
"Oh... I forgot about that."
As she said such words, the tentacle split her body apart in a vertical cut. Each half of her body fell in a different direction. The two sides of her brain and eyes could be seen as her internal organs were mangled beyond relief. Blood then created a puddle as the demonic minotaur ate her for the third time.
In the fourth round, Alastair decided to use the greatsword as she had never felt its weight. It was pretty heavy but not too heavy. Alastair could point it in a particular direction. Though it would take time, she died getting a punch to death by the demonic minotaur because she was seconds late to point it at the bastard.
Her skull exploded upon impact.
After rounds and rounds, after brutal deaths and horrifying ones, the feeling of her bones breaking got embedded deep within her mind that she wouldn't even notice some fractures. It had been a dozen rounds since the beginning, and Alastair had memorized the fighting style of the demonic minotaur along the way.
In the 36th round against the demonic minotaur, she stood in front of it without any fear as it emerged from the darkness of the gateway.
Without any hesitation, Alastair charged toward it at her full speed. The demonic minotaur then swung its greatsword at her. Alastair easily dodged the greatsword as she rolled and passed below the minotaur. Upon passing through it, Alastair finally stood behind the monster.
The tentacles found behind the monster then propelled themselves towards Alastair without a single hit of hesitation. Alastair dodged each of them without that much effort as she climbed up to its back and grabbed onto its horn with her pale arm. Holding to the horns tightly, she jumped and used her momentum to drag the bastard's head to the ground.
"You are quite strong, but after a while, your movements become predictable. The way you move has a certain rhythm from your arms, legs, body, and even your tentacles. Once the rhythm gets memorized, it would be easy to dodge each of them without that much of a problem."
Alastair said calmly without any hint of expression plastered on her face. She has been doing this for a long time. She would explain the findings she had discovered. It was a coping mechanism to make her death worthy and not useless. And they weren't in any way ineffective. Each of them had their purpose despite the pain they brought to her.
She slowly backed away from the minotaur as the monster slowly pulled itself from the ground. It had an expression of annoyance and anger as it looked at Alastair with bloodlust. It then huffed as it prepared itself to throw its greatsword towards Alastair. Upon noticing the actions of the bastard, Alastair smiled and ran towards it.
Alastair kept changing her position every single or two-second with a randomized sequence. The minotaur got confused and couldn't release the greatsword from its bulky arms. It then roared with all its might and charged at Alastair. *WRRAAAHH!!!*
Charging towards Alastair like a bull, she moved out of the way and quickly hopped behind the bastard. Her movements were quick as if she had orchestrated such actions a dozen times. As she held the horns of the demonic minotaur once again, she noticed a strange movement that it had made.
It closed its eyes as an instinct.
"Your hide is incredibly thick and durable. Even your greatsword wouldn't be able to kill you. I have been finding ways, and I couldn't find a weakness no matter what. It appears that I was so dumb to not see a glaring weakness."
"Your eyes, tell me... Does it bleed? Would it make you feel pain?"
A smile slowly formed in Alastair's eyes as she finally gained a way to get out of this arena. She then hopped away from the demonic minotaur and stood behind it. The minotaur stopped as it turned its head towards Alastair. It had an angry expression. It looked like it wanted to rip Alastair apart.
"Oi, I have seen that expression of yours for a long time. It's becoming more of an annoyance than scary."
Alastair uttered as the demonic minotaur simply ran towards her. It charged with its full speed while preparing another swing using its sword. As it arrived before Alastair, it readied to swing its blade towards her without any hint of hesitation.
A smile was released on Alastair's face as she said with a calm voice.
"This will be your last time... Next time, your fate will be sealed."
After saying such words, the greatsword split her body in half, and blood splattered everywhere. After that, she was again devoured by the monster that killed her over 30 times.
Along that time, Alastair had become crazier and crazier with her deaths. She wouldn't mind injuring her body in unexpected ways to get the results she wanted. The dangerous personality hidden ever since the beginning of her life was blooming in her dozens of deaths.
One would wonder about her current mental state at the very moment.
Once again, she was back at where it all started. The ancient arena, which was enveloped by the darkness of the night and lightened up by the starry night skies and the torches. She stood silently as the last round had finally begun.