[BL] I Didn't Sign Up For This-Chapter 118: In Which We’re Immediately Attacked

The darkness cleared, and we had exactly half a second to register medieval architecture before everything went to hell.

A sword swung at my head.

I ducked on instinct, felt the blade whistle past close enough to part my hair, and rolled sideways as my warden power flared defensively.

"What the—"

Arrows hit the ground around us, multiple impacts from multiple directions.

"COVER!" Ryota shouted, already moving toward a half-collapsed stone wall.

We’d stepped directly into the middle of a battle.

And I do mean middle, ground zero of active combat middle.

Medieval soldiers in armor that looked functional rather than decorative were everywhere, fighting with the kind of desperate intensity that suggested this was not a friendly sparring match. Swords clashing, magic crackling through the air in colors that hurt to look at, people screaming battle cries in a language I didn’t recognize.

We scattered immediately, each of us dodging through the chaos toward anything that looked like it might stop arrows or swords or whatever that green fireball was.

A cavalry charge thundered between us, forcing the group to split.

I dove behind the stone wall, Azryth right beside me, his power already manifesting in defensive patterns that deflected a spear heading for my chest.

"Thanks," I gasped.

"You’re welcome."

Mara hit the wall a second later, scanner clutched to her chest. Henrik followed, looking significantly less composed than usual, and Ryota was the last to reach cover, moving with tactical precision even while dodging combat that had nothing to do with us but was extremely interested in killing us anyway.

Void made an excited chirp from my shoulder, creating sparkles like this was the best field trip ever.

"This is not exciting," I told it. "This is terrifying."

An arrow hit the wall above us, stone fragments raining down.

"What the hell is this?" Mara demanded, already scanning the battlefield with hunter-trained eyes rather than her equipment.

"A battlefield," Henrik said, peering around the edge of the wall with clinical focus despite the active war zone. "Medieval era. Multiple factions engaged in combat."

"I can see that," Mara snapped. "Why are we in the middle of it?"

"Bad dimensional timing," I suggested.

A soldier ran past our wall, screaming something aggressive, and got hit by a bolt of lightning that came from absolutely nowhere. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

He went down hard.

Then he got back up.

I blinked.

The wounds that should have killed him were healing rapidly, flesh knitting back together in ways that violated basic biology. Within seconds, he looked completely fine and charged back into the fighting like nothing had happened.

"Okay," I said. "That’s new and disturbing."

"They’re echoes," Azryth said, watching the battle with sharp focus. "Not alive, just remnants of what happened here, replaying endlessly."

"Dimensional loop," Henrik said immediately, understanding clicking. "The battle is repeating."

As if to prove the point, I watched a mage get cut down by three soldiers, collapse dramatically, then stand up thirty seconds later completely healed and start casting again.

"So they already died," I said. "This is just the echo."

"Yes," Azryth confirmed quietly.

"That’s incredibly depressing."

Another cavalry charge thundered past, and I pressed closer to the wall.

Mara was tracking patterns now, watching the flow of combat with hunter instincts. "The movements are repeating, same attacks, same positions."

"How long is the cycle?" Henrik asked, already making notes.

"Tracking it." Mara’s eyes followed a specific soldier through his combat routine. "Give me a minute."

We huddled behind the wall while she observed, dodging occasional arrows and deflecting stray magic.

"Six minutes," she said finally. "The entire battle plays out for six minutes, then everything resets."

"You’re sure?" Henrik asked.

"Watch that archer." She pointed. "Same target, same angle, same timing. Six-minute loop."

Azryth was looking past the battlefield toward a massive structure in the distance... half castle, half temple, somehow still intact while everything around it burned and collapsed and reconstructed endlessly.

"I can feel the entity’s power concentrated there," he said. "At the center. Strong enough that I can sense it from here."

I followed his gaze to the imposing architecture pulsing with wrong energy.

"Naturally," I said. "Because why would the scary dimensional fragment be somewhere convenient?"

"The fragment is inside that structure?" Henrik asked.

"The power signature matches what we sealed at the nexus," Azryth confirmed. "Concentrated in that building."

"So we just have to cross an active battlefield full of undead echo warriors who want to kill us."

"Essentially."

"Why is everything we do like this?"

Void made an encouraging chirp and created a sparkle that got immediately obliterated by a stray fireball.

"Even Void’s optimism can’t survive here," I muttered.

An echo warrior noticed us... or noticed something unusual... and started moving toward our position with aggressive intent.

Ryota dispatched him with efficient precision before he got close.

The warrior went down, then started healing.

"They resurrect," Ryota observed.

"Echoes," Azryth said. "They’ll keep coming back as long as the loop continues."

"So we can’t kill them permanently, just slow them down."

"Correct."

"Fantastic."

We watched the battle for another minute, Mara and Henrik tracking patterns with hunter precision.

"The reset has a physical component," Henrik noted. "Everything freezes, rewinds, then restarts."

"We can use that," Mara said. "We can move during the freeze, cover more ground when they’re not actively trying to kill us."

"Sound strategy," Ryota agreed.

Azryth moved closer, his shoulder pressing against mine, grounding despite the chaos. "The echoes attack anything that disrupts the pattern. Stay close."

"Not planning on wandering off into the war zone," I said.

The battle around us intensified, reaching some kind of crescendo.

Then everything froze.

Every warrior stopped mid-swing, every spell hung suspended, every arrow paused in flight.

Complete stillness for several heartbeats.

Then everything rewound.

Soldiers who’d been dying stood up and walked backward to their starting positions. Buildings that had collapsed reconstructed themselves in reverse, the sky cycled backward through dawn, noon, dusk.

Ten seconds of reversal, then everything reset.

Dawn broke over the battlefield, and the fighting began again from the beginning.

"That’s deeply unsettling," Henrik said.

"Agreed," Mara muttered.

"Okay," I said, summoning my warden power. "We move during the freeze, use the pause to get closer to the center."

"Everyone stays together," Ryota added. "Don’t get separated."

Void made an excited sound.

I grabbed it before it could launch itself toward the battlefield. "You stay on my shoulder. No exploring."

An offended chirp.

"Non-negotiable."

We waited, watching the six-minute cycle play out.

The same lightning bolt hit the same soldier, the same building collapsed, the same mage died and resurrected.

Everything froze.

"Now!" I said.

We moved.

Running across a frozen battlefield was surreal. Warriors caught mid-swing, magic suspended in crystallized explosions, arrows hanging in the air.

We covered about fifty yards before the reset completed and everything restarted.

An echo mage noticed us immediately and launched a spell that looked lethal.

Azryth deflected it with his power, sending it into a group of soldiers who barely noticed.

"Keep moving!" Ryota called, clearing threats with tactical precision.

We fought our way forward through chaos that kept trying to kill us.

I ducked under a sword, rolled past a spear, deflected arrows with warden energy I was burning through too fast.

Mara fought with hunter efficiency, using both her scanner and her actual combat training to clear threats.

Henrik had defensive artifacts creating barriers against incoming attacks.

Ryota moved like he’d been training for war zones his entire life.

Azryth stayed close, his power manifested around us in protective patterns that saved my life repeatedly.

Void remained on my shoulder, eyes bright but not engaging, watching the chaos with interest but choosing not to fight.

We made another hundred yards before the battle reset.

Freeze, rewind, restart.

"This is exhausting," Mara gasped during a brief cover moment.

"Agreed," Henrik panted, more disheveled than I’d ever seen him.

"How much farther?" I asked Azryth.

He gauged the distance to the central structure. "Half a mile... maybe less."

"Through six-minute combat loops that keep trying to kill us."

"Yes."

The battle restarted, and we moved again.

Duck, dodge, deflect, run. Repeat.

An echo warrior came at me with a massive axe. I barely got my warden power up in time to block it.

The impact rattled my bones.

Azryth dispatched the echo immediately with demon power that sent it flying backward.

"Stay close," he said, steel in his voice.

We kept moving.

The central structure was getting closer, massive stone and metal architecture pulsing with energy I could feel from here.

Void made an interested sound as we approached.

"Almost there," Ryota called, clearing another threat.

The battle froze again.

We ran during the pause, covering ground before the reset.

When the fighting restarted, we were close enough to see details. Massive doors, patterns carved into stone that hurt to look at, entity energy radiating outward.

"That’s it," Azryth said.

We fought our way to the base of the structure, using the final reset to sprint the distance.

When we reached the doors, the echoes seemed less interested, like we’d crossed some threshold they wouldn’t cross.

We collapsed against the wall, breathing hard, covered in dirt and minor wounds.

"Everyone intact?" I asked.

"Physically or mentally?" Mara muttered.

"Let’s start with physically."

"Then yes. Barely."

Henrik was examining the doors with hunter instincts and artifact knowledge. "It’s unlocked."

"Of course," I muttered. "Why would anything be complicated when it can just be ominous?"

I looked at the massive doors, at the patterns carved into them that made my eyes hurt, at the entity energy pulsing from somewhere inside.

Behind us, the battlefield continued its endless loop. Fighting, dying, resetting.

Azryth moved beside me, close enough that I could feel the heat of his power.

I reached for the door handle, massive, old metal that was cold under my fingers.

"Here we go," I said.

Pulled.

The doors swung open with surprising ease, like they’d been waiting for us.

Beyond them was a throne room, massive, ancient, pulsing with entity power so concentrated it made my teeth ache.

And there, embedded in a stone throne at the center, was a sword glowing with the wrong light.

Something moved in the shadows around it.

Multiple somethings.