Leonidas woke up with a gasp, chest heaving as if he had just ran a marathon. Unlike the previous loops, information quickly made way into his brain, memories of the horrifying defeat fresh like a flesh wound.

We lost then? That tracks.

In all honesty, he hadn’t expected his plan to work on the first try, but at least this time he knew what he had to change for better odds at success.

With a single thought, Leonidas summoned Savior and made his way outside, the doors arriving relatively quickly. He had already made the journey so many times that it came naturally.

The titanic doors opened with a jarring creak, revealing the shattered battlefield beyond. Leonidas sprinted forward, stopping beside Willow, while Savior lunged at Root, delaying the inevitable.

"Why hello, young lady."

The sequences that followed were exactly as he remembered. Willow turned to attack him, he dodged and then proceeded to explain the entire situation to Willow, just like last time.

Savior landed beside him in a dusty crash, smashing the ground into bits of dirt. Her armor was in better shape than before, the Murder Form—the name Leonidas had decided for her bladed form—slightly shattered.

Leonidas just nodded at Willow, then lunged forward, body moving on autopilot.

He had fought the abominable root so many times before that he could predict its attack before it even happened. His body and mind worked in seamless harmony, flowers forming around him with murderous frenzy.

While plenty of his mental power was focused on fighting Root, a large part was just sitting there, thinking about what had gone wrong.

Last time we lost because, despite our preparations, the damned mantis had broken through Savior’s defences and proceeded to decimate us.

His plan was a gamble, one based entirely on the fact that Savior would be able to tank the Manifest’s attacks.

Over the course of two regressions, Leonidas had gotten a good grasp of how its powers worked. He ducked under a thin hair that moved forward to catch him, cut another, and jumped on the other side of Root.

The Source Element...it is hard to guess.

After all, the domains under each element are often intertwined with each other, with some, like...say Sacrifice, for example, that fell under almost every element.

Bloom sacrificed death to make life, and War sacrificed blood and death for victory, and so on and so forth.

But its abilities...they are clear to see.

Its primary ability was ’speed.’ It moved the claws jutting from its eyes so fast that they tore holes into everything, steaming with each hit.

The secondary ability that Leonidas was able to deduce was somehow connected to the future. Whatever he did, the mantis countered, as if he could see the future.

Of course, that was not all his deduction was based on. Just before Willow had transformed into the partial wolf-like state, Mantis had turned his attention on her. From fighting Savior and him, straight to Willow.

The change was so sudden, it was almost jarring.

It had put its back on Savior and me, and attacked Willow, even when there was no visible change in her.

This led Leonidas to his theory about being able to see the future, which, given its speed, made sense. Maybe Mantis ran so fast it traveled into the future for a few seconds, before being pushed back to the past.

Anyhow, theories didn’t matter; what did matter was that Leonidas had memorized his attack patterns, too.

Three seconds... that’s how long it takes to load each strike.

A three-second window between each attack was the only time they could attack it safely. Last time Savior had gone down after three super sonic strikes. Nine seconds between those three attacks, three more after she falls. A total of 12 seconds to fight the beast.

The fight won’t last more than 15 seconds.

The realization was a horrid one...after all, their fate would be decided in a matter of seconds. Leonidas shivered, slashed at Root, drawing a stream of blood, then leaped back.

It was time.

Savior was already armored up, her form towering over everything, darkness burning in the depths of her visor. Flowers hovered towards Willow. She molded them into Savior’s armor, while Leonidas made tendrils of both [No Will] and [Free Will], one latching onto Savior, while the other hovered behind him.

The next instant, a silver flame burst near Root, and from it stepped Mantis, the infernal beast that had killed them more than three times already. Maybe more in regressions Leonidas didn’t remember.

Here goes nothing.

He had a feeling that they would win this time, but at a terrible cost. The feeling was comforting, yet ominous at the same time. Leonidas shook his head; he could absolutely not afford distractions right now.

His eyes glazed under his mask, spectral light leaking from the cracks. Mantis took a step forward...and disappeared.

The next instant, a shadow fell over him. There stood Mantis, claw moving towards Leonidas’s face at the pace of a snail...

No, that was not it. Mantis was still moving at super sonic speeds, it was just that time had slowed down to such a crawl in his perception.

Leonidas commanded his body to move...but nothing happened. He couldn’t move. More like his body was too weak to react to the strike, even though his mind could.

Dead. I’m dead!

He was surely dead, but at just the last minute, a black blur moved, intercepting the strike. A massive hand grabbed Leonidas and threw him backwards.

Time regained its control just as a massive sound echoed across the clearing. Savior and Mantis had crashed. One of her arms had blocked the strike, shaking under the pressure, while the other one had struck back, aiming straight for Mantis’s ugly eyes.

Just before her fist could connect, Mantis skidded backwards, claws wounding the earth, a mark following him. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Root moved with a sudden shriek, its writhing form coming forward to support the Manifest.

Willow moved to intercept it, and Leonidas moved to support Savior, [No Will] tendrils whipping around him.

Fourteen seconds.