Number 7

"What do you want, woman?"

With distaste evident in his tone, Gus glared at the woman who had appeared before him, thinning his eyes in suspicion.

"Have you come to convince me to submit myself to your ruler? Sorry to say, but I have no interest in such a thing. I've always been a lone wolf, and I ain't about to start following someone else's orders."

"No. I'm not here under that persona today."

With this strange statement, the woman placed a finger to her cheek as she grinned.

"Today I'm showing my true colors."

"Hell do you mean by that? You're trying to tell me that knocking us all out and throwing us into this place wasn't your true colors showing? Hah! As if I'd believe something like that."

Standing up, the man approached the bars which separated him and the woman as he spoke in a threatening manner.

"Your true colors reflect the most wicked side that you have - so tell me, woman. What more could you possibly have to show me?"

"Quite a bit more, actually."

"Are you going to torture us? You've already starved us half to death, so that's the only thing left."

The man couldn't hide his surprise at the quick response of the woman, to which he immediately responded in a low tone.

"Not quite. I was actually going to release you."

Raising an eyebrow at the strange statement, the man found himself unsure how to respond.

"Release me? Is this some sort of trap? What are you planning?"

"I was going to explain that. But before I do that, I wanted to talk somewhere else. Can you try not to kill me if I let you out of this cell?"

"I'd like to kill you at any chance I get, so I can't guarantee such a thing."

"I see. That's quite a problem for me. I can tell you here and now that if you tried to kill me that I wouldn't be able to avoid it like usual - or rather, I could, but it would require much more effort than usual."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

The man couldn't possibly understand the statements of the woman.

However at that moment, the woman pulled a key out of her pocket, twirling it around her finger with a somewhat saddened smile.

"Can you at least promise me that you'll hear me out before trying to kill me?"

"Tch... I'll do that much."

"Thank you."

With this, the woman unlocked the cell - thus releasing the man upon the world.

----

"Heh! Did you really think that you could release me and I wouldn't try to kill you!? Hah!?"

The moment the gate was unlocked, the man burst out as he barged towards Eclaire with rage in his eyes.

'Oh shit... shit!'

With a swing, the man's fist came into harsh contact with Eclaire as she fell back to the ground, slamming into the iron bars behind her on impact.

However without even a moment to react, the woman looked up to see the man beaming above her.

"Hah! What's this!? You were telling the truth after all."

With a kick, the woman was sent flying to the ground again as the man laid into her face, then her chest.

"Huh...."

Yet suddenly, the man stopped.

"Why were you so different before? It's like... I'm kicking a normal woman."

Stepping back, the man became concerned at the sudden shift in the woman's abilities.

"Before, if I tried to lay a blow on you, you would dodge it with ease. You were able to easily sneak things by me and moved to perfectly dodge or counter anything I did. So how... are you so different?"

"I'm not as strong as you perceived me to be.", Eclaire said with a cough. "I said before... didn't I?"

Looking up to the man with a black eye, Eclaire let out a sigh as she gripped her aching chest.

"I'm showing you my true colors."

"Just what are you talking about? Why were you able to do those things before?"

"I guess I should explain... but I can't trust you."

Slowly standing up, the young woman looked to the man as her eyes shifted around her.

"As I said, there are too many ears here. You've beat the shit out of me, so can you come without killing me now?"

"I guess that's fair enough."

Seemingly guilty from having beat on a defenseless girl - and one which he didn't expect to be defenseless, at that - the man followed orders as he became hesitantly compliant.

"We can't be seen on the upper floors, so come with me to one of the bedrooms on this floor. It's a bit distasteful, but it's the only place where we can speak alone."

----

"Why are you so weak?"

This was the first question that Eclaire was faced with as she sat in a bed, side by side with the man who had been locked up for weeks alongside all the others who had refused Gerard's rule.

"That's what you're so interested in? Not why I've come to find you, not my goals or intentions, but why I'm so weak?"

"It... well, I would say it doesn't make any sense, but actually it does make sense. You should be this weak. But if you really were so weak, how could you have been so powerful before?"

The man kept his eyes straight forward, not so much as looking at the woman as he voiced his questions.

"I would tell you the details, but I can't exactly trust you. So I'll give you a generic overview. You at least understand that I have an ability, correct?"

"An ability... so you're telling me that it's like some sort of magic? Something that is beyond science?"

"That's correct. I'm not the only one with such an ability. There are others out there with different abilities. All the abilities are unique, for that matter. Yakov and Gerard have abilities as well."

"What are their abilities?"

Immediately the man asked such a question, however Eclaire nodded her head, denying him such information.

"I can't say Gerard's ability. And I don't actually know what Yakov's ability is. I just know that he has one. They aren't even aware of the fact that I have an ability - which would make you the first... no... I suppose there are others who I have told, though they wouldn't remember."

"So are you going to tell me your ability then?"

"No. I can't afford to do that because you might use it against me. Just know for now that I am currently using my ability for a certain purpose, and while I am using it in this way, I cannot use it however I please."

Eclaire had currently set her retry point to the beginning of the day.

She refused to set it to any other time of the day for a simple reason - when she set her restarting point, she couldn't go backwards any further.

Basically, setting her restart point was like overwriting a save file completely. No matter what happened, she wouldn't be able to undo anything that had happened up to that point.

If she set the point at some sort of inevitable calamity, she could easily trap herself.

For example - say she set the restart point right as she was about to die with no way to escape.

She would be trapped in an endless cycle of experiencing death after death for the rest of eternity.

For this reason, Eclaire had set her restart point at the beginning of the day. If anything went wrong, she would start anew and have time to rework her strategy.

However because of this, she could not so easily counter and dodge attacks as she would while using her ability freely.

By setting a reset point just before a battle, she could experiment with the attack patterns of her enemies. Even if she had to die a few times, she could predict what they would do, how they would move, and how to counter it.

The only person she could not do this for was Yakov - who seemed to change his strategy to fit whatever actions Eclaire tried to counter.

"What if I killed you here and now to get you to talk?"

"That would be impossible. I would incur a setback, but you wouldn't be able to kill me."

"You seem confident enough despite how weak you were, so I'm going to assume that you'd just use your ability regardless and forget about this other thing that you're using it on."

"More or less."

"What do you want from me then?"

"Simple. Kill Gerard."

As Eclaire said this, Gus stood up in shock, unable to perceive the motives of the woman.

"You... what?"

Speaking out in shock, the man looked around him as if to confirm that nobody else was listening, then stepped in closer to the woman as he spoke in a low voice.

"Are you serious about this?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

And as the woman said these words in response, everything about her changed.

The confidence that she held before returned, the deadly expression of one who was willing to give her life - the demonic resolve to give everything for her goal.

This was the woman that Gus knew.

"I'll give you everything you need. I've hidden a weapon in this room. You were a marksman before, were you not? Surely this is something you are capable of. I'll be heading out alongside him to do a speech in front of the crowds, and at that time I will distract Yakov. You sneak into the crowd and find the right moment, then kill Gerard. Simple enough, no?"

"This.... this has to be a trap."

Unable to accept Eclaire's offer, the man turned around as he contemplated his options.

"What would I gain from this if it were a trap? You've already been imprisoned and incarcerated. If we wanted anything else from you, we would take it ourselves."

"You really want to kill him?"

Turning around, Gus glared the woman directly in the eyes, as if to read her intentions.

However as he did so, he was met with those silver gems, fiercely glaring with an unwavering dedication.

"With everything in my existence."

Thus, the man was convinced.

"Where is the weapon?"

"Under this bed. Take this key as well. Meet in the reception area in an hour. The people will be gathered and you'll have an opportunity. Flee once you've killed him."

"How can you trust me not to just run away?"

With this question, the man focused on the woman, who merely nodded her head.

"You won't do that."

Standing up, the woman walked by the man, taking her leave as she returned to the upper floors.

"After all, you want your revenge on him just as much as I do."

----

The agreement had been set.

Among all the men who had been locked up in the basement, that particular man known as Gus had killed Eclaire on numerous occasions.

His skill with a firearm was real. He was quick witted and able to hit a target from quite the distance, even with little preparation.

It was for exactly this reason that Eclaire had to study his movements, dying multiple times on the first occasion that she had met him in order to counteract his attacks.

Each death was agonizing, however she had pressed forward in order to appear as if she were flawless in battle - a figure that was completely untouchable.

Of course, she was anything but.

She had learned quite a bit about fighting from her numerous deaths and fights, but she was still just an average person. Even so, her body did feel a bit more flexible and capable of learning - perhaps it was a result of Number Four having entered her body?

Now that Eclaire had convinced Gus, all she had to do was return to the side of Gerard and try to distract Yakov in a way such that he would be more focused on her than anything.

'Should I try and act suspicious so that he'll be too focused on me? Or should I just leave things to Gus?'

As she found herself presented with this decision, Eclaire thought while she returned to the upper levels.

'I'm not going to attempt any attack on Gerard myself. This way, it will seem as if I have no correlation with the attack, and I'll be able to take control without any questions. Yakov won't go against me if I haven't betrayed Gerard... as a matter of fact, it would be best if he was killed after he makes me his Queen.'

If Gerard stated his intentions before he died, or even if he slipped a word to Yakov, then Eclaire would rightfully be able to inherit this throne, so to speak.

Yakov was immensely loyal to Gerard, so if Gerard declared Eclaire to be his Queen, perhaps his loyalty would then flow to her if Gerard died.

'I do wonder... what would Yakov do if Gerard died? Would he kill himself in punishment for his failure?'

This was a future that Eclaire had never had the luxury of seeing - as killing Gerard was never something that she could manage to pull off.

[Becoming a bit morbid, now are we? You know, one of the most interesting things about my ability is that if you wish, you can create a future with the intention of resetting everything - just to see what would happen.]

Whispering this idea into Eclaire's mind, Number Four seemed to thoroughly enjoy watching from afar as a human toyed with the ability she had granted her.

'I'll consider that once I've achieved a future that I would like to remain on.'

[Do you want to know how these abilities are... assigned?]

Suddenly, Eclaire was stopped in her tracks as Four seemed to be strangely talkative all of a sudden.

'Assigned?'

[I'm not sure how the abilities became publicly available... Seven must have done something. But these abilities originated from runes that were created by the Determined.]

Looking around her, Eclaire made sure that nobody was around so she could speak with Four in peace without any disturbances.

'Runes... The Determined... what... or who is that?'

[She is the creator of everything. The scientist who created us says he met her personally, and that was how he obtained the runes. He created Number One for the sole purpose of facing off against one of her subordinates, and after barely taking victory he was given the runes as a reward.]

'So how do these runes work?'

[Each rune has its own ability, and each ability is based upon a concept. The user of that ability is effectively given complete control over that concept. In our case, we've been given the ability to control the concept of Retrying.]

'What a shitty concept to be given control of. After all, retrying implies that you've failed beforehand. So? How are the abilities assigned?'

[Suffering.]

With this single word, Eclaire found herself unsure how to respond.

[Humans change drastically during great periods of struggle. It is through suffering that we are molded, and we obtain certain mindsets over the course of our struggles.]

With a grim tone, Four seemed to have opened up, talking far more than she ever had before.

[Sometimes we lose our minds. Sometimes the struggles are too great for us to bear. But to those who maintain their sanity, they grow from the experiences. They learn. They change. They adapt. And as such, they gain certain mindsets that become unchangeable.]

'What's your point here?'

[By suffering greatly, a lesson is instilled into us. If the suffering is great enough, we begin to embody these lessons, these concepts. You yourself suffered quite a bit... trying over and over again in order to assist those around you. Am I wrong?]

Having become silent, Eclaire made no comment as Four questioned her.

[The runes will be attracted to those who have suffered to the point where their ideas become embedded into such a person. Thus... an ability becomes assigned.]

'So it can't be assigned randomly, or to someone who isn't compatible with the concept?'

[That's correct.]

'And that's why so few ability users exist... yet also why the few that do exist are people who have gone through extreme scenarios.'

[Exactly. You seem to understand.]

'Then what was your scenario, Four?'

Suddenly, Eclaire turned the question around.

'Why were you assigned the ability of Retry?'

At which, the creature within her became silent.

Moments passed, and Eclaire realized soon that she would receive no answer.

[That is a story for another day.]

----

"Well if it isn't Eclaire. I was just looking for you."

With words that perfectly matched the last attempt, Gerard greeted Eclaire with the same lecherous glare.

"Good morning, Sir. How are you doing today?"

And with the same response, Eclaire ensured that everything would proceed exactly as it had beforehand.

While there were always minute differences, the similarities between each try was something she had noticed, meaning that so long as her actions were similar each time, things would progress more or less as she anticipated.

"Not too good, given the events regarding Isabella... but I'll manage. We'll destroy those damn bloodhounds and focus on doing business once this is dealt with."

"I see... I'm sure you'll find a way to do so, Sir. More importantly... are you going somewhere?"

At this point, Eclaire decided that she wanted to get straight to the point rather than wasting time on meaningless small talk.

After all, she wanted Gerard to get out there and say his words before Gus managed to take his shot.

"Oh... I was actually headed out to speak with the people. You've done a nice job at gathering them up for me. Even the other executives are quite jealous of you, you know. But they just don't see in you what I see."

"Your praise is too much. After all... I did betray you once."

"That much is true. But your contributions have more than proven your loyalty now. And perhaps that scheming mind of yours is what made all this capable. After all... you did have to drag those people in with some clever words, didn't you?"

"Haha... you've caught me. Indeed. They all view me as a sort of savior for them. While you can control them through your reign ability, I can control them by acting as their savior."

"It is best to control your opponents through both love and fear... but often these two cannot both be achieved. Therefore if one must be chosen, choose fear."

With a smirk, the man whispered these words.

"But it looks like through our partnership, we've somehow managed to take both sides of control. They love you, and they fear me."

Holding out his hands in grand manner, the man showed an excessive expression of pleasure.

"Eclaire. Will you become my chief executive in building up this paradise? No... will you become my Queen?"

"Would you... would you be so gracious as to grant me such an esteemed position?"

"Of course."

"I... would love to accept."

With these words, Gerard held out his arm, at which Eclaire took the hint, interlocking them.

"Then come with me. Let us go and announce this to the people. After all, this is a reason to celebrate. No?"

"Of course!"

Walking out, the woman accompanied the man hand in hand.

However, so distracted by her conversation with the man - this woman failed to realize a single fact.

And this fact would lead to her downfall.

----

"Eclaire shall become my Queen... and together we will rule alongside one another."

The speech had proceeded in a similar manner to before, at which Gerard made this announcement to the people present.

Just as before, distaste was evident in their expressions - however the men and women present did their best to hide such distaste at their savior being further consumed by the demon at their head.

'Poor Eclaire...'

'How could he do this to her?'

'Is this her plan to take him down? Or is he just trying to get more control over her?'

'What will she have to go through for our sake?'

Worry filled the crowd, however at this point Eclaire glazed her eyes through the crowd as she attempted to find a particular man.

'Did he hide himself somewhere? Is he in the crowd, or is he hidden somewhere else? I can't see him.'

Searching and searching, the woman couldn't seem to find him.

'Perhaps he's waiting for the right chance? I don't see him at all. He truly is a professional.'

While she had found out in another loop that the man was nothing more than a poacher, he was someone who was excessively skilled - otherwise he might not have been able to deal with the rough groups that he dealt with.

'I guess... I've hired an assassin to kill someone.'

Eclaire had overlooked numerous deaths, and her actions had also led to numerous deaths.

She had even killed a few men herself.

Never before however had she hired an assassin for someone else to be killed.

'I wanted to take the blood on my own hands... so that I couldn't make excuses. So that I alone could say with certainty that I killed this man. So that I could take both the blame and the credit.'

"Eclaire. Come forward. Show yourself to the crowd."

Suddenly however, Gerard called her forward.

As he did so, she snapped back to reality, nodding obediently as she took a step beside the man.

Waving to the people, Eclaire bore a grateful smile - one which the people who witnessed her knew was fake.

"I'm so grateful to Gerard for offering me this position... and I'll do my best to rule over you."

With these words, a rally of cheers erupted from the crowd.

They released their anger in this manner, hiding their true emotions as they shouted.

"Eclaire!!!"

"Our Queen!!!"

"We love you, Eclaire!!"

Bathed in praise, the situation was just the opposite of the basement below.

"Isn't that wonderful, Eclaire?"

However as the shouts drowned out most sound, the voice of a particular man took presence within her ears as he spoke from behind her.

"You must be very happy for yourself."

At that moment, a gunshot was heard from somewhere in the crowd.

A sharp pain burst throughout the head of Eclaire as she immediately fell to the ground, and the crowd fell silent.

The sound of a thud was heard, and Eclaire felt a sharp pain right through her brain as she realized it.

'I've... been shot.'

Cries of horror and screams filled the crowd, and the last thing Eclaire saw before her vision went black was the face of the Janitor who had bent over as if concerned for her, however his whisper into her ears showed that there was no such concern.

"I noticed that you had planted a sniper... so I took the liberty of taking care of him... and planting my own."

This was the last thing that Eclaire heard before she died.