Time Looped

KNIGHT’s BASH

Damage increased by 500%

Bone shattered

Fatal Wound Inflicted

Will cracked the wolf’s ribcage, sending it flying to the ceiling. In the back of the room, “Level up” appeared on all four mirrors. This presented an interesting Catch 22. In order to level up, he had to tap one of the mirrors. However, in order to reach them, he had to defeat the rest of the wolves. Thankfully, the knight skills made up for the lack of evasion. Clutching the desk, he looked at the remaining beasts.

The fate of the first had made them more cautious. Two circled along either side of the classroom while the third remained in place, growling as it stared at him with its menacing silver eyes.

The lack of space had given Will an initial advantage, but that would change if he were attacked from several sides. Aiming to prevent that, the boy hurled the desk at the leftmost wolf, then quickly grabbed another.

Seeing its chance, the central wolf leaped forward. This presented something of a dilemma. Will could try to swing the desk upwards in an attempt to bash the creature, but that would leave him dangerously exposed to the final wolf. If he didn’t, though, he risked getting bitten by his immediate attacker.

The first desk slammed into the wall, barely nicking the wolf’s leg. That wasn’t the result that Will was hoping for, but there was no time to worry about it. Shielding himself from the frontal attack with the desk he held, he then rushed forward. Even with the powers of two classes, he needed to take advantage of the level up.

Jaws snapped close to his face as the nearby wolf attempted a quick attack before leaping away. The creatures were cautious not to follow the fate of their killed pack mate. Thankfully, that worked to the boy’s advantage. Swinging the desk in front of him he turned around, slowly retreating towards the mirrors. The growling increased as all three wolves slowly advanced in their respective directions.

We’ll see how tough you are once I have leap and evasion, the boy thought. Glass crunched beneath his feet as he moved back. Seeing the remnants of the display cases from the corner of his eye, Will reached out with his left hand and tapped a mirror.

All messages disappeared, replaced by two words: ROGUE and KNIGHT.

Not expecting this development, the boy turned his head around. It was an instinctive reaction, but one that proved enough to get one beast to leap at him.

Oh, shit! The boy swung around, throwing the desk at his attacker to compensate. This time, the desk hit the wolf head on, pinning it to the wall behind. It was safe to say that another creature had been dealt with. Sadly, that left Will completely exposed to the remaining two.

Rogue! He reached out to tap the word. This was the only viable option. If he messed up now, he’d have to repeat the loop all over again and hope that Helen would give him the knight for a second go.

Both remaining wolves leaped forward. Thankfully, Will proved to be faster. The moment his fingers touched the mirror’s surface, the familiar new skills appeared. That was it—the thing he had been hoping for. Before his attackers could reach him, the boy twisted and leaped to the right.

A wolf’s claws passed inches from his face as the creature landed on the spot Will had been.

“How about that?” the boy shouted as he landed gracefully on another toppled desk.

Jumping down, he quickly grabbed a chair and threw it at a monster. This time, the attack was extremely precise, hitting its target from the side. Metal legs pierced the wolf’s rib cage, killing it on the spot. This was the difference between having a skill and not. The motion was exactly the same as before, but his mind and body instinctively knew how to get the best result, as if he had spent years developing his ability.

The mirrors in the room changed again, displaying a new “Level up” message. Apparently, it took two killed wolves to advance him further. Not that there was any point in leveling up now. With one wolf remaining, everything was in Will’s favor. Well, almost everything. Already he could hear the yells of people outside the room. Ms. Stalter had gotten hysterical, screaming unintelligently, while someone else—a teacher by the sound of it—was trying to calm her down by yelling louder.

“Just you and me now.” The boy grabbed another chair, then tore off the piece of metal tube that composed a pair of metal legs. There was no logical reason for him not to kill the creature from a distance, yet for some reason, he felt that wouldn’t be fair.

The wolf didn’t appreciate the sentiment, backing off slowly amid the devastated classroom.

“You have to fight me.” Calmly, Will moved forward to follow. “There’s no way you can escape.”

Technically, it was possible for the beast to leap out of the classroom. Despite it being the third floor, the distance to the ground wasn’t that high to harm a creature this size. Will himself knew that he could jump down without issue—probably another bonus of the rogue’s leap.

Passing by the mirrors, he tapped on one with his left hand. Once the message changed, he tapped again on the rogue.

SUPERIOR BALANCE

Maintain perfect balance under any circumstances.

SUPERIOR SIGHT

See well at greater distances and less light.

DUAL WIELD

Use two weapons simultaneously.

The skills were interesting, though not anything that could be of immediate use. Both sides knew that the fight was a foregone conclusion.

The circling continued for another ten seconds, at which point Will took the initiative, charging at the beast. The wolf snapped its jaws in a final attempt to do some harm before going down. Thanks to his rogue’s evasion, the boy easily avoided the attempt, sinking the metal leg into its chest.

KNIGHT’s BASH

Damage increased by 500%

Fatal Wound Inflicted

A loud crack followed, after which the wolf stumbled to the ground.

For several seconds, the boy stood there, breathing heavily. Now that the immediate threat was gone, normal sensations flooded in. His hands trembled uncontrollably for a few moments as bouts of panic and realization exploded in his mind like fireworks.

This was the first time he had killed and lived till the end. Unlike games and movies, part of his mind rebelled against it. He knew that he had no choice. He also knew that this wasn’t real death since it would be erased at the end of the loop, and still, he couldn’t snap out of it.

“I think the noises stopped,” someone said outside the room, bringing Will back to reality.

A new fear pumped adrenalin into his blood—a fear of having to explain everything that was going on. With each killed wolf extending the length of the loop, he’d be stuck giving explanations for close to an hour, if not more.

The handle turned. Seeing it, Will quickly leapt to the only open window in the room, then jumped outside. The combination of rogue’s leaping and knight’s sturdiness let him land on the stone pavement below as if he had hopped off a bike.

The few students in view were so busy rushing for the school entrance that they didn’t even notice. Even if someone did, their mind would reject what it had seen. After all, everyone knew that people couldn't jump from the third floor and continue about their day as if nothing had happened.

Will's phone suddenly rang. Not being in the mood for talking, he ignored it. It didn’t take a genius to know that in a matter of minutes, the whole school would turn into a madhouse. The police would arrive, possibly the firefighters as well, followed by the news media, concerned parents, local officials, and anyone remotely curious about what was going on. Given that Ms. Stalter knew that Will was involved in the fight, this was the last place he wanted to be.

The phone rang again. The boy swiped to cancel the call, then turned the power of the device off. He could do with an hour or two off the grid. In fact, he knew just the place to go until the chaos of the loop subsided. Hands in his pockets, he left the school grounds.

About a minute later, he was sitting in the familiar coffee shop, enjoying a nice cup of mousse and a cup of water.

“Things sure have gotten lively,” the barista said as the sound of sirens passed by. “Cops and now ambulances. Sure hope everyone’s alright.”

“I hope so,” Will muttered. He knew for a fact that they were, unlike in the last loop. “Probably some lab experiment gone bad.”

“Lab experiment?” The barista turned around and gave him a stern look. “Should I be worried having you here?”

“Hey, I can pay,” the boy uttered the first thing that came to mind. Thankfully, that had the desired effect. The barista turned around, focusing on the commotion again.

Several police cars had arrived and diligently started blocking off some of the streets around Enigma High School. The building was cordoned off, allowing only ambulances and firetrucks inside. There didn’t seem to be any smoke or fire, but one of the trucks parked in the inner yard.

Rumors spread like wildfire, filling the imagination. According to some of the more outlandish ones, wolves, or large dogs, had been running down the hallways, biting anyone in sight. Soon enough, people on the street were sharing their speculations about what really happened.

“One more of these,” Will said, pointing to his empty glass of mousse.

This was his third so far, along with two jugs of water, and yet the loop had no inclination to end. It was already a quarter to ten, suggesting that each dead wolf provided a twenty-minute extension at least.

“Don’t you have anywhere to be?” the barista asked with a shrug. Still, he did see to the order. Money was money, after all.

“Like school?” the boy smirked.

“Like a friend’s or parents’ place? It’s not healthy staying at a coffee shop on your own.”

“People do it all the time.”

“I know.” The barista placed the cup of mouse in front of Will, then took the empty one. “And it’s a terrible habit. Trust me, I studied this stuff. It might seem cool in the short run, but it’s only masking the real problem. Whatever that might be.”

The boy considered telling him. That might be good for a laugh.

“You remind me of another boy who used to come here alone a few times per week. Always kept to himself, barely said a word, just used to scribble in his diary all the time.” The man turned on the water behind the counter and started washing the empty mousse cup. “He started off okay, just like you, then got worse and worse, until his father came here to drag him out.”

Will sat there, patiently waiting for the barista to get to the point.

“Haven’t seen him since. So, the moral of the story is: make good decisions or someone else will make them for you. By that I mean, next time, bring a friend or two.”

“Right.” He should have expected that. Of course, he’d want to boost his business. As if Helen would agree going to a place like this.

Feeling the effects of the many jugs of water he had consumed since getting here, the boy looked around. He wanted to go to the bathroom badly, but after what he’d just been through, he had to make sure it wasn’t a corner room.

“Where’s the bathroom?” he asked.

“Right in the back.” The barista pointed.

Although slightly to the side, the door was still facing the entrance. That was good enough for Will, who quickly rushed there.

A smell of mint air freshener filled the space. The room was small, containing a sink with a single faucet, a large mirror, and a closed off section for the toilet itself. Will was just about to head there when a green message appeared in the mirror.

WOLF PACK REWARD (random)

FAST HEALING: wounds and health conditions will heal 100 times faster.

For a moment, Will forgot about his bladder, staring at the mirror. There was a reward for killing off the entire pack. If he had paid attention before jumping out of the window, maybe he would have seen it. More importantly, why hadn’t Daniel or Helen mentioned it? Getting bonus abilities for killing off wolves was a pretty big deal. Then again, maybe that was precisely why it was kept secret.

You kept it from her, the boy thought.

From what he could see on the desk, Daniel had meticulously marked all the rooms, as well as the individual mirrors they held and yet there was no mention of those in the biology classroom or the reward? Apparently, Helen wasn’t the only one with trust issues. And, if Daniel had kept this hidden, what other secrets did he have?