Phaser leaned back against the cold stone wall back at the camp. Haruno stood beside him, holding the fragile, blood-stained letter in her trembling hand. Her eyes darted over the paragraphs again and again, as if hoping to find some overlooked line, some hidden miracle to make sense of it all.
"So what now? If she was the 173rd, then that means I'm next, doesn't it? I'm the 174th Haruno. I'm the next failure waiting to happen."
Phaser didn't answer right away. He just exhaled slowly.
"No. You're not going to fail this time."
He turned toward her and began walking in a slow circle.
"Look. Everything she wrote down are all checkpoints. Think of them like event flags in the game. If this really is a recursive trial, then the Blood Odachi is both the trigger and the condition for completion."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning the sword is what defines the loop. You said it yourself. Her letter said it absorbs blood. That's why every version of you left behind skeletons covered in blood. The Odachi is feeding on each version, accumulating blood and memories over the loops over and over again. The sword is getting stronger."
She frowned, hugging her arms.
"So… the sword remembers what I don't?"
"Exactly. And that's why the previous version mentioned the future self. She might have realized the sword itself carries her memories through the blood it absorbs. That's why the Blood Odachi seems alive because it's a fragment of every Haruno who's ever touched it."
Haruno went silent for a moment. The idea made her skin crawl, yet it made sense in a twisted way.
"So, if we take it now, it might try to continue that cycle."
"That's exactly why you don't touch it. At least not yet. The Blood Odachi isn't just cursed. It's parasitic. It bonds to the first person who offers it blood, and that bond overrides will. You'd be its host, not its wielder."
He crouched down and picked up a small piece of rock from the ground, flipping it in his fingers like a coin.
"So here's the plan. We'll split the objectives into three stages. Acquisition, Containment, and Empowerment."
"You've been thinking this through already, haven't you?"
"You don't survive death without learning to get creative."
He pointed toward the mouth of the cave.
"We raid the village first. You stay at a distance. Don't even step inside the village where the Blood Odachi is kept. I'll handle the theft. The sword reacts to biological touch and blood essence, so I'll use something else."
"Something else?"
"You just have to wait and see. I can't tell you how yet. The Odachi will sense something touching it, but without a life signature, it won't attach. And no, it's not my strings. Once I secure it, I'll place it in my System Inventory without touching it. No one can wield two Primal Synsiline Treasures so it won't bond with me. It might control me though so I won't touch it."
Haruno listened intently as he laid out the next steps.
"After we steal the sword, the worm is next. According to the words your past selves wrote, it weakens anyone whose body temperature drops below a threshold. That's why your past selves probably died there. You lose your focus before you can even strike properly."
"So what do we do about it?"
"I go alone. You head back here, keep yourself warm, and rest. I'll draw the worm out and kill it. Since I'm immune to extreme temperatures, I can handle it without losing control. When it dies, I'll collect its blood and pour it onto the Odachi."
"You're going to feed it blood without touching it?"
"Yes. That way, the sword absorbs the blood without the risk of latching onto anyone prematurely. It's a method the 173rd Haruno didn't have access to. Her problem wasn't strength. It was information. Once we have enough blood, we go after the Frost Dragon. That's a Class Six entity. When we face it, that's when you'll use the Odachi."
"But you said not to touch it—"
"Until then. When you fight the dragon, the Odachi will already be saturated with blood. It will be on the edge of awakening. That's when you take control. The sword's hunger will peak, but if you assert dominance during combat, you can imprint your will as its master. You'll complete the trial without dying. And maybe, just maybe, you'll break the loop."
Haruno stared at him, dumbfounded. Every step sounded insane, yet there was a cold, tactical brilliance to it.
"And what about you? What happens if something goes wrong?"
Phaser gave a half-smile. "Then I improvise. That's what I'm good at."
"Phaser—"
He cut her off gently, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"We have all the time in the world, Haruno. Literally. I'm it talking about dying and coming back. We can't risk that. But we have to make sure you'll finally walk out of here as the last Haruno Nishikata."
There was a moment of silence before Haruno nodded slowly.
"Then let's make it count."
"Good. Because the 174th isn't going to die on my watch."
"You know, I'm really glad I met you."
Phaser tilted his head slightly but said nothing.
"If it weren't for you, I think my future self during the Third Dominia Quest would have died a hundred more times. Maybe even lost my mind completely. You're the only reason this all makes sense. I don't feel great just standing by while you do everything."
For a brief moment, something almost like a smile crossed his face.
"Who said that I'm not doing it alone?"
Haruno blinked in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm saving my strength for the Frost Dragon. That's where the real challenge begins. As for the rest…"
The air behind him warped. A low hum vibrated through the ground as a circular void unfolded like a bleeding wound in reality. The shadows twisted until it formed a full portal. From that portal stepped six figures. Each of them wore fitted dark assassin gear and hoods covering their faces. They had face masks too.
"What the hell—"
The first woman—Rielline— bowed slightly at Phaser.
"Reporting as ordered, Master."
The second—Naelle—smiled and gave a friendly wave.
"It's an honor to meet a new friend of Master's!"
The other five immediately groaned in unison.
"Naelle," said Syraleh, exasperated, "you're supposed to intimidate, not introduce."
"She's shaking, you idiot," Iserra muttered, crossing her arms. "Now she's going to think we're friendly."
Rielinne sighed and lightly smacked Naelle's shoulder. "You're too cheerful for an assassin, seriously."
Esmodra, the temporary member, sighed as she saw the way Naelle spoke.
Enheduanna, the tallest of them, remained silent, her pitch-black veil concealing most of her face as she stood behind the others..Haruno took a step back, her hand instinctively reaching for the small blade at her waist.
"Phaser, who are they?"
He turned toward her with that infuriatingly calm look again.
"My subordinates, The Null Handmaidens. They're the ones who retrieved the third fragment of the Azure Sword from your hired mercenaries. Oh, and they made the Geneva Fast Travel Building to shut down temporarily."
He said it so casually that it took Haruno a few seconds to process.
"They what?"
"They'll handle the villagers and the worm efficiently, quietly, and with minimal bloodshed... well, minimal for them. In the meantime, you and I will focus on the Frost Dragon."
Naelle perked up. "We'll make sure to warm things up for you, Master!"
"Please stop saying things like that," Syraleh muttered under her breath.
Haruno could only stare. These weren't just random killers. These women moved like they were cut from the same cloth as Phaser himself. She had seen elite players in the MoDS storyline, but nothing like this. She finally turned to him.
"How long have you been planning this?"
"Since I came here. What, you thought I would spend three days searching for you? I was using them to explore this place. They found the village and the worm but not the dragon. That's how I found you. Ever since I saved you, they've been exploring the village."
"That's not possible."
He simply raised his hand, and the portal behind them shimmered faintly in response.
"I anticipated that this trial might not go as planned since it's unknown, so I prepared contingencies. The portal connects through my hidden base. I can't use it often because it consumes a lot of my Xana. Right now it consumed like 30% of it."
Before she could respond, Enheduanna finally spoke.
"Master, we've already analyzed the situation hours ago. The villagers are corrupted. We'll neutralize them swiftly and proceed to the worm to extract the necessary blood for the Blood Odachi's infusion."
Phaser nodded. "Good. Keep the sword out of your hands. until I say otherwise. Remember, containment first, feeding second. We can't risk it binding to anyone prematurely."
"Yes, Master," Enheduanna said, bowing her head.
Haruno watched, speechless, as everything fell into place like a military operation.
"You really thought of everything, didn't you?"
Phaser turned to her with that same smile.
"It's not about thinking of everything. It's about assuming that everything can go wrong and planning for all the ways to survive it anyway."
"Why, though? Why go this far? Why risk this much for a sword and a trial that doesn't even belong to you?"
For the first time, Phaser's eyes softened, and a faint, almost nostalgic look crossed his face.
"The Frost Dragon has something I need. The Fluveheart. If I can retrieve it, I can fix someone… important."
"Someone?"
He shook his head. "It's not your burden to know. Let's just say if I hadn't read about that dragon in your past self's letter, I wouldn't be doing all this. I owe her for that."
Haruno's gaze softened. "Then thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. We haven't survived this."
He turned back toward the Null Handmaidens.
"We move now. Objective is threefold. Secure the Blood Odachi, neutralize the worm and villagers and regroup here. Once the Odachi's fed, we proceed to the Frost Dragon. Haruno and I will engage it directly. The rest of you can just watch. None of you can fight it and win."
The five Handmaidens bowed in perfect unison. "Understood."
"Move out. Maintain stealth. And Esmodra, this is your first mission so learn from your members."
"Yes."
One by one, the Handmaidens walked out of the cave and into the blizzard, steam already coming out of their skin. Phaser sighed as he saw them vanishing in the distance.
"I'm glad I made that group. Without the Null Handmaidens, I wouldn't be able to control the tempo of this world."
Haruno stared at him, half in awe and half in disbelief.
"You're insane, you know that?"
He gave her a small, lopsided grin.
"Genius and insanity usually travel together. The difference is who survives longer."
She couldn't help but laugh softly.
"Then let's make sure you survive, genius."
"Oh, I plan to."
'Too bad I can't use the Fluveheart of the Frost Dragon in my Atomicus but the one from the Frost Beetle is mutated and advanced so it's fine.'
He grinned as he cracked his knuckles. He really gained something out of this after all.