"Are we really free?" whispered Syrmax as he couldn't believe his eyes. Even though there was no artificial light around them and the light was given only by the stars, Syrmax could see it clearly: the hole they had created was there, and they had the chance to escape.
"I guess so…" answered Orechin, while next to him Vane turned back into a human and was the first one to pass through the hole.
"C'mon, it is safe. See? Nothing is happening," said Vane as he noticed the worried look on everyone's faces, scared that the wall might collapse at any moment. "I'll wait for you on the other side, everyone!" he added as he started to crawl outside. The moment he went outside, he immediately stretched himself. "Arghhh!! I'm finally free. I've been here barely 2 weeks, but I already couldn't take it anymore."
"Hey Tyel, are you sure there aren't any cameras around?" asked Darian, as he was a bit worried about passing through the hole like Vane had done.
"There aren't any cameras outside; the only problem is the robots that walk outside the city… they will be our only problem," said Tyel as he kneeled down and, after Vane, was the second to step outside the city.
'We're out again… but now with actually a better plan,' thought Tyel as he couldn't believe it. The last time all of them went outside, it was for that suicidal mission, but now things are different. The group has created their own way to get outside the town, not baited by anyone else.
As everyone stepped outside, they couldn't believe what they had just done, especially Syrmax and Orechin. "I knew that we would soon be outside… but I didn't think it would feel like this… I'm feeling relieved…" whispered Orechin as he was the last one to come out. As he glanced around, everything felt surreal; neither he nor Syrmax had ever been outside Ardoris.
"Me too… I'm happy to be outside for the first time… Tyel, are you happy too?" asked Syrmax. Tyel, who was taken by surprise, didn't know how to answer.
"Oh, me? Oh, right, it is my first time going outside…" answered Tyel, when suddenly Vane wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "I understand why you aren't fully surprised…" he said with his eyes closed and a face one hundred percent sure of what he was about to say.
Tyel remained scared for a moment, thinking that someone like Vane might have understood Tyel's trick. 'But that shouldn't be possible, I've paid attention to not reveal anything… I guess I'll have to—'
"It's because you've seen it in your future multiple times, so it has become like taking a walk outside of your house," said Vane as he nodded his head, sure that what he had said was right.
'He's still Vane… and like everyone else, he would say the same,' thought Tyel, relieved, as the confused looks over Syrmax and Orechin's faces disappeared.
"Yeah, still, it surprised me too… we're the first ones to open a hole inside the wall without any problems…" said Tyel as he looked up at the stars and smiled, happy that everyone was doing fine and that they were alright.
"Hey Tyel, didn't you say that some robots would walk around the wall?" said Lily, scared, as she heard some metallic footsteps coming toward the group's direction.
"SOMEONE HAS ESCAPED! I REPEAT, SOMEONE HAS ESCAPED!!" shouted one of the robots as he pointed his gun toward Lily and started to shoot. Everyone, caught by surprise, could only see Lily getting brutally murdered in front of their eyes.
"The guards!!" shouted Orechin as he created a huge blue crystal between the group, while Syrmax and Liro kneeled down next to Lily to check her condition. "Lily, hang in there!!" shouted Liro, scared, as he saw that Lily's eyes were slowly closing.
"She's already dead, Liro! Watch out!!" shouted Syrmax as he pushed Liro away just as a bullet was arriving toward his head. As he launched himself to help Liro avoid the bullet, the object hit Syrmax on his side instead.
"Tyel, didn't you know that they were about to arrive?!" shouted Darian, who fused together with Snowy as he launched multiple shards toward the monster.
"Hey Tyel, don't stand still, we've got bigger problems!" shouted Orechin as he created a new blue crystal after the old one became weaker, knowing it would soon be destroyed.
'They've arrived sooner than I expected… let's see, we have to hide the hole too…' Tyel noticed that the hole was extremely close to some bushes, and thanks to Lily's power, it would be possible to cover it.
'I'll ask her in the next loop…' thought Tyel, as the only thing he did was move his head while his friends were getting shot to death.
"My bad, guys, I'll do better next time," said Tyel as he walked to the front, giving the robots a free shot at his body. The guards pointed their rifles toward Tyel and shot toward him, while he wasn't even trying to dodge.
"TYEL, WHAT ARE YOU DOO—" shouted Orechin as he noticed that Tyel randomly took a step forward and wasn't doing anything at all.
"Don't worry, I'll save you next time," said Tyel as he turned his head back to face Orechin. As he smiled warmly and Orechin shouted in fear, a bullet pierced Tyel's head, killing him on the spot.
"Déjà Veil."
"Ahhh!!" said Tyel as he found himself back again on his bed. Realizing that he was alive once again, he let out a sigh of relief.
"I wonder why I respawned in my bed rather than the same spot… like it works when I go to sleep on the same day, or…" whispered Tyel as he looked at the clock and noticed that it was precisely midnight.
"Or when the midnight of this same day arrives?" Tyel asked himself, as he already knew the answer by what he had just seen.
'I went toward the base at nine p.m., and around 30 minutes had passed since the robots attacked us… I got lucky that it wasn't midnight… or it would have ended really badly.'
Tyel, with this, realized that missions during the night were extremely dangerous because of his power. 'Getting killed after midnight has passed means that I wouldn't be able to restart the day here in my bed… I need to be more careful…' said Tyel as he looked over his hand and realized that the magic had used more soul now.
'Or I might end up really badly…' Tyel, like everyone else, didn't know what there was after the last stage, but because it had never happened to someone he knew, he wanted to be sure that he wouldn't reach that last stage.
With that, Tyel headed back to sleep, remembering now to tell his group that the guards would arrive a few minutes after they stepped outside.
"What? So some guards will arrive soon?" asked Orechin, worried. Vane had just created the hole and he was about to enter inside it when Tyel stopped him with his revelation.
"What did you see in the future, Tyel?" asked Lily, worried about what might happen to everyone. Tyel closed his eyes again and began to wander with his mind, remembering what had happened in the last time loop.
"We weren't able to realize their arrival… we thought we would be safe… but they killed us all without any problems," said Tyel. As he opened his eyes again, he noticed the horrified look on everyone's faces.
"Can I still go without getting brutally killed?" asked Vane as he gulped, scared that he might find himself with a bullet right inside his head.
"Yeah, yeah, we can go. Let's just hide between the bushes in front of the entrance, and we can speak safely there," said Tyel as he was the first one to crawl into the hole, followed by the others.
"Let's position ourselves here," said Tyel. The moment he came out of the hole, he waited for everyone else to come outside and took a few steps forward to hide behind some bushes.
"Hey, you said that the guards will come nearby, right? Shouldn't we close the hole?" asked Darian as he remained still at the entrance with Orechin and Syrmax, who were surprised by the fact that they were finally outside.
"Oh, right… well, Lily, you can use your power to camouflage it, right?" asked Tyel. Lily nodded her head and created some roots that covered the entrance perfectly, fusing it with the environment nearby.
"If I passed by, I would never be able to tell that there's a hole here," pointed out Vane as he sat down on the grass in the spot designated by Tyel.
"Well, I agree… still, I don't think we should spend much time here; if the robots are around, it will be dangerous," pointed out Liro as he started to hear some footsteps, but it was just his imagination.
"Yeah, we didn't plan to go outside; our objective was just to create the hole for our future plans," said Darian as he didn't sit down like Lily, Liro, and Syrmax, who were against the idea of remaining in such a dangerous place, especially after what Tyel had warned them about.
"I agree too…" said Tyel as he got up to his feet, leaving only Orechin and Vane on the ground. 'Especially because repeating this day for the third time is so damn boring…'
"Alright, then let's return home; we will speak there," said Orechin as he returned to his feet. Vane stretched out his hand toward Orechin, who grabbed it and helped him return to his feet.
"Let's go. Even if we're outside, the fact that we might get killed soon scares me…" said Syrmax. Because it was night, he couldn't use his power; the light created by the stars wasn't enough to charge him, so he simply remained with his clothes and monocle on.
The group then headed toward the hole. Lily opened it and the group passed through it without any problems, and once they were inside, everyone felt as if they had returned to this huge prison once again.
"Let's hope they will not find it. We're safe on the outside thanks to my power… but I wonder if on the inside it will be alright," whispered Lily, scared that the guards, just like they had spotted the group in the future seen by Tyel, might spot this entrance.
"Don't worry, I know the cameras' positions well; this is a blind spot, we will be safe," said Tyel with a reassuring tone as he started to move with his group towards the base.
The group remained quiet, especially Orechin and Syrmax. It was their first time going outside the city; since they had been alive, they had only known about Catripple who had ever been able to step outside the city. Now that they had been able to do it too, they felt that they had reached a special goal in their life.
As they entered the base, the first one to speak was Darian. "Okay, so now that we've been able to go outside, we just need to think of a proper plan. Tyel, do you have an idea in mind?" asked Darian.
"Yeah, if what you said is true, so that they were waiting for us at that entrance, we need to find another one… but where can we find it?" asked Liro. Tyel remained quiet for a moment.
'There's that poster I found in the prison that seemed to go directly to the secret laboratories, but we can't enter inside the prison all of us together…' thought Tyel as he remained stuck in his thoughts for some seconds.
"Is something coming to your mind?" asked Lily. Tyel held his head still before talking again.
"Honestly? I don't know. I need to prove it myself, but soon enough I'll give you some info," answered Tyel as a huge smirk appeared over his face.
"That's good! Then we will move the next time you're free, right?" asked Vane. Tyel nodded his head. "We will be alright; you're in my hands, everyone," said Tyel, as suddenly the vision of his dead companions killed by the robots appeared once again in his mind.
Somewhere inside the secret laboratories, Ashikunz had just called Zrelekai once again into his room.
"Have you done as I asked you?" asked the krukin angrily. Zrelekai nodded his head.
"I took the most dangerous object I could find in the great magazines and walked in the prison with it," answered Zrelekai as he remained still at the entrance, looking directly at Ashikunz, who was sitting on his throne.
"And have you spread the word that the prisoner in the secret laboratories will be killed soon enough?" asked Ashikunz. Zrelekai nodded his head.
"Even if we both know that it isn't true, yes, I've made the word spread that the prisoner is in danger and will soon be killed." After Zrelekai finished speaking, Ashikunz rose from his chair, and with the spear in his hands, he threw it powerfully, in a state of pure rage, toward the wall.
Zrelekai, used to Ashikunz's rage during these last days, simply remained still. "I'm not doing anything to go against you, my emperor Ashikunz. I swear on my life I will never think about going against your beautiful empire," said Zrelekai as he stood still, knowing that acting in the same way he had always done would put his life in less danger.
"I know you'll never be the traitor, Zrelekai… it's just that… I can't explain why my plan hasn't worked yet. They should be panicking… but then they don't take the bait. I know them too well; they should be scared to lose a companion, but I don't get it…" said Ashikunz as he went to grab the spear, which had fallen on the ground after creating a small hole in the wall.
"I promise I'll find the truth about this, Ashikunz. Soon we'll understand why they haven't arrived yet," said Zrelekai as he remained still. Ashikunz grabbed the spear and looked at Zrelekai.
"Go… don't disappoint me." With that, Zrelekai closed the door and went outside the huge room.
The moment he stepped outside, Corvinus passed right in front of him, and Zrelekai looked at him with a strange look on his face, as if he were looking at a dirty traitor.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I will never disrespect my emperor Ashikunz; at least I treat him like an actual emperor, differently than you." Corvinus, followed by his six blades, turned around and kept walking.
'I need a path… where do I even begin to understand how they're not falling for our baits…' With this thought, Zrelekai returned to his private room to think carefully about the rebellers' plan.