"Erza..."
His voice was painfully weak.
Yuuta’s eyes finally closed as one last tear slipped across his cheek.
"...Erzaaa..."
The monster’s enormous shadow reached him just as Yuuta surrendered completely to the darkness.
Then a low, distorted ring echoed through the endless void, as though an ancient bell had been struck somewhere beneath the deepest ocean.
The sound stretched endlessly through the darkness, swallowing every thought, every emotion, and every trace of pain until everything simply disappeared.
There was no light, no warmth, and no sensation left within that endless emptiness before the ringing abruptly stopped, leaving behind absolute silence.
Yuuta’s eyes suddenly flew open.
A violent gasp escaped his mouth as air rushed into his lungs. His heart pounded violently against his chest while his vision slowly regained focus. For several long seconds, his mind remained completely blank, unable to process what had just happened. The last thing he remembered was the monster standing over him, the unbearable pain tearing apart his body, and the certainty that he had already died.
Yet...
He was standing.
His crimson eyes slowly lowered toward his own body as confusion completely replaced the fear within them.
His trembling hands rose before his face almost instinctively. They were intact. Every finger remained where it should have been.
There was no blood covering his skin, no torn flesh, and not a single wound remained on his body. Even his clothes had somehow returned to their original condition, untouched as though everything that had happened moments ago had been nothing more than an illusion.
"My... body...?"
His voice barely escaped his lips.
Yuuta touched his own chest before slowly moving his hand across his stomach, his shoulders, and finally his left arm. Every part of him was whole. There wasn’t even a scar left behind. His breathing gradually became heavier as disbelief spread throughout his entire face.
"I... I’m alive?"
The words sounded ridiculous even to himself.
"No..."
He immediately shook his head.
"I died... I know I died."
The memories remained painfully clear inside his mind. The monster had severed his hand. It had cut through his body. He remembered the blood pouring onto the stone floor.
He remembered screaming until his throat could no longer produce a sound. None of those memories felt like a dream. Every second of that suffering still lingered vividly inside his mind.
Then, without warning, a violent gust of wind exploded directly toward him.
Every instinct inside Yuuta screamed in terror.
His head snapped upward.
The monster was already standing before him.
Its towering body hadn’t moved from where it had been before.
Those emotionless eyes stared down at him without the slightest hint of mercy while both gigantic axes descended through the air with enough force to split the temple itself.
Yuuta’s body reacted immediately, desperately trying to move backward, but the attack had already reached him long before his legs could obey.
"Damn it!"
The ancient blades passed cleanly through his body.
For the briefest moment, Yuuta didn’t understand what had happened. There was no pain. There was no impact. His vision remained perfectly normal until he suddenly felt the world tilt sideways beneath him.
His eyes widened.
The floor was rising.
No...
His body was falling.
Only then did he realize the horrifying truth.
The axes had cut him completely in half.
His upper body slid away from his lower half before both pieces crashed heavily against the ancient stone floor. Blood erupted across the temple while unimaginable agony finally reached his mind all at once.
A scream escaped his throat so violently that it no longer sounded human, yet before he could even fully understand the pain consuming him, darkness swallowed everything once again.
The ringing returned.
The same low, distorted bell echoed endlessly throughout the darkness exactly as before. It consumed the pain, erased the screams, and swallowed the terrifying sight of his own body lying in two separate pieces before abruptly fading into silence.
Yuuta’s eyes opened.
He instinctively inhaled another desperate breath before freezing completely.
He was standing.
His hands remained untouched.
His body was whole.
The ancient altar stood exactly where it had before, and directly in front of him waited the same eleven-meter monster with the same pair of gigantic axes resting within its hands. Nothing had changed. Not a single stone inside the temple had moved. Even the monster stood in the exact same position as though the previous few moments had never happened.
Yuuta stared at it without blinking.
His breathing gradually became uneven as a horrifying realization slowly formed inside his mind. This wasn’t resurrection. It wasn’t healing. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t giving him another chance to survive.
It was forcing him to experience the same death over and over again.
The monster slowly tightened its grip around the axes before taking another heavy step toward him, and this time Yuuta understood with absolute certainty that unless something changed, he would remain trapped inside this endless cycle of death... forever.
Meanwhile,
Far away from the endless nightmare, the real world remained completely unaware of the suffering taking place within Yuuta’s soul.
The afternoon had long passed, and the warm sunlight covering the garden slowly faded into the golden colors of late evening.
A gentle breeze carried the scent of flowers through the air while the leaves above swayed peacefully.
Nothing within this quiet garden hinted that Yuuta’s consciousness was trapped inside the Seven Crown Trial, dying over and over again in an endless nightmare.
Yuuta continued sleeping beneath the large tree with Elena resting peacefully beside him. From the outside, he looked no different from someone taking an ordinary nap after an exhausting day.
His breathing remained steady, his eyes stayed gently closed, and his expression appeared strangely calm. Only his body revealed the truth.
Cold sweat continuously rolled down his forehead despite the cool evening breeze, soaking his clothes little by little, while every few moments another trembling breath escaped from his lips as though his body was desperately struggling against something invisible.
Soon, a tear slowly escaped the corner of his closed eye and rolled quietly across his cheek. His eyelids never opened, nor did he make a single sound.
Anyone passing through the garden would simply think he was having an unpleasant dream, never imagining that somewhere far beyond anyone’s reach, every passing second inside that nightmare was another brutal death.
Beside him, Elena finally began to stir from her sleep.
The little dragon girl let out a tiny yawn before stretching both of her small arms as high as she could. She rubbed her sleepy crimson eyes with both fists before looking around the garden with the innocent confusion only a four-year-old could have.
"Huh...?"
Her sleepy gaze wandered around for a moment before finally landing on Yuuta lying beside her.
"Papa?"
A bright smile immediately appeared across her face. She happily crawled closer before reaching out with both tiny hands and gently shaking his shoulder.
"Papa... wake up."
Yuuta didn’t respond.
Believing her father was simply sleeping too deeply, Elena giggled softly before trying again, this time shaking him with a little more determination.
"Papa... wake up."
Still nothing happened.
Elena slowly puffed out both cheeks in dissatisfaction before folding her tiny arms across her chest.
"Hmph... Papa is lazy."
Just then, a tiny growling sound escaped from her stomach. Elena immediately looked down at her tummy with complete seriousness before placing both hands against it.
"Eh? Elena tummy... are you hungry?"
She nodded to herself as though her stomach had answered, her small face taking on the same gravity someone might use to discuss something far more important than lunch.
"Wait. Elena will tell Papa."
She turned back toward Yuuta and began shaking his arm once again, her voice climbing an octave with self-importance, as if delivering news of great consequence.
"Papa... Elena is hungry."
There was still no response.
Elena frowned before placing both hands on her hips, mimicking a stance she’d clearly picked up from watching her mother scold someone.
"If Papa doesn’t wake up..."
A mischievous smile slowly spread across her face, the kind that usually meant trouble for somebody.
"...then Elena is going to eat Papa."
Without another thought, she leaned down and gently bit Yuuta’s hand.
"Munch... munch..."
She happily made chewing sounds while pretending to eat him, fully expecting her father to yelp and snatch his hand away with an exaggerated wail the way he always did, turning the whole thing into a game that usually ended with him scooping her up and declaring himself defeated.
Instead, Yuuta remained completely motionless. He didn’t laugh, didn’t flinch, didn’t even react to the tiny bite.
Elena stopped chewing and slowly rubbed her own mouth.
"Ow..."
Elena rubbed her mouth.
"Papa is hard."
She stared at her own fingers in mild betrayal, as if his hand had somehow cheated by being too solid, then looked at her father in complete confusion. This wasn’t how the game was supposed to go. Papa always lost. Papa always laughed.
Trying one last time, she grabbed his shoulder with both hands and shook him much harder than before, raising her tiny voice with the particular outrage of someone whose winning strategy had just failed for no reason.
"Papa, wake up. Elena is hungry. If Papa doesn’t wake up... Elena will tell Mama."
Even mentioning Erza the threat that never failed, the one that usually made him bolt upright in mock terror brought no response at all.
Confused, Elena slowly climbed onto Yuuta’s chest and sat there, hoping her weight would finally wake him the way it sometimes did when nothing else worked. As she leaned closer to complain again, her small smile gradually faded.
A fresh tear silently slipped from the corner of Yuuta’s closed eye before rolling across his face, while more cold sweat continued running down his forehead. His breathing had grown noticeably heavier, yet no matter how many times Elena called him, he never answered.
Fear slowly began creeping into the little girl’s heart.
She gently touched Yuuta’s cheek before shaking him again, but this time there was no childish annoyance left in her movements. Her tiny hands had begun trembling.
"Papa..."
Her voice came out noticeably weaker.
"Wake up..."
She shook him harder, desperately waiting for him to open his eyes the way he always did.
"Papa... what happened?"
Her lips trembled.
"Papa... Elena is hungry..."
Those words usually worked every single time. No matter how tired Yuuta was, hearing Elena say she was hungry always made him smile before scooping her up and carrying her inside. This time, however, he remained completely still, as though he couldn’t hear her voice at all.
Only then did Elena finally realize something was terribly wrong.
She stared at Yuuta’s face, her tiny hands still resting against his shoulders, while another tear silently rolled down his cheek.
The cold sweat covering his forehead continued increasing with every passing second, and no matter how many times she shook him, he never opened his eyes. His breathing became heavier, almost painful, as though he was desperately struggling against something that only he could see.
Elena’s little body suddenly froze.
A memory surfaced inside her mind.
She had seen this before.
The image flashed through her head with terrifying clarity. The same sweating face. The same tears escaping from closed eyes. The same terrifying feeling that her Papa was somewhere far away, unable to hear her no matter how loudly she called.
Her small crimson eyes widened.
"Papa...?"
Her voice trembled.
She shook him again, this time with far more desperation than before.
"Papa... wake up..."
There was still no response.
The little girl’s lips began trembling uncontrollably as tears quickly gathered inside her eyes.
"P-Papa..."
Her voice cracked.
"Papa... Elena is scared..."
A sob escaped her throat.
She continued shaking him with all the strength her tiny body could muster, desperately hoping he would smile, open his eyes, and tell her everything was alright like he always did.
"Papa... wake up..."
Her tears finally spilled over.
"Papa..."
She could no longer stop crying.
Fear completely overwhelmed her little heart.
She didn’t understand what was happening.
She didn’t know why her father wouldn’t answer her.
She only knew that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
"Mama...!"
Elena suddenly cried out at the top of her lungs.
"Mama!"
Her tiny voice echoed throughout the peaceful garden.
"Mama! Papa won’t wake up!"
She continued crying as she desperately called for the only person she believed could fix everything.
"Mama...!"
"Papa..."
"Mama...!"
Elena suddenly cried out at the top of her lungs.
"Mama!"
She looked around the quiet garden through blurry, tear-filled eyes, desperately searching for the one person who always knew what to do.
"Mama... where are you...?"
She rubbed both eyes with her tiny fists, sniffling between every word.
"Mama... Papa needs you..."
Her little voice broke into another sob.
"Papa is in danger..."
Tears continued streaming down her cheeks as she shook Yuuta again, refusing to let go of his arm.
"Mama... come home..."
She sniffled loudly before pouting through her tears.
"Elena... hates you..."
The childish words escaped without thought. She didn’t truly hate Erza. She was simply frightened, and in her tiny mind, the only thing that mattered was that her Mama wasn’t here when Papa needed her the most.
"Mama..."
She cried even harder.
"Please..."
"Papa... wake up..."
She buried her tiny face against Yuuta’s chest, sobbing uncontrollably while holding onto him as tightly as her little arms could.
Then, without warning, Yuuta’s body suddenly reacted.
His peaceful expression twisted in agony as every muscle in his body violently tensed. A low groan escaped his lips before his entire body began trembling uncontrollably. At the same time, an overwhelming aura slowly leaked from within him, spreading across the garden in unstable waves that carried an indescribable sorrow and unbearable pain.
Yuuta suddenly screamed.
It wasn’t the scream of someone awake.
It was the scream of a soul trapped inside an endless nightmare.
Tears continued flowing from his tightly closed eyes while his body shook violently beneath Elena, as though he was desperately fighting against something beyond the reach of the real world.
Elena froze in complete terror.
She had never seen her Papa like this before.
To Be Continued...
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