The Ultimate Regressor System

The fifth Bora finally collapsed into the dirt, and Lucas sank down beside its carcass, his chest heaving, blood and ooze drying stiff along both his forearms.

He flicked his arms and the blood and ooze flew off as he clicked his tongue.

’Four times...’ he tho grimly. ’I died four times before I even realized this was an ambush.’

The memory of it sat in his mind, each death folding into the next in a way that had stopped feeling shocking somewhere around the first few days of this nightmare.

The first time, he had walked straight into the nest without noticing the disturbed earth, a Bora’s tail catching him through the ribs before he’d even registered the threat, and of course, before his system could announce the danger...

The second time, he’d tried fighting it in the open, and a second beast had flanked him from a blind spot he hadn’t thought would be possible.

The third time had been almost embarrassing — a glitch where [Ignition] fired early and alerted the beast where he tried a sneak attack.

The fourth time, he had finally started mapping their positions correctly, only to underestimate how fast the last one could close distance across open ground a simple miscalculation which led to him being overwhelmed before he could properly think of something.

"Five beasts, five ambushes. I’ve lost count of how many times regression has saved me these few days’

No surprise that if it wasn’t for [Regression], he would have been long dead.

He rubbed a hand over his face, exhaustion settling in his body in a way that had nothing to do with physical strain anymore.

The deaths themselves barely registered as fear at this point as it had become just a dull, weary dread each time, followed by the familiar cold rush of waking up somewhere earlier, his memory intact, his body whole, and none of the fact that he had to face whatever monstrosity he died to again...

"Ahhh...I’m so tired of dying."

The words came out more fluid than he realised. But he didn’t try to cover his mouth.

It was the truth. Dying so many times had got him so tired to the point where he even expected death in some cases.

He was tired of his system too. He had died because of his system glitch more than once, and he was sick of it.

He was also sick of planning around his glitches. Meaning that whatever plan he wanted to make, he had to account for the fact that his system night glitch out again.

And the worst part was that if everything stayed the same after each regression, the time of malfunction didn’t.

Which means that he couldn’t guess when and where his system would glitch out...

He finished roasting the last of the Bora meat over a small controlled flame, forcing himself to eat despite the exhaustion clawing at him, and had just swallowed the final bite when the system chimed.

[Ding!]

[Main Objective: Find the next Gateway.]

Lucas stared at the notification, then his eyes widened.

"No. No, no, no—"

He realised that him receiving this notification only meant one thing....

The next Edgewalk had begun...

"Shit."

The system had given him the objective while still assuming that he was with his faction.

But Lucas knew that the window Darian had warned him about had simply run out.

He heaved a long exhale and lay on the ground looking at the sky— the midday sun shining bright enough to make your eyes hurt...

It was all in vain. All the fights, all the death... the rush to reach the gateway... all of it was useless now...

’The third Edgewalk has already started. I’m too late. The Gateway I was chasing doesn’t even exist anymore.’

He lay there for a long moment, the weight of the realization settling... if any other person were to be put in his shoes, they would have given up right about now.

But not him...

He forced himself back to his feet and stretched.

There was no version of this where sitting still helped anything.

"Fine," he muttered. "New Gateway then. Guess we start over."

***

Mark woke to the sound of running water and his eyes flickered open.

The trees blocked out the sun almost completely, and he realised that the only other sound aside from him was the flow of water downstream.

He sat up slowly, taking in the unfamiliar river bank, the dense treeline surrounding him on every side, and let out a long, tired sigh.

"Great," he said. "Absolutely fantastic. Just me, alone, in the middle of nowhere."

[Main objective: Move to the Gateway.]

He closed the notification and looked around. "Well at least there’s no desert with flames blasting out of the ground."

He pushed himself upright, brushing dirt from his body and had barely taken two steps toward the treeline when the stream erupted.

A massive shape tore free from the water, scales gleaming grey, horns reinforced and jagged — the same Makara Golem he remembered all too well from the last river fight, except this time he had no sword, no borrowed weapon, nothing but his own fists and gauntlets to work with.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Mark groaned, already backing up, [Bastion’s Oath] flaring instinctively to life. "I don’t even have a knife on me!"

The creature lunged, and Mark caught the strike on raised gauntlets, the impact flying straight through his arms with familiar force.

Without a weapon to enhance, without Sera’s amplification or his own trick, he was reduced to pure, defense absorbing hit after hit, looking for openings he hoped to take advantage of with his fists alone that weren’t equipped to properly exploit.

"This is officially unfair," he grunted, ducking beneath a sweeping tail. "I have a lot of things I’d like to tell whoever created this place.."

The Golem pressed forward, driving him backward step by step until his heels found the edge of the stream itself, and before he could reposition, its full weight crashed into him, carrying both of them tumbling into the deep water beyond the river bank.

The world went dark and wet immediately, cold water and lack of air crashing into him, and Mark fought against the creature’s grip with everything he had, gauntlets driving weak water-slowed punches into its exposed underside.

Bubbles streamed from his mouth as his lungs began to burn, the Golem’s jaws snapping dangerously close through the murky water, and for one genuinely terrifying moment, Mark understood exactly how badly this fight had gone sideways.

’No weapon. No air. No backup. This is how I actually die, isn’t it. Drowned by an overgrown fish.’

The thought was hilarious. He had tanked worse... way worse. And was about to be done in by a water beast that wasn’t even doing much against him.

His legs soon stopped kicking and his movements slowed.

The water flooded his lungs by now, it was only a matter of time now...

Then...

**CHING**

Something flashed through the water above him... It a blade, spinning and buring itself deep into the Golem’s side with enough force to make the creature spasm and momentarily loosen its grip.

Mark didn’t waste the opening. He kicked hard toward the surface even though his lungs were screaming, and broke free into open air and took a deep desperate, breath, dragging himself toward the shallow part on pure adrenaline alone.

The Golem surfaced a moment later, weakened and furious, and a second blade found its throat before it could fully recover — Sera’s voice carrying clear across the water.

"Move, Mark!"

He scrambled the rest of the way towards dry land, collapsing onto the bank with his chest heaving, and watched through blurred, eyes that stung with water as Sera finished the creature off with a final, decisive strike, causing the Golem to collapse motionless onto the river bank.

Silence fell, then Mark fell on his back and gave a relieved laugh.

"You," Mark managed, still flat on his back, "are the best possible person I could have landed near right now."

Sera crossed walked toward him, sheathing her blade as something like a smile was tugging at her lips. "You’re welcome. Also, you should really carry a weapon."

"Yeah, you’re right." He replied... "Although, it would be pointless if every weapon i touch turns to dust after each use..."

"Fair." She offered him a hand up, and he took it gratefully, still dripping and thoroughly wet with water...

"Glad you’re alive."

"Likewise," Mark said, wringing water from his sleeve. "Never thought I’d say this, but genuinely, truly glad to see you specifically."

"Don’t get mushy on me."

"Hehe, I’d rather not." He grinned, some of his usual energy returning now that the immediate danger was over. "So. Should we go find everyone else, or do you want to stand here a while longer basking in how good I look half drowned?"

Sera rolled her eyes and walked past him.

"Let’s find everyone else," Sera said, "or at least what’s left of them..."

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