The question hung in the air like a guillotine blade waiting to drop.

  How many times have I killed you already?

  kai stood paralyzed, his mouth agape, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. The bustling sounds of the Guild hall—the clatter of armor, the scratching of quills, the murmur of voices—seemed to fade into a dull, grey static.

  He looked into yon Moretti's eyes and saw no madness there. He saw only a terrifying, cold sanity. This man wasn't guessing. He knew.

  "I..." kai stammered, his grip on the wooden token tightening until his knuckles turned white. "I don't know what—"

  "Mr. Moretti!"

  The sharp voice of the receptionist sliced through the tension. She slammed her ledger shut, the sound echoing like a gunshot. "The exam commencement spell is activating! You are restricted from interfering with applicants during the transfer phase. Step back, or I will file a formal complaint with the Grandmaster!"

  yon didn't flinch. He didn't look at the woman. He kept his dark eyes locked on kai for one second longer—a second that felt like an eternity.

  "We aren't finished," yon whispered.

  Before kai could process the threat, the floor beneath him erupted in a blinding flash of azure light. The intricate runes etched into the black marble of the Guild hall flared to life, humming with arcane power.

  Gravity lurched. The sensation was akin to falling down a flight of stairs while standing perfectly still. kai felt his stomach drop into his boots. The world twisted, stretched, and then snapped back into place.

  The warmth of the Guild hall vanished. The smell of old paper and roasted meat was replaced by the damp, heavy scent of wet stone and mildew.

  kai gasped, stumbling forward and catching himself against a cold, rough wall.

  He was alone.

  Gone was the reception desk. Gone were the other applicants. Gone was the terrifying cowboy who remembered murders that hadn't happened yet.

  He was standing in a narrow stone corridor, illuminated only by clumps of bioluminescent moss clinging to the ceiling. The air was stagnant and cool.

  "Okay," kai breathed, his voice trembling in the silence. "Okay. I'm safe. I'm in the exam."

  He slid down the wall to a sitting position, clutching his head. His mind was a whirlpool of panic. He remembers. How can he remember? I don't even understand what's happening, and he remembers killing me?

  For a moment, kai considered curling into a ball and waiting for the exam to end. He wanted to go back to Oakhaven. He wanted to help his mother bake bread. He wanted to listen to Old Man Miller complain about the weather.

  But then he looked at his hand.

  The bandage on his palm was spotted with fresh red. The 'M'—the intersection of his Head, Life, and Heart lines—throbbed with a dull ache.

  He had trained for ten years for this. He had promised his mother he would make her proud. He had told the village he would come back a Gold-Rank. If he quit now, if he let fear paralyze him, he would just be another failure. And worse, he would be a defenseless victim for whenever yon decided to finish the job.

  "Move," kai commanded himself. "Just move. Finish the exam. Get your license. Then figure out the rest."

  He slapped his cheeks, stinging the skin, forcing the fear down into a tight ball in his gut. He stood up, adjusted his white beanie, and looked down the dark corridor.

  "Right," he whispered. "Time to be an Exterminator."

  The dungeon was a labyrinth designed to break spirits.

  The corridors twisted and turned without logic. Sometimes the ceiling vaulted high enough to hide in shadows; other times, kai had to stoop to avoid scraping his head. The silence was heavy, broken only by the drip of condensation and the echo of his own boots.

  kai moved with caution, his senses dialed to eleven.

  Ten minutes in, the silence broke.

  A low, guttural growl echoed from the darkness ahead.

  kai stopped. He widened his stance, dropping his center of gravity. He unwrapped the cloth from his right hand, exposing the raw, red lines of the 'M'.

  From the shadows, three pairs of yellow eyes materialized.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  They were Goblins—wretched, green-skinned creatures with jagged teeth and rusted daggers. But they weren't alone. Flanking them was a Grey Wolf the size of a pony, its fur bristling, and behind them, squelching wetly against the stone floor, was a translucent Green Slime.

  A mixed pack. The examiners weren't making this easy.

  "Fresh meat!" the lead goblin shrieked, its voice scratching like nails on slate.

  The wolf didn't wait for a command. It launched itself forward, a blur of grey fur and snapping jaws, covering the distance in a heartbeat.

  kai didn't panic. The fear of yon was a cold, paralyzing weight, but this? This was combat. This was simple.

  Focus.

  kai raised his right hand. He didn't look at the wolf; he looked at the air in front of it.

  "M."

  He squeezed his hand, forcing his blood pressure to spike, channeling his bio-energy into the intersection of his palm lines. The air shrieked.

  He slashed his hand horizontally.

  THWACK.

  An invisible blade of pressurized air slammed into the wolf mid-leap. The beast yelped as the force knocked it sideways, sending it crashing into the stone wall with a bone-jarring crunch. It slumped to the floor, stunned.

  The goblins hesitated, their yellow eyes widening. They had expected a novice mage or a clumsy swordsman. They hadn't expected a boy who could slap the air and hit like a cannon.

  "Get him!" the goblin leader screamed, realizing hesitation was death.

  The three goblins charged, their rusted daggers raised. The slime slithered forward, spitting a glob of acidic green goo toward kai's legs.

  kai pivoted on his heel, dodging the acid. It hissed as it hit the stone where he had just been standing, bubbling violently.

  He brought his hand up, fingers splayed.

  Head line. Life line. Heart line.

  He thrust his palm forward. "Burst."

  A cannonball of compressed air erupted from his hand. It caught the center goblin in the chest, lifting it off its feet and throwing it backward into its companions. They went down in a tangle of limbs and screeching curses.

  kai didn't stop. He was moving now, the adrenaline flushing the terror of the time loop out of his system. He felt light. He felt powerful.

  He rushed the slime. Physical attacks often bounced off the jelly-like monsters, but kai didn't use solid weapons.

  He brought his hand down in a vertical chop. The air pressure blade sliced clean through the slime's core. The monster shuddered, lost its cohesion, and dissolved into a harmless puddle of green water.

  A chime sounded in the air—a magical notification from the dungeon itself.

  Experience gained.

  kai didn't have time to celebrate. The wolf was getting back up, shaking its head. The goblins were untangling themselves.

  "Stay down!" kai yelled.

  He swept his hand across the corridor again, a wide, sweeping slash. The invisible wave caught the goblins as they tried to stand, knocking them flat against the cold stone. They groaned, dropping their weapons, clearly finished.

  The wolf snarled, preparing for another lunge, but kai pointed his bleeding palm directly at its snout. The air around his hand distorted, heat rising in waves.

  The wolf whined, tucked its tail, and bolted back into the darkness.

  Silence returned to the corridor.

  kai stood panting, his chest heaving. He looked at his hand. The blood was flowing freely now, dripping onto the dungeon floor. He quickly re-wrapped the bandage, wincing at the sting.

  "Not bad," he whispered to himself, a small, genuine smile touching his lips. "Not bad at all."

  He walked over to where the goblins had dropped their loot. A small, glass vial filled with red liquid rolled across the stone. A minor healing potion.

  kai scooped it up, uncorked it, and downed it in one gulp. The metallic taste washed over his tongue, and the stinging in his hand faded to a dull thrum.

  He felt a surge of triumph. He could do this. He really could.

  "Impressive technique."

  kai spun around, his hand already rising to strike.

  A young man was standing at the junction of the corridor, leaning casually against the wall. He had spiky black hair, a friendly, open face, and wore light leather armor dyed a deep blue. He held a long, silver spear in one hand, resting it on his shoulder.

  He held up his free hand in a gesture of peace. "Whoa, easy there. I'm not a goblin."

  kai lowered his hand slowly, but he didn't relax his stance. "Who are you?"

  "Yui," the stranger said, pushing off the wall and walking closer. He moved with a feline grace, silent and balanced. "I heard the commotion. Saw you take out that pack. That air pressure thing? Very cool. Haven't seen a spell like that before."

  "It's not a spell," kai said automatically. "It's technique."

  "Even better," Yui grinned. "Less mana drain. Look, this maze is huge, and the monsters are getting thicker the deeper we go. The rules say we can form parties of up to four. Interested in a duo?"

  kai hesitated.

  His first instinct was to say yes. Yui seemed capable, and watching his back in a dungeon was standard Exterminator protocol.

  But then the image of yon flashed in his mind. How many times have I killed you?

  If kai was trapped in some kind of temporal nightmare, was it safe to drag someone else into it? If yon showed up, would he kill Yui too? Or worse, was Yui working with him?

  kai looked at Yui’s face. It was earnest. There was no cold killer instinct in his eyes, just the pragmatic look of someone who wanted to pass a test.

  If I tell him... kai thought. If I say, 'Hey, I'm being hunted by a time-traveling cowboy,' he'll leave. Or he'll attack me thinking I've lost my mind.

  "I..." kai started, then cleared his throat. "Sure. I'm kai. From Oakhaven."

  "Nice to meet you, kai from Oakhaven," Yui said, extending a hand. "Let's get to the end of this thing before the slimes dissolve our boots."

  They moved well together.

  Yui was fast. His spear was a blur of silver, keeping enemies at bay with precise, stinging thrusts, while kai stayed in the mid-range, using his air blasts to knock back groups or finish off stunned targets.

  They cleared three more rooms. They found a chest containing mana crystals. They shared a stale loaf of bread Yui had packed.

  For an hour, kai almost forgot about the loop. He almost forgot about death.

  Almost.

  "Hey," Yui said, stopping abruptly. "Look at that."

  They were in a long, straight hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. The walls were the same uniform grey brick they had seen for miles.

  Except for one spot.

  On the left wall, about waist height, there was a hole.

  It wasn't a doorway. It wasn't an arch. It was a ragged, jagged breach in the masonry, as if something incredibly strong had smashed through the stone from the other side. Dust and rubble littered the floor around it.

  "That's not part of the dungeon design," Yui murmured, crouching down to inspect the debris. "The edges are raw. This wasn't magic. This was brute force."

  kai felt a cold shiver crawl down his spine. The dungeon was a magical construct. Breaking the walls shouldn't be possible for applicants.

  "We should keep moving," kai said, his voice tight. "The exit has to be forward."

  "Maybe," Yui said, standing up and peering into the dark opening. "But this looks like a shortcut. Or a secret room. High risk, high reward, right?"

  "Yui, I don't think—"

  "Come on," Yui grinned, stepping over the rubble. "If it's a boss, we take it. If it's a dead end, we turn back. Where's your spirit of adventure?"

  Before kai could protest, Yui ducked his head and stepped through the jagged hole.

  kai stood alone in the hallway.

  He looked at the dark opening. Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to run the other way. To find the official exit. To stay on the path.

  But he couldn't leave Yui alone. And... a small, dark part of him was curious. Who could break a dungeon wall?

  "Dammit," kai cursed softly.

  He checked his bandaged hand one last time, took a deep breath, and stepped through the breach.

  The room on the other side wasn't a dungeon chamber.

  It looked like an unfinished texture in a video game. The floor was rough, unpolished bedrock. The ceiling was low and uneven. There were no torches, no moss, just a suffocating darkness that seemed to swallow the light from the hallway behind them.

  Yui was standing a few feet ahead, his spear lowered, his body tense. He was staring at the far wall.

  "kai," Yui whispered. "There's someone here."

  kai stepped up beside him, squinting into the gloom.

  In the corner of the rough-hewn cavern, a figure sat on a large rock.

  He was casually cleaning his fingernails with the tip of a curved hunting dagger. He didn't look like an applicant. He didn't look like a dungeon monster.

  He looked like he was waiting for a bus.

  The figure stopped cleaning his nails. He sheathed the dagger in a smooth, practiced motion and stood up. The leather duster swished around his ankles.

  He walked forward into the faint light bleeding in from the hole.

  The white beanie felt like a target on kai's head.

  yon Moretti looked at Yui, then dismissed him entirely. His eyes locked onto kai. There was no anger this time. No shock. just a weary, heavy expectation.

  "Took you a while, huh?" yon said, his voice echoing in the small space. "I was starting to think you got eaten by a slime."

  kai couldn't breathe.

  Yui looked between them, confused. "kai? You know this guy?"

  kai didn't answer. He couldn't take his eyes off the man who had killed him twice.

  "Why?" kai whispered, the word scraping out of his throat. "Why are you here?"

  yon tilted his head, a dry, humorless smile touching his lips.

  "I am done."