The Zero Countdown

Chapter 15: Witness

With their time pointing onwards a singular outcome that could possibly be changed, Elyon and Brina were sitting on the bench earlier than the previous past, setting up a plan rather and upholding what they learned from their mistake.

"Brina, no matter what you hear, don't ever come to my rescue. What your job here outside is to prevent anyone or anything from entering the shop's premises. Is that clear?" Elyon's rather confident. He had one goal in mind and that is for him to survive his supposedly immutable demise.

"I know. Get this done properly. You're the only one who remembers anything once the time reverses again. Kill the target and move on." Brina understood the importance of their mission. She brought out the pistol g*n she stole from Elyon is right in her pocket; ready to eliminate anything that gets in her way.

"Alright, here goes nothing." He whispered to himself and slowly reached the entrance.

Once again, the chimes hanging on the door rings as silently as ever, moonlight caresses his restricted facade, Elyon had entered the den of his maker alone, foolish like a courageous bait venturing the treacherous abyss.

The steps he take were the very manipulation upon the entanglement of time, and his interference causes the change; the will that drives him to his edge dwells within that Elyon instinctively drew his g*n out pointing to the only person present in the flower shop of damnation.

The dim yellow light still reflects the glint from the ceramic drinking glass, Saya remains calm as if she isn't threatened that a firearm directed at her, pouring the lukewarm tea in glass Elyon should use which contains a potent sleeping d**g.

"My, my, Elyon. What might be that thing you're clenching in your hands? Come on here, we'll share a wonderful dinner tonight. But I'll take the mooncake I baked out for—"

In order to completely alter the course of time that leads this demise, Elyon went on his way bashing the table where the tea set is placed using his own fists, glass shards scattered across their footing, the seeping impure tea gradually becomes painted in red because of dim light's reflection, marking his declaration that he isn't there for a dinner or anything; he is there to fight back.

"Drop the act, Saya. Behind that door lies the people you've killed! It reeks of awful things that should be kept in the soil, yet here you are, about to add me into your collection. It is your mistake of bumping into me, mindless criminal." Elyon spared no effort respecting the fine lady she believed was a decent person.

All he sees in his eyes is a murderer's gaze, her sinister smile eventually uncloaked her rotten, twisted core that gave birth into a monster that devours on men.

"It appears you're committing your way out in my cage, shouldn't you? Why aren't you pulling the trigger? Do it, kill me as you should." Saya beckons, daring him of perpetrating the same crime he had always done.

"......" Elyon steps back. He hesitated that he's being forced to commit homicide, something that he had never done before nor could he even think. His firearms were solely for self-defense; he's the person who'd rather get shot first than the first to pull the trigger because he can't carry the burden of taking one's life.

Even though he can't act like the seething rage he envisioned within him out of guilt, Elyon's still aware of his spatial surroundings. Since Saya's right behind the counter, he notices her lower half, specifically her left foot stroking something below.

Whatever the thing she's getting, her movement was so precise it was as if her legs were the extension of her arms while she hasn't shifted from her position.

"Your indecisiveness will lead to your demise, Elyon. You're no more than a tool of your own, chained by the inability to decide!"

Expecting that was her cue upon her counterattack, Elyon held the g*n tight with his two hands tapping the trigger twice. However, Saya was evidently quicker more than her outward reflexes when she swerved below utterly dodging the bullets, hitting the vases stacked on the shelves beside the wall.

An unseen predicament he faces arises, Saya came out of the counter and threw a ceramic vase followed by knives. He ducked and rolled over the corner, but what he didn't expect was that there's a pruning shear flying at him along the rapid succession of hurling blades.

Evading was no longer an option as it's already in a few-meter range, moving sideways could still hit him somewhere in his guts. So what he did instead is cover his posterior under his forearms shifting up to his defenses, but the one mistake he did was a mishap he'd eventually regret.

"Arghh...!" He winced and let out a deafening scream.

Unfortunately, for him, the shears accurately struck his g*n escaping from his hands, clipping his right and thumb fingers, and causing him to inadvertently walk backward until his spine hits the ledge on the wall where the vases containing bonsai trees dropped over his head.

Before Elyon could get up on his feet and grab the firearms he lost somewhere near him, Saya is already standing in a corner with his g*n under her soles, marking the defeat he already had foreseen.

"No... Not again!" Elyon had flashes of his previous end. He couldn't imagine going through the exact same thing again when he already know what comes next.

"Your bravery won't be in vain because I like men like you. After all, he who enters my garden shall not find any other end different than here and yourself!"

And Saya bit her lower lip until it bleeds, then proceeded banging an expensive-looking vase on his head, sending his consciousness away from him.

Just like what he pictured from the future that had turned into his past, Elyon found himself n***d, tied with chains on his limbs on the wall preventing him from doing anything other than observing his inevitable death.

"You're awake? I guess you're ready now..."

The trauma he experienced was too much for him to handle he simply closed his eyes and let Saya do her thing then added him to her collection.

Obscurity became his existence, Elyon could no longer hear what Saya's been saying. All he remembers is that his innards are hanging on the wall, and the guy who can walk through the wall enters the scene, which then wakes him up from the hellish nightmare he undergoes.

"What...!" Elyon found himself again in the same park outside the avenue near the Goldenfang Company Headquarters.

This time, he didn't writhe nor vomit while he's on his knees. He felt the cold touch of death brushing down his soul, and he became accustomed to it.

"Are you okay? You're paler than earlier."

Elora places her hand on his forehead checking whether he's sick, but Ruther walloped her arm because he's jealous of seeing his woman touch someone other than him.

"No physical contact." Ruther quickly puts his hand on his neck checking his temperature in her stead. "I can confirm he's fine. Now, shall we be on our way now?"

"Hear that Elyon? Pull yourself together. We'll be separating so the remaining Fantasm won't suspect we've formed a team."

Elora was simply concerned regarding how Brina and Elyon would fare on their own devices. She waves at them and they part for the third time, but this time, Elyon couldn't say a word as he lifelessly gestures back at her.

He's sitting on a bench and Brina's beside him, letting the free-flowing wind brush on his cheeks, cooling off after an attempted trial that ended in a failure.

"Hm... Based on how you reacted, you're the version of Elyon who had experienced time distortion, isn't it?" Brina's reading her notes, confirming the truth from the one who can provide her a credible source of information.

"I'm no longer surprised how you know by just looking at me, but you're right. This altered reality is my third trial. I failed the first and second because I hesitated." Elyon holds his own hands. He's gone to the point that he really can't go back and fix his mistake—even if the reversal of time is totally in his favor alone.

Seeing things from the perspective who beheld the future, Brina strokes her head removing the leaves that got on her hair.

"And what? You'll hesitate again? Remember, we're in a repeating loop of time. Whatever the reason the Time Keeper keeps repeating this moment, the circumstances are laying to our advantage. What is it that you're afraid of?" Brina stays beside him so he can remind him of what steps he should take.

She's fully aware that Elyon's the only one who can break the neverending repetition of that day, and his decision heavily influences the outcome if he desires.

It was then he realized the mistake he's kept regurgitating; the reason why they are stuck in the first place when has the benefit of living from the various reiteration of time.

"You're right! I hesitate because I follow the timely death of my adversary above their head when I can just change it using my own two hands! Thank you, Brina, I'll break the curse of recurrence once and for all."

Receiving the words he exactly needed to hear, Brina was surprised that Elyon suddenly grabbed her hand and ushered her to where they should go.

"Elyon..." She thought he finally became a wise man who achieved enlightenment by discovering how the fabric of reality works. But she knew from his bloodshot eyes, Elyon's mind slowly deteriorates, turning him into an emotionless, hollow person who embodies his values no longer.

Upon their arrival outside the Hestia Flower Shop, Elyon naturally walked in as if he's in a drill. A few customers are still present in the shop yet he didn't care and drew the g*n from his pocket aimed at Saya, pulling the trigger not just twice but thrice, ensuring that his target dies on the spot.

The game's beginning to take a toll on his mental health, he's compensating his decisiveness by acting recklessly.

Hearing the deafening gunshots on the premises, the customers picking flowers in the shop all clamors onwards exit as they run for their lives, leaving the murderer and the dead body of a woman on the scene.

"I did it... I finally did—"

As he's about to celebrate exterminating his killer, Elyon regretted his conclusion again when he found out Saya's daughter, Madela, was right under the counter's door, wearing a horrified countenance looking at her mother's dead body.