There is a time in a man's life when everything goes wrong. Then there was the time when everything that went wrong could be fixed, if just one person did their job.

  Fortunately or unfortunately, the small Legion detachment that normally patrolled the streets outside was nowhere to be seen. This wasn't really a problem during normal times, but in this vision, he wasn't willing to chance it. The succubi had already turned his friends against him. What more could he do against them?

  He didn't want to fight his friends, and they were not as advanced. It would have been a one-sided slaughter and he would never be able to forgive himself. That didn't stop them from chasing him.

  "Where are you going?" Gia's words chased after him as he took to the streets outside. There weren't enough people fighting back on the street.

  There were far too many demons far too deep into the capital. If he was going to get something out of this vision, he needed to find an Oracle and figure out why. Then he could try and reset it.

  The thought of intentionally dying made him smirk. But that was what he had been doing, wasn't it? There was nothing forcing him to stand and fight. If he could just figure out a way to defeat the succubi, he might be able to get enough help to make it.

  Ludere passed by dozens of white stone buildings. He had never sought out an Oracle personally, but he had many questions. He just needed to lose both of his pursuers. They weren't even demons!

  Passing a familiar vendor in the closest marketplace, he hung right. If it hadn't been for giving up his Athletics skill for Soul Magic during this loop, this would have been easy. But of course he was an idiot, and hadn't thought it through. Behind him, he heard the familiar sound of someone crashing into a stall. The wood always bent the wrong way.

  He didn't pause to check who it was. He just kept running.

  The further he ran away, the fewer demons there were. The more humanity stopped them in their tracks. This mattered. There were more dead people closer to the arena and fewer further out, but he was okay with that. If he died, the loop would reset, and he would be back where he was, once again. He didn't want to die again, not having satisfied the requirements for his newest skill. It had already helped him to dodge several demons he wouldn't have otherwise seen.

  It was like they could easily be sniffed out just by him combining some aspect of his Will with Soul Magic. There was just something that made the combination feel better. His Will advanced again, but his Soul Magic was still frustratingly not there. He needed to keep running.

  He needed to find a temple of Iosan. Iosan would almost certainly have an Oracle, and if not, at least he could figure out why the gods had chosen him for this terrible task.

  At the very least he could get some spiritual guidance.

  ---

  As it turned out, the festival of Iosan had been in full swing that day. Rows of tables were full of revelers who were drinking and eating. None of that stopped Ludere. There wasn't a demon in sight, but Gia was still hot on his tail. He couldn't shake her. He had hoped that the distance would help.

  They were certainly far enough from the arena that theoretically the succubi couldn't directly control Gia. However, that distance didn't seem to be an issue, and if this was a function of Soul Magic, then it was powerful indeed. Perhaps he could swap skills with a demoness, and figure out a way to use their abilities against them.

  The portal had been made of something.

  Ludere dodged a half-naked party-goer.

  "Stay and have a drink, Ludo! It's a fine day!"

  The happy, drunk man tried to give him a hug. Ludere narrowly dodged only because the man's aura stunk, to his senses.

  "She wants to party! Help her!"

  Ludere pointed to Gia without slowing. The crowd roared and several men and women got up to greet her, effectively blocking her way.

  He couldn't see her irritation but he knew that growl. She wanted to move through them, but they were yelling at her.

  He found the entrance to the temple. The large, domed structure was unmistakable. Inside, there was a small crowd. What did their robes look like?

  He blew past the open air atrium entrance and ran for the man in the orange toga.

  The priest of Iosan regarded him with compassionate eyes. Underneath his greying hair it almost felt paternal. How long had it been since he had seen his parents? It felt like a lifetime.

  "My child, what troubles you?"

  "I… need… an… Oracle." The brief respite caused him to start catching his breath.

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  He would not be swapping his Athletics skill anytime soon on any more of these visions. He would need to pick another skill to swap out.

  "Ah. An Oracle, in a hurry? I suppose we can find one for you. Are you in some sort of trouble?"

  "There's been a demon invasion. It hasn't gotten this far yet. But a whole legion is pouring into the arena."

  The priest's face paled. "A demonic legion? How long ago?"

  "A half hour at most. I stayed until they would have enveloped me."

  The priest looked shaken up. "Child, this… What you're saying is ridiculous if true, but how are you going to…"

  The priest steadied himself on Ludere with a hand. "By Iosan. How are you so… How are you standing?"

  "With difficulty. Anyway, is there an Oracle I can speak with? I am going to need to find a way to end this."

  "How?"

  The crowd outside got louder. Something was happening, but he didn't have time to investigate. "Look. Imagine that I am the only person who can defeat the legion. I've been having these repeated visions about the invasion that is literally happening right now. Can you help me?"

  Gia burst into the atrium and paused. She had to have seen the way he went. There was no hiding his spear, and any hand-to-hand fighting against her would not bode well for his future. That was a problem that he would need to deal with on his own terms.

  This might be the best chance he ever got to match skills against an unarmed opponent who really just wanted to kill him with her bare hands. If it had been most other people, he would not have taken issue with it. But Gia was his friend.

  Above all else, he didn't want to kill his friends. She lost her spear somewhere, but any threat she posed to him would end up with one of them dead.

  She stalked towards him, finally taking her time. The shell-shocked priest next to him babbled incoherently.

  "She's under the effect of a demonic Soul spell. Can you do anything about it?"

  Ludere, through no fault of his own, brandished his spear against Gia. He didn't know how to tire her out without doing grievous wounds to an important part of her body. She could waddle around without full use of her legs, but she wouldn't be able to chase him down.

  "Our oracle, she is here right with us now." The priest of Iosan turned to the motley crew of clergy that looked like they were one drink away from sleep. There in the center, an eyeless woman. She wore a blindfold over her face, but he could tell that there was nothing behind it. Where there were once eyes, the cloth was sunken in.

  She looked directly at him.

  Ludere was torn. He might get to ask the Oracle one or two questions before Gia was upon him. But still, one or two were better than a long shot.

  "Help me," he said, getting as close as he could to her without embracing her.

  The Oracle placed her hands evenly upon his chest and then suddenly they were not in the room anymore.

  His world was all dark corners and far, bright lights.

  "I see so much pain. What brings you here?"

  Ludere was momentarily out of sorts. He had seen the Empire do some incredible things, but this was instantaneous teleportation to another place. It felt like something all together sinister and beyond his understanding.

  "Where are we?"

  "We are within your mind. This won't last very long, and even though time passes slowly on the outside, this will give us enough time that I can divine something for you."

  Everything about this place felt like death. With a start, he realized that she still had her hands on his chest.

  It felt like she was pulsing something through him and he didn't know how he could affect it. It had to be some skill he didn't have. He pushed back the urge to ask her about her skills or try a Skill Swap with her.

  "I keep dying and waking up at the same time. Each time, I'm at work and then the demons invade. I've gotten better at killing them, but there's just too many of them for me in my current state to fight."

  He quickly explained what happened. He'd gotten it down to a minute and she seemed to understand, nodding along as he spoke faster and faster about how he kept dying over and over again.

  "You have been chosen for some sort of task that I cannot and do not understand. You were wise to come and seek counsel. I cannot tell what you must do, but if the gods have given you these visions, then I am but a part of your vision. If not? Then the world… I cannot imagine."

  She paused for a brief second.

  Her touch felt familiar, like she'd been doing it for a long time, and he welcomed it. He needed more of this in his life, and if he ever got out of these visions, he would find himself a good woman, and settle down and never fight again. But for now?

  "What am I meant to do?"

  "The gods are capricious, but they always give Heroes a way to—"

  "We're not in a damn story. I've died over and over again. How do I get out of this? How do I save my friends?"

  She gasped. "Not much time now. If you die you need to seek me out again."

  Ludere had only died roughly seven times, and he was already tired of it. He wanted to live. But it looked like he wasn't going to get Soul Magic this time. He tried to push it out but it felt too weary for him. He needed to level will to two to get something, and it taken him too long to get it to begin with, and he hadn't lasted in a loop this long since loops began.

  It had been almost two hours, and he spent most of that time working on the skill. So did he have to run away after getting it, and push his boundaries that way? How long would it take the demonic legion to utterly destroy the Capitol?

  Just the thought of it alone made him shudder. There was clearly enough of them to destroy every man, woman, and child inside of the Capitol. Nothing would stand in their way, especially with the legion out on training exercises, and they would just return home to see their loved ones exsanguinated on the street.

  Demons didn't leave prisoners if they could help it.

  In none of the stories he grew up reading was that even an issue.

  "There's nothing you could do about this? I need to seek you out again, don't I?"

  "Our time is up."

  The world shifted as he returned back to the real world, only to find the Oracle had been run through with a familiar spear.

  Gia looked directly into his eyes as she kicked the Oracle off of her spear.

  "A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Would you care to hear about it?"