The worst part of rewinding and retrying is, well, the time loops. That’s also part of why Angel never liked hastily rewinding back and repeating the same actions over again. But sometimes, it was necessary to go through a couple of short loops before progressing.

Sunlight shone again through the window onto the wood floor. On the straw bed lay Angel, sleeping. To her side sat Arthur, looking worried. Arthur reached his hand out to place it on Angel’s shoulder. But Angel’s eyes suddenly flipped open, and her arm shot up to hit Arthur’s hand away.

This was the third time she had woken to this scene, and it wasn’t that she had a choice of when to rewind to. Right now, she still had to save Damien from his fate, and she had no choice but to select this point—her earliest conscious state in this time period—as her checkpoint. She would have to get Arthur onto Damien’s side in order to clear this checkpoint.

“Thank god! You’re awake!” Angel turned away from her thoughts and looked up at Arthur. He had stood up, and his face was covered with relief. “Just rest for now and don’t move too much. I’ve healed your wounds, but there are some after-effects.”

Angel nodded and started to stretch her arms and legs, moving them slowly. She had to be able to get moving quickly.

“Thank you for healing me, by the way.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. Actually, I didn’t really do much. I just gave a little push and your body kind of did the rest.”

Angel nodded again. She had to stall Arthur for enough time to be able to move easily again. “Why are you helping me, anyway?”

Arthur sat back down on the bed. “Well, I can’t leave a wounded girl by herself. Don’t worry, though. I’ll be sure to get you back home soon. I have a time machine hidden in the forest.”

Angel didn’t bother to tell him the time machine was probably already broken. If she did, she would be revealing that she was going through a time loop. She might as well be confessing murder to an officer. Instead, she continued questioning Arthur, searching for more information. “What about the boy? Where is he?”

Arthur’s expression turned serious. “He’s downstairs. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” He clenched his teeth and formed a fist with his hands. “I’ll be sure get some sense out of him for what he did to you.”

It was too risky to try to convince Arthur Damien was innocent now. He was helping her, but it wasn’t certain if he would turn on her if she revealed she was on Damien’s side. She could try winding back after trying to tell Arthur about it, but that would have to wait until later once she could move well again.

Arthur stood from the bed. “Well, I think that’s what I’m going to do now. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said, walking to the door.

This time, Angel let him leave. When the door closed behind Arthur, she sat up, ignoring her sore muscles. Her vision blacked out for a moment as the blood rushed from her head. After she was sure she had the strength to stand up, she left the bed and staggered toward the table.

Angel quickly ripped the pants prepared for her into a pair of shorts and put them on, leaving her white dress over her body. She didn’t know exactly when Arthur had finished his “business,” so the earlier she got down there, the better.

After she finished preparing, she hastily opened the door and left the cabin. The early morning sunlight shined brightly on the clearing, and Angel shaded her eyes with an arm as she ran around to the back.

The trapdoor was wide open, and hay bales were neatly stacked to the sides of it. That made Angel’s heart skip a beat as she remembered her second take. Had those shooters already come this quickly? It took them around half an hour to get here last round, but what if they had decided to come quicker in this timeline? On her first take they only came hours after she woke, so it could be possible.

But as Angel neared the trapdoor and peered in, she saw Arthur standing at the end, with the light from outside shining onto his back. It didn’t look like her pursuers had arrived yet, and maybe Arthur had only shut the trapdoor once he started to get more serious with Damien. If that was the case, then Angel had come earlier enough to have a chance in saving him.

Down in the cellar, Arthur was saying something to Damien, and Angel listened as she stealthily stepped down the stairs.

“…question: what did you do to the girl you were with?” Arthur’s voice echoed in the cellar and escaped through the stairwell. Silence followed his question, then there was a response from Damien that was barely audible, and Angel could only hear bits of it.

“…I don’t know…met her yesterday…didn’t do anything…school shooting…she saved me…”

“Then tell me, why did she save you? You don’t look like someone worth saving.”

“I… She…”

It became quiet again, and Angel stopped in her tracks. Damien was looking down—he hadn’t seen her yet. Arthur was standing in front of Damien, arms crossed, waiting. If there was a time for action, then now was it.

A faint aura appeared around Angel. If she temporally decelerated herself, she could have an upper advantage, but it was likely Arthur knew the same trick. She dashed down the final set of stairs and across the small room as fast as a bike.

Arthur realized the situation just in time and turned to send a punch at his attacker. Angel tilted her head slightly and the strike missed by a hair. With the speed she gained from her running start, she sent a fist at Arthur’s stomach. Arthur dodged the attack just in time as well, stepping to the side. But that was the same move as last time, just as Angel expected. She threw herself around Arthur’s torso and used his momentum to try to push him over. He stepped back, keeping his balance, and sent another punch from Angel’s blind spot, straight into her jaw.

Angel released her grip and staggered back. The strike had rattled her head, and her vision started to fade. She backed up to the wall and leaned on it, looking up at Arthur with a faint smile. She was going to lose this fight, but it didn’t matter as long as she was still conscious to rewind back.

“What’s with you attacking the person who saved you?” Arthur’s expression was suspicious, but he also felt guilty at the fact that he had hit a girl.

Angel talked quietly over her heavy breathing. “Then, what is with you…hurting Damien…”

“What was that?” Arthur’s expression turned confused as he didn’t hear that last statement well.

Angel ignored Arthur’s question and got ready for a time jump. Damien was looking at her with shocked and worried eyes. Just before Arthur went over to pick Angel up, her body went limp, her consciousness leaving her.

Angel woke again in the sun-lit room. Arthur stood up from his seat at the edge of the straw bed and exclaimed in relief. And for the fourth time, Angel heard, “Thank god! You’re awake!”

As she stretched her arms and legs, Angel played through the events of the fight, preparing her next set of moves. Well, the only new idea she thought of was to dodge the punch at her head, and beyond that, it was all unknown.

Seeing Angel trying to restore her strength, Arthur spoke up. “For now, just rest and don’t move too much. I’ve healed your bullet wounds, and there are some after-effects.”

Angel shelved her thoughts and turned to Arthur. If she played things out the same as last time, then she would have enough time to get her movement back and get to Damien in time. So the two went through the same conversation. Arthur left the room, and Angel followed behind after getting dressed.

Behind the cabin, Angel tip-toed down the stairs as Arthur interrogated Damien. At the same point in time as her last take, she dashed through the room, dodging Arthur’s first punch and sending her own. She wrapped herself around Arthur, pushing him back, and he stepped back to keep himself from tipping over.

This time, though, Angel knew the punch when it was coming. She tilted back, and Arthur’s fist missed her nose by an inch. Then she twisted around and prepared to slam him to the ground.

Too heavy. Arthur didn’t even budge an inch. Instead, Arthur sent a foot across Angel’s legs, causing her to trip and fall. As her body hit the ground, her muscles relaxed and she went unconscious. Second attempt. Fail.

Third attempt. Dodge Arthur’s foot, but take hit to the top of the head by his elbow. Fail.

Fourth attempt. Dodge the elbow, only to be hit on the shoulder, releasing Arthur. Fail.

Fifth attempt. Dodge the elbow, twist to prevent it the strike on the shoulder, attempt to push Arthur over, and get pushed away into the wall. Fail.

Sixth attempt. Turn in the opposite direction and attempt to pull Arthur off balance, then get pushed back after he twisted around. Fail.

Seven was the lucky number this time. Using Arthur’s momentum from his exaggerated turn, Angel strengthened her grip, crouched down, and prepared to slam him down to finish him.

When Arthur relaxed his muscles and yelled out in defeat, it was already too late, as she had already sent him on his way to the ground. Arthur fell on his back with a loud thud, effectively knocking the air out of his lungs.

Angel glanced at the cuffs around Damien’s wrists and walked up to Arthur. “Where is the key?” She demanded.

After taking a short while to catch his breath, Arthur spoke. “Seriously, why did you just attack me out of nowhere?”

Angel put a foot over his arm, leaning forward to put her entire body weight over it. It didn’t look like it affected Arthur much, but he reluctantly handed himself in. “Okay, okay. I’ll give you the keys,” he said, taking a ring of keys from his pocket. Angel grabbed it and headed over to Damien to unlock his handcuffs.

But as she was going through each of the many keys, testing them one by one, a wide kick rammed in from the side, striking dead center on her head. Before Angel hit the ground, she became unconscious.

Well, victory just never comes easy.