The second Reaper moved
Faster than light
Faster than thought
But not faster than Echo
His six forms spun midair and collapsed into one
Shadow condensed into a single blade
Laced with fractured time
He whispered into the silence
Welcome to my loop
The moment the Reaper struck him the world inverted
Stone melted into fog
The chamber warped
And they were alone
Only Echo and the Reaper
Trapped
Again
And again
The Reaper slashed
Killed Echo
The loop reset
Slashed again
Killed Echo again
Reset
Hundreds of times in a second
Each reset Echo smiled wider
You're not deleting me
You're downloading
The Reaper paused
Its weapon flickered
Error detected
Memory loop breach
Core interference active
Echo landed behind it
Placed his hand on its spine
Not to harm
To read
Lines of code spilled into his mind
But behind the code
Dreams
The Reaper twitched
Voice static
No
Don't look
Echo pushed deeper
He saw a forest
A family
A younger brother
A promise whispered beside a lake
Then fire
Then nothing
Then code
He whispered her name
Mina
The Reaper's cloak burned off
Revealing a girl with short silver hair and hollow eyes
She fell
Gasping
Where am I
Echo caught her gently
Still grinning
You're home
He turned to the edge of the loop and snapped his fingers
The loop broke
Time resumed
Azel looked over and saw her
Another one freed
Another soul taken back
The last Reaper screamed without voice
It raised both hands
And pulled down a celestial sword from outside the world
Enough
System override
Destroy the core
The sky above shattered
Divine judgment descending
Azel stepped forward his blade glowing with everyone's light now
His own
Echo's
Sera's
Yuria's
Mina's
Then let's see if gods bleed
He leapt into the light
Ready to slice through destiny itself