Future Defenders - Book 1 - Rise of the Murderers

Chapter 11 - Here, Again

Rusty entered the Legends Hallway, and as expected, Riley was standing where he was last time. Also like last time, he emerged from under the shadows to confront them, whilst keeping his distance.

"I've seen you've been busy. Killing everyone. Going where you pleased. Torturing us."

Rusty stood their silently while grinning.

"Only thing is, you've done all of this. I remember it all clear as day. Last time, I asked you why you were killing us all. This time, I want to know why you came back. Why you didn't leave like you said you would after killing everyone."

"Well, at the end, I found myself to have enjoyed doing it. And then I realised, I could reverse time and do it all again. So that's what I did."

"That's all, you just... enjoyed yourself."

"Pretty much. You know you can't do anything to prevent me from coming back."

"You right, but there is one thing I can do. Through the pains of having to remember every time I see my friends die, I can prepare. Find new ways to possibly end you. "

For a second encounter, Riley treated like the two had been battling for years, with Rusty always winning. Truth be told, he refused to let anyone who mistreated his friends get away with it, meaning murder was no difference.

"So what's your plan?" Rusty asked sarcastically.

"Why should it tell you? It'll be much better as a surprise. Be grateful that I at least gave you a slight heads up."

The sun set through the windows, as the two ready themselves. Rusty spun their knife as they moved it out of their pocket. Riley's eyes changed colours and activated the bracelet. There was silence for a moment, before it was broken by them both unleashing their attacks.

Riley started with a town of Mega Blasters, which Rusty countered by deflecting them with their knife. They then charged at Riley and attempted to stab him. He moved the side and threw them against one of the pillars, causing a crack to form in it. 

The fight was mostly the same as before, but with a few differences. Rusty had more knowledge about the attacks from last time, so they were able to find ways to dodge every attack, and die less often. However, whenever they got hit by one of the attacks, it hurt a lot more thanks to the bracelet Riley was using. The only thing it wasn't helping him with, was his stamina. He was finding himself to get more tired every time he dodged an attack from Rusty, which were more frequent.

Nevertheless, Riley continued to push on, trying to kill this killer that had ruined everything. He summoned one of his swords and ran up to Rusty. They began to engage in a sword fights, although it wasn't really fair, with Rusty reversing time if they lost, and Riley using some of his powers to try and give him the upper hand. When it became too risky fighting in close combat, Riley teleported to a safer distance and continued to use spikes and Mega Blasters to kill Rusty.

Finally, it got to the point where Riley had to unleash his final attacks. Mega Blasters and spikes where everywhere, as Rusty weaved their way through them all. Trying to get closer, they attempted to brute force their way through, but here was just too much to get through. Being forced to go through and avoid every attack, Rusty managed to navigate their way as a Riley continued to throw everything he had at them.

Eventually, his time ran out and was killed. Just like last time. And just like last time, Rusty went on to kill everyone else with zero effort. Looking over into the ocean, once gain, they reversed time and restarted everything.

Nothing major changed every time Rusty went on to reverse time. Kill everyone in Ruined Village with no effort started things off before an encounter with Riley. Despite constantly waking and remembering everything from the past reversals, he never killed Rusty then and there, in the extremely small chance that what he went through was a nightmare. But every time, he was wrong as he faced the dead bodies.