Die, Replay, Repeat

Fang Xiu sat deep in thought.

*'How the hell do I stop Joker from blowing himself up?'*He mulled it over.

At present, the Xuanyuan Sword was the only thing capable of killing Joker, but with Joker’s Specterized body, his life force was absurdly resilient. Even a killing blow from the Xuanyuan Sword left Joker with just enough time to trigger that devastating self-destruction.

After a few minutes of pondering, Fang Xiu decided he needed to run more tests. His plan was to attack immediately after the Xuanyuan Sword struck, hopefully preventing Joker from having that final moment to blow himself up.

So, the scenario played out again.

Joker, falling right into Fang Xiu's traps once more, was struck by the Xuanyuan Sword. The blade cut deep, bringing him down.

He hit the ground hard, rage burning in his eyes.

“I will die, but I’ll take all of you dow—”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Before Joker could finish his threat, Fang Xiu unleashed everything he had left. He commanded the team to push through their exhaustion and deliver one last full-force attack.

Joker was bombarded by their combined strikes. But even then, it wasn’t enough to stop him. His Mindflare hadn’t been fully drained, and despite his impending death, as long as some remained, he could fend off the attacks and then detonate.

Fang Xiu ran through the sequence several more times. No matter how much he tweaked the strategy, the outcome never changed. Joker always managed to self-destruct, bringing everyone down with him.

It felt like an impossible cycle, as if fate had cemented the result in stone.

For a split second, Fang Xiu genuinely believed he was stuck in a no-win situation, caught in a never-ending reset loop.

With each failure, Fang Xiu's frustration deepened. He had always wondered if he’d one day encounter a true deadlock—a scenario where no amount of resets could lead to victory.

He had imagined running into a Specter so powerful that it would trap him in its twisted Domain, leaving him no escape or chance of success.

He hadn’t expected to face such a challenge so soon, and not in the way he thought. This wasn’t a situation where he couldn’t defeat the enemy. He could take Joker down—he had already done it multiple times. But the problem was stopping Joker from detonating afterward. It wasn’t a deadlock in the traditional sense.

There WAS a way out. He could always just run.

He could leave Joker to the captains, turn tail, and flee while the rest of them kept Joker occupied.

But that wasn’t an option Fang Xiu liked. Running would mean throwing away everything he had fought for. All the death resets, all the pain, would be for nothing.

He’d lose the trust and support of the Pokers and the headquarters. They’d never follow someone who abandoned them when things got tough.

But if he DID succeed? He’d gain their loyalty and support, solidifying his influence with both the Pokers and the headquarters. His voice would carry weight—people would have to listen.

Not that any of that was what drove him—Fang Xiu had never cared about power, control, or prestige. No, what he cared about was making every last Specter in the world suffer.

Everything he did was for that one purpose—to exact revenge, to release his rage upon the world, and most importantly, for his "wife!"

“I can die here ten thousand times, but I will never run away, not even once,” Fang Xiu murmured, almost as if talking to himself. His silver hair hung low, casting shadows over his face, but in that darkness, one of his eyes glowed faintly with the eerie red light.

“Xiu… what’s wrong?” Xiao Chuxia asked, her voice shaky, an inexplicable chill creeping down her spine.

Something about Fang Xiu’s presence felt different—unnerving.

“Nothing,” he replied calmly, his expression shifting back to normal so smoothly, it was as if the brief moment of unease had never existed.

This level of control over his emotions had become second nature to him over time.

After all, if he couldn’t handle his emotions, his "wife" wouldn’t have let him step foot outside their home.

“Hey, Xiu, where are you going? We’re supposed to head to the meeting, aren’t we?” Xiao Chuxia asked, confused as she noticed him suddenly changing direction.

“I’m going to find something that’ll break this stalemate.”

Xiao Chuxia stared, baffled, but she chose not to press further. She followed closely behind him as they wandered aimlessly through the headquarters.

Xiao Chuxia had no clue what Fang Xiu was looking for, and truthfully, neither did Fang Xiu himself.

All he knew was that continuing down the same path would only lead to the same outcome. He needed to introduce something new into the equation, something unpredictable. But what? He had no idea just yet.

As time passed, the chaotic battle resumed without Fang Xiu’s involvement. Joker’s manic laughter rang through the air, echoing ominously.

“Hahaha… from now on…” Joker’s voice boomed.

But Fang Xiu remained unphased, still focused on his search.

Xiao Chuxia, on the other hand, was pale with fear, clinging to Fang Xiu's arm. “Xiu, what are we gonna do? The headquarters is about to fall. Is there even a chance I can still join the Pokers?” she asked, her voice trembling, clearly scared out of her mind.

Fang Xiu didn’t answer, his attention fixed elsewhere.

Growing more frantic, Xiao Chuxia whispered, “Xiu, I heard the Pokers are all half-human, half-Specter. They’re insane! If they capture me… I don’t even want to think about what they’d do to me. We should just run, okay?”

“You won’t get the chance to run,” a cold voice suddenly interrupted.

It was Joker.

Fresh off his victory, Joker stood tall, his confidence brimming. His minions gathered around him as he slowly began to encircle Fang Xiu and Xiao Chuxia.

Joker hadn’t forgotten about Fang Xiu’s involvement in exposing his plans. If not for Fang Xiu, the headquarters would have been ashes long ago.

“We’re done for! We’re completely doomed!” Xiao Chuxia’s voice cracked, her body trembling uncontrollably as she clung even tighter to Fang Xiu.

“The great Foreseer, Fang Xiu… you can either submit or die,” Joker sneered, looking down at Fang Xiu like a predator eyeing its cornered prey.

Fang Xiu acted as though he hadn’t heard a word. His eyes were scanning their surroundings, his mind still racing for a way to break this frustrating cycle.

The Pokers had already won. Without the captains, the headquarters’ defenses were crumbling fast.

Joker’s forces were slaughtering what little remained of the defenders with savage brutality. No one was spared—even those passed out from the alcohol fumes were yanked up by their hair and beheaded without mercy.

Fang Xiu frowned slightly. Not because of the bloodshed, but because Xiao Chuxia’s tears were now soaking into his back as she cried softly.

“I don’t want to die…” she whimpered, her voice barely a whisper.

The carnage unfolding around them was overwhelming, with bodies piling up, and each second only added to the death toll.

Seeing Fang Xiu ignore him, Joker’s smug grin faded, replaced by a dark scowl.

“So, you’ve chosen death after all? Very well. Kill them both!” Joker ordered. Several of his people stepped forward, weapons drawn, their expressions twisted with sadistic glee.

Xiao Chuxia’s trembling voice broke through Fang Xiu’s thoughts, her head buried in his side as she muttered over and over, “Just sleep… sleep, and it won’t hurt anymore.”

She was trying to convince herself that falling into unconsciousness—like the lifeless bodies scattered around them—would spare her from the pain and terror of dying.

But those words triggered something in Fang Xiu’s mind.

'Sleep… that’s it!'

The variable he had been searching for was right in front of him the whole time—sleep.

Specifically, the dream world.

Ace of Clubs had already plunged most of the headquarters’ forces into a deep, drunken sleep earlier.

These weren’t just ordinary people either; they were seasoned soldiers and psychics, individuals with mental resilience so strong that, ironically, it made them perfect targets for deeper deceptions.

The stronger their minds, the greater the potential for manipulation.

And the more someone could be deceived, the more power of lie could be harvested from them.

That was the breakthrough. The power of those lies—harvested from deep within their dreams—would be the key to finally breaking through this endless deadlock.

It wasn’t just about fighting anymore. The battlefield had to move to a different realm entirely: the dreamscape.

A plan began to form in Fang Xiu’s mind. He would tap into the collective dream energy of the headquarters, use the very fear and deception from their minds to create a weapon. One that could destroy Joker before he ever had the chance to self-destruct.

In the name of the Foreseer, I will harvest the lies and forge my victory.

Fang Xiu’s mind raced, piecing together how it would all work.

With the right conditions, he could harness enough lie energy from those trapped in their dreams, bending reality in his favor within the dream world and using that energy to end the battle for good.

This was the best shot he had. If this didn’t work, his only other option was to continue dying, again and again, hoping to gather enough power from different Specter Gods along the way to somehow change the outcome.