(The Time-Stilled World, Just Outside Castle Bravo, Leo's POV)
At dawn, Leo watched the priest walk out of the altar room, incense stick in hand, moving with the same eerie precision it had displayed for the past forty-one mornings.
But today, the sight of the priest's white robes made his stomach twist with anxiety.
Because today, that silent figure didn't just mark the beginning of another patrol, but rather marked the start of his mission.
'The priest coming out means it's dawn… that means, I need to start counting down from four and a half minutes—' Leo thought internally, as he jumped off his vantage point and quickly made his way towards the broken hole in the castle wall, where he waited until his internal timer of four and a half minutes ran out.
The rescue plane that the Serpents sent inside the Time-Stilled World arrived every ninety days, exactly five minutes past dawn, staying for a brief two-minute loop before leaving the dimension again.
And Leo aimed to catch the plane coming today in the last ten seconds of that window, when the plane's sensors were still looking for survivors—and when Zhanrok's soul was still seconds away from fully stirring awake.
It was a gamble balanced on a blade's edge.
Aiming for that narrow timing meant maximizing his odds of extraction… but it also meant that any delay, any hesitation, any misstep could render the entire plan meaningless.
If he missed the teleportation gate activation by even three seconds…
If he tripped over a loose stone…
If the Origin Metal took longer to lift than expected…
Then this wouldn't be a rescue.
It would be a suicide.
'Focus.'
Leo took a slow, silent breath, as he crouched low behind the weathered stones of the breach, and shut out the negative thoughts eating away at his mind.
Only the countdown mattered now.
Fifteen seconds left.
He flexed his fingers, rolled his shoulders and reset his breathing.
Ten seconds.
He reached into his utility belt, brushing his hand against the edge of the sheathed dagger, which gave him some courage.
Five.
He got ready to move, as the second the timer turned to zero, his body moved before his thoughts caught up.
As exactly, four minutes and thirty seconds after the priest came out, Leo entered Castle Bravo, exactly like he had planned.
—----------
Leo darted forward, cloak trailing soundlessly behind him, as he slipped through the gap in the wall and surged across the outer corridor, moving low and tight, hugging the ruined masonry for cover as his boots landed exactly where they were meant to—stone to stone, breath to breath.
No deviation. No second thoughts.
His legs moved with mechanical precision, driven not by instinct or panic, but by the sheer weight of repetition drilled into muscle.
Sixteen steps past the broken arch.
Three short bounds to the edge of the inner wall.
And then—
*Click*
He landed beside the ancient console meant to operate the teleportation gate, and began tampering with it, just as he had practiced, his fingers flying faster than thought.
For a single heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then—
*SHROOM*
The teleportation gate flared to life, bathing the corridor in a pale blue glow, its rings pulsing with awakened power for the first time in thousands of years.
'It worked! Holy shit it worked!' Leo thought, as he nervously glanced at the teleportation gate, that was ready to teleport him to the exact coordinates he had input the moment he stepped through it.
However, although he was slightly happy that it worked and was holding stable, he was more worried about the structure coming to life attracting the attention of the priest or the guard, as for a couple breaths time, he waited to see if there was any reaction.
He had already decided, that if he felt like his life was in danger after he activated the teleportation gate, he would immediately bolt and escape this world without completing the heist.
However, even when he fixed the teleportation gate, there seemed to be no reaction from the priest or the silver armored guard, as even after two breaths passed, they did not stir or try to attack him.
'This is it… this was my last chance to bail if anything went wrong. From here on out, I'll either live, or I die—' Leo concluded, as once he realized that he was safe, he immediately began making his way towards the altar room, exactly as planned.
He moved with measured urgency, fast enough to stay on schedule, but quiet enough to remain undetected, as he slipped away from the humming teleportation gate and began weaving through the inner corridor.
His eyes flicked to the path ahead, then to the notches in the stone he'd carved days ago to mark where he needed to place his skill anchors.
'Here' he reminded himself, as with a silent mental command, he set his first [Stormflash Traverse] point into the cracked arch near the second bend, etching it with a single pulse of mana.
One down.
Three to go.
'Breathe slow. Count steps.'
Seven strides to the hollow column.
Another anchor.
Five more past the crumbling arch to the shattered vase embedded in the wall.
Anchor.
Every movement was rehearsed, burned into his nerves like muscle scripture—there was no room for improv, no margin for sloppiness.
And yet, despite the rhythm, the flow, the success of each perfect placement… his chest felt heavier with every step.
Because the closer he got to the altar room, the more nervous he felt, with the pressure from the within the room also intensifying.
The pressure was like a static weight in the air.
A density that clung to his skin and made his breathing feel thinner.
And then—
He arrived at the edge of the threshold.
The entrance to the altar room loomed ahead, veiled in a dim, unnatural glow, as though the chamber beyond obeyed laws different from the rest of the world.
As reaching that point, Leo's pace finally slowed down to a crawl.
He pressed his back to the wall, his heart hammering now—not from exertion, but anticipation.
Sweat beaded across his brow as he peered around the corner… and saw it.
The altar.
The casket.
The mural of Zhanrok towering over it all in haunting silence.
And just below it…
There it was.
The Origin Metal.
Two shimmering blocks resting atop a stone table, looking mundane and unprotected.
'Ten seconds to steal the blocks,' Leo reminded himself, eyes locked on the table like it might vanish if he blinked.
But the moment he stepped across the threshold—
It hit him.
*BOOM*
A weight crushed down on his shoulders, invisible but suffocating, like the atmosphere had suddenly thickened tenfold.
His knees nearly buckled, and his vision swam.
As the air inside the room simply felt… wrong.
'Fuck–' Leo gritted his teeth, as he forced a foot forward.
Then another.
His breath became ragged, his heart rate spiking beyond 200, as each movement he made felt like trudging through a storm that hated his existence.
'Place the marker,' he ordered himself, voice tight in his mind, as he forced his mind to conjure the skill and place yet another [Stormflash Traverse] anchor onto the ground—midway between the entrance and the altar, which was his last and final teleportation point.
This was supposed to be the easy part of the heist.
The part that he had already planned for and rehearsed countless times in his head, however, just completing this part alone, felt so ridiculously difficult to Leo, that he could not even imagine how tough the rest was going to be, as at that point, just staying upright felt like defying the will of God.