Charles’ hands trembled as he picked up the phone.

  He read the message.

  Then looked at his wife.

  “A creature has appeared near us.”

  She stared at him.

  “You’re not thinking of going… are you?”

  “Yes.”

  The word came out steady.

  His arms did not.

  “You can’t,” she said, grabbing his hand. “You’re not in any condition. Let Bucket Man handle it.”

  “It’ll take him time to arrive.”

  Charles gently pulled his hand away.

  “So I need to go.”

  She tried to stop him.

  She couldn’t.

  No one ever could stop Hell’s Last Soldier once he decided something.

  After equipping his gear, he looked at her.

  She stepped forward, kissed his cheek.

  “Don’t forget your good luck charm.”

  The warmth lingered.

  It helped.

  But not enough.

  He still was trembling in fear but he had no time for fear .

  On the way to the battlefield, questions clawed at him.

  Who was that deity?

  What is the UNKNOWN?

  Why can I return only if I kill myself?

  What happens if I die normally?

  What does the universe want from me?

  And most importantly ,Where was Bucket Man last time?

  No answers came.

  Only the sound of his own footsteps.

  He arrived.

  Charles had to do what must be done .

  So in the end he found himself standing meters away from the creature which was fighting a golden armored man and a man who was constantly changing shape like water .

  "So that's the ability of the guy who was at the roof ." Thought charles as he got ready to charge in the battle field but decided to observe them for a while .

  Charles did not rush in.

  He watched.

  Analyzed the attack patterns.

  The first thing he noticed:

  None of their attacks caused damage.

  The second:

  The creature’s behavior was simple.

  It targeted whoever struck it last.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Predictable.

  But it was Dangerous and useful.

  Not every creature had this attack pattern ,so in a sense , hell's last soldier is quite lucky .

  Amongst the chaos on the battlefield, the two heroes heard a shout

  " I have a plan which can buy time ."

  Arthur screamed " ok, Charles . Tell us !"

  And now all three of the heroes were fighting the creature .

  Charles joined the fight, axe colliding uselessly against the monster’s body.

  “It focuses on whoever attacks it! We rotate! Keep switching aggro until Bucket Man arrives!”

  Arthur deflected a blow. “Simple enough!”

  " So, until the bucket man arrives , all three of us will follow a pattern "

  Creature had changed his attention to Arthur. So to get his attention, Charles's axe hits the monster but gets reflected back .

  " Shit ! He is onto me now "

  And dodging one punch after another, Charles found himself inside a television shop.

  To change the flow of combat,he started throwing televisions at the creature.

  Creature kept punching Charles as if nothing was hitting him.

  Just when Charles thought he couldn't dodge, suddenly a spear hit the creature.

  And in anger he moved and ran towards Arthur .

  " Thanks!" Charles screamed .

  They began the pattern.

  Strike. Pull away. Replace. Repeat.

  For a moment

  It worked.

  The creature grew irritated, dragged from target to target. The heroes moved like gears in a desperate machine.

  Minutes passed.

  Their plan had no flaws .

  Except for one.

  Humans can get tired and make errors.

  And finally the error was made.

  After hitting the creature, the water man thought he had switched to his water form .

  But when he found the creature's fist tearing his chest he realised he hadn't.

  While Coughing blood the man cried

  " My father"

  " I don't want to die ."

  Tears started running down his eyes and finally the light from his eyes was gone .

  The loss of fellow human whom they were fighting with ,weighed down on the ones left alive.

  The creature didn't wait for them to adjust to the last and rained his fist down.

  The man in golden was just a fraction of a second late and breaking through the golden, the creature fist erased the man's head from existence.

  The blood streaming out of the neck was raining on the creature.

  Silence replaced strategy.

  Charles stood alone.

  Breathing.

  Too fast.

  Too loud.

  The creature turned toward him.

  His red blood lust filled eyes staring at him.

  Panic.

  Real panic.

  Charles felt every fibre in his body shivering.

  He dodged without thinking. Lost rhythm. Lost form.

  His arm vanished in a spray of blood before he even felt the hit.

  Pain finally arrived.

  Charles screamed and struck back uselessly.

  No damage.

  No resistance.

  Nothing mattered.

  “Where… is Bucket Man?” he choked, grabbing at the creature like a drowning man.

  The answer came as his body was torn apart.

  He lay in his own blood.

  Dying.

  Again.

  This time, he didn’t hesitate.

  He summoned his axe.

  Let it fall.

  The last thing he saw was a reflection in the blade.

  A figure.

  Too late.

  Bucket Man had arrived.

  Darkness consumed him again and he was robbed of his senses.

  Tick.

  Tick.

  Tick.

  Charles woke up.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” his wife asked.

  He stared at her for a long time and finally spoke .

  “Just a bad dream.”

  With a smile he responded

  " Yeah , just a bad dream "

  " What was it about ? "

  " I don't remember, but more importantly, a creature has appeared so I gotta go " he said as he stood up to put on his armor.

  His wife smiled.

  " Wow, my husband is so hardworking. Should I prepare a gift for him ? "

  After summoning his axe, Charles responded

  " A good luck charm wouldn't hurt."

  And while blushing his wife kissed him on his cheek.

  But her warmth didn't reassure him this time .

  After leaving the house, he ran as fast as he could to the location of the creature .

  This time he is doing everything fine .

  He handled his wife properly , he has maintained his sanity and is arriving on time to the creature .

  And most importantly, he knows when the bucket man will arrive so he just needs to survive till that time.

  He had a clear vision.

  And finally he was at the creature's spot and found himself standing there .

  Alone.

  He was alone.

  He was too early and arrived before his teammates could.

  Both of their eyes locked onto each other.

  The sight of him getting killed last time appeared in his mind .

  " Curses!" Charles screamed when he saw the creature lunging at him .

  He ran away from the creature and suddenly summoned one of his axes and screamed.

  And the moment he turned left , he threw his axe to slow the creature .

  And the creature did slow down for a bit .

  Suddenly he fell on the ground .

  " What ?

  What happened ? "

  He looked behind him and found out his legs were no longer attached to him.

  The creature had thrown something at him at such a speed that he didn't even realise his legs were gone.

  His mind started getting foggy.

  With loud thuds, the creature was slowly walking towards him.

  The tall figure of the creature looked even more menacing from the ground.

  Fear sunk him but still he resisted and screamed .

  " FUCK YOU!" Charles spat as he summoned his axe and crushed his own head .

  Darkness consumed him once again and robbed him of his senses .

  Tick.

  Tick.

  Tick.

  Again.

  Again.

  Again.

  He tried different timings.

  Different approaches.

  Different words.

  Different routes.

  Every path ended the same way.

  Dead teammates.

  Late salvation.

  Failure measured in minutes.

  Each reset scraped something away from him.

  Fear.

  Hope.

  Hesitation.

  Grief.

  It was the fifth death, when he stopped explaining his dream to his wife.

  He woke up and simply put his gear on .

  When his wife enquired him , words which he thought could never come from his mouth came

  " People will die if I don't go and kill that creature."

  After a kiss on his cheek , he left and arrived on time .

  This time he was using his surroundings .

  He purposely moved in places where fire could start from their fight.

  He constantly threw gas cylinders and flammable things to learn.

  He wanted to know what could hurt the creature the most and died in an explosion he himself caused .

  Tick.

  Tick.

  Tick.

  Again.

  Again.

  By the seventh, he stopped listening to his wife .

  His wife kept asking him questions and he paid no attention to her .

  He kept mumbling

  " Wounds over fire burn hurts the most but people can die because of explosions, also the teamwork gets thrown off if I do things only,I know but I don't have time to explain "

  While mumbling he looked at his wife's worried face and he finally felt something snap inside him.

  " What's the point ? " He said as he put his hand on his face .

  " I am not the Bucket man, I am not a hero.

  I am...... just a second option people ignore "

  He looked at her questioned face for a while and finally leaned towards her .

  Kissing on her forehead, he spoke

  "No matter what happens, I will make sure nothing happens to you "

  She wanted to say lots of things to him, may be she even did say those things but all he remember was walking out of the room .

  Walking out of the house .

  Walking out of the town and slitting his own throat.

  By the ninth, he stopped feeling relieved when he saw her alive again.

  Tick.

  Tick.

  Tick.

  “

  Couldn’t sleep?” she asked.

  Charles exhaled.

  “Had a dream where things didn’t go my way.”

  She laughed. “When do they ever?”

  He didn’t answer.

  He was already calculating.

  Timing the call.

  Timing the arrival.

  Timing survival.

  Because now he understood.

  This wasn’t about winning or surviving .

  It was about falling the same pattern every time and changing only the things which needed to change .