Grey's sword clattered to the ground under the knight's overwhelming blow.
Without even a breath of hesitation, the knight swung again, and the cold steel sliced through Grey's body, splitting him cleanly into two.
Yet in the next moment, Grey found himself once again lying on the floor of the same white room, the same button and sword resting in their places as if nothing had occurred.
Beads of cold sweat rolled down his face.
He sat up slowly, his mind reeling.
"I died... right?
Then how am I still alive?
Why am I back here with the same options laid before me?"
A horrifying thought surfaced in his mind and he fell silent.
"Could it be unless I defeat that knight, I will be trapped here, unable to escape?"
He clenched his fists tightly, the tremor in his hands betraying his calm facade.
After a long, heavy silence, Grey steeled his heart once more, picked up the sword, and pressed the button.
The mechanical rumble returned.
The wall slid open.
The knight in full armor stepped forth, slow and relentless, and took his place in the center of the room.
Grey did not rush this time.
He observed.
Hours passed.
Not a single twitch.
The knight stood frozen like a statue no fatigue, no shift in stance, no sign of life.
"He doesn't seem human," Grey mused darkly.
"No man could remain so still for so long.
He resembles more a machine, programmed for a single purpose."
Seizing on this theory, Grey decided to test it.
He crept carefully along the edges of the room, maneuvering behind the armored figure.
With a burst of speed, he launched an attack aimed at the knight's exposed back.
But before the blow could land, the knight spun around with unnatural swiftness, parried Grey's strike effortlessly, and with a single clean motion, cleaved him down.
Darkness swallowed Grey once more.
And when he opened his eyes...
He was back in the white room.
Again.
This cycle repeated.
Ten times.
One hundred times.
Seven hundred and nineteen times.
Each time, death came swiftly, brutally.
Each time, Grey's skill grew sharper, his instincts honed, his mind steeled against despair.
Finally, on the 720th attempt
Bloodied, battered, and missing a hand
Grey drove his blade through the knight's armor and brought the relentless opponent down.
He collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath, blood pouring freely from his severed wrist.
Pain wracked his body, but his spirit remained unbroken.
Wiping the blood from his eyes, he forced himself to survey the room.
At the far end, he noticed for the first time a second button, this one glowing faintly with a deep purple hue.
Dragging his broken body forward, he pressed it without hesitation.
A dense purple fog billowed out, enveloping the room.
The instant Grey inhaled its scent, his vision blurred, his consciousness slipping away like sand through his fingers.
When he next opened his eyes, he found himself suspended once more in a boundless void of darkness
The same emptiness he had known before entering the wooden door.
No up.
No down.
No sense of direction.
Only himself, and the oppressive dark.
Before him floated a single object: a glowing purple orb, its light barely piercing the gloom.
Drawn to it instinctively, Grey reached out with his remaining hand and touched the orb.
In the blink of an eye, he was transported back to his own room in the real world.
Yet the purple orb remained, hovering before him silently.
Without hesitation, Grey crushed it in his hand.
A torrent of searing energy flooded into him, tearing through every fiber of his being.
The pain was indescribable
Like being burned alive from within.
But Grey gritted his teeth, refusing to scream, refusing to fall.
He endured.
He survived.