Chapter 48: Telekinetic Force

I had been through the loop at least a hundred times at this point. 

I'd tried talking to my companions through multiple of those loops, but half the trouble was getting them to believe that it was actually happening, and then they never ended up having anything useful to say anyway. 

In this loop I decided to do something that was actually useful. 

After the last couple of fights I'd managed to accrue quite a few upgrade points, and so far I hadn't had the chance to go through the system to see what other abilities I could grab along my current job line. If there was something I could upgrade to now that would help me get out of my current time looping predicament, then I was going to take it. 

I brought up my system menu and tabbed over to my abilities page. I had a whole 18 active ability points for me to play with, which meant I could pick up one of the more midrange magical abilities that were open to me. 

I had a choice between an ability that would strike the area directly around me with vast amounts of lightning, which would specifically target enemies rather than my foes, or an ability that would deal the same amount of damage in the same radius with the same targeting but it would be the equivalent of being hit by blunt force trauma, like some kind of telekinetic wave around me. 

Considering I already had the ability to blast energy beams, and we were underwater in a tin can that was probably made of some sort of conductive material, I figured that picking up the lightning variation of the attack would probably be a pretty bad move. The blunt force version would be able to deal damage around me without any risk of explosively decompressing the ship, and so I chose it. 

The choice left me with 3 more points, but that was nowhere near enough to pick up any other abilities, not that I wanted to waste my points on something low level anyway. 

Then, after all that, I walked through the door… 

And back into the room, with Yr'Arl and Fal with me once again. 

"Hey guys, wait up a second," I said. 

"What is wrong, Jacob Lyre, are you feeling well?" Yr'Arl asked for what felt like the millionth time. 

"Okay, so, you aren't going to entirely believe me, but I've been trapped inside of a time loop regarding this room for about… well I've lost track of my own current time, but it's been around a hundred cycles," I said. I put a hand up to stop either Fal or Yr'Arl from butting in, Fal usually had something to say around this point in time. 

"While going through the loops I've learned a new ability, and I'm going to try it now in an effort to stop whatever is causing the loop, so please bare with me for a moment," I continued. 

I moved myself into the center of the room under the concerned gaze of my companions. Hopefully, if everything went to plan, this would be the last time I'd ever have to go through a time loop. I used to love the idea of time travel, but now experiencing a limited form of it myself, I never wanted to go through it again. 

My new power activated. It felt strange, like none of the other powers I had used so far. I felt my perception shift outward to around a 40-yard diameter, where I could sense every life form in the immediate area. 

The comforting feeling of Yr'Arl and Fal was obvious, they were two beings that held no ill will toward me and so weren't being picked up by the skill as hostile. Other than them, there was only one other lifeform that my ability was detecting. And it was close, impossibly close, so close that it… was right on my back. 

Slowly, so as not to alert the thing, I peered over my shoulder. 

It was… a beetle? A giant stag beetle was latched onto my back, its sticky legs pinching into the blazer that Squadron Leader Belana had given me. This creature, somehow, must have been what was causing the temporal anomaly. My ability was painting it as hostile, so I lashed out with a tendril of telekinetic energy and sent it soaring away. 

The beetle crashed into the wall and left a heavy dent, but it wasn't done yet. Just like the Null Space Spider, this creature was some kind of Null Space hybrid, specifically tuned to latch onto someone and feed off their manna while trapping them in a time loop that they couldn't escape. 

I whipped out my sword and brought it down on the creature with a colossal crash. Fortunately, this thing had clearly been designed for stealth operations. Now that I knew what it was and where it was, the creature popped like a balloon that had been pricked by a needle. 

I slipped my sword back into its sheath and turned back to my companions. 

"Right, now that's been dealt with, shall we start making a move toward the bridge?" I said cheerfully. 

"Uhhh, no, hang on, Jacob you're going to have to explain this one to us," Fal said. 

I stifled a groan. Of course I'd have to explain the time loop situation one more time. 

"Okay, I'll take it from the top considering you two haven't actually heard the explanation yet. I've spent the last whoever knows how long in a time loop. I've been walking out that door," I pointed at the far door to illustrate before jutting my finger at the one behind me, "and back in through that one. Are you with me so far?" 

The two aliens nodded. 

"Right, good, well after all those loops I discovered a new ability that lets me lash out at anything with hostile intent within a 40 meter radius. That allowed me to detect the bug-thing on my back, which was another Null Space Hybrid that had an affinity for time warping. Killing it has set the timeline back on track. Understand?"

The two blank stares I got in return told me all I needed to know. 

But really, they didn't need to understand. I had broken the loop, and I was ready to never see this room ever again.