"The Eternal Assassin: Killing the Hero Across 1,000 Timelines"

"They call him the 'Chosen One.' I call him my practice dummy. After 1,137 executions, I've discovered... he's not the real threat."

Chapter 1: The 1,138th Murder (520 words)
The knife slid between the hero's ribs with the same satisfying resistance as the previous 1,137 times. His golden eyes widened in that familiar mix of shock and betrayal.

"Why...?" he gasped, blood bubbling on his lips.

I twisted the blade. "Because you keep letting me."

As his body crumpled, the world shattered into fragments again. The loop reset—but something was different this time. My hands were stained with ink-black veins. The System flickered erratically:

[WARNING: Temporal Corruption Detected]
[New Variable Unlocked: "Hero's Memory Retention +15%"]

I barely had time to process this before the tavern door burst open. Not the hero—not yet. This time, it was her. The silver-haired witch from Loop 798, the one who'd carved runes into my bones before I escaped. She smiled, showing too many teeth.

"You've been busy, little killer. The gods are watching now."

Behind her, the sky cracked open with a sound like breaking glass.

🗨️ Interaction in the comment area:
"Would you keep resetting if each death made the hero stronger? What's the ethical limit of testing fate?"