Chapter 97: Father Time

Teivel and Zayn arrived at their Guild’s base to find it in shambles.

Zayn tried to put what he had just seen behind him as he scanned the area for his friends. It seemed he had some luck because he spotted every member of his guild still alive—

A sword strike that split the rain hammered into the middle of their gathering.

Too shocked to move, Zayn could only listen to buildings crumbling and people screaming.

He helplessly watched as the blood and guts of his comrades were hurled into the air, only to come raining back down, leaving Teivel and him as the only survivors.

Among the falling body bits, Zayn spotted something that shouldn’t have been there.

Axel’s decapitated head spun through the air, then thudded on the ground and rolled by him.

That scene not only confirmed the scale of their loss, but robbed Zayn of any remaining hope of survival.

His shock quickly boiled into pure anger.

“I’ll kill that motherfucker! I’ll kill him! I swear it!”

Next to him, Zayn heard a crash.

“You’ll do what?”

The Japanese man stood directly beside him.

Zayn whipped his head around to face him, only to see the man’s hand buried straight through Teivel’s chest, clutching his heart.

Before Zayn could reply — not that he could form anything coherent — the invader continued:

“Is there really no one here at least as strong as that man?”

He crushed Teivel’s heart, then gestured toward Axel’s severed head with the arm still buried in Teivel’s chest.

Zayn wanted to slash him — to tear him apart and mutilate whatever remained.

But what could Zayn do when not even Axel could scratch this man?

‘Nothing…’

There was nothing he could do.

Zayn spat in the Japanese man’s face, causing his expression to twist in fury.

He dropped Teivel, then reeled back his broadsword for a powerful swing.

Zayn refused to close his eyes, but he still accepted his fate.

The Japanese man began his swing, only for his sword to dissolve into mist before it reached Zayn, sparing his life for a few moments longer. The man collapsed to one knee and coughed up blood before laughing.

Zayn remained silent, knowing that even without the sword, he was still powerless.

The man forced himself to his feet and unsheathed the katana strapped to his waist. He raised the blade to Zayn’s neck, but…

He froze.

Too focused on the man and his sword, Zayn was slow to notice… That his attacker wasn’t the only one who had stopped moving.

Everything and everyone around him had frozen, as if locked in time.

The raindrops no longer pelted his head, and the crumbling buildings remained suspended in half-destruction, hanging impossibly above their foundations.

As his eyes darted to the side — one of few things he could move — Zayn heard a deep, gravelly voice from behind him.

“I’ll help you out. There’s still a way to at least save your guild members.”

‘Huh, what?’

‘What’s going on?!’

After realizing he could move his mouth, he screamed:

“Who are you? What’s happening?!”

The members of his guild were still dead in front of him, with the Japanese man mere seconds away from carving through Zayn’s neck. Teivels crushed heart splattered across the ground.

“Who I am isn’t important. What’s important is what I can provide you. I can give you the power to save all you desire to save. But… I want to make a deal first.”

Without wasting a single breath, Zayn shouted his reply:

“If you have that kind of power, then give it to me! I don’t care about the price, just give it to me! I’ll do anything!”

“Don’t be so antsy. We have all the time in the world.”

An old man materialized in front of Zayn, holding a pocket watch by its chain and letting it sway side to side like a pendulum. A sly smile crept across his cracked lips as he chuckled at Zayn’s haste.

Sporting that devilish grin, the old man continued:

“All I need you to do is recover a book for me and open it. I’ll feed the knowledge of its location into your mind if you accept this poor, old man’s offer. Of course, you’ll also be able to save your friends.”

“How is that going to benefit you at all?! What power could you possibly give me that would help save them when they’re already dead?!”

The old man began running his fingers through his long, white beard.

“Are you in a position to ask questions?”

‘Well…’

No, not really.

Zayn had no choice now, did he?

He was going to die from that man’s next swing.

He had to choose between death and accepting the strange deal…

Zayn hesitated, but with no alternative, he had to accept regardless of how sketchy the offer sounded.

“I accept your offer… But, at least tell me, how am I supposed to save them if they’re dead?!”

The old man just smiled and left Zayn’s question unanswered.

“Know that if you betray me and don’t keep up your side of the bargain, there will be consequences.”

The old man snapped his fingers.

Knowledge of a book hidden somewhere in the mountains poured into Zayn’s brain, and he felt his body brim with power, along with a basic understanding of how to use it.

But that wasn’t the most important thing that happened.

Zayn found himself back at the moment the Japanese man had first revealed the broadsword.

He watched the same scene unfold. The man held his hands up to the sky, and a torrent of lightning engulfed him before the sword appeared in his hand. Axel summoned his swords of light in response while Ryon prepared to redeploy his dark field.

The difference this time…

Zayn felt no fear.

He quickly pulled Teivel out of danger and away from the falling buildings around them. Teivel tried to scream at him to run, but Zayn paid him no mind and left him behind, opting to stride toward the Japanese man.

Eventually, Zayn stepped between the invader and Camelot.

Lucas immediately screamed:

“Zayn! I told you to run!”

But Zayn ignored him…

Unlike the Japanese man, Zayn didn’t bother with theatrics like holding his hand to the sky, nor was there any grand display of lightning.

Instead, he kept his arm by his side.

Blood slipped from every pore of his forearm and spiraled through the air until it formed a sickle. The weapon turned jet black and settled into his hand.

Driven by anger at what this man would do to his friends if left unchecked, Zayn rocketed forward, only to see the business end of the man’s broadsword instantly appear inches from his head, racing toward his skull.

Without hesitation, Zayn activated the new ability he had gained.

Once again, time reeled backward. This time, it returned to the moment he summoned his weapon.

Again, Zayn charged the man, but this time he preemptively dodged the strike, rolling under it before scything the sickle toward his neck, forcing the man to step back.

Which he did…

But as the man retreated, a searing pain ripped through Zayn’s leg.

Somehow, the man had severed it during his retreat.

Zayn’s eyes widened manically as he smiled and activated his ability again, rewinding to the moment he summoned his weapon.

This time, Zayn dashed forward, evaded the opening strike, and cut toward the man’s neck. At the same moment, he snapped his right leg upward, causing the man’s attack to barely miss.

Zayn’s strike bit into flesh, and the man sprang back.

Axel screamed:

“Zayn! Get out of here! You can’t deal with him! He’s too strong!”

Then Axel ran forward and dragged Zayn back, positioning himself between Zayn and the invader.

Lucas soon settled into a stance next to Axel.

Even Ryon, who was known for being quite cowardly, planted himself in front of Zayn.

Zayn smirked and said to their backs:

“I just injured him, did I not?”

“Don’t grow arrogant because of some luck! Get out of here now!”

Zayn ignored Axel, opting to rush the man again, only to find his broadsword inches from his face yet again. Zayn activated his ability once more and returned to the moment he summoned his weapon.

5th reset… Zayn barely managed to activate his ability in time, slipping away from death by a mere blink.

10th reset… Zayn deemed fighting the man head-on too risky, so he decided to use his ability to coordinate everyone else instead.

28th reset… Zayn helped Lucas graze his left arm.

564th reset… Zayn helped Didier sever one of his fingers.

1034th reset… Axel managed to cleave off his left arm.

1313th reset… Axel seemed to somehow retain knowledge from previous resets, questioning why the man still had his arm.

On the 2035th reset, Zayn stopped counting.

Again and again and again and again and again.

Zayn didn’t know how many retries it took, but they finally won, if it could even be called a victory.

The man withdrew.

They had finally managed to force him away, but he had still destroyed more than half of the town before escaping.

Of course, Zayn wasn’t satisfied, but if he continued any longer, he felt like his mind would fracture.

He dismissed his weapon and ignored those around him. People swarmed around him, questioning his sudden show of insight and how he knew the man’s every move as well as the contract he’d apparently gained, but Zayn was focused solely on staying conscious for one more second — just long enough to check something.

“Status…”

??????

Zayn Gatlin

Age: 22 | Gender: Male

Contractor: [Chronos]

[Aether Core]

[Rank: Nascent] – (Progression: 88%)

[Tasks]

[Chose The Trial of a God or Goddess at the Temple] – {failure to choose a task within allotted time will result in random assignment} – (You will be summoned in: 130:23:58)

[Skills]

[Son of Time]

[Fall of Babel]

[Second Chance] – (1/1)

[Relics]

[Weight of Denial]

[Blood Wolf’s Fang]

[Grass Blanket]

[Wings of Piety]

[Afflictions]

??????

“As… I thought.”