WIEDERGEBURT Act VII: Chapter 29

I froze at Rache’s words. He knew this wasn’t where the Great Overlord was sealed? Then that meant…

“You already know where the Great Overlord is sealed!” I shouted the answer. My companions jolted at my words.

“Ha ha ha! That’s right! We already knew where the Great Overlord of the Third Realm is sealed,” Rache confirmed. “We were going to break the seal, but then we noticed some rats were snooping around and decided to take care of you at the same time.”

I clenched my hands as I realized we had been played for fools. We thought we were the ones leading these people into a trap, but it was actually the other way around.

Chloe suddenly stepped forward, the smile gone from her face. Her armor clicked together with a soft tink tink, tink tink as she moved, standing in front of us like a shield.

“I did not expect to see you here, Rache.”

“Ah? If it isn’t little Chloe.” Rache grinned. “My dear, you have grown even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.”

Chloe’s lips turned into a thin line as fluctuations in her Spiritual Power caused distortions in the air. Her hair was wavering behind her even though no breeze blew through this bailey. It made her feel ominous and dark.

“Flattery will get you killed,” Chloe said flatly.

“What’s the matter? Are you not happy to see me? Don’t you remember all the fun times we had together? Come, let us reminisce for old times sake,” Rache said, chortling as if he was thinking of an old joke.

I looked from Rache to Chloe, who didn’t appear any different than usual, but I could sense the tension in her shoulders. She and this man had an obvious history. Considering they were enemies, I doubted that history was pleasant.

“Master Eryk, please leave this man to me,” Chloe said as she reached for the sword sheathed at her waist, slowly sliding it free with a hiss of steal. “You must travel to the true seal and stop whoever they sent to break it.”

“Will you be okay?” I asked.

Chloe wore a faint smile as if to reassure him. “Do not worry. I have been training for this very moment. I will be fine.”

I had no idea what was going on, and it was clear from the expressions my other companions wore that they also had no idea, but I could tell this moment was important to Chloe. Whatever history these two had, she wanted to resolve it… likely by cutting her foe down.

“All right,” I said at last. “We’ll leave this to you.”

I looked at Kari, Siv, Fay, Lin, and Tora. They all nodded once to show they understood the situation. I took one look at the grinning Rache, then the six of us took off into the air.

“Good luck, Chloe!” I called out as we shot away.

The moment we tried to leave, however, spatial fluctuations appeared around us. Several blades appeared in thin air. They contained spatial energy, so they were obviously blades made from condensed space. If even one of them hit, they would kill us.

One of them came right for me, but I swerved out of the way, though I was forced to dodge another blade immediately after. My companions didn’t have it any easier. Lin and Kari were just below me, twirling through the sky like dancers as they dodged, wove, and spun away from dozens of spatial blades. Fay and Siv had it a little better. Siv was knocking the blades away with her fists. I sensed the spatial fluctuations around her fists as she shattered the attacks with simple punches. Tora had created a barrier. Cracks formed, but she repaired them quickly.

“Did you really think I would let your companions leave?” asked Rache as he held out his hand, obviously controlling the blades.

“Did you really think you would be able to stop them?” asked Chloe, extending her left hand and clenching it into a fist.

All the spatial blades shattered as a powerful distortion appeared in the air, white lines like cracks in the sky appearing and spreading seemingly at random. Chloe’s counterattack was impressive. Not only had she stopped every attack in its tracks, but Rache was forced to dodge when several more cracks appeared in his location. Chloe made a swirling motion with her hands. The white cracks gathered together, forming a drill-shaped spear, which rotated at incredible speeds as it shot forward.

“Ha ha ha! You’ve gotten stronger! But you’re still not strong enough!”

Rache stopped moving through the air, set himself in a combat stance like he was standing on hard ground, and spun around. He threw a reverse heel kick at the drill, which exploded with black energy. The expulsion of spatial energy tore apart the sky. More cracks appeared, revealing other places, other realms maybe. There was a grassy plain. A strange prairie. Then there were the more unusual images like the one of a swirling nebulae another that emitted incredible heat and looked like there was a newly born star on the other side.

Chloe’s eyes widened as she waved her hand.

The cracks sealed up.

“Hoo boy. That sure was something,” Rache said, pretending to wipe sweat from his forehead. “I had no idea you had advanced so far with the Concept of Space. What quadrant of the galaxy was that, anyway? I don’t recognize it! Ha ha ha! Either way, I am impressed. Bravo. Bravo.”

“If you think that is impressive, then wait until you see what I can really do,” Chloe shouted as shot forward.

“I can’t wait! Show me what you’ve got! Let’s see how strong that little brat I let live so many centuries ago has become!” Rache shouted as he flew forward to meet her.

The two clashed together, slamming their weapons into each other. Chloe’s sword glowed vibrantly as the runes along the blade and handle burned with bright light. The weapon Rache wielded looked nothing like the one our maid used. It was a double-bladed sword, blacker than night, covered in purple symbols esoteric and strange.

There was so much power packed into their attacks that the rest of us nearly spun out of control as a current of strong wind slammed into us. Neither Chloe nor Rache seemed to be paying us any attention, however. The two pushed against each other, tried to overpower the other, and when cracks began forming in the sky around them, they threw themselves backward.

Chloe swung her blade, unleashing a hailstorm of spatial blades that were met with an equal number of blades from Rache. The many attacks met between them and canceled each other out.

Kari, Fay, Lin, Siv, Tora, and I were already far away by this point. The two appeared as nothing more than specks against the background. The castle in which they had begun their battle was already in ruins. The walls had been destroyed, the keep was crumbling under the intense assault of their Spiritual Power, and the great hall was reduced to a pile of rubble.

“I guess that is one ruin we will not be exploring again,” Kari said with a sigh.

“There are far more important things to worry about than ruins,” Fay said dryly.

Kari nodded. “I know. We need to hurry to the Lintilskudd ruins.”

“This princess cannot believe we were the ones who got tricked,” Lin muttered. “This princess is going to make those Sekbeist pay for humiliating her.”

“For once, I fucking agree with you,” Tora said.

We flew without pause, at the fastest speed we could, and reached the ruins as quickly as possible. It wasn’t long before we set foot in the familiar courtyard. The massive vines and plants covering the ground and walls were the same as always, and the gigantic entrance that could easily fit a giant had not changed at all.

We did not have any time to look around. My companions and I raced into the ruins, ran down the halls, and traveled until we had reached the first massive room. It looked like a multi-level structure that traveled into the mountain. There were many walkways at higher and lower levels. I still had no idea what they were used for, but it no longer mattered.

We leapt down to the first floor. There was a dais on this floor. Situated upon it was a pair of hands merging out of the ground, fingers curling to create an archway between them—or they would have been, but someone had already moved them back.

The entrance that Kari had discovered so many years ago was already opened.

“This does not look good,” Fay said.

“We need to hurry,” Kari agreed.

Down, down, down we went, moving quickly, until we reached a massive room that was easily three or four times bigger than the Nevarian Colosseum before it was destroyed. The ceiling was so far above our heads that I couldn’t accurately judge its height. Three things about this room stood out.

The first was the Warp Gate in the center of the room. It looked like the hands that were used to open the entrance to this room, but it was many times bigger. The second thing was the statue in the very back. I used to think it was made of rock, but now it was glowing with white light and looked translucent. A giant of a man was sealed away inside of it, eyes closed as if he was sleeping.

The third thing were the two other people in this room.

“It seems Rache couldn’t keep you all contained,” said the Sekbeist Lord standing next to Hreidmar.

This Sekbeist Lord was big. I didn’t just mean he was tall either. I meant he was fat. He was the only Sekbeist Lord I had seen so far who had a gut so corpulent it bulged out of his armor. While his gut was large, his arms were still thick and covered in muscle, his legs looked quite powerful, and his face held the same appearance as all the other Sekbeist Lords. A pair of horns jutted from his head.

“You can’t expect a single Sekbeist Lord to be capable of defeating us,” I said.

The Sekbeist Lord scoffed. “Big words for someone who obviously ran away.”

“We didn’t fucking run from anything!” Tora snapped. “We just wanted to make sure you couldn’t release another Great Overlord!”

“Is that so? Well, as you no doubt see, you are too late.” The Sekbeist Lord gestured to Hriedmar. “It won’t be long before the Great Overlord of the Third Realm is released from his prison.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Kari said as she stepped forward, held out her hands, and pushed Spiritual Power through her body. Time distorted around us before solidifying around Hreidmar, who froze in place like a block of ice. This was the most powerful time lock I had seen Kari create. It was obvious that her ability to use the Concept of Time had become a lot more refined thanks to our training.

“Hmph. Do you really think I’d let you do that?” asked the Sekbeist Lord. He waved his hand and the time lock around Hreidmar shattered. The Dweorg continued as if nothing had happened.

“Hreidmar! Are you really going to let this man control you?!” I shouted.

Hreidmar said nothing.

“He won’t respond to you,” the Sekbeist Lord said with a nasty grin. “While he can hear everything that’s going on, he is unable to control his actions. All he can do is sit inside of his own mind and watch as he does our bidding. Did you know? When I first enslaved him, I wanted to make sure the enslavement worked properly, so I ordered him to execute many of his brethren. You should have seen it. Watching as the once mighty Dweorg king slaughtered his own subjects. It was glorious.”

“You’re a monster,” Siv said.

“Thank you for the compliment,” he said.

As this conversation was going on, Tora began shaking. Her face had grown pale as she shivered from her head to her feet. She looked down, shadows covering her eyes, hiding them from view. The Spiritual Power she was subconsciously releasing made me turn my head toward her.

“Tora?” I asked.

Tora ignored me as she stepped forward. “You… are you Gorrick?”

“Oh ho? What’s this? Do you know who I am? Have we met before?” Gorrick cupped a hand to his chin and studied Tora. “Now that I am getting a better look at you, you do look quite familiar, but I can’t quite remember if we have ever met before. Yes, I am Gorrick.”

Tora gnashed her teeth together. I knew what was going to happen before she acted, and I tried to stop her.

“Tora! Wait!”

She did not wait. Her body blurred before disappearing within a burst of speed. Gorrick grinned as he suddenly raised his hand, which had a spiked vambrace covering his forearm. There was a loud clanging sound that echoed through the chamber. Tora had created a powerful-looking sword and swung it at Gorrick, but the Sekbeist Lord had blocked the attack easily with his vambrace.

“That’s quite the bit of anger you have locked away inside of you,” Gorrick said with a grin, his arm not budging a centimeter as Tora pushed against it. “Have I upset you somehow? Did I hurt your little feelings? Come. Come. Talk to good ol’ Gorrick and tell him what’s bothering you.”

“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!”

Tora’s anger caused her to unleash even more Spiritual Power, which erupted from her body like a torrent. Gorrick was so surprised that he was sent flying back. The Spiritual Power lashed out at everything in the area. The Warp Gate and floors were scorched. Several stray attacks nearly hit Hreidmar, but Lin was quick to create a black barrier around the Dweorg to protect him—she knew Kari and I wanted to save him.

“Ah ha ha ha! Wutend was right! You people are sentimental little fucks! Even though you know killing this little Dweorg is the best way to solve your problems, you still do your best to protect him!” Gorrick laughed.

“SHUT UP, GORRICK!”

Tora dismissed her sword as the eruption of Spiritual Power condensed around her body. Burning bright armor made of many segments covered her chest, vambraces appeared around her forearms, and greaves protected her shins. This was armor made from the Concept of Creation. It looked like she had created a star going nova, shaped it into the form of armor, and donned it.

I wondered if I should call this Nova Armor.

Gorrick just crossed his arms. “I’m not sure why you hate me so much, little girl. While you do look familiar, I am quite sure we’ve never met… before… ahhh. Now I understand. Yes, I see why you look so familiar. You’re Clara’s little girl, aren’t you? Yes. Yes. I can see the family resemblance. This brings back fond memories. You know what happened, don’t you? I enslaved your mother and forced her to fight Fray. It was so amusing! Ha ha ha ha! Fray was in tears as she pleaded with your mom to stop fighting! Meanwhile, your dear mother begged Fray to end her life! It was amusing! So amusing!” Gorrick’s expression darkened. “But then your mother somehow managed to wrest herself free. It was only for a moment, but it was long enough for her to throw herself on Fray’s blade. It felt quite humiliated to see someone break through my enslavement ritual.”

I flinched as I listened to this man talk. Kari, Siv, Fay, and Lin had also frozen when they heard what he was saying. Of course, unlike me, this was the first time they were hearing this.

Tora was in tears as she listened to this man, but they were not tears of sorrow. These were tears of rage. This woman was so angry that I was certain she was no longer thinking straight.

“RRRRAAAAAAAA!!!”

With a cry of anguish, rage, and revenge, Tora threw herself at the laughing Gorrick, who met her attacks head on.

I spoke quietly to my wives. “Kari, I want you to place Hreidmar in a timelock and try to free him from Gorrick’s enslavement ritual. Lin, protect Kari and Hreidmar. Siv and I are going to help Tora. Fay, you—”

“I can fight too,” Fay said.

I bit my lip, but I knew now was not the time to argue. Now was not the time to debate this. My wives knew what their job was, and so while Kari and Lin went over to Hreidmar as he continued breaking the seal, Siv, Fay, and I disappeared within a Flash Step.

Appearing above Gorrick as he and Tora clashed, I swung my left leg down. My goal was to heel drop him on the head. Gorrick must have sensed me, however, because he suddenly disappeared and my attack came close to hitting the surprised Tora. I only just managed to avoid hitting her by adjusting the course of my leg.

“Don’t get in my way, Eryk!” Tora screamed before whirling around and searching for Gorrick.

Our foe was several dozen meters away, standing there with his arms crossed and a grin on his face. Siv and Fay had already appeared next to him. Fay’s body was covered in flickering black flames. I sensed the dimensional energy around her, though she obviously didn’t have full control over it. On the other hand, Siv’s fists were coated in spatial energy as she thrust them out, unleashing a powerful explosion that would have shattered Gorrick if he wasn’t so strong.

Gorrick waved his hand. The spatial distortions vanished within a swirling black vortex. Then he lifted his other hand and caught Fay’s punch. Before she could get away, Gorrick pulled her forward and planted a fist in her stomach. The woman was sent sailing.

“Fay!” I shouted as I moved behind the woman and caught her in my arms.

“I… I’m fine.” Fay winced as she climbed out of my arms and placed a hand against her stomach. Calming blue Spiritual Power trickled from her palms into her own stomach as she used the water element to heal herself.

Tora was already attacking Gorrick with reckless abandon. Her fists were covered in flaming hot novas of energy. Each attack caused the air around them to burn. The ground around them had already turned a boiling red. Yet Gorrick himself appeared unharmed as he laughed and blocked all of her attacks, his own body covered in void armor.

“Don’t tell me this is the best you can do!” Gorrick said.

“Bastard! I’m gonna fucking kill you!” Tora screamed. I winced. It was clear that Tora had lost it.

“Come on. We need to help Tora before she gets herself killed,” I said.

“Right.” Fay nodded.

As Tora screamed in rage and attacked by unleashing an intense blast of white energy from her fist, Siv locked Gorrick within a spatial lock. It acted similarly to a time lock, but instead of locking someone within a moment in time, it locked someone inside of a confined space. Unfortunately, this was not enough to stop Gorrick. He overpowered the lock with his own Spiritual Power barely a split second after it formed, then dodged Tora’s attack.

Fay and I were waiting for him, however. I had already created my death ruler. The look on Gorrick’s face as I brought the ruler down on him was priceless, though I was disappointed when he caught the weapon between his hands. It was fortunate I wasn’t fighting him alone. Fay’s body flickered as she appeared within his guard. He grunted in pain when she slammed her fists into his armored stomach, releasing several bursts of dimensional energy. She couldn’t break his armor. But this did distract him long enough for Siv to swipe at his head.

As Gorrick went flying, Tora took this moment to descend on him from above. He was unable to guard himself from her attack. She swung her sword, and while it didn’t cut through his armor, the force of her blow sent the man to his knees.

“RRRRAAAAA!!!”

Tora’s face was truly frightening as she raised her blade and swung it again. The singed atmosphere burned brightly as she attempted to bisect her nemesis, but Gorrick had already recovered and caught her blade in a hand coated in darkness. He glared at her as he clenched his hand. The sword shattered. Then he stood up, coated his fists in death energy, and slammed them into her chest.

Eyes widening as her armor shattered, Tora flew backward, struck the ground, and bounced several times. She coughed and gasped as she tried and failed to stand back up.

Gorrick was not about to let that happen. He moved so quick I could barely see him, appeared before Tora, and swung his leg. But Tora was not there. Siv had pulled Tora into a spatial portal that transported the woman behind us. While his attack missed, the distortion that cut through the air was impressive enough to let me know she would have been split in half had the attack connected.

Sweat trickled down my forehead as I realized we were still outmatched here.

“How’s Tora?” I asked Fay as my wife knelt beside the woman.

“Not good,” Fay admitted, hands on Tora’s chest, gentle blue Spiritual Power flowing from her fingers and into our friend. “That last attack sent death energy into her body. Her chest is all withered and the death energy is trying to spread. I’m keeping it contained but…”

“I understand. Don’t worry. I can counteract the death energy with my own life energy.” I eyed Gorrick as the Sekbeist Lord glared at us. “Though, somehow, I don’t think he’s going to let us.”

“You brats are a lot stronger than I thought you’d be,” Gorrick said with a growl. His cheek where Siv claw slapped him was bruised and covered in four thick lacerations. He also had a dent in his armor. “Wutend told me you brats were all weak, that he defeated you easily. He was honestly shocked when you defeated the Great Overlord of the Fourth Realm.”

“Wutend is obviously an idiot who overestimated himself and underestimated us,” I said. “The only reason he even beat us was because he used cowardly tactics to stall for time.”

“Hmph. False bravado won’t work here,” Gorrick snorted. A shattering sound echoed around us just then, and Gorrick grinned as the blood drained from my face. “Well, whatever. I’ve accomplished my goal. There’s no more reason for me to stick around.” He looked at Tora as the woman gasped and groaned. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon. Don’t die on me. I want to enslave you and force you to fight against your loved ones like I did your mother.”

I turned toward Kari and Lin as the man disappeared.

“Watch out, you two! He’s coming!”

Because the battle against Gorrick had forced me to focus only on my enemy, I’d not been able to see what was happening with Kari and Lin. The two of them were obviously weakened. Kari had been trying to keep Hreidmar locked in time so she could break the enslavement ritual, while Lin had been using the Concept of Negation to block stray attacks. They were now on their hands and knees—or hands and tail in Lin’s case—having clearly used up most of their Spiritual Power.

They were weakened right now.

And Gorrick was right next to them.

I raced toward them, knowing I would not make it in time but trying anyway. Time seemed to slow down as Gorrick created claws on his hands made of death energy. My eyes widened. My heart raced with fear. I knew there was nothing I could do, knew they were die even as I reached out my hand as if I could somehow stop them.

And that was when Siv appeared before the two. She had transported herself in front of the pair and blocked Gorrick’s attack. While his powerful claws were enough to send her flying, she had bought me enough time to reach them. I didn’t bother with Gorrick. I grabbed Kari and Lin before they could be killed and raced over to where Siv was climbing back to her feet. Black miasma covered her forearms, but it looked like she’d created spatial armor to protect herself.

Gorrick placed a hand on Hreidmar’s shoulder, glared at us, and then he and the Dweorg disappeared within a swirling distortion.

“They escaped,” I said in disappointment.

“We have other things to worry about now,” Kari said.

I knew exactly what she was talking about. Turning, I looked at what I had originally assumed was a statue, but what I realized now was a crystal coffin shaped like a person. The layer of stone that made it appear innocuous was gone. Cracks were appearing along the coffin. More and more appeared before, with a roar, the Great Overlord of the Third Realm broke free of his prison.

***

Rache was snarling as he spread his arms wide, creating a powerful barrier of black negation energy that absorbed all of the spatial blades Chloe sent at him. Gritting his teeth, he screamed loudly and swung his arms wide, releasing all that pent up energy in a wave that destroyed the rest of her attacks before they could reach him.

He was breathing heavily.

Their battle had lasted for maybe twenty minutes now, far longer than most one-on-one battles. She and he had seemed evenly matched at first. Of course, part of the reason for that was because Rache had not taken her seriously at the start of this battle.

He was taking her seriously now.

“You… how did you get… so strong?” asked Rache.

“Are you surprised? I’m nothing like the little girl you tortured several centuries ago,” Chloe said. “I am stronger now. I have trained all this time just for this moment. I will have your head, Rache.”

“In your dreams maybe!” Rache shouted as he unleashed several hundred black crescent blades.

Chloe knew better than to let these attacks hit her. Time slowed down, or so it seemed to her. She was actually manipulating her own time, speeding up her body and perceptions so she could perceive everything and move faster. This was very dangerous since she was essentially using up her own time. If she was not careful, her body could grow old and wither.

But she had confidence in her control.

She dodged left, then right, then drifted down to avoid another blade before twisting her body like an acrobat to avoid two more blades.

Rache grimaced as he clenched his hands into a fist. Several thousand blades appeared around her now, from every conceivable angle, and they quickly converged on her location.

Except Chloe was no longer there.

She had appeared behind Rache, who sensed her and spun around, raising his arm to block her blade. Sword clashed against vambrace. Before now, whenever they clashed, they would repulse each other, but this time it was Rache who was sent flying away.

“Damn it! How is this possible?!” screamed Rache, his eyes wide, lips set in a vicious but disbelieving snarl. “How are you beating me?!”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Chloe said coldly.

She shot forward and tried to impale Rache through the chest, but he was still quick enough to twist his body and avoid her attack. He spun around, launched a kick that caught her in the chest, and used the momentum to gain distance. Chloe clicked her tongue. That attack had not hurt, but she was upset that he’d been able to land that attack at all.

“Haaa… haaa… damn it… how long… will it take to undo that blasted seal?!”

Rache’s purpose had been trapping them here to prevent them from stopping the seal on the Great Overlord of the Third Realm from breaking, but Chloe’s presence had stopped that.

Chloe had been been able to fight Wutend on even terms because of her companion’s presence. To avoid injuring her master and his wives, she had limited her combat abilities, but there was no one here to stop her from releasing all of her limiters. She had no intention of letting this man escape.

She swung her sword. More blades appeared. Rache grimaced as he tried to dodge, but then she clenched her hand into a fist, and the time around him froze, locking him in place. The spatial blades continued on. One sliced off his left foot, another severed his right arm, and the last would have removed his head, but he broke free of the time lock and shifted at the last second.

Not fast enough to avoid damage.

Rache bit his lip to keep from screaming as blood flowed down his two stumps and from the cut on his neck. The bleeding stopped when he stopped time around his wounds. However, he would not be healing from those ever again.

“Fuck. If I had known you would become this powerful, I would have killed you when I had the chance,” he grunted in pain.

Chloe snorted. “You should have killed me, but like all Sekbeists, you are arrogant and take pleasure in causing others pain. That’s the problem with your kind. Of course, I am grateful. If you weren’t so stupid, I would not be alive today, and now the tables have turned. You look pathetic.”

“Fuck you!” Spittle flew from Rache’s mouth as he shouted at her. “I’m not going to put up with some bitch talking back to me!”

The world around Chloe became distorted. Black threads of negation energy enclosed her within a sphere. She could feel it trying to erode her body, to make her disappear as if she had never existed, but it was weak—to weak to erase her.

Chloe flared her Spiritual Power, shattering Rache’s killing field. The Sekbeist Lord’s eyes widened. Fear drained the blood from his face. It seemed he had finally realized how little of a match he was for her.

“Damn it! DAMN IT!”

Rache’s powers flared out of control. Chloe grunted as he placed a time lock on her, then locked the space around her, further hampering her ability to move. She realized that perhaps she had played with him too much. She’d wanted him to feel the same terror she felt as a little girl, but he was not a child. He was now a cornered beasts.

And beasts were at their most dangerous when cornered.

“FUCKING DIE!!” Rache screamed as he held out his hand. A black flame appeared above his palm, which he threw at Chloe, who was in the process of trying to undo the time lock and spatial lock.

Realizing she wouldn’t be able to escape in time, Chloe shattered the time lock, then put up a spatial barrier around her. This barrier was different from normal ones. It phased her body into a different space. This was a more advanced form of her portal ability.

The void flames struck the spatial prison, but they didn’t explode like a normal flame would have. Instead, they merely consumed everything around them. The air, the spatial lock, and any particles that had gathered. A black sphere of annihilation consumed everything within a ten meter radius around it.

“Ha… ha… ha…” Rache took several deep breaths. “That should have done it. Fucking bitch. You shouldn’t have… underestimated me—urk!”

Rache’s words were cut off when something erupted from his chest. He looked down at the glistening silver blade sticking out of his chest, blood dripping from it. His arm shook as he reached out to grab the blade, as if to remove it, but the sword had pierced him from behind. He turned his head and looked in shock at the person behind him.

Chloe felt like she had seen better days. Most of her armor was gone, black burns marked her face where the negation energy had tried to erase her, and her body was littered with numerous wounds. However, all those were healing at a rapid pace.

Rache spat out blood as he rasped. “You… you’ve mastered time… to this degree?”

“That’s right,” Chloe said coldly as she twisted the blade in his back. Rache groaned in agony. “Not only can I speed time up, but I can reverse it too. I’m pretty sure my ability to manipulate time is even greater than Lady Fray’s.”

Chloe generally used the Concept of Space during combat because it was more powerful than death and more useful than time, but her true talent actually lay in her ability to manipulate time. She had trained her hardest to master this concept.

This was her deception.

It was all for this moment.

In less than a second, Chloe’s body was back to normal—not a wound to be seen. The only thing she couldn’t restore was her armor. That had been erased by the Concept of Negation. Once something was erased like that, it could never be returned because it simply didn’t exist. Chloe knew she had been wearing armor when this battle had started, but she couldn’t even remember what her armor looked like now. The very memory of it was gone.

That was just how frightening the Concept of Negation was.

“I can’t believe… I lost to you…” Rache muttered. At that moment, however, an immense Spiritual Power erupted and the skies several kilometers in the distance became stormy as thunderclouds formed. “Heh. It looks like it doesn’t matter though. You… still lost. Our goal… has been… achieved our… goals…”

Chloe pursed her lips. “So it would seem.”

In a move so quick Rache couldn’t even fathom it, Chloe removed her sword from his back, swung it, and cleaved his head from his shoulders. She watched with cold eyes as head and body fell to the grounds below.

Lowering herself to the ground, Chloe took a deep breath, then knelt and pressed her hands against the earth. She closed her eyes as her fingers sank into the soft loam. Reaching out, she could sense the life all around her.

“I can do this,” she muttered.

The thunderclouds in the distance had turned into a raging storm. Lightning slammed into the mountain below, tearing it asunder. A roar that sounded both human and not echoed all around her, causing the earth to reverberate.

“That would be Riesener, the Great Overlord of the Third Realm, lord of storms and conqueror of the tenth dimension.”

Chloe took another deep breath, then entered the Fourth State of Spiritualism. Her body turned the same color as the ground. Her flesh gained the same consistency of mud. It felt so different from anything she had ever experienced before. While other members of the God Race would have scoffed at her for training an element, she understood the benefits to be had from watching Eryk and his wives.

Like this, Chloe began absorbing all the Spiritual Power in the area. The plants around her withered as the nutrients in the ground turned into Spiritual Power that entered her body through her bodies, traveled along her Spiritual Pathways, and fed into her core.

“Hold on, Master. I will be by your side soon.”