TWEM Vol. 8 Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Evil God Chronos II

Even though I’d managed to sever his arm, it regenerated instantly.

I could safely assume he hadn’t taken any real damage.

“How now? Won’t you come at me? Then allow me.”

Perhaps growing impatient with my hesitation, Chronos stepped forward—

And vanished.

“What!? Where did he—!?”

My “Detect Danger” skill flared, and I immediately dropped low.

As his blade swept past above my head, I teleported away.

But Chronos didn’t follow up with another strike.

“You dodged that?”

“Yeah, somehow.”

I tried to figure out how he disappeared from view just now, but nothing made sense.

With my current physical abilities, I shouldn’t have missed anything short of a complete spatial shift.

I took a breath and refocused.

Chronos took another step—

And vanished again.

This time, I evaded by activating “Ground Shrink” to leap backward.

I hadn’t even blinked, and yet he vanished completely from sight.

That confirmed it; he wasn’t teleporting.

Then it hit me.

“Is he accelerating his personal time…?”

Judging by his intrigued expression, I’d hit the mark.

“Correct. Well spotted.”

“Figured as much. You’re the God of Time and Space, of course you can manipulate it. But there were no traces of teleportation or spatial distortion… meaning you were just moving faster than I could see.”

“Impressive deduction. But knowing won’t help you counter it.”

True. I had no means of stopping Chronos from using acceleration.

Or rather, he’d forgotten that I can use space-time magic too.

“Want to test that theory?”

“Go on, then.”

I cast a time-space spell around a two-meter radius, anchoring it to my position.

Its effect: slow the flow of time for everything but me within that space.

Chronos vanished again—

But the moment he entered the barrier’s radius, I could see him.

I dodged his strike and counterattacked immediately.

He looked surprised, but only for a moment; he coolly intercepted my blade with his own.

“You’ve got a countermeasure, it seems. But you still lack power.”

No argument there.

With a forceful swing, Chronos knocked me away.

Then, taking advantage of the gap, he moved again.

His figure vanished once more.

But I didn’t have time to deploy the same spell again.

So instead, I recovered midair, launched myself upward using my barrier as a platform—

And just in time. Chronos’s strike tore through the wall behind me.

“Impressive reflexes.”

“Thanks for the compliment!”

Without missing a beat, I shifted to offense.

I created a network of barriers midair and began bounding across them, building momentum.

To push my speed even further, I visualized Iris’s unique skill and wrapped my body in lightning.

Bolts arced across the sky as I moved.

Then I created a clone and sent it to strike from behind.

When I saw Chronos glance its way, I charged in from the front.

But the clone was shot down by a rear-deployed spell, and my blade was blocked by the high-pitched ring of metal on metal.

“Tch. That’s a no-go too, huh.”

Rather than resist Chronos’s counter, I leapt back to absorb the force of the blow.

As I landed, Chronos chuckled.

“Very amusing. But if you mean to challenge me, you’ll need more strength, and more ingenuity.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

Even as I spoke, I used earth magic to solidify the ground beneath his feet.

Then froze his lower body with ice magic to restrict his movements.

“Haaaah!”

I closed the distance with “Ground Shrink” and slashed from the front.

Chronos raised his sword to guard, and that’s when I triggered the same chain spell as before and launched a follow-up slash from behind.

But he had anticipated it.

He deployed a transparent orb behind him to block it.

I reacted immediately; summoning a clone to absorb the orb, and teleported out before I could be caught in it.

I reappeared right in front of Chronos, nearly point-blank—

And slashed.

“Got you!”

He clearly hadn’t expected me to teleport this close.

My strike landed clean, cutting deep into his side.

“Grgh!?”

Chronos’s eyes widened in shock.

I readied a follow-up blow, but instinct screamed at me to stop.

Suppressing the urge, I pulled away instantly.

A heartbeat later, something sharp and deadly dropped from above.

Landing right where I’d just been standing.

It embedded itself deep in the floor; a translucent spear.

If I’d gone for that follow-up…

A chill ran down my spine.

Meanwhile, Chronos’s wound regenerated.

“Good instincts.”

“Yeah… probably the only reason I’m still alive.”

Chronos raised a palm toward me.

“Then how about this— ‘Chrono Spear’.”

Dozens—no, hundreds—of spears formed behind him, their tips aimed at me.

There was no way I could dodge all of them.

With a gesture, he unleashed them mercilessly.

I activated the same time-space detection spell I’d used earlier.

This time, expanding the range from two meters to five.

Dodging and deflecting with my blade, I held my ground, but the spears kept coming. Endlessly.

“Oh? Let’s see how long you can last.”

With a smirk, Chronos conjured hundreds more and launched them.

No way I could block them all.

Ellis, use space warp at the impact points to divert the worst of it!

《Understood.》

I entrusted the ones I couldn’t block to Ellis’s defense.

Meanwhile, I kept dodging, parrying, and weaving through the storm.

But there were just too many.

Even with warped space, some grazed me.

Blood scattered through the air.

More gashes opened along my side and arms.

By the time the barrage finally ceased, though it felt like seconds or minutes had passed, I was covered in wounds, barely standing.

～

“Hah… hah…”

My wounds began to close up thanks to my automatic healing.

Chronos looked at me, still standing after enduring his fierce assault, and gave me what sounded like praise.

“Impressive. As a god, I acknowledge you. Among all the beings in this world, you are the strongest.”

Then he continued, as if to hammer down the truth.

“But even so, you still cannot reach a god like me.”

“…Even so, I can’t give up here.”

As I answered, all expression faded from Chronos’s face.

“I’ve seen countless heroes and champions say the same—just before they died. It’s truly unfortunate.”

Then, without warning, he appeared right before me and swung his sword down.

I barely managed to deflect the strike with my blade and countered with a slash of my own.

But again, it was blocked with a high-pitched metallic ring.

“As I thought… this is your limit. Let me make it clear, you cannot defeat me.”

“Maybe not— ‘Yamata-no-Orochi’!”

Behind me appeared the monstrous serpent of Japanese myth, formed of black flames.

“Burn him to ash!”

I stepped back and commanded the beast. It unleashed a torrent of black fire at Chronos.

The breath attack seemed to land directly, but it was blocked by a barrier he deployed in an instant.

The deflected flames smashed into the wall and blew it open, revealing the sky beyond.

Even a spell of that magnitude couldn’t break it. That barrier was absurdly strong.

I shouted another command.

“Give it everything you’ve got!”

All eight heads turned toward Chronos, opening their jaws wide.

The black flames gathered, focused directly at the barrier.

From within the darkness, Chronos spoke, amused.

“Interesting spell. But such force will never break this barrier.”

I didn’t respond.

One hand raised to the sky, the other pointed at Chronos.

Then, I launched a fireball large enough to blow up the entire room, or the whole building, for that matter.

It struck the barrier and exploded violently, collapsing the ceiling.

The black flames, the explosion, and falling rubble overwhelmed the area, finally weakening the barrier.

《Master, now!》

Ellis’s voice rang out as the barrier finally broke.

“‘Thor’s Hammer’!”

“Guh!?”

A massive bolt of lightning crashed down from the heavens, striking Chronos directly.

I didn’t expect that to finish him, but it should’ve done some damage.

Sure enough, I heard a muffled voice within the dust cloud.

When the smoke cleared, Chronos stood there; parts of his body burned and charred.

But the wounds quickly vanished, and he began to chuckle.

“Heh… hehehe…”

Still on guard, I watched as his laughter swelled.

“Ahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Wonderful! It’s been so long since I took damage like this, since I was sealed!”

In that instant, his presence grew heavier.

The pressure nearly crushed me.

“Ugh…!”

Chronos now wore his magic power like a casual cloak; more dense and oppressive than ever before.

There was no way I could win.

Ellis. Do I stand any chance?

《Current win rate: 0.01%. Retreat is strongly advised.》

Heh. So basically… I have no hope.

Even so, I can’t back down now.

Down below, Finne and the others, those I want to protect, are praying for my victory.

I’ve already made my decision.

Running is not an option.

If I don’t defeat Chronos here, this battle is lost.

《The Allied Forces are incapable of defeating Chronos.》

Thought so.

But if there’s even a 0.01% chance… I’ll seize that near-impossible win with everything I’ve got.

Then let’s do it together, Ellis.

《Understood. I will support you with everything I have.》

As I exchanged words with Ellis in my mind, Chronos spoke again.

“Have you gone pale? I haven’t even used my full power yet.”

Wait—this wasn’t his full power?

“You don’t say. Coincidentally, neither have I.”

It was a bluff.

I did have Limit Break as a last resort…

But even if I used it now, I wasn’t sure I could finish him within the time limit.

Once it expired, I’d be weakened.

I had to push him back with every other means first, then use it.

“Oh? Bold words. Let’s put them to the test.”

Countless spears of flame manifested behind him.

He hadn’t used fire magic until now, which caught me off guard, but then again, he’s a god. Of course he could use all elements.

“Tch!”

I deployed multiple layers of “Space Rupture Barrier – Aegis” to intercept the flaming spears.

The explosions shattered each barrier one by one.

Ellis—can you upgrade the Aegis?

《It is possible.》

Stronger than Chronos’s?

《It will take time, but yes.》

Good. Do it now.

《Understood. Initiating upgrade to Space Rupture Barrier – Aegis… estimated time: three minutes.》

Three minutes—I can last that long.

While casting overlapping barriers, I teleported behind Chronos.

He probably noticed, but I didn’t care. I unleashed a spell anyway.

“‘Earth Bind’!”

Chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around his limbs.

“‘Space Rupture Barrier – Aegis’!”

I surrounded him with a cage of barriers, leaving a tiny gap, just big enough to slip my finger through and channel magic.

“‘Dark Bullet’!”

A compressed orb of black flame blasted into the cage and exploded.

Moments later, a sword slash gleamed through the smoke, and the barrier shattered.

There stood Chronos, completely unharmed.

Of course.

“Your magical technique is the most refined I’ve seen,” he murmured.

Then he vanished.

I instinctively turned and blocked—just in time to stop his attack with my blade, though the impact sent me flying.

As I recovered in midair, I saw Chronos pointing at me.

A black flame lit at his fingertip, just like the one I had used earlier.

A bad feeling crept up my spine.

I couldn’t dodge it in this position.

The orb of black fire came flying at high speed.

“Tch!”

I poured mana into my sword and slashed it out of the air.

I landed, and behind me, the split flames exploded violently against the ground.

The force was far stronger than mine.

I shivered thinking what would’ve happened had it hit me directly.

“This is quite handy,” Chronos mused, clearly pleased.

“Nice spell. Thanks for the lesson.”

“I never meant to teach you. Seriously… give me a break.”

“Don’t be like that. Here, let me thank you.”

Before I realized it, countless translucent spears had appeared, surrounding me.

As they launched, I immediately teleported to Chronos’s front.

“No need to rush—”

“—Gah!?”

But he was ready.

His foot slammed into my gut, launching me through the shattered ceiling—into the open sky.

As I doubled over in pain, Chronos grinned.

“Let’s finish this. I’ve got more important things to do.”

He pointed his palm at me and began to chant.

“‘Divine Judgment of Time’.”

The moment I heard those cold words, a chill ran down my spine.

This was bad.

Above me, light gathered in the sky, forming a massive pillar.

No way I could dodge this by normal means.

Just as I prepared to teleport, Ellis’s voice echoed.

《Upgrade complete. Space Rupture Barrier – Aegis is ready.》

Ha! I really am lucky.

I grinned.

And let the pillar of divine light swallow me whole.