He who Bends Time

"Indeed, something has to be done," Auran said grimly, his eyes narrowing. "Just look at those…"

He pointed toward the jagged spikes of earth protruding from the chasms below. Wherever the ground split, massive stone spires had emerged—deadly traps waiting for anyone who fell. Each time a panicked soul plummeted, they were impaled instantly, blood splattering and running down the cruel spears.

"Ugh…" Henry swallowed hard. It was the first time he had witnessed such a merciless sight hidden beneath the earth's surface. He now understood why only certain cracks revealed these spikes—almost as if they were designed to kill.

"Protectors, unite once again!"

The lead Protector's voice thundered across the shattered battlefield. In unison, the Protectors invoked Unity Magic Theory, their combined power allowing them to launch into the air. Though they could not truly fly, the enhanced leaps and glides closed the distance to the inhuman figure in seconds.

The abomination stood calmly amidst the chaos. Even as the ground around him crumbled, the area immediately surrounding the staff he had driven into the earth remained untouched—like an island of stability in a collapsing world.

Then, the quaking slowly subsided. The staff that had torn the kingdom apart vibrated, releasing streams of energy like starlight, which the inhuman figure absorbed greedily into his crystalline scales.

{Enchanted Strength}

With his power renewed, the inhuman closed his eyes briefly—almost meditative—before snapping them open just as the Protectors' unified strike came. He twisted with inhuman agility, dodging by mere inches, and countered in a blur.

His clawed hand smashed into the lead female Protector, sending her hurtling back the way she had come.

BOOM!

She crashed onto one of the few intact earth platforms. Dust erupted as she skidded across the rock, her body trembling.

Cough!

Blood dripped from her lips as she knelt, her face pale, struggling to steady herself. The other Protectors glanced her way, their expressions tight with worry. Their condition was worsening, and the battle was far from over.

"It… it's gotten stronger," the female Protector muttered, clutching her side as blood dripped from her lips.

"Auran…" Henry's voice trembled, his gaze locked on his friend. Deep down, he knew that among all of them, Auran's time magic was their strongest hope of offense. That was why he kept calling out to him with urgency.

"I know," Auran replied, his tone grim. "But I can't be sure if it'll even work against an opponent like this."

He took a deep breath and straightened his posture, his right hand raised with regal precision, as if a king commanding the flow of time itself.

{Time Vault – Open.}

A subtle hum echoed in the air as Auran swung his hand forward. Reality rippled, and a Time Blade materialized, a crescent of shimmering temporal energy, before launching toward the inhuman figure's head at an impossible speed.

TIK!

The moment the blade struck its target… it shattered.

Fragments of warped light dispersed into the air like broken glass.

"W-What…?" Auran's eyes widened in disbelief. His most destructive ability had completely failed.

Henry's face went pale, and even Clara, standing beside Auran, muttered, "It didn't even scratch him…"

---

Impossible… Auran thought, his mind racing. Even if he were more powerful than me, he should have at least taken a minor wound. I'm in the Forging Stage now—my influence over time is greater than ever. Even a Refining Stage opponent wouldn't be immune… he should have felt something!

But the inhuman figure didn't react. He hadn't even flinched.

It's like… he doesn't exist in this timeline at all…

The realization twisted Auran's expression into one Henry had never seen before—a mix of shock and dread.

"This is the first time I've seen you make that face," Henry muttered, his own voice heavy with fear.

---

URRGHHHH!

A deep growl rumbled from the inhuman figure as he suddenly lunged forward, his towering body crossing the shattered ground in seconds. His massive fist was raised, aimed directly at the kneeling female Protector.

SWISH!

A blur cut across Auran's vision. Marian dashed past him with explosive speed, leaping toward the falling Protector, momentum carrying her straight into the path of the monster's attack.

The blood that had spilled from the countless impaled victims began to tremble. At Marian's command, it rose, flowing through the air in crimson streams, swirling behind her like a living tide.

[Blood Wall]

With a sharp motion of her hand, the blood solidified, forming a massive, shimmering scarlet barrier in front of the kneeling Protectors—just as the inhuman figure's colossal fist descended.

BOOM!

The impact was deafening. The clash sent shockwaves tearing through the already fractured ground, causing deep fissures to spread in every direction.

"Ugh!"

The Blood Wall cracked under the overwhelming force, shards of crimson scattering like shattered glass before dissolving back into liquid. Marian herself was hurled backward by the recoil, slamming into the ground.

But for the first time, the inhuman figure recoiled as well. Its massive hand bore faint lacerations, and a dark expression twisted across its monstrous face.

It frowned.

Then, with deliberate motion, it leaped back toward the floating staff—its sinister core of destruction.

---

"Oh no…" Auran's face paled. "He's going for it again."

As he predicted, the creature seized the staff, which had been hovering just above the fractured earth since it was last released, and drove it deep into the ground.

BANG!

The earth screamed.

A thunderous tremor shook the land, cracks spiderwebbing outward as the terrain began to split and shift violently.

"Ah!"

The very ground where Henry and the others stood fractured beneath their feet, threatening to collapse into the abyss.

"This one's gonna break—let's move!" Henry shouted, but as he turned, he caught sight of Clara already taking action. She grabbed Auran by the arm, her body shimmering with spatial magic, and in an instant the two blinked out of sight, vanishing to safer ground.

"Don't leave me!" the nobleman shrieked, panicked, as Henry sprinted toward stable footing.

"Octo, grab him!" Henry barked.

Without hesitation, Octo's massive tentacle hand coiled around the nobleman, lifting him like a doll. With agile leaps, Octo bounded across collapsing fragments of earth, hopping from one piece of crumbling terrain to the next, until they reached a section of ground where the others had regrouped—Auran, Henry, Marian, and the Protectors.

---

The female Protector captain, kneeling but still composed, turned her head toward Marian, her eyes sharp despite exhaustion.

"So… the rumors were true," she said with a hoarse breath. "The Bloody Queen has returned."

Marian, struggling to rise after being thrown by the last impact, gave her a grim smile.

"So… the Night Hunters' words were true after all," the female Protector murmured, almost to herself, as the ground continued to rumble beneath them.