章節 101: Chapter 100: A New Enemy
My body heals in an instant, only to be destroyed again.
I don't know where the deadly attacks are coming from, and I have no clue about the attacker's identity. All I know is that whoever is trying to kill me is beyond powerful and that we need to flee as soon as possible. No amount of Rewinds will help me fight someone who can kill Mary in an instant.
I turn my heads towards the pile of red mush that the draconic hybrid has been turned into. This sight makes my blood boil, and I clench my fist. The voice in my head suggests that I avenge her, but I know it's beyond my capabilities. I Rewind and attempt to shield Mary from the attack by shifting my body, but the projectile goes right through my body before exploding into the chest of its target. My companions explode in a similar fashion at the same moment, and I fall to my knees as I grit my teeth.
It is unlike anything I've seen before.
I have to save my followers from such a powerful attacker; even my regenerating body cannot heal fast enough to endure the onslaught.
Time goes backward just as another one of my limbs explode. This time, I push Mary to the ground and shift my body. I feel the projectile tearing through my flesh, but Mary is only lightly grazed.
"W-Wha-" the hybrid stops talking when she notices the dead members of our group.
I can't even react when another couple of projectiles dig a tunnel through the Tower before bursting into the woman's torso. Blood covers me, and I don't have time to be shocked since my lower half is separated from my body.
It grows back only to be shattered again.
I roll on my back and lose my legs again. My arm explodes as I reach for my Portal Gun, and I'm kept in a state of constant agony by the unrelenting attacks.
We WiLL NoT FaLL!
The voice roars in anger, and my robes activate on their own as a response to my fury. But the light show doesn't phase the attacker; they keep striking me again and again. The ethereal armor didn't even appear this time, a sign that my soul is too weak for such a display.
I Rewind, this time I don't even attempt to shield Mary as I watch her death with resignation. I need to know where the attacks are coming from. I watch my comrades die, again and again. I feel a tightening in my chest each time their body explodes, and my anger reaches new heights with every Rewind.
How many hours have I wasted observing the air? In the end, the homing projectiles seem to be coming from entirely arbitrary directions so finding the one responsible for such a massacre is impossible. Those attacks could be coming from anywhere on the planet, or they could even be teleported from a safe location. After all, if I have something like the Hammer, then there's no reason for others to not have similar systems.
My only option is to escape as soon as possible and hope that whoever is attacking me isn't capable of following me. If they can, it'll be the end of the Order.
I Rewind to an earlier point, this time it's back when the Destroyer died. I don't waste a single second and reach for my Portal Gun. I Rewind a few times to get the coordinates of my companions and press the trigger. The artifact heats ups as a large amount of power go through the shoddy runes. I feel relieved when the constructs start to appear-
My hopes are crushed when the budding portals explode in an instant.
The members of the Order don't have time to be stunned by the sudden events since their heads explode and cover the surroundings with a fine red mist.
"FoR fuck's SakE-" My impotent rage is stifled by a well-placed projectile to the throat.
Even the voice is starting to get restless, a sign that this opponent is not to be taken lightly.
I Rewind and freeze the timeline. I focus on the dying Destroyer as I review my options. Fleeing is not an option; the attacker must have some sort of Spell Jammer of their own to destroy my portals. I haven't noticed any form of heavy machinery nearby, so it must mean that it's a spell.
It is beyond terrifying. A Spell Jammer which is that good is a threat to our survival. We have no way of fleeing, no way of getting supplies or reinforcements, and we can't deploy the Hammer.
I unfreeze the timeline and watch my friends die without reacting while I reprogram the Rewinder. At this point, the traumatic events replayed so much that I've become desensitized to such a sight, even if it angers me to no end. I stand up and look at a random direction. I feign calmness as all my limbs are continuously shattered, I stifle screams of agony and wait for the attacker to show up. If they kill me, I'll be brought back to the moment when the Destroyer died, so I won't have to repeat the day.
If the attacker is a mercenary after my head, then they will approach me to get proof of my death, at least I hope so. It's the only way I can think of to gather more clues about the identity of the killer. But it will all be for nothing if they use some long-distance recording spell, which seems more than likely now that I think about it.
But I'm desperate enough to try anyway.
I wait a few seconds, which feel like hours as every part of my body is thoroughly destroyed. But the mysterious sniper seems to be avoiding vital points; it's either a coincidence or they are going out of their way to keep me alive.
The assault then suddenly stops.
I take a deep breath as I lie in a massive pool of my own blood, my exhausted mind and body refuse to work as I stay here.
The sound of footsteps resonating against the stone floor soon reach my ears. I turn my heads towards the sound, and I finally see her.
A woman wearing something resembling a long white toga which is carrying what looks to be some sort of long coil gun casually steps towards me. Despite everything, I immediately notice her exceptional beauty. It wouldn't be a stretch to call the most beautiful woman to have ever lived. Her long and silky black hair compliment her spotless skin and her Asian features, but her piercing gaze shows that she is way more than just a good looking woman.
The mere sight of that woman is enough to send the voice into an unprecedented frenzy, and I realize something which shocks me.
The voice is afraid. Primal fear, unlike anything I've felt before, floods my brain as the desperate entity tries to force my body to move.
"Hello, P-02." Her crystal-like voice sends a ripple through the air; it's like the sound waves are ripping apart the fabric of reality. Despite her gentle tone, her voice is powerful enough to substantially press me into the ground. I grit my teeth as my armor creaks while the woman approaches me.
"I've been following your antics for quite some time now, and I have to say that you've been quite entertaining." She says as she kneels beside me. The voice is screaming in despair, but I can only hear her voice despite the cacophony in my mind.
"You've been quite the interesting specimen," she says, almost gently, as she traces my body with her finger. Her touch is enough to melt my armor and the hot metal sears my flesh before it regenerates. This sight seems to fascinate her as she keeps melting my armor, which cannot regenerate fast enough to resist her finger.
She then grabs me by the hair and forces me to look at her smirking face. "The way you struggled and killed that puny thing was quite exhilarating, and I could barely contain my excitement when you tried to protect your companions!" she says with a small chuckle.
The countless deaths of Mary and the others replay in my head. No matter what I did, I was unable to save them. And now she tells me that she did all of this just for her entertainment?!
My fury wells up as I attempt to activate my robe, but my aura is dispelled before it even materializes.
"Now, don't get angry." She says while caressing my face. Her touch is enough to make my body shiver and convulse, but she somehow keeps me perfectly still. "I know you might be angry right now, but I'm doing this for a greater purpose. You should be honored to become my prime source of entertainment! Who cares about the lives of those ants you call companions, you have a ton of them tucked away in a Shard so what's one or two deaths to you?"
EnOuGh!
The voice is still scared beyond measure, but its anger combined with mine is enough to make me move a finger. This doesn't escape the woman's sight and the pressure which is pinning me down doubles in intensity.
"Now, as I said before, don't get angry. I want you to keep me entertained, but I was quite displeased by your performance when I attacked you. You couldn't even find me; I was only on the other side of the planet! And you couldn't even endure something as weak as this thing!" she says while shaking her long weapon. "It's barely twenty percent of the speed of light; I could stop something like that with my bare hands when I was a teenager!"
Fear isn't a strong enough word to describe my feelings. How she casually described something that is impossible even for the top Enforcers of Earth, her limitless power and the aura of dominance she has destroyed any hope of survival I had. She knows about the Order and could kill them all in an instant, she somehow spied on me and knew everything about me.
So this is what facing a god is like. I pretended to be one before, but seeing a real one shows how foolish I was.
"W-Who are you?" I struggle to say.
"You can still speak? You're really interesting!" she claps her hands and smile. "I have many names, but the most known one is the Oracle. Now, P-02, tell me your secrets. I want to know everything about you, I want to know why you survived this long despite being a mana-less human!" she says with excitement.
So she even knows about that? I can't do anything against her, can I?
"Why do you call me P-02?" I ask to stall the conversation.
"I know you also go by a few names, but the one you prefer is Prometheus. I don't like it, so I feel like P-02 is a better one!" she keeps smiling but the pressure she emits increases greatly. "I'm the one asking questions here, so don't do anything other than answering me, or else..." she grabs my leg and rips it off without any effort. I almost faint from the sudden surge of pain but it's nothing compared to what's coming. She keeps amputating my leg as soon as it regenerates.
It goes on for ten minutes before she decides to stop.
"That should do nicely!" she says before tapping me on the forehead "First of all, I want to know how you are regenerating so fast. It's quite intriguing since you are just a normal human, and I can't sense any circulating mana."
The Oracle frowns, "Don't lie to me, or you won't like what happens next." She says before turning my shoulder into a fine powder, "That was just a warning. I bet it's somehow linked to your absurd soul strength. The way you increase it so rapidly without any warning and without doing anything greatly interest me."
I barely register her words; what she just inflicted to me was almost enough to make me lose consciousness.
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about," I reply.
Of course, it's a big fat lie. If I had to guess, the sudden increases in soul strength she is feeling is probably when I come out of a long chain of Rewinds. I'm still not sure about it since the memories are hard to access and confusing.
The Oracle raises an eyebrow and looks displeased, " As I told you before, I don't want lies. It seems you are not capable of understanding what's good for you, so-"
That abominable woman is silenced by freezing time. I know it's a bit ridiculous, but I half-expected her to move and crush my skull despite the effects of the Rewinder. After all, it wouldn't be surprising if someone like her dabbled, and succeeded, in making time travel a real thing.
But I'm luckily still, as far as I know, the only being capable of such a feat.
I rack my brain to find a solution for this mess. The Oracle is beyond my grasp no matter what I do, and even my unexpected power-up will amount to nothing if I attempt to fight her again. The fact that the voice in my head is deadly afraid of her is also an excellent reason to not further mess with her.
So what should I do? Fleeing is impossible, and fighting will always result in my loss. I don't have any viable options. From what she told me she observed me for god knows how long, and the Oracle made it clear that she could reach me anytime she wanted.
I take a deep breath and Rewind to Mary's death. I put the dead hybrid away and drop to the ground.
"Oracle, I know you're there! Show yourself!" I shout and power through many limb destructions while I activate my robes and use all my willpower to remain impassible.
A minute later and the dreaded figure of my assailant appears in front of me.
"So you knew I was here? And you even know who I am? How impressive!" she says as she claps her hands like an unsuspecting young woman.
I ignore her display and activate the Hammer, but it's canceled as soon as the portals begin to appear.
But I expected such an outcome, and I use this distraction to-
"Is that all?" she says while looking at her fingernails like she's bored. My bullets just bounced off her clothes like they where rubber bands. I don't let the creeping desperation take control and Rewind. This time, I attack with my shotgun. The MH Shells fire, but the Oracle slaps the beams of mana out of existence.
She feigns a yawn and cracks her neck. The resulting shockwave is enough to break through my shield and makes all my joints implode.
I can't utter a single coherent word as she calmly approaches me. I try to crawl away, but my desperate escape attempt only makes her laugh, and she pins me to the ground with a giant lance made of solid blue light.
"You seem to know who I am, P-02. I also know who you are, but there's a lot of mysteries about you that I need to uncover. In my humble opinion, you should feel beyond elated that an inferior being like yourself caught the attention of-"
Yeah, I heard that bullshit before. I know better than trying to talk with her, it will only result in agony. That kind of pain is so strong that it will paralyze me and I won't be able to Rewind in time to avoid it.
So I prevent that from happening and Rewind again.
But this time, I'm at a very different point in the timeline.
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Onch
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