Reborn To Master Time

“Oh, you guys made up?” the Giant Killer said, giving the students surrounding him a quick glance while still effortlessly parrying Roran’s blows.

Roran might be ready for a second attack, I thought as I moved forward. The cooldown time for his skill was likely already finished, so he was waiting for another opening to strike.

“Who said we made up? We just decided to change the order we’ll kill you in. Nothing else,” Lithe said, walking up to him, clutching his fist, and observing the Giant Killer’s reaction.

“I see. You’re really a nuisance, aren’t you?” the Giant Killer said, spinning his dagger a few times before suddenly throwing it toward me again. Seeing this with [Future Sight], I sidestepped to avoid the dagger by a few inches, but something unexpected happened. I felt my knees bend on their own as my body dropped and my head bobbed backward before a dagger suddenly grazed past my face, slicing across it as blood splattered above me.

How is he doing that?

“Ian!? What the hell are you doing!?” Rin screamed from the other side of the cave. From the corner of my eye, I saw she was the one who had just controlled my body to dodge the attack.

Is he canceling the future? No…

I started to think, using [Recall] to remember the previous attack that hit my shoulder.

I see.

It was a feint—the most elaborate I’d ever seen because of my lack of experience fighting powerful foes.

[Future Sight] only catches his killing intent in the first prediction, which was the attack I managed to react to because he purposely made it much slower than the real attack. He then throws the dagger at a much higher speed after I react to the feint, not giving [Future Sight] the opportunity to remove the first prediction and form a second one. I didn’t think feints could be this effective.

I let out a sigh, deactivating [Future Sight], since it would only make me more vulnerable. I needed to understand more about feints before I could use the skill more freely.

“Oh, looks like I missed,” the Giant Killer said, shrugging, almost as if he could read my mind. No. He was probably testing out a theory he already had about me being able to see a part of the future. He then casually reached into his pockets again, but this time, the students around him immediately rushed forward, seizing the opportunity.

“Hehe.” As two swords rushed toward him, the Giant Killer let out a dry laugh before pulling his hands out of his pockets, dodging the first attack, and immediately countering, punching the student in the stomach and knocking them out instantly.

“Haha. I actually don’t have any more weapons,” he said casually, dodging the second strike and reaching out to grab the student's face. He was baiting them.

“S-shit!” The student struggled to pull back as he swung at him again, but the Giant Killer grabbed his wrist, squeezing it hard.

Crack~!

“Ahh!” The student screamed as his wrist broke, the sword falling from his hand. The Giant Killer then released him, catching the falling sword before it hit the ground, and casually sliced through the student’s neck.

Slack~!

The other students’ eyes widened in horror as the head dropped to the ground with a light thud, blood splattering everywhere before the body fell to the floor. Shit.

“I think my time is running out, so I’m going to finish this quickly,” the Giant Killer said in a casual tone. Despite the escalation, his demeanor remained unchanged.

“Now then.” He kicked off the ground, rushing toward a particular student.

“W-wha!?” The student hesitated for a moment before clutching his sword tightly, preparing to defend himself. The reason for his sudden vigor was his two teammates standing opposite him, rushing the Giant Killer from behind to catch him off guard.

As the Giant Killer was about to reach the student, he suddenly killed his momentum, pausing for a split second before lunging backward, rotating his body, and swinging at the two flankers. Startled, they tried to stop, but the sword had already sliced through both of them. One lost an arm, while the other was cut through the neck and shoulder, instantly falling to the ground while clutching his neck.

“Ahh, n-no. P-please, please don’t kill me,” the fallen student pleaded, desperately trying to escape the Giant Killer while clutching his neck. But by that point, the Giant Killer had already switched back to his primary target, closing in on the student.

Phaa~! Boom~!

Another clapping sound reverberated, shockwaves pushing past everyone in the cave. Luckily, with [Time Perception], I caught sight of the Giant Killer, jumping backward in slow motion as his sword shattered in half while Roran’s blade dug across his chest, ripping his vest and cutting through his skin as he retreated. Good. I moved closer to the battlefield, and at the same time, Lithe jumped at the Giant Killer from behind, aiming a kick at his left side. But as if he had eyes in the back of his head, the Giant Killer immediately twisted his body a full 180 degrees to the right, blocking the attack with his right arm. But…

Bang~!

The blow was so powerful, it sent him flying across the cave, smashing into the wall as dust rose from the impact. The two strongest students on our side were finally using their Authority, and from this team-up, they had already inflicted more damage than everyone else had managed in the past hour. But…

“You kids are really tough, aren’t ya,” the Giant Killer’s voice echoed through the cave as his silhouette emerged from the dust cloud.

His vest was now sticking out in front of him because of Roran’s attack, and blood continued to stream from the cut across his chest, staining his trousers. As for his right arm, the area he used to block Lithe’s attack was completely red, as if he had been struck by a steel pipe multiple times. Seeing this, he casually pulled off the tactical vest and threw it to the floor, fully exposing his upper body. He then touched the cut on his chest and muttered,

“Let’s first deal with this.”

Steam suddenly hovered above his hand before he pressed it against the wound, causing the sizzling sound of burning flesh as he forcefully sealed it shut. The most surprising aspect of this was that he kept a straight face throughout the whole process, as if he were simply getting his nails cut or something. A pain nullification skill?

“I thought that would kill you for sure,” Lithe said, looking at his hand and repeatedly stretching it. As for Roran, he seemed slightly relieved that one of his attacks had finally landed.

“Oh, c’mon. It would be boring if that was enough to take me down,” the Giant Killer casually replied as he stretched his right arm, assessing the extent of the damage.

“Let’s make this more interesting. Hehe.” He suddenly unbuckled his belt, twisted it around his arm once, and held it like a whip. What’s this freak trying to do?

“You’re not serious, are you?” Lithe asked, a confused expression on his face. The Giant Killer swung the belt around a few times, feeling it out before smiling as he answered back.

“There’s a first time for everything, right?” he said, taking a step forward as the remaining students went back on high alert. The Giant Killer kicked off the ground, rushing toward us at breakneck speed with the belt in hand. His first target was one of the two remaining students in Leven’s team—or more specifically, he rushed toward the one-armed Leven, who was now holding his sword with his non-dominant hand.

“Let’s start with you!,” the Giant Killer roared as he reached him. Leven swung his sword forward, meeting the challenge head-on, but unrefined movements like that were too slow to even faze the Giant Killer. He sidestepped the sword and swung the belt toward Leven’s face.

“D-damn it–!” The metallic buckle of the belt struck Leven, knocking him backward and sending teeth flying from his mouth. But Leven quickly regained his footing and went for another swing.

The Giant Killer sidestepped again, then instantly ducked as Lithe’s fist zipped through the air where his head had just been. Leven immediately retreated at the same time. The Giant Killer then slapped the belt across Lithe's arm, wrapping it around before launching a kick toward Lithe’s elbow. He's going to break his arm. Lithe tried to pull back in surprise, but because he had taken off his blazer and rolled up his sleeves, the belt had wrapped tightly around his skin, making it impossible to free himself from leather material.

“Dammit!”

Instead of continuing the struggle, Lithe launched a kick of his own toward the incoming leg, but the Giant Killer paused mid-attack and instead pulled Lithe toward him using the belt, throwing him off his balance before kicking his remaining leg, sweeping him off his feet. Lithe fell backward, cursing as he hit the ground.

“Kuh! Kuh!?” The Giant Killer immediately climbed on top of Lithe, delivering quick, heavy blows to his face as Lithe tried to cover up. But then, the Giant Killer suddenly switched up and punched straight into Lithe’s stomach, knocking him unconscious.

Phaa~! Boom~! A clapping sound echoed as once again, another shockwave reverberated across the cave. Using [Time Perception], I could see their movements. The Giant Killer momentarily paused before swerving to the side, allowing Roran’s sword to plunge through his back, piercing through and protruding out from his stomach.

As this happened, the Giant Killer grabbed the sword sticking out of him with one hand and swung the belt behind him, instantly wrapping it around the hilt of the sword. He then turned and kicked Roran’s legs out from under him, causing Roran to let go of the sword and fall on his back. In a similar manner, the Giant Killer climbed on top of Roran, delivering quick, heavy blows to his face. I immediately intervened from behind, swinging my sword toward his neck and casting [Object Perception] to quicken the swing as I released the sword mid-strike.

Swoosh~!

In an inhumanly impossible manner, the Giant Killer suddenly bent backward, dodging the sword by an inch as his stomach arched upward. Cling~! My sword sliced through the blade still protruding from his stomach, and the tip of the blade flipped a few centimeters upward. The Giant Killer reached out, grabbed the hand-sized tip of the blade with his bare hand, then twisted backward and stabbed it straight through my foot.

What the…?

I was too stunned to even comprehend what had just happened in the last five minutes. As I tried to step back, the Giant Killer suddenly lunged at me, taking a grappling stance. I instinctively brought my knee forward, aiming for his face, but he suddenly jumped upward, dodging my strike and hovering above my head. I felt his hands grab the back of my blazer, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he flipped me over and slammed me into the ground.

Bang~!

The impact instantly blurred my vision as I stared up at the ceiling.

Fuck, did we even stand a chance?

“Mmh. Time’s up, huh?” the Giant Killer muttered to himself as I gazed at him, my vision beginning to darken as my consciousness started to slip. Immediately after saying this, his body suddenly glowed white before breaking into particles and disappearing.

Damnit.

My only comfort was that I was left alive as I finally lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes, the image of the Giant Killer grabbing the tip of the sword replayed in front of me.

Huh?

What’s this..?

Before I could even think straight, the familiar pain of the sword piercing through my foot assaulted me, causing me to step back as the Giant Killer lunged at me.

Wait…?

I could somehow control my body, and in that instant, instead of kneeing, I flung a horizontal kick, aiming for his face. But he suddenly jumped just above my leg, grabbed it while landing, and kicked my other leg out from under me. As I fell backward, he grabbed my collar and slammed me into the ground.

“Kuh!” My vision blurred from the impact, and I immediately started to lose consciousness.

“Mmh. Time’s up, huh?” the Giant Killer muttered for the second time as my vision darkened and my consciousness faded.

I opened my eyes again, and the image of the Giant Killer gripping the tip of the sword played out once more.

Wait, did I regress? This doesn’t make sense.

That shouldn’t have been enough to kill me.

Did someone else finish me off? Huh?

As I pondered this, the Giant Killer once again stabbed my foot.

What the hell is going on!?