Reborn To Master Time

The tension in the cave was palpable, and every second felt like an hour. To the few remaining students who were still conscious, the scene that unfolded was beyond comprehension. Failure was a possibility they were prepared for, but at that moment, the means to that end were beyond their imagination.

Two of their strongest students fell in quick succession, and the final student, who could have been seen as their last hope, started to look more and more pitiful. 

Even the manner in which they were taken down resembled a master disciplining their students, far from an actual fight. Lithe, the strongest among them, fell to the most unconventional weapon he could have ever imagined—a leather belt. As if that wasn't enough, the Giant Killer continued his assault, bringing down the next student with the same weapon and pinning them down.

"Kuh! Kuh!" 

The Giant Killer made his assault, climbing on top of the fallen Roran and clobbering him in the face a few times before stopping and suddenly bending his body backward. At that moment, Ian’s sword zipped above him, missing him by inches and chipping through the sword that was already protruding from his stomach.

Ian’s eyes widened in surprise as his sword left his hand, zipping across the cave and quickly reaching the other side. At the same time, the Giant Killer reached out his hand, grabbing the broken-off tip as it hovered above him. It was a maneuver that required both precision and delicacy. The broken-off tip was about 8 inches in length, and if he had missed it while trying to grab it mid-air, it could have accidentally stabbed through his hand. On the other hand, if he tightened his grip on the blade too much while grabbing it, his fingers would have fallen right off. And yet, he performed the maneuver as if it were second nature.

After grabbing the average-sized blade, he twisted his body to face Ian and stabbed the blade toward Ian’s foot. That was when it happened. It was a subtle change, easily missed by everyone in the cave, including the Giant Killer. In that moment, Ian’s pupils dilated, widening in size for a split second before returning to normal.

One would have thought that was the perfect time to dodge the incoming blade aimed at his foot, but Ian didn’t move, and the blade quickly stabbed through his foot, sticking out as blood streamed around it. Because of the pressure needed to force a blade through flesh, the Giant Killer's hand bled profusely as he released the blade. But something unexpected happened.

“!?”

The blade that had stabbed through Ian’s foot suddenly disappeared, the wound completely vanishing as if nothing had happened. At the same time, just above the Giant Killer’s head, a blade suddenly materialized, floating mid-air before Ian reached out, grabbed it, and immediately thrust it down, aiming straight for the Giant Killer’s head.

Swoosh~!

But as if he had eyes on the top of his head, the Giant Killer threw himself backward, avoiding the blade by a hair’s length as he immediately raised his body, standing upright.

“Mm!?”

The Giant Killer let out a surprised murmur as Ian kicked the ground, closing the distance with a quick first step and throwing a punch toward his face at breakneck speed. He quickly reacted, raising his left arm to block the incoming attack. Although he had been stabbed through his left hand, the rest of his arm was in much better condition than his right one, which had received a lot of damage from Lithe. As his thoughts raced, he suddenly remembered something.

Where’s the blade?

At the same time, the Giant Killer’s eye wandered to the side, seeing Ian holding the blade in his other hand, slowly stabbing it toward his stomach with a very subtle killing intent. The right hook was a feint, and the real attack would come right after he blocked the fist, stabbing his stomach unexpectedly. Because of the Giant Killer’s injured right arm, Ian had aimed for the right side of the stomach, expecting a much slower reaction time. Realizing this, the Giant Killer quickly swerved his upper body to his right side, aiming to dodge the incoming fist instead of blocking it, while at the same time, using his hands to catch and counter the incoming blade.

He swerved, his body moving slightly quicker because of the difference in their stats, completely dodging Ian’s fist as it grazed past his face.

"!?"

His eyes widened in surprise as the blade in Ian’s left hand suddenly disappeared. At the same time, a blade suddenly ripped through the side of his head, his head bobbing back as the blade grazed his eyelashes, missing his eye by inches as he threw himself backward. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Ian’s fist, which he had successfully dodged. But for some reason, that same fist that had grazed past his face was now holding a blade. If it wasn’t for his instincts, the blade could have gone right through his brain before he even knew what was happening.

“Hehehe. You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” The Giant Killer let out a chuckle as blood streamed from around his eyelash, quickly flooding into his eye and forcing him to squint.

“Hahaha. That’s my line,” Ian said as he looked at the Giant Killer with a smile while pointing toward him.

Confused, the Giant Killer looked down at his stomach, and surprisingly, the sword that was protruding from his stomach had been pushed back by a few inches, causing more blood to stream down. The blade was the only thing keeping him from bleeding out, and removing it would put him in a very dire situation. Not even the Giant Killer could escape the weaknesses of the human body. Lose too much blood, and he would die. Seeing this, the Giant Killer smiled as he looked back at Ian.

“I see. You managed to push it back a little while I was concentrating on dodging that blade just now,” he said casually, as if it were a simple feat to perform. The second he felt the blade stabbing through the side of his head, he focused all his energy on dodging it, assuming it was the final move in Ian’s attack pattern. But at that same time, Ian had used the palm of his left hand to thrust toward the blade sticking out of the Giant Killer’s stomach, pushing it back a bit as the Giant Killer retreated.

“You would’ve felt the sword move through your stomach if you weren’t using pain-relieving skills. Shutting off your pain receptors means shutting off your sense of touch in that area, and removing your sense of touch means relieving your body of the burden of sensing danger. Your instincts will not react to any danger that comes to that area because your brain has concluded that even if you hurt yourself again, as long as it’s that area, you will not die,” he shot back in a casual tone, causing the Giant Killer to squint as he answered.

“So you’re giving me advice now? You seem a lot more talkative too. Who the hell are you?” he said, but Ian didn’t seem bothered by the question. He simply let out a smile and scoffed.

“Heh, who am I? Well, I guess you could call me the real Ian.”

He said, tossing the blade to the floor as he started to stretch his body. The message was clear, and seeing this, the Giant Killer simply lowered his body, assuming a fighting stance with both hands still open.

"Then, let’s see what you got. Come!" he shouted, his face twisting into a crazed smile as an intense wave of mana left his body, wrapping around his arms while a thick bloodlust lingered around him. He then kicked the ground, rushing toward Ian with calculated steps. Seeing this, Ian did the opposite, clenching both his fists as he dashed forward, covering half the distance and meeting the Giant Killer at the center.

Bang~! Their fists collided, sending shockwaves across the room, but Ian’s body couldn’t withstand it. He was thrown a few feet back before he quickly dug his feet into the ground, stopping before immediately dashing forward with no rest and shouting,

"This doesn’t seem fair, does it!?" he said, but contrary to his words, a huge smile was plastered across his face as he reached the Giant Killer for the second time. This time, as their fists were about to collide, he sidestepped and aimed a jab at the Giant Killer's stomach. Bang~! The Giant Killer blocked the attack, throwing a counter, but Ian simply dodged again. Bang~! Bang~! Ian threw multiple punches in quick succession, all of which were blocked by the Giant Killer. Despite the Giant Killer’s efforts, none of his attacks could land as Ian swerved his body all over the place, dodging the attacks with little to no effort.

"Are you simply going to buy time?" the Giant Killer said, throwing a punch toward Ian’s face, but Ian quickly ducked before shooting up and punching the Giant Killer's arm. Bang~! Despite the attack landing, the Giant Killer simply retracted his arm before throwing another jab, causing Ian to jump back at the last second as the fist brushed past his face.

"You have abnormally high durability," Ian said, looking at his hands, which were trembling from attacking the Giant Killer over and over again. It was natural that their strength was far apart because of their ranks, but the Giant Killer's durability also came from his natural body strength.

"I get that a lot. Well, that was interesting, but I think it’s time to end this. I’ve already figured out your skill, so I’ll be ending this quickly," the Giant Killer said, causing a curious expression from Ian as he replied,

"Oh, are you sure about that?" he shot back, opening and closing his hand a few times before dashing forward.

The Giant Killer didn’t respond to the question and simply prepared to counter. As Ian entered a suitable attack range, he shot a fist toward the Giant Killer, prompting him to block. But as the fist was inches from landing, Ian disappeared from sight. The Giant Killer wasn’t surprised. Instead, he clenched his fist, channeling a large stream of mana into it before twisting his body a full 180 degrees and shooting his fist forward with the gathered momentum, meeting Ian, who was just about to attack his back at that exact moment.

"Teleporting 1.87 seconds into the future!" the Giant Killer shouted, his fist aiming for Ian’s face, who widened his eyes in surprise before a smile suddenly appeared on his face. Instead of dodging as he always did, he channeled mana into his fist, sliding his foot forward for balance and thrusting his fist at the Giant Killer’s face with all his might, completely ignoring the incoming fist.

"Correct~!" he shouted with a frantic smile, his fist connecting with the Giant Killer's face while the Giant Killer’s fist connected with his.

Bang~! The conglomeration of mana blew both of them away, followed by intense shockwaves that ripped through the cave’s atmosphere, almost breaking the sound barrier. Bang~! Each of them crashed into the opposite walls before falling to the ground, blood covering their faces as if they had been hit by heavy bricks. As the Giant Killer tried to pull himself out of the rubble, he fell to his knees, his whole back aching.

"!?"

As he looked ahead, his eyes suddenly widened in surprise. At the center of the cave stood a completely unscathed Ian. In the blink of an eye, Ian suddenly hovered above him, thrusting a blade downward, aiming for his head, but the Giant Killer simply let out a sigh.

Slack~!

He dodged the blade at the last second, but because of his sluggish body, the blade stabbed through his shoulder. He quickly grabbed Ian’s arm, locking it in place, before shooting his free hand toward Ian’s neck, aiming to strangle him.

"Eh?" He suddenly stopped mid-attack and looked down at his stomach, which was now losing blood at an abnormally fast rate. This was because the sword that had been stabbed through his stomach was now completely removed.

"Hahaha, you’re good at feinting, aren’t you?" the Giant Killer said, thinking back to the moment he was attacked just now. A normal person would’ve thought stabbing him in that state would have ended the Giant Killer and used all their energy on that attack, but for Ian, it wasn’t his final attack. While the Giant Killer focused on dodging the attack coming from above, Ian kicked the sword in his stomach, causing it to slide right through and fall out on the other side.

"I guess we can call it a draw?" the Giant Killer said, looking at Ian while still holding onto his arm, locking it with an unbelievable amount of strength. Ian smiled and loosened his grip on the blade, causing the Giant Killer to follow through and let go of his arm.

"You seem to be favored a lot by the god of combat. You’ll be very useful when the time comes to kill that man. What do you say? Come and work for me, Giant Killer," Ian said, extending his hand.

"I work for no one," the Giant Killer shot back without a change in his expression, but Ian seemed even more amused by the response.

"Then be sure not to die a dog's death. I believe you have under two minutes left to live," he said casually, but the Giant Killer simply nodded.

"Right, looks like my time is up," he said before his body started to break down, turning into thousands of light particles and disappearing into the air.

"W-what are you doing? Stop him!" a voice suddenly snapped from behind Ian, causing him to turn his head slowly.

"Why the hell did you let him go!?" Leven shouted again. Seeing this, Ian’s expression darkened, completely devoid of any emotion as the glint in his eyes faded entirely.

"Speak to me again, and I’ll rip off your head," Ian said in a cold tone, causing Leven’s face to pale as he took a step back in fear. He knew he was likely in much better condition than the current Ian, but the air around Ian was simply too dangerous.

"Ian?" Another voice suddenly sounded, and Ian turned again, seeing Rin staring at him with a confused expression while Ruby stood by her side.

"I believe you still had something to do?" Ian muttered while still maintaining the same expression, causing the others to look at him in confusion. He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them before saying,

"Yeah," I said, reaching into my pocket as I grabbed a paper scroll and channeled my mana through it. I had learned many things from this battle, most of them having to do with my new skill, [Blink]. I quickly used [Recall] and counted the minutes that had gone by.

[8 minutes to forced teleportation]

There’s still some time.

As I thought this, the magic circles on the paper scroll glowed before summoning a gun into my hand. I turned, looking back at Leven as I spoke with a smile on my face.

"I believe it’s time to purge the real traitors, don’t you think?" I said, but he didn’t reply, only looking at me with fear as if pleading with his eyes. Of course, Leven wasn’t the traitor, but because he had just witnessed 'my' fight against the Giant Killer, he was too scared to say anything.

Stir up waters to catch fish, or so they say.

Now then, how about we play some mind games?

I thought to myself as I took a step forward, approaching the terrified Leven with calm and calculated steps.