Angel Monarch-Chapter 357: Time Loop

James accessed the security system while running down the corridors and watched the footage of the terrorists' arrival.

He asked everyone to halt when the sounds of fighting gotten close.

"We can't just rush in there! Whoever this woman is, she has similar abilities to Vicky! How can we fight someone like that!"

While everyone looked at each other and the footage with concern, Lucy began thinking.

"She is strong, that's for sure, but not on Vicky's level. Her abilities are lacking and she needs to use her sword as a conduit to channel her powers… I'll take care of her! Now let's move! David, Time Loop!"

The man wearing snake-like armor nodded. His height expanded, and his body bent backwards until his head touched his heel. From the outside, it made a perfect dark circle, which gently glowed.

"Sarah, Will, defend him! Joan, James, you provide support from the back! Leslie takes the lead, covering us from most attacks! I stay behind him, and rush that woman immediately! Okay, let's go!"

The few Ascended, still alive from the initial guard, laid injured to the sides. Parts of the corridor looked scorched and bloodied, with spots where the metal melted.

Leslie walked in the front. His spread wings covered the hallway entirely. Behind him, James and Joan prepared their long-ranged attacks, while Lucy hid her presence as much as possible.

The still conscious Ascended watched their procession, eyes glinting with hope.

The demon stepped into the hallway, and instantly a dozen different projectiles hit his armored body. Each one had the power to kill Transcended, so obviously, he didn't survive either.

Leslie's corpse fell to the floor. Behind him, the terrorists caught a glimpse of Lucy's smiling form before something strange happened.

Like a glitch on a holo-screen, the falling demon, Lucy, Joan and James, disappeared. It took them a moment too long to figure out the glitch's origin.

At the corridor's end, Leslie entered again, but this time with his wings tucked close to his body.

On his right, James shot out thousands of bullets from all his guns. On his left, Joan's sword filled with electricity, and when she pointed it towards the terrorists, a flash of lightning left her blade.

Both bullets and electricity decimated the dozen or so Transcended terrorists. Several died immediately, while others escaped with only minor injuries.

The suppressing fire continued, letting Leslie get closer to their line.

When he was only a few meters away, four Transcended jumped at him, while four more shot back towards Joan and James.

Caught off-guard, the two elite Transcended died, only to glitch away again. They suddenly appeared back where they stood, and with the ambush triggered, they moved behind makeshift covers, evading the projectiles.

Leslie already engaged the four Transcended, while Lucy lingered nearby as a dark green smoke.

She observed the control room entrance, awaiting the woman's inevitable arrival.

Lucy saw her killing those soldiers. She saw the wide grin as she massacred them with only two moves. That Asian woman wasn't sane and loved killing people, especially anyone stronger than her!

She could never resist a chance to fight someone as strong as Lucy!

It didn't take long, only a few seconds since the fighting begun, and the woman wearing traditional Asian robes stepped out with an insane grin.

She eyed Leslie, then readied her weapon, mimicking her previous actions, attempting to kill him with one fell swoop.

Xinya moved faster than any Transcended, yet the cut didn't finish. A black scythe, oozing with dark green smoke, stopped her sword.

The already large grin widened on her face as she stared into the young woman's scary black eyes.

"So you are the famous Death everyone keeps talking about!… Nice to meet you, my name is Xinya!… Can I ask you a question?"

They continued applying pressure on each other's weapons, trying to overwhelm their opponent.

When Lucy heard Xinya's words, a grin crept onto her face as well. With a swift move, she disengaged, took one step back, then crouched down and tried to cut off the Asian woman's legs.

Xinya stabbed her weapon down, stopping the scythe once more.

"How rude! I just wanted to…"

Before she could've finished, Lucy attacked again. This time, she cut upward, trying to bisect Xinya from crotch to head.

She sidestepped, barely managing to evade. A small fabric of her clothing floated through the air, as Lucy's scythe cut it away.

Lucy moved again, taking a step closer. She attacked with her weapon, but just when it would've connected with Xinya's sword, she dismissed it.

A cloud of dark green smoke rose into the air, blinding her target momentarily.

She wasted no time. With a quick move, Lucy grabbed both of Xinya's arms, and head-butted her nose. She felt the bone give with a satisfying crunch. freёnovelkiss.com

The stunned woman fell when Lucy kicked her legs out. With a few moves, she restrained Xinya, putting her into a headlock.

"Here's a future suggestion," Lucy said, adding more pressure to the woman's neck. "When in a fight, don't waste time chatting with your opponent!"

With that, Lucy tried breaking Xinya's neck. She applied more pressure, but just before the beautiful crunch of her spine breaking could've reached Lucy's ear, Xinya's hand shot out.

Only her fingertip reached Lucy's face, but it was enough.

Suddenly, lines appeared on Lucy's face, blood running down her neck. Out of nowhere, her entire head exploded, raining blood onto Xinya's chuckling body.

"Who the fuck are you, making suggestions to me!?" She said, while climbing back to her feet.

The dark green fog stayed persistent, so she only managed to block the incoming weapon out of luck.

Xinya's sword shot out, barely catching the black blade aimed at her head. She recognized the weapon, and the voice who spoke…

"When it comes to killing, I suggest listening to advice from Death!" Said Lucy, dismissing the dark green fog.

In the past few seconds, Xinya lost sight of the corridor, so she didn't know exactly what happened. Her eyes widened as she noticed the lack of fighting noises, and she soon saw why.

All her underling now laid on the floor either dead or dying. Even stranger, nobody suffered any wounds on Lucy's side.

This annoyed Xinya quite a bit, but while fighting Lucy, she noticed something. Her defeat was complete, survival hinging solely on Death's overconfidence…

If she didn't hesitate with the execution, Xinya wouldn't be alive…

Xinya loved fighting. To some extent, that was her sole purpose in life.

However, Lucy proved to be too strong of an adversary. She required improvement to avoid another lopsided battle… And for that; she needed to escape alive!

Luckily, entrances and exits were her speciality!

The Demon closed in, trying to deliver a devastating blow with his halberd. Before that could've happened though, Xinya pushed away from Lucy, and cut the air two times in rapid succession.

Everyone backed away, fearing she would use that dreadful technique. Instead, she opened two portals, one for herself and the other for Tai.

They both jumped through. Before anyone could've come after them, the portals closed.

Xinya and Tai landed inside a tall forest. This was the gathering point they discussed before the mission.

They quickly spotted Chang and his team celebrating. Inside the tall man's palm, a cage hung with a lone raven safely enclosed inside.

She waved to them and took one step, when Tai caught her hand. Xinya glanced back with pursed lips and pulled her hand away, while shaking off the disgusting bug grime.

"What is it Tai? I told you not to touch me with your fucked up appendages!"

The insectoid human didn't care about the insult, and just showed the holo-screen he was holding.

"We finally have footage of the Time Loop…"

His whisper didn't sound too enthusiastic. It was even a bit depressed, and Xinya soon understood why.

The Time Snake's ability was nothing less than remarkable.

Xinya's sole focus on Lucy prevented her from seeing the fight in the corridor. However, the cameras recorded everything.

Cyborg, Half and Demon all received dozens of deadly wounds, but each time they died, reality seemed to glitch and they reappeared!

"H-how… How is this possible?!"

Tai just shook his head sadly, while mentally rewriting the danger level of each enemy combatant with callsigns. Time Snake just jumped into the top five most dangerous.

"Time Snake seemingly manipulates time flow within a limited region. When any of his allies receive mortal wounds, he pushes them back a few seconds before it happened. It saves their lives and gives them the advantage of surprise…"

The insect man suddenly glanced up at Xinya, grimness showing on his usually expressionless face.

"But that's not the worst… He can push them back in time however many seconds he wants, making his powers unpredictable… Also, while his powers are active, basically everyone within a certain range is immortal!"

Xinya's eyes widened in shock as she continued watching the footage. Anyone killed by a lucky bullet, or by overwhelming their opponent, was near instantly resurrected…

This was a power they couldn't solve by brute force, only by smart thinking…

"So, how do we stop him? There must be a way. Every power has some flaws!"

Tai quickly brought up another footage, showing the Time Loop's source, with Fish and Weather guarding it… No, him!

"Time Snake seems to be vulnerable while using his power. If we can kill him, then the problem's solved… The issue is, they know his weakness too, so assassinating him won't be easy!"

Xinya finally sighed from exhaustion and began walking towards Chang's group.

"Good job, Tai… Let's inform the mentor about your discovery when we get back!"

She still felt a bit under the weather as she stepped before Chang, but soon she heard the sound of wings beating.

A grin instantly spread across Xinya's face as she saw the raven climb to its small feet, looking around in confusion.

"Ah, Princess! You finally awake! Good, we have a long journey ahead of us!"