Engineers of Fate

Scarlette looked at the sleeping Leito and said "Hey, wake up..."

"Hmmmm..." "What happened, where am I?" Leito asked

"Were at the outskirts of Vinkarra Village. You ended up fainting due to the speed." Scarlette said

"You kind of fainted around 67 times... Thank you!" Shana added as Leito saw the others giving her small pouches which seemed to be filled with Selas

Scarlette whispered to Leito "You ended up being a betting game between these guys, Shana got the closest number."

"Wait... What happened... Oh, yeah.. How wouldn't I? You grabbed my shoulder and went BOOOOM!" Leito said while making hand movements of what happened making him look comical.

"Shouldn't you be able to handle high speed movement?" Scarlette was confused

"I can... but not with the insane speed you guys have... what level are you guys anyway?"

"With the recent update and alignment, were at level 125. Your level should match up with your actual stats if you went to one of the GM Stations to receive the update... Did you not know that?"

"I've heard of it but I haven't had the opportunity, with the number of people after my head, it's very difficult, you might want to add the pantheon to that... Besides I'm level 81 for goodness sake, I couldn't match your tolerance for this speed at all." Leito said as he grabbed his hair in frustration

Shana suddenly interjected and said "How about this on our trip back we will try to slow down..."

"Yes, that would work... Thank you" Leito nodded in agreement.

"Captain Scar, since were here, what do you suggest we do next?" the bulky guy called Maras asked.

"It would be best to have Leito move forward and have him inform of our arrival, this way we could avoid any possible issues or misunderstanding from the locals, one person would be less intimidating than seven..." Scarlette answered

Leito nodded and waved at the others when he left them as they are setting up a quick place to rest and wait.

"Darius, what do you think would Pythagoras do once he found out we're here?" Maras asked

"I'm not sure, hopefully, his temper is better than six years ago..." Darius answered

"Guys, I don't think he can do anything much to us right now, given that's one of the reason we we're asked to be sent here by the "Thrones". It was most likely to ensure that he has adjusted with the sudden surge of power he received." Millie said trying to cheer the others

"Millie, I hope you're right, its kind of scary thinking what would happen if he gets used to his body and skills." Maras answered

"Try to think more positively and keep calm, look at Danielle, she's doing pretty well despite her first time meeting him after 6 years." Scarlette said as she pointed to the girl at the back staring blankly in the horizon while combing her hair with her fingers.

Danielle seemed to notice them and spoke with an airy and cold voice "Why worry to much... we won't really die for real any way..."

"W-what do you mean?" Millie asked

"Six years of no contact from your direct subordinates... Anyone would hold a grudge... I would... Who know if he thinks we already forgot about him... or betray him for that matter..." Danielle continued as she went back staring at the Horizon

Scarlette spoke to Millie and said "Don't listen to her, she's just making fun of you. Pythagoras won't kill us..."

"...for real" Danielle added

After Danielle spooked the others out from her possible scenarios on their meeting with Zhang Shan, everyone kept quiet.

After 20 minutes or so, Leito reappeared, everyone stood in attention and looked at him

"He said to tell you that "He had been waiting for ages"..." Leito said.

"And?" Scarlette asked

"And what?" Leito asked

"T-that's it?" Milie asked

"Yes... Why?" Leito continued to ask

Suddenly Maras hand grabbed Darius who was silently trying to slip away by his neck as he whispered "You need to come with us too..."

Leito was confused with these guys actions specifically with Scarlette who started shaking but was still walking towards him in a very stiff manner.

With a cringing facial expression, Scarlette told Leito "L-lead the w-way."

Leito scratched his head in confusion but led the way for them, he thought what could have changed while he was away.

The seven slowly walked into the wilderness, Leito tried to urge them to hurry up and even disappeared twice to move faster but everyone seemed to be biding their time as if they preferred walking.

Their slow walk took about 47 minutes and once they were clear of the wilderness they saw the Village of Vinkara in front of them a red-skinned demon was standing with arms crossed.

As soon as it saw them, the Demon said in a loud voice... "Well, well well... look who decided to show up..."

Scarlette tried to force a smile as she said "God Pythagoras, your-"

She suddenly stopped speaking when she felt something was amiss, she moved to the left instinctively and a fraction of a second later a hand which seemed to have tried to grab her neck. followed by the rest of it's body appeared out of nowhere. A beautiful woman came from where Scarlette originally was.

Scarlette was surprised as it happened instantly and without any sound or warning. She then quickly grabbed the dagger in her waist and unsheathed it quickly.

The woman smiled at her and then disappeared as if she wasn't originally there. Suddenly Shana whi was nearest to Scarlette, moved and the woman appeared again from where Shana was, this time, she started coming out with her foot first followed by the rest of her body as if she tried to deliver a flying kick. As soon as she fully materialized she would once again disappear.

This time everyone unsheated their daggers, they knew that this enemy prefered close attacks at this current stage of the battle.

This time when she attacked Shana, everyone saw what happened, it was as if she was rebuilding herself from whichever point of her body's first appearance would come from while the rest of her body would follow afterwards.

Her disappearance would follow the same rule, the first body part that disappears would move first and then the rest of her body would follow afterwards like something was eating it.

It didn't take long before it happened the third time and it Maras that was near Shana who moved and dodged at this time.

Now, everyone clearly saw that she seemed to be regurgitated by the void as she appears and then when she disappears, it was as if the void was eating her back again.

Everyone had a feeling they saw this before. And then it dawned on them. "Teleportation Portals!" the real ones that is.

They read the report before coming here, the Game Masters of the Game Monitoring Room mentioned that "God Pythagoras" was with a mage that acquired and controls time magic!

"Snow Queen Lan Ranyan huh?... I don't know if that's still appropriate for you." Maras said as he grabbed Lan Ranyan's ankle before it disappeared into the void.

Maras held his dagger in his right hand, he at least knew his next course of action and got ready to cut either her ankle or his left arm should this test show what kind of rules her powers were following.

When his left hand started being taken in by the void, he tried to pull it out immediately without letting go of Lan Ranyans ankle. When he didn't feel any pain and understood that he can't pull his hand out, he decisively cut his arm just below the wrist.

"Graahhh" Maras howled in pain but gritted his teeth

After breaking away, he immediately casted an aura of flames in his right hand that was still holding the dagger. The heat of the flames was enough to make the dagger glow red hot in less than a breath. He then immediately used the flat part of the dagger to singeing his left arm's wound that was spurting out blood.

*Tssssssss* "GRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Maras growl resounded in the area. Seeing this scenario, the others waited for Lan Ranyan to reappear. When she did, they saw her ankle was still being held by Maras severed hand as she tried to attack Millie, who was directly near Maras, also dodged suvvessfully before her palm attack connected.

Millie dodged by crouching down and then making a horizontal slash with her dagger on her left hand, Lan Ranyan Evaded by backing away and started to disappear, however she noticed Millie smiling as she closed her open right hand into a fist.

Lan Ranyan willed an invisible barrier to appear behind her just in time for it to absorb and block 50-60 incoming spikes made from sharp earth. As it was blocked, Millie expected this and advanced forward causing Lan Ranyan to be cornered.

However, Lan Ranyan opened her palms as an invisible force seemed to enlarge in front of her causing Millies advance to stop midway as if she was frozen in time. This time, Lan Ranyan was successful in vanishing, once she did, Millie once again moved and missed her.

Lan Ranyan started to appear behind her and as she did, she once again saw Millie close her open right hand with out looking at her. Instinctively, Lan Ranyan created a barrier behind her, however that was a feint, Millie bent her body backwards as if trying to evade something in front of her.

When Lan Ranyan saw it, she saw Millie's evasive manuever was both a cover and a shower attack of about a hundred earthen spikes from below. It zoomed directly past her abdomen, and was roughly a few centimeters apart from her body, almost grazing it.

Lan Ranyan was surprised and tried to summon another barrier in front of her to stop the spikes while Millie suddenly twisted her body to follow up with a spinning kick even though she was in an upside down position.

The spikes stopped and so did Millies leg and lower body as they were trapped in an invisible barrier, however as she was in an upside down position, it seemed to be only limited up until her waist and her torso "down" to her head and hands can still move.

Millies smiled as she was able to identify the range of Lan Ranyan "Frozen Time Sphere" The hundred earthen spikes or so were frozen in a spherical array while a few others zoomed past Lan Ranyan. With this, Millie was able to discern that rather than a sphere, Lan Ranyan's invisible barrier was concave in shape.

Lan Ranyan breathed in relief but only for a fraction of a second as she felt multiple stabs from behind her.

*Tssaaak* *Tssaaak* *Tssaaak* *Tssaaak*

That's when she noticed that she seemd to be stabbed by a few more earthen spikes from behind. She then looked at Millie's open hand and said.

"You never really needed the gesture to cast it... didn't you?"

Millie although her lower body was frozen and upside down replied as she smiled.

"You shouldn't trust your eyes too much..."

A breathe later, Millie and her earthen spikes dropped down as Lan Ranyan's "Time Magic" wore off as she kneeled down due to the damage done to her body

Lan Ranyan was bleeding heavily as her body seemed to have multiple puncture holes.

*Cough* "Y-you got me there... *Cough* Lan Ranyan said as she started spouting off blood while coughing

Millie immediately somersaulted backwards after recovering and positioned herself in a defensive stance.

Seeing her actions, Lan Ranyan smiled and then glowed with a bluish aura.

What happened next made everyone seem to look at a rewind of a movie. Earthen spikes slowly pulled out of Lan Ranyans body and her blood and wounds slowly started to return to her and heal as if it were never there.

"Another one?" asked Lan Ranyan

"We can do this all day." Millie smiled

*BBBOOOOOOOMMMMMM*

This time, Millie was the one who moved first as she disappeared. Lan Ranyan activated her Time Regression to slow her movements down but was surprised that it didn't work.

Lan Ranyan tired to evade first by disappearing as well when she tried to move back and start to vanish she stopped.

*Tssaaak*

She felt another piercing pain and as she looked down, she saw an arm and a dagger had punctured her abdomen. She then heard Millie say.

"Too slow... again...."

*BBBOOOOOOOMMMMMM*

After which Millie's Hand and Dagger disappeared and she reappeared on her original spot licking her bloody dagger while looking at Lan Ranyan in a mocking look.

Lan Ranyans gritted her teeth in anger as she glowed in a bluish aura as her blood and wounds slowly started to return to her and heal, when...

*Tssaaak* *Tssaaak* *Tssaaak* *Tssaaak*

Earthen spikes once again punctured her body and this time it pierced through the other side.

Millie once again spoke.

"Told you that you're too slow..."

"Grrrr" Lan Ranyan was now seething in fury, she never felt this angry before.

Lan Ranyan this time tried to guard her back with an invisible barrier as she started to rewind time and glowed a blue aura, then.

*TSSSSAAAAAKKK*

Lan Ranyan was pierced through from below with a large earth spike, she now looked like a skewered meat. Her puncture on her body was targeted at her stomach.

Millie further added insult by saying.

"Why are you so predictable?" as she slowly moved forward to her.

Lan Ranyan at this point was gasping for breath and looking at Millie with deep hatred.

"That's enough" Scarlette said

Millie shrugged as she retracted her Earth spike which in turn, slowly slid Lan Ranyan back to the ground. Millie then approached Lan Ranyan as she sheathed her dagger.

Seeing Millie approach her, although all that Lan Ranyan wanted to do now was slowly rip her to pieces, she couldn't even move a muscle.

Millie crouched near Lan Ranyan and then place her hands on her body. Her hands glowed a dark green aura.

Lan Ranyan slowly felt her body recover, her hard breathing started ro normalize although she still felt exhausted. The pain was still felt, but she knew her body was recovering, it seemed that due to her body receiving a shock due to the damage, it has yet to realize that it has already healed.

Millie then whispered to her ear, "You're welcome to try again anytime... though I want to let you know, you won't win anytime soon unless you change your fighting tactics and pattern. After what you showed earlier, everyone of us had already identified how to best deal with you."

After saying her piece, Millie stood up, went to Maras, made a cut on his singed arm and healed him as well. The healing process for Maras was a bit painful though as it was reopened and her skill tried to completely regrow his arm from the base of the wound.

It was during this time that Lan Ranyan noticed something odd from the surroundings, it seemed that no one moved after she started to clash with Millie, as if they were expecting the fight to end with her. No one else really started to support and assist her. It was either they trust her skills so much with battle or it could be something else.

Zhang Shan then asked, "Millie was your best bet against her "Time Magic?"."

Scarlette shook her head and said "No, Millie's skills was more than enough to defeat her redundant battle tactics... besides if any of us had tried it instead, she would be in a worse state than earlier..."

Zhang Shan nodded and said "Thank you for sparring with her then... I like how you developed your "probing" and "forcing" manuevers... I would have been upset if it was less than that."

Lan Ranyan had alreadyrecovered a bit and sat straight as she asked when she looked at Scarlette "Was that a set-up?"

Scarlette nodded, When you attacked me, "Our formation when we came here was prepared before hand, when you attacked me, I could have moved at any angle and direction and purposely moved to the left to create an opening in our ranks to identify how you as the attacker would react in such a group battle."

"When you moved to attack Shana ,the one nearest me, It indicated that you rely on a straight forward battle attack, if you attacked randomly it would indicate that you were probing us as well. This conjecture was further proved when you attacked anyone near your last attempted victim in succession..."

"While I unsheathed my dagger, everyone did not do the same, instead we wanted to know whether you would attack in melee, mid-range or long range attacks... When you attacked Shana in the same pattern, it indicated that you preferred to do melee and "touch" or make contact with your opponent. This indicated that your attack would require direct contact..."

"When you attacked Maras, the big guy, it mean't you didn't really worry whether the enemy looked weak or strong as long as it was comfortable for your usual attack pattern which you have mastered in the battle field..."

"Maras tried to grab your ankle to determine the extent and scope of your teleportation capability by sacrificing his left hand... Would he follow through your "teleportation zone" or will he be disentegrated once your power identifies a foreign gene or object in its area of effect."

"When you reappeared with his hand intact, it means you can "jump" through space together with whatever you came in with at an intact manner."

"When you attacked Millie, she then used your preferred battle senses which is through "eye sight" to "condition" your eyes into her "habit" of opening her palms to cast an earth spell." That's when you started to lose... She then tried to identify the range of influence of your "time magic". Is it a "shape", a "zone" or a "territory"? When she found out that you are using a "shape" for your time spells and your movement works on a specific "zone". She then understood how to defeat you continuously..."

"She then provoked you further to ensure that you fall through her pacing and break into your mental defenses so that you would continue to follow the same attack pattern instead of revising a counter attack... If it continued, that would lead to your death."

"With all of your battle patterns laid out in the open... Do you think you could have won against any of us, when you could not even defeat our team's "medical officer?" Scarlette finished her statement with a question.

Lan Ranyan opened her mouth but could not refute anything. When she tried to look for any loop holes, it seemed that Scarlette was right since she fell right into their trap and showed her battle pattern if one would look at it in that way.

Millie then looked at Lan Ranyan as she said.

"Since the beginning, you didn't have a chance against us... "

Lan Ranyan gritted her teeth as she asked.

"What do you mean?"

Millie answered in an airy tone and blank face

"That was because as soon as you met us, we have already engineered your "fate"..."