Chapter 29

'React a little.' Katarina looked at Sai who was sporting an extremely fierce expression on his face for unknown reasons.

Of course, there was no way she would allow a person of the opposite gender undress her and it was a female who she was handed to that did it.

Well, it wasn't like she wanted him to react but it hurt her pride as a woman.

'Oh, I guess I'm still a child for now.' she gazed down and was reminded of it but hope lit up in her as she thought about her mother.

"That isn't what we came here to do." She shook her head to get rid of the distractive thoughts and focused her mind on the matters at hand.

"How long has it been for you since I was taken away?" She asked Sai.

"About thirty seconds, max."

"So that confirms it." Katarina nodded as she finally figured out one of their opponents cards.

"Time magic."

...

"Time magic?" I repeated after Katarina.

"Yeah. You said it was just a few seconds but for me, it's been hours."

I let what she said sink in and only one word came to my mind.

"Damn."

"Language."

If we were up against someone with the ability to control time, then we were up for a tough fight.

Even using my experience, I could only come up with an idea or two on how to beat someone like that and that doesn't include time stop.

"I don't think we have to worry about time stop." Katarina said.

"Why?"

"The reason I knew how he had time manipulation abilities was because of the time fluctuations I felt as I was transported here. From what I could see, time magic is very complicated and requires a large amount of mana to carry out. Stopping time for every single being in the world would require a vast amount of power. Far more than a single individual could hold. In order to maximise the use of time manipulation, using it on a single target and on one's self is the most optimal use."

Footsteps echoed in the corridor and I pressed my body against the wall and Katarina snapped her fingers and something warm touched my body as she placed an illusion on me.

She also did the same for herself and recreated her injuries and bandages from before and laid on the bed.

The door to the cell opened and a young looking man, presumably in his early twenties, walked into thw room.

With greyish blue hair and a chiseled face with strong jawline, he could have joined an idol group in my past life and fit in with no issues.

"You're awake?" He called out to Katarina and she cracked open her eyes and glared at him.

"No, I'm perfectly asleep." Her tone was flat but the sarcasm was high.

"Good." Whether he noticed it or decided to ignore it, he continued talking.

"You may have heard of me but I'm the famous Reaper. Yes, the assassin." And he delivered his introduction.

Hidden under her illusion, I grinned and prepared myself for the fight. But first, let's observe.

...

"The Reaper? You look a little too young for an assassin that debuted fifty years ago." Katarina said in a disbelieving tone as she tried to ferry more information out of him.

"Trying to see what you can learn, huh? That's nice, but no one's coming to save you." The man known as Reaper said with a smirk and Katarina frowned on the surface while being relieved inside.

'It looks like he hasn't sensed him yet.' Katarina took note of this fact as she continued her information gathering.

"So, who hired you?"

"Going straight for the kill. What makes you think I'll tell you?"

"I'm currently tied up and bandaged. The least you could do a maiden is give her a little information."

"I never tied up up. You're free to leave if you want." Reaper pointed at the door and a vexation mark appeared on Katarina's head.

"You absolutely won't tell us anything?" Katarina tried one last time.

"Yeah... Wait, who's us?" 

He received his response in a fist that slammed into his face and sent him sprawling to the ground.

"That was the signal, right?" Sai emerged from his hiding spot and said with a grin.

...

I looked at Reaper who stood up and rubbed his jaw with his hand and frowned.

Despite me not using my full strength, that blow would have at least left a bruise but there was little to no damage from my attack.

"Katarina," I called out. "I might not be able to keep him alive."

"Then do as you please." Katarina dissolved her illusion and moved to the side.

"Look at you talking like you can defeat me." Despite the rage-like tone, he assumed, I could sense no anger in his voice and he kept a calm look as he looked at us.

I knew that look. It was the same look one had when facing an obviously weaker opponent. A look of sure confidence in their victory.

And it ticked me off.

"I can." And with that, I shot in front to him faster than he could react and propelled my fist to his face.

And my hand stopped just a couple of inches before him.

"Nice power you have there!" Reaper grabbed my hand and slammed his hand into my stomach.

As I recoiled from the shock, I tried to figure out what was going on.

When I punched him and when he punched me, there was something there. Something that wasn't a barrier and strengthening magic.

It almost felt like...

"Compressed space." I kicked my foot into his face and twisted my arm free and rolled back.

Of course, I did no damage to him and he just stood there calmly without a single scratch on him.

"Am I right?" I looked at Katarina who looking at Reaper through a magic circle.

"Yeah. That and space folding and overlapping."

"Correct. But what are you going to do about it?" Reaper vanished and a hand appeared in front of my face and grabbed at my head.

As soon as he touched me, the world for me suddenly accelerated and I found myself with my arms lying by my side and blood spurting from the stumps they used to be.

The pain was delayed and I grunted as it finally hit and looked at Reaper who was frowning as he looked at me.

Katarina had disappeared, probably to another dimension or somewhere. She wasn't abandoning me but in this fight, we each had our own roles to play.

But what was that? If he had moved, I would have at least sensed something.

He was strong but the difference wasn't supposed to be this overwhelming.

If there was something going one...

An idea suddenly hit me. Something from the shows I watched in my last life and I bitterly smiled.

"Time manipulation is really troublesome." I stood up and kicked up my arms into the air and felt them out with my mana and reattached them in the blink of an eye.

Regrowing new ones would cost too much energy plus, it is not something I can do in the middle of battle yet so I'm glad they weren't ripped to shreds like last time.

"You... What's up with your body?" Reaper looked at me and asked, frowning.