Chapter 1999: Chapter 1999. Battle Inside the Time Dimension
"Hah! In this new world"s history, I will ensure you are the one being remembered as the villain!" Master returned. He was casting a spell.
When Jack"s claws came, Master"s body turned into liquid. The spell Master used was Liquid Form. It was similar to Jack"s Ghost Form, but Ghost Form was only learnable by an Archmage.
Jack continued slashing, but all his slashes had no effect. His claws just went through the liquid. He even used Flame Strike, but the liquid resisted the heat. Just as he was invulnerable during Ghost Form, Master was the same.
Like Ghost Form, Master couldn"t attack in this state. But using the power of G.o.d Mode, Master could cast spells. He used the already refreshed Extreme Teleportation. Jack"s mana awakening-empowered void should have a pull that could stop even the Teleportation spell, but Master had G.o.d Mode, so their powers neutralized one another. The Extreme Teleportation brought Master far away from there.
"F*ck...!" Jack cursed.
Master again used the Extreme Teleportation to come before Will Corner. He immediately cast a spell to strike the sailor, but Jack came before him.
"What...?" Master was surprised Jack could arrive here instantly like him, but then he realized this Jack had a different aura shrouding him. The aura was golden instead of multi-color. This was one of Jack"s clones.
After Master"s previous attempt to take out Will, Jack sent one of his clones here. This clone"s brilliant golden aura came from the War G.o.d Manifestation.
Master cast the h.e.l.lish Black Drill. Augmented by the G.o.d Mode, this drill should take out Will in one hit, but Jack took the hit in Will"s place. Jack"s ten golden orbs from the aureole combined into one giant golden shield. This golden shield blocked the incoming black drill.
The black drill had a multi-color aura coating it. The golden shield did not. The golden shield lasted only two seconds before it broke to pieces. The drill continued and bore into Jack. Jack activated War G.o.d"s Suit, but the black drill easily penetrated the suit. His HP went down rapidly. He activated War G.o.d"s Recovery when his HP almost reached zero. The black drill finally exhausted its power before Jack"s HP went near depletion a second time.
Will took the same action against Master as before Jack reversed the time. He used the Voice of G.o.d. Jack"s intervention also allowed Elayne to react. She resisted the pushback force from the Voice of G.o.d and fired a Sound Cannon at Master.
Master was battered by the Sound Cannon and the concentrated force of the Voice of G.o.d. Master erected an augmented magic shield that blocked the sound a.s.saults. He cast Telekinesis at the same time. The Telekinesis caught Jack"s clone, Will, Elayne, and two nearby members of the Council of Elpo. Master brought the five together before casting two spells consecutively, Final Explosion and Elemental Turbulence.
Jack, already low in HP, died from the Final Explosion. Will was defeated by the Elemental Turbulence. Elayne and the two members of the Council of Elpo survived, but Master didn"t bother with them. Using the Telekinesis, he slammed them down into the ground below before flying away.
By the time mana-awakened Jack came over, Master was already on his way to another target. "Ugh! This can"t go on...," Jack said.
"He is too powerful for the others in G.o.d Mode. They can"t hold him long enough," Peniel uttered.
Jack stopped his flight.
"Hey! Why do you stop? I know things are bleak, but you can"t give up!" Peniel exclaimed.
"I"m not giving up," Jack said. "I"m thinking about taking a gamble."
"A gamble?" Peniel asked.
"... The last time I reversed time, I felt something. After Master hit me with the Mind Blast, an idea came up inside my mind, but I didn"t have the chance to test it. I can only use Time Reverse another time after using Reset, so I only have one chance. If it doesn"t go as I hope, I would have wasted the skill."
"Things won"t go worse than this, will it? I say we give it a try," Peniel encouraged.
With that encouragement, Jack made up his mind. "All right. Let"s give it a go!" Jack exclaimed.
He saw Master approaching the place where John, Jeanny, Grace, and Paytowin were. The four saw Master"s approach. The Celestial Moth and Jeanny"s battle dragon tried to block Master"s path, but Master cast Greater Dispel to unsummon the battle dragon before casting Wind Jet and dashed past the Celestial Moth.
Jack used Reset, then. Once he did, he started casting Time Reverse. While casting, he focused his willpower on the Runestone of the Devil King to crank it up to the max. Several runic rings appeared around his spell formation, turning the spell formation into a complex chart.
The spell was cast, and time started to rewind. He saw everything moving back in time. Master was also aware of what was happening because of the Chrono Guard. He had refreshed Telekinesis using Necronomicon. He was just about to cast it to incapacitate the four players when his body started moving backward in time against his will. The Chrono Guard protected his mind, but his body still moved following the reverse of time.
Under the power of mana awakening and the Runestone of the Devil King, Time Reverse could turn back time much further back than one minute. Time continued to rewind until Jack and Master crossed paths when Jack used the Void-tearing Slash to trap Master.
"You don"t give up, do you?" Jack heard Master"s words.
They couldn"t talk while time was rewinding. The words were sent directly into Jack"s mind using Telepathy.
Under mana awakening, Jack could do the same. "After all this time, you should know by now the answer to that question," Jack said.
"Hmph! It doesn"t matter." Master used Mind Blast. He had refreshed this skill earlier using the Necronomicon, in preparation when Jack used Time Reverse again.
Jack was prepared this time. He modified the Ring of Runic Defense into a helmet that covered his head. Empowered by mana awakening power, even the G.o.d Mode mind blast couldn"t penetrate his mental defense.
"This time, it"s I who thank you," Jack told Master. "It is because of your mind attack that I know a.s.saults that don"t rely on physical movements are still possible in this time dimension."
A spell formation appeared on Jack"s hand while their bodies moved backward in time. Jack cast Tracing Light Beams. The thirty pillars of light shot out of the completed spell formation and rushed at Master.
Master couldn"t dodge the beams. His body was not in his control. It was moving backward following the actions he made in the past. He, however, could also use skills or cast spells that didn"t require body movements. Five celestial shields from the Valiant Paladin cla.s.s came out to protect him. These five shields were enlarged and reformed into a sphere by stacking side
by side.
The thirty pillars of light slammed into the sphere. They couldn"t penetrate it. While protected by the sphere, Master cast his mega spell, the Tri Elemental Dragons.
Jack also did. He cast Storm Wrath. His Storm Wrath hit a large area. However, only Master was affected. While time was rewinding, everything was being undone. Even when Jack"s Storm Wrath hit the others, those people returned to the condition before they were hit in real-time, so any damage they suffered during this time reversal was meaningless. Only Jack and Master, who were detached from time, could suffer damage.
Storm Wrath still couldn"t destroy the defense of Master"s Celestial Shields. As for Jack"s Ring of Runic Defense, it already suffered too many punishments in the past. It had many cracks on its surface. When the three elemental dragons struck it, it finally gave in. It shattered with a
bang.
Jack wasn"t defenseless even when his defensive skill was gone. He activated Void Defense. The three elemental dragons hovered close by but couldn"t touch him. He was not in danger. Jack and Master separated again as time continued to rewind. The three elemental dragons finally dissipated after running out of energy without being able to reach their target. "Are you okay?" Peniel asked. Jack wasn"t hurt. But if he was, she couldn"t come out to heal Jack. She was inside her hidden dimension most of the time in the battle. During this period of the time reversal, she was hiding. Like Jack, she was aware of the time rewinding but not in
control of her movements.
"I"m okay," Jack a.s.sured her.
Time continued to rewind. Jack and Master came into each other"s vicinity again at the time when Jack was. .h.i.t by the Hand of G.o.d. They reexperienced their battle backward, all the time throwing spells at one another. In terms of spells, Master was at an advantage. He had an inexhaustible list of spells to use.
As for Jack, his library of spells was limited. Soon, Jack could only defend as Master"s spells barraged him. He even used the Elemental G.o.d Barrier from his cloak. He negated spells with targeting mechanics using the Nine Yin Phantom Swords. As for AOE and spells that hit directly, he could only rely on the runic suit from his runestone of the devil king. Master"s telepathic voice entered Jack"s mind and taunted him. "You think you can defeat me by forcing me into a fight in this time dimension? You are more foolish than I thought! Give it up! No matter your struggle, you are not my match! You will never win against me, no matter how many times you try!"
When Master expected to hear words of despair from Jack, he instead heard a chuckle.
"Hehe. This is it. Our fight is going to end soon."