The white flash that saved Eric turned out to actually be Shujin. The three froze as they were too cautious of him.
"Who the fuck are you?"
Eric clenched his left fist—where he was wearing his ring—and launched Shujin to the empty building.
"That's Shujin, Eric. We need to get you out of here."
"Nah, fuck this guy."
Shujin recovered and approached Eric slowly with his blade drawn out. His head was shaking erratically. Up, right, left, down, back, forward. It's like he was glitching.
"Eric, you can't win this!"
Eric clenched his left fist and formed a black hole, he made it travel toward Shujin at high speed. Shujin casts "True Manifestation: Inverted Light Amplification" and channeled it to his blade. He wasn't at all affected by the gravitational pull. He swiped his blade through the black hole, causing a reaction and expelling it.
"He destroyed a black hole?"
"I'm not fucking with you, get out of here!" Dan ran up to Eric and grabbed his clothes and pulled him. He was fast but Shujin was faster with "Reality Snap". He cut off Eric's left hand and grabbed it along with him. He dropped his blade and quickly grabbed the ring. His head started glitching again.
Ava cast a dagger with her charm and dashed toward Shujin. She slashed his helmet. She chipped it a little.
"Mom damaged it?" He was surprised
Shujin wore the ring and recalled his sword to his hand. His head starts glitching even more. It kept getting worse.
"What's the matter with him?" Cathy asks
"I don't know, I've never seen this." Dan said
Cathy created a small orb of water and "stretched" it, it shot like a slingshot at high speed "Water Bolt". Shujin blocked it with his blade. Then his head stops glitching all of a sudden. He got quiet and looked directly at Dan.
"Come kill me." He said in a serious tone, but Dan heard sincerity
Shujin dashed at Eric and chopped his stomach open. Dan was shocked but wasn't remotely sad. He was caught off guard by what Shujin said. Dan stepped away from the blood pool Eric made.
Shujin dashed again, this time at Ava. Something weird occurred at the moment he dashed. Something sinister. Dan and Cathy ran to Ava, trying to save her. She was the fastest Core-user in her prime, but Shujin was just infinitely faster than her. A big blue dome appeared out of nowhere. It stopped everyone's movement except for Dan's. "Time Stagnant Territory". A large dome where time temporarily stops. Using Inverse can rewind it, and using Amplification can fast-forward it.
Due to Inverted Light's nature, it's an energy that can travel at the speed of light, however, the user themselves cannot travel at the speed of light. Shujin casts a Body Spell every time he dashes, making him nearly impossible to see and counter. Since he was using Inverted Light from the start of the fight, he can move at the speed of light for a very short period of time, infinitesimally close to zero—1/5000 of a second. Moving at the speed of light will make time "stop".
Because time wasn't progressing within the "Time Stagnant Territory", Shujin was able to move freely. He drove his blade through Ava easily and Dan, despite having time stopped, could not save her.
After Shujin stabs her in the chest, he looked at Dan and walked out of the dome, and disappeared. Dan, no, someone else casted the Inverse of "Time Stagnant Territory". "Time Reversal Territory". Shujin was no longer inside the dome and he wasn't affected by it in the first place, therefore everything that happened in that dome was irreversible.
They tried reversing time within that dome as much as they can but to no avail. The spell collapsed in on itself and time no longer was stopped nor reversed.
Dan ran to his mother in a panic. She lost her strength and dropped to the ground. Dan catches her on her back and rested her on his lap.
"Fuck! Mom! What do I do? What do I do?" Dan held pressure on the mortal wound, his hands and clothes were vandalized red. "Fuck!!!! Mom, please!! You can't die! PLEASE!! CATHY HELP ME!"
None of them had a healing crystal ready, and none of them could use it either.
"Dan, I- don't–"
"PLEASE! JUST ANYTHING!!"
"Dan, listen to me." His mom's voice grew weaker
Dan dropped everything and turned to her, tears ran down his face, his mouth watered, his body was shaking all over the place.
"Thanks. Thanks for giving me... A normal life as your... Mother–"
She went quiet and cold. Her weight feels lighter. Her eyes carried no light. She died in his arms.
"I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry." He leaned to her forehead at kissed her. His tears raced down his cheek and met her face.
His eyes turned purple and his mana carried a different tone. A dark and sinister one.