*BOMM, BOMM
Loud explosions echoed, and the already ruined city of Sakurami became even noisier.
"Direct hits, Kasugano-sama."
"Keep firing..."
After viewing satellite images, a smile appeared on the colonel's face. He had received Tsubaki's orders to attack those specific coordinates, and seeing the destruction, he assumed the target was dead.
Even if not, they should at least suffer some injuries.
But Tsubaki had a different perspective. If participants could die so easily, then there's no need for so much trouble.
Especially with Minene, who survived a total assault from Yuno.
"Yes, Kasugano-sama."
---
"Tch... Damn it..."
On the other hand, Marco's body flickered as various energy fluctuations appeared around him. At the moment of the attack, he didn't hesitate to accelerate the time in his body, successfully avoiding the bombs.
Time is wonderful, but even with that, Marco knows it won't be enough.
"Damn cheating women! Using regular people for this!"
But what irritated Marco the most was that Tsubaki was manipulating the army. It's one thing for them to attack him directly, but having the army attack him was a different story. Common people had nothing to do with their fight, but preventing them from getting involved was inevitable. The throne of God is a hot potato.
*Shuaaaaaaa
However, even if he curses, it won't change anything. The fighter jets in the sky unleashed their missiles once again.
*BOOMMMM
"Time manipulation..."
High in the sky, Yuno narrowed her eyes. That annoying attribute again. Yuno still remembered how Minene used time to restore her arm. Similarly, Yuki used that attribute, speeding up or rewinding time.
A troublesome attribute...
Now... how to kill someone with that power?
"Hmp! I just have to cut through it!"
There was a possibility. Time and space are inseparable.
There's no time if there's no space, and time flows in space.
Killing someone with this attribute is a challenge for those who don't have the power to manipulate time. However, there are still possibilities as long as they have 'Space.'
Yuno's ability to cut through space is one of them, or like Twelfth, by increasing gravity, affecting time.
Time is abstract, like an illusion we know exists, while space is where all matter exists.
That's why...
"As long as I control space... you'll fall under my katana."
With that in mind, an enormous amount of energy concentrated in her katana.
---
*BOMM
"Curses! Do I really have to kill them?!"
These annoying bombs were becoming more problematic, and Marco didn't want to kill innocents. However, every time he used his ability, his time was consumed, and at this rate, the fighter jets would be his ruin.
"Hahahaha"
However, as if he remembered something, Marco burst into laughter. Several things were at stake, and continuing to hesitate was not something a man in love would do.
(Why am I still hesitating? My son's life is at stake!)
That's right. Even if his conscience carries the sin of thousands of innocent lives, in the end, everything is for his wife and his son. He's the one who has to get his hands dirty.
As long as there's a chance of survival...
With that in mind, Marco no longer hesitated, and his body started to flicker. The time in his body accelerated, and everything in front of his eyes passed so slowly that Marco couldn't help but smile.
(I'm already a criminal... what more can they do to me?)
With his body accelerated, he rose into the air. Simultaneously, various rocks around him began to float, affected by his energy. By accelerating the time of objects, he created mini projectiles with enough speed to destroy the fighter jets in milliseconds.
*BOMM
Just as Yuno said, a few fighter jets aren't enough to stop a nuclear monster.
"I know you're there! If you have the guts, show yourself! Don't hide like a coward!"
Shouting, Marco knew someone was hiding. He couldn't detect them, but he knew there should be someone controlling these humans.
"Heee~ if you're so eager to die, let me help you."
"!?"
Emerging from the void, Yuno's sword gleamed, and the space around her split in two. With this, the space entered into distortion, making it impossible to use time to escape.
"Don't underestimate me!"
But just before space entered into distortion, time around Marco began to fluctuate. He concentrated his energy and jumped, disappearing instantly.
*Shiiiiii
*Bam
Completely avoiding Yuno's terrifying attack, the already ruined city turned into a complete hell. The few standing buildings split and fell. However, his attack didn't hit its target.
"What the hell?!"
This, of course, irritated Yuno. Quickly, she started searching for Marco, using a barrier in space to detect his energy. Unfortunately, even with that, she couldn't detect Marco.
"Here I am, brat. Don't think you can kill me so easily."
"!!"
Reappearing again, Marco smiled as he adjusted his sunglasses.
"You... What did you do?"
Swinging her katana again, Yuno asked, furrowing her brow. She knew space had split, so the concept of time should be impossible in those circumstances. However, Marco managed to evade her attack.
"What did I do? Hmmm, nothing special, just jumped into the future."
With cold sweat running down his face, Marco continued to smile. That previous blow was too terrifying, and looking at it from the sky, the range of destruction is too dangerous.
At first, Marco thought he would die, so he bet everything on his ability.
**'Future Leap'**
With this ability, Marco could jump a few seconds or minutes into the future. Even if the space was in distortion in the present, it didn't mean it would be in the future. Therefore, he could save himself.
This is why Yuno couldn't locate him using space. Marco literally wasn't in 'space' at that moment, but a few seconds later.
However, the risk was significant. For a moment, Marco almost got trapped in time. Fortunately, he managed to come out in one piece.
But for Marco, the crown protecting the world didn't nullify his ability. The crown completely prevented time travel. However, Marco traveled to the future, not the past. So, he didn't create parallel timelines, and his actions didn't impact the world because there were never two 'Marcos' existing simultaneously. The creation of anomalies that destroy the concept of the world, as seen with time travel, was nonexistent. However, even though it seemed like an impressive ability, Marco couldn't return to the present, and he also couldn't jump more than 5 minutes into the future.
But this only meant that to kill him, they needed to prevent Marco from leaping into the future or create a powerful attack that would last for more than 5 minutes.
(Tch... These damn pests)
And for Yuno, this was a headache.
---
"Still no signs of the woman..."
Meanwhile, as Yuno cut through space, Tsubaki analyzed the area. With Rasiel, they knew that Seventh was an anomaly, an error in the system — a participant that consisted of two people. So, both Yuno and Tsubaki split up and waited.
They managed to lure the snake out of its hole with missiles, but they only pulled out Marco. This concerned Tsubaki because Seventh had the same combat level as them. They needed to prepare countermeasures to avoid ambushes.
Unfortunately, with no living people in the city, using their diaries was useless.
"Est-san, can you help me?"
Having no other option, Tsubaki requested Est's assistance. Rasiel is more powerful than the diaries; finding Ai should be easy for her. However, after several seconds, Est didn't respond. This made Tsubaki frown because Est was responsible for looking after Yuki. If she didn't respond, something must have gone wrong.
At the same time, she teleported back to the cabin.
In the cabin, Yuki remained unconscious. Seeing this, Tsubaki sighed in relief. However, Est still didn't respond.
"This isn't good."
Est was a crucial aid if they wanted to destroy their enemies. But now, she wasn't responding.
"Did she enter a critical situation?"
Knowing that Est was the one maintaining the connection between Yuki and the material world, Tsubaki feared the worst.
Yuki's time was running out, so Est was doing everything possible to prevent Yuki from disappearing.
"I need to inform Gasai-san."
Biting her lower lip, Tsubaki teleported again. After all, if things were as she suspected, they needed to hurry up and finish this game. Yuki was in danger.
They had to choose the new God as soon as possible and save Yuki.
---