Chereads / In the beginning again / Chapter 3 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Chapter 3

In the opulent and huge chamber of the Viscount, a heavy silence gripped the air as Xia and his adversaries, the Viscount and his loyal knight captain, squared off for battle. Their eyes locked, each recognizing the gravity of the impending clash

In the midst of the confrontation, Xia's eyes flickered coldly as he tapped into the depths of his time magic. With a subtle gesture, he accelerated the flow of time in the chamber, causing the surrounding normal soldiers to age rapidly before his eyes. Wrinkles creased their faces, and their once vigorous movements slowed to a crawl as the weight of years pressed down upon them.

But Xia didn't stop there. With a sweeping motion of his hand, he conjured destructive space blades imbued with the power of time and space. These ethereal blades sliced through the air with deadly precision, cutting down the aging soldiers with ruthless efficiency. Their bodies crumbled to dust as the space blades passed through them, leaving behind nothing but echoes of their former selves.

As the chaos unfolded around him, Xia focused his attention on the knight captain and the Viscount. Using the power of time once more, Xia slowed down their movements to a fraction of their normal speed. Time bend and warp around them, rendering their attacks sluggish and their reactions dulled.

The knight captain roared in frustration as he struggled against the invisible force holding him back, his flaming sword faltering in his grasp. Beside him, the Viscount's expression twisted with disbelief and rage as he realized the extent of Xia's power. 

"What kind of magic is that!!" The viscount bellowed as he tried to make sense of things

Who wouldn't be surprised when you saw your soldiers literally aging and turning into an old version of themselves in a matter of seconds?

"There's only 3 that I suspect, either Dark, Black or..."

"The power of Time". The Viscount, Darwin Bellardini, muttered through clenched teeth, a mix of nerves and anger coursing through him readying himself in the battle that will decide their fate.

The Viscount invoked the power of wind, lifting himself and the knight captain into the air, allowing them to soar above Xia's space blades with graceful agility. The Viscount used the power of wind to alleviate some burden, making their movements more bearable.

However, Xia used the power of space, gravity magic to further slow down the Viscount and the knight captain's movements, creating an additional layer of difficulty for them to navigate through the battlefield.

The viscount gritted his teeth, seeing their movements getting sluggish again despite using his power to move a little better.

"What is this absurd power. To be able to take on two masters at the same time. This kid... is a monster," The Viscount thought, a mix of awe and frustration coursing through him.

The Knight Captain's eyes widened in disbelief. "This... is no doubt the Space magic" he muttered, grappling with the realization that two of the most ancient and formidable magics were now in the hands of a young commoner, an enemy at that

Xia seeing their reactions used the power of space to teleport to the knight captain's blind spots, aiming to catch him off guard. As he materialized behind the knight captain, he swung his space blade with lightning speed, only to be met with a wall of searing flames. The knight captain, drawing from his wealth of experience, had anticipated Xia's move and promptly heated up his surroundings, deterring Xia from getting too close.

In response, Xia utilized the power of space to create an invisible distance between him and the Viscount and knight captain. In the others' perspective, the distance between them looked the same, but the space a few inches away from Xia's body was actually a few meters far, ensuring that the heat from the knight captain's flames couldn't reach him.

The knight captain then invoked the power of fire, his sword erupting into a blazing inferno that threatened to consume everything in its path. Waves of intense heat washed over the battlefield, the flames reaching Xia even after extending the distance between them using space, forcing Xia to step back momentarily.

Sensing an opportunity, the Viscount called upon the power of wind, summoning a fierce gale that whipped through the chamber with hurricane force. Xia gritted his teeth against the howling winds, his cloak billowing behind him as he struggled to maintain his footing.

With a swift motion, Xia retaliated, channeling his space magic to create a vacuum around the knight captain and the Viscount. The flames flickered and sputtered as the oxygen was sucked away, leaving them gasping for breath.

But they were not so easily defeated. The Viscount channeled the power of wind once more, creating a protective barrier of swirling air around them. The flames reignited with renewed vigor, fueled by the oxygen-rich environment, as they pressed forward with relentless determination.

As the battle intensified, the knight captain radiated more heat, his eyes blazing with determination. With a thunderous roar, he infused his sword with fire, making his attacks even deadlier. Flames licked the blade as he swung it towards Xia with ferocious intensity.

But Xia already saw this in the future using his power of time. With a flick of his wrist, he erected a barrier of energy, deflecting the flaming sword strikes harmlessly aside. Each strike fueled by the power of time and space, Xia danced through the tempest of wind and fire, his movements a blur of calculated precision.

As the battle raged on, Xia's mastery over time and space was showcased more. With a thought, he conjured portals that opened and closed in rapid succession, making the attacks of viscount and knight captain passing harmlessly through the empty air as he goes in and out between dimensions.

Xia unleashed a surge of temporal energy, accelerating time within a localized area. The air crackled with the intensity of his magic as seconds stretched into minutes, giving Xia ample opportunity to strike at his foes. With a wave of his hand, he bent time itself, causing moments to stretch and contract in unpredictable patterns. The knight captain and the Viscount found themselves caught in a temporal maelstrom, their perceptions distorted, and their reactions dulled.

Xia then created rifts in the fabric of time and space, warping the very dimensions of the battlefield. The ground trembled and shook as reality itself seemed to buckle and twist, creating obstacles and barriers that hindered his adversaries' movements. The knight captain and the Viscount stumbled and faltered as they struggled to navigate the shifting terrain, their attacks disrupted by the unpredictable nature of Xia's magic

But the knight captain and the Viscount proved to be more resilient than he had anticipated. With a surge of willpower, they pushed through the temporal distortion, their movements becoming more fluid and controlled as they adapted to the shifting pace of battle.

The Viscount's mastery over wind magic is one of the highest in the whole kingdom. With a flick of his wrist, the Viscount created whirlwinds around the battlefield, making the flames go wilder in attempt to stop their enemy.

In response, Xia swiftly countered by creating localized vacuums with compressed space. With precise control, he disrupted the flow of air within the whirlwinds, causing them to collapse inward. The sudden absence of wind left the Viscount momentarily stunned, providing Xia with the opportunity to press forward and gain the upper hand in the tumultuous clash.

Xia then teleported around the battlefield, making the two more alert but with their wealth of experience they countered Xia's attempts by intensifying the heat and flames around them and the viscount, controlling it so that the viscount would not be affected while also summoning 5 constructs of pure fire, shaping the flames into serpentine dragons that snaked through the air with deadly precision hounding Xia.

Seeing this Xia used time to speed himself up even more while also using both time and space to know each and every location of his enemies even without looking at them, he then created spheres around the serpents trapping them in a time loop reliving a moment in time continuously in such a way that they are rendered immobile.

The viscount then used the depths of his powers to conjure dark clouds that loomed ominously overhead. Lightning crackled and thunder roared as storms of unparalleled ferocity swept across the battlefield. But Xia was not taken by surprise. His precognitive abilities allowed him to anticipate the storms' every move, dodging lightning bolts and gusts of wind with the use of teleportation.

Knowing his teleportation and precognitive abilities wouldn't be able to keep up, Xia used time manipulation to speed up his brain and body functions as well as the speed of teleportation.

Simultaneously, the Knight Captain created blades made of fire and hurled them at the Xia trying to anticipate where and when will Xia show up.

"The heavens must be against us, milord". The Knight Captain feeling the toll on their bodies said as he catches his breath, trying to replenish his mana reservoir

"If I knew this, I would have kicked out that bastard and took him instead, this would propel my influence in the kingdom" The Viscount said as he started to struggled to maintain and regulate his mana

The two looked at each other in understanding as an idea popped in their minds.

The Viscount conjured gusts of wind while simultaneously creating more lightning to not only distract Xia but also to enhance the speed and agility of the knight captain, his flaming sword ablaze with fury. Xia saw this and immediately saw what they will do with his precognition let them. With a swift and coordinated strike, the two managed to sever one of Xia's arms. But before they could celebrate, Xia used his time magic. With ease, he reversed the flow of time around his wounded limb, watching as flesh knit themselves back together in a miraculous reversal. In an instant, his arm was whole again, leaving his the viscount and knight captain to stare in disbelief at the seemingly impossible feat.

"Impossible," they muttered simultaneously, their voices echoing in disbelief as they collapsed, drained not only of mana but also of hope.

Xia coldly looked at them bored. "How boring" he said as the lightnings vanished

He descended and set forth on a purposeful stride, traversing the distance between them with ease, not minding the one lurking in a distance away

"Let's end this." Xia coldly said in a bored tone when he's a few meters away.

The Viscount and knight captain smirked evilly as their victory seems a few seconds away.

"Yeah, let's end this". The Knight said as his smirk widen

After saying this an assassin appeared beside Xia out of nowhere as he decapitated his head while also piercing his heart.

"You can reattach your limbs but what about your head and heart?" The Viscount said as he laughed wildly as Xia's head fell and his heart bleeding.

The Knight Captain stifled a laugh at the absurdity before him, but his mirth was short-lived as Xia's head halted midway, an ominous sensation creeping into his heart.

"No way..." he murmured in disbelief, his nerves instantly fraying.

The Viscount, too, felt a surge of unease as he gazed upon Xia's seemingly indestructible form.

"No... no... noo!!" he roared, his desperation palpable.

"Kill him! Blast his body, slice him to pieces—just end him!"

His commands echoed in the tense air as the assassin unleashed a barrage of poisons, bombs, and dark arts upon Xia, only to witness the pieces reattach themselves with eerie resilience. As minutes passed, the assassin, drained of mana, collapsed in defeat.

"NOOOO!! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!" the Viscount wailed, his hope dwindling.

"This magic... is absurd," the Knight Captain muttered, helpless against the inexplicable phenomenon.

With the final reattachment of Xia's body, he strode confidently toward his adversaries.

"Your initial shock in the first few iterations amused me, but now I'm tired of it," Xia remarked coldly, his enemies' realization sinking in. Hysterical laughter bubbled from the Viscount, a sign of his crumbling sanity, echoed by the Knight Captain and assassin, who appeared equally unhinged.

"Farewell," Xia intoned, and their bodies began to wither, aging rapidly until they crumbled to sand. Unsatisfied, Xia employed space magic to disintegrate them entirely.

"Vermin like you do not deserve even the form of sand," he declared, his voice devoid of mercy.

As Xia soared above the city, he felt a little tired from the recent fight in the now destroyed manor, he then noticed a familiar, ominous sight: portals of varying colors, stretching from green to ominous black, manifesting across the world. From these rifts emerged a horde of creatures, ranging from small Kobolds to towering Giants, and even the formidable Krakens from the depths.

Realizing another battle was imminent, Xia braced himself, the once-quiet city now a chaotic battleground.