[Current Tokens: 9]
One of the [Token Holders] had just died.
And in return, their token had been erased from existence.
Even worse?
Xyrran had only been active for about 20 seconds.
That meant there were still four minutes and forty seconds left.
And they were all supposed to survive that?
“Yeah, screw this,” Alex turned and sprinted in the opposite direction.
But—
“Don’t run away,” Xyrran’s voice rumbled through the air. “You can’t escape me.”
Alex barely had time to react before the dragon’s massive wings flapped once.
BOOM!
The sheer force shattered space itself, bending reality, and in a single second, Xyrran closed the gap between them.
Fast. Too fast.
Alex’s instincts screamed. He twisted his body to dodge—
“I’m not a Token Holder!” Alex shouted. “Aren’t you supposed to go after them?!”
Xyrran grinned, his colossal fangs gleaming.
“True. But I can still kill whoever I see.” His eyes locked onto Alex. “And you’re the only one here.”
That was true.
Alex looked around, and beside him and the three others that just died, no one was nearby.
He had been unlucky enough to reach the centre of the trial’s domain right when the calamity was about to hit.
The Primordial Dragon’s claw stretched forward.
“Bye-bye.”
Alex’s brain raced.
He wanted to use [World Cleaver], but not only did he have no idea how to, but also…
[There is a small charging time for this skill.]
The dragon was too close, too fast.
He wouldn’t get the chance to swing or do whatever that skill wanted him to do.
But he had one other option.
Destiny Shift.
[-10 Destiny Points.]
The moment Alex activated the skill, he realized something crucial.
[Destiny Shift] could undo anything.
The damage? The attack? Even Xyrran’s movements?
Depending on what he chose, the result would be completely different.
As Xyrran’s massive claws came down.
And Alex activated [Destiny Shift].
[Undoing Xyrran’s Movements.]
In an instant, the primordial dragon disappeared.
And reappeared back in his original position from five seconds ago.
“…”
Alex blinked.
Then a grin formed on his face.
“I get it now.”
By choosing to undo Xyrran’s movements instead of his attack, he had rewound the dragon’s position entirely.
If he had chosen to undo the attack, Xyrran would still be right in front of him, just before swinging.
And if he had chosen to undo the damage, he would still have been attacked, just without the injury.
This meant that the way he used [Destiny Shift] mattered.
A lot.
‘Some of these skills need more training than I expected,’ Alex thought.
But it didn’t matter. He turned and started running again.
Meanwhile, Xyrran stood still, momentarily dazed.
“You won’t escape, human!”
The dragon roared again, flapping his wings once more.
CRACK!
A fracture in reality formed as he lunged forward.
But yet again…
[Undoing Xyrran’s movements.]
BOOM!
Xyrran was instantly forced back to his previous location.
“WHAT THE FUCK!”
Alex kept running.
“HOW?!”
Xyrran’s furious roar echoed across the battlefield.
“I AM THE PRIMORDIAL SPACE AND TIME DRAGON!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But clearly, I’m better at time manipulation than you,” Alex smirked.
Xyrran’s entire body trembled with rage, “YOU—”
But Alex knew he couldn’t keep using [Destiny Shift] forever.
He only had so many Destiny Points.
If he ran out, he’d have nothing left to stop Xyrran from tearing him apart.
So instead…
Threads of Fate!
[Threads of Fate (Artifact+)]
[This skill allows the user to perceive the invisible threads of fate that intertwine with every living being.
You can see the threads surrounding a target, predicting their exact actions for one minute with perfect accuracy.]
The world shifted.
And suddenly—
Hundreds of glowing golden threads surrounded Xyrran’s body.
His wings. His claws. His tail.
Everything.
‘These threads are different from a humanoid creature’s,’ Alex thought.
There were far more of them than when he had fought Kaelios’ clone.
But—
A wide grin stretched across Alex’s face.
‘I can still understand them.’
Xyrran roared, “DIE!”
His wings flapped once, and he vanished.
Then reappeared directly behind Alex.
“Too slow.”
Alex ducked, sliding under a massive claw swipe before flipping backward to avoid the tail swing.
Xyrran’s attacks tore through the air, each strike powerful enough to rip space apart.
And yet—
Alex dodged all of them.
Effortlessly.
Left. Right. Duck. Jump. Step back.
It was as if he knew exactly where Xyrran would attack before the dragon even moved.
And, well, he did.
“WHAT?!”
Xyrran’s voice was filled with disbelief.
And so instead of simply using his basic attacks, he used a skill.
He dodged another claw swipe with a smooth sidestep.
Then a massive wave of Void Flames erupted from Xyrran’s mouth—
Alex twisted his body, narrowly avoiding it by stepping into the exact blind spot of the attack.
Even the [Void Flames] had threads that showed him exactly when they would activate and where.
This ability was overpowered, to say the least.
Xyrran was baffled.
“Simple,” Alex grinned. “I can see your future.”
Xyrran’s clock-like eyes widened.
Alex knew he had to move now.
His Destiny Points were running low.
He opened his [Trial Item Inventory] and grabbed the Token Compass.
If he could lead Xyrran toward another Token Holder, the dragon would be forced to attack them instead.
Alex activated the [Token Compass].
It spun wildly for a few seconds before the red arrow locked into place.
Alex dashed in that direction immediately.
He had to use [Destiny Shift] one more time to escape Xyrran’s [Time Stop] since that wasn’t avoidable while the Primordial Dragon was so close.
Time instantly stopped for Alex, locking him into place and freezing him like all the others.
“GOT YOU!” Xyrran was furious he lost so much time on a single participant, but even then, he still did it in the end.
And yet, even then, Alex wasn’t nervous.
Destiny Shift!
[Undoing Xyrran’s actions.]
This resulted in the [Time Stop] being cancelled, as well as Xyrran being transported back to his previous location.
Undoing “actions” in general was a good combo that Alex would remember.
[-10 Destiny Points.]
Then he used Threads of Fate again to dodge for another minute.
[-20 Destiny Points.]
[Destiny Points: 30/100]
He was almost out.
But the compass suddenly began glowing.
[Token Holder nearby.]
A message appeared.
A grin formed on Alex’s face.
He sprinted forward, and in the distance, he finally saw it.
A golden outline. A floating token above their head.
A Token Holder!
‘Yes!’
He got closer.
But when he saw who it was, his excitement vanished instantly.
Because the Token Holder standing in front of him was—
Astariel, the Fallen Angel.
The same Fallen Angel who had walked out of his hallway alone, killing every single person inside.
The same Fallen Angel who had wiped out 50 people with a single swing of his Dark Blade.
Alex’s eyes narrowed.
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Astariel slowly turned to face him.
His black armor gleamed under the sky, his wings twitching slightly.
He obviously instantly noticed the massive dragon behind Alex, who kept attacking.
Then he lifted his hand.
A dark mist formed, swirling ominously, and in a flash, a massive black sword materialized in it.
The [Dark Blade] was here again.
A weapon that had already killed hundreds of people.
Astariel silently took his stance.
Ready to fight.
“Shit,” Alex groaned.
But there was no turning back now.