An inferno consumed the inside of the clocktower.
The resulting shockwave pulsed outwards, slamming into the glass face of the clock tower, cracking it.
Flames licking at the numerous pieces of brass and partially melting it, a low growl emanated from the center of the explosion.
Flames dissipating like a breeze of wind, I stabbed my blade into the floor, carving a scar on the ground, stopping my momentum.
Head now entirely engulfed in flame, one blazing eye stared ahead at the Timekeeper that had shielded herself.
Protected by a series of flying shuriken blades, the shurikens the size of a human body formed a protective shell around her, by spinning around fast.
Really fast.
"Chase!"
Growling, she thrust her finger at me and commanded the seven shurikens surrounding her to fly towards me.
Parting ways from the shield surrounding her body, the shurikens briefly froze in the air before they came spinning towards me with malicious intent.
'Nope.'
Keeping the blade stuck into the ground, I pulled out several items from within my inventory.
Tossing them into the air, as they fell to the ground, the condensed blocks of wood met my legs in a textbook football kick.
Eyes flashing, my legs twisted before they continued to kick the blocks of wood towards the flying shurikens using forms from taekwondo.
Pulling back my legs, I clenched my fists tight and let mana flow into the vine rune on my arms.
Sprouting steel like appendages from the blocks of wood, they reached out into the air and formed several net like lattices.
Even if the nets made of wood weren't accurate enough to collide against the flying shurikens head on, that just meant I had to expand how much area they covered.
Colliding against the shurikens, five of them were tangled within the many fibres and most times outright stopped in the air.
This meant that there were still two left though.
'But that's why I have you.'
Stomping onto the ground, the blade embedded into the metallic floor flew up into my grasp as I threw it like a master, sending its blade tangling into the numerous shark like teeth surrounding the edges of the body sized shuriken.
'And that leaves one.'
Activating the time rune as I called it, my mind instantly flickered with light brain synapses began to fire up every single one of my senses.
Carving out a trajectory of the shuriken in the air, flames flowed to cover both of my hands.
One thing I have noticed, whenever I used the Blaze rune, although it came at the cost of durability, the defensive strength of whatever the flames covered instantly became several folds tougher.
And I was betting on that durability saving my hands.
It was to late to use my inventory to pull out something more meaningful in protecting me either way.
'And what's life without a little spice huh?'
Ending the usage of the time rune, my hands instantly slammed around the edges of the shuriken with concussive force.
Flames bursting out, my feet squeaked on the metal floor as I forcefully stopped the flying shurikens charge.
But that wasn't the end of the Timekeepers attacks, no no no, far from it actually.
Rushing at me, blades in hand, the tip of the longsword reached for my throat only to be deflected by the shuriken in my hands.
"Grr..."
Growling, it seemed like the Timekeeper wasn't holding anything back anymore.
About time really.
Throwing the shuriken, the options of either dodging or defending against her own weapon flashed before her.
She choose neither.
Sending it back to the ether where it came from, her dagger held in her right hand flashed to my stomach.
Stopping it with one of my hands, the longsword flashed from above, causing me to pull out a shield formed fromt he coldest of ice.
Light blue shield instantly chilling my arm, it performed its proper duty and deflected against the longsword.
Pushing backwards, a wave of ice emanated from the core of the shield and instantly frosted over the sword.
Reaching for her mask, a bright blue flash flew through the air as I nearly stumbled from the lack of resistance.
Appearing at the other side of the room, she held her blades aloft and was set at throwing more shurikens only to pause in shock.
"My tower" Whispering, her eyes took in the surrounding devastation.
And boy it wasn't pretty.
The glass face of the clock tower aside, several pieces of delicate looking machinery had either melted together or melted altogether.
The only difference being that two became one and one became none.
Orange eyes flashing with an unidentified emotion during that moment, the woman turned to glare at me.
'Now she really wants me dead.'
"You're not dying easy now buster."
Growling, I felt an incredible sense of danger from her as the back of my neck tingled.
Believing my instincts that had saved me several times before, the time rune flashed at my waist and began to consume mana like a blackhole.
And for good reason at that.
Running at normal speed towards me, her blade cut through the air and formed actual sonic booms around her blade
'No, she's not running in normal speed.'
Widening my eyes, mana slowly gathered at the soles of my feet.
'She's running at normal speed in a slowed down time.'
Blasting beneath me so that I could perform a standing jump, her blade cut through the air as time returned to its normal pace.
*BOOM CRACKLE.
The frost that covered the ground once beneath instantly broke apart, several melted portions now gaining several indents on its surface as a sonic boom rang out within the tower, further damaging the glass clock face.
And observing all of that was me, bow drawn, and arrows nocked straight at her head.
"Timekeeper, are you sure you really care about your tower? You seemed to have just damaged it even further."
Pointing that fact out, the Timekeeper turned around to glare at me. "It's already broken enough, a little extra isn't going to hurt anybody."
'Ah she's one of those types.'
Nodding to myself, I released the tension in the bowstring.
She's the type of person to make things even worse, justifying it by saying that since it's already this broken, a bit more abuse wouldn't hurt anybody.
Of course this set of logic is particularly harmful when murdering as something that was just a one person murder turned into a homicide of over five people, the murder suspect included.
Anyways.
As arrow after arrow began flying through the air, they arced towards the timekeeper still glaring at me.
That is until she moved.
Dodging and weaving through the dozens of arrows, she stabbed at me with the standard longsword and shortsword combo, one after the other, forcing me to dodge into a space where another blade was falling.
But this could be resolved by just blocking the second strike while dodging the first.
The force of the rebound sending her shortsword flying, she smoothly corrected its course and joined it at the hilt.
"It's time to end this."
Growling underneath her breath, the longsword and shortsword seemed to have been made for each other as they seamlessly melted into each other.
Forming a much thicker broadsword combo, she lifted the blade up forcing me to backtrack my steps intent on capitalizing on the situation.
Carving an arc through the air, my feet hurriedly spun backwards on themselves to dodge the sudden flying blade.
A blue flash briefly filled my vision as I felt a chill at the back of my neck.
Hurriedly dropping low to the ground so that I was nearly parallel to it, a white flash cut at where my neck previously was.
The chill returned.
Pressing at the ground, I pushed off of it with both of my hands, more force being localized to my right hand as I spun around in the air.
A white flash carved through the ground like a hot knight through a stick of butter.
Another pressing chill at the base of my neck, but this time, I now knew where it came from.
Melding both of her blades into one coherent form, they formed the very same broadsword that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Pointing at me, the Timekeeper leveled the blade at me as time seemed to slow.
Falling slowly in the air, the Timekeeper's blue cloth fluttered in the air as she slowly ran towards me, swords in hand.
Silver mask seemingly mirroring its master's heartless demeanor, she aimed to finally separate my head from its shoulders.
But in an attempt to delay the inevitable, I activated the inferno rune
Flames bursting from my hands and feet, my body slowly began to fly away from the ever approaching blade.
Time slowed further as all of my currently available senses focused on the ever approaching blade.
They said that death made one hyperaware of everything as the body attempted to find any possible way to survive, it seemed that they were right.
The taste of iron, calcium, magnesium and several other mineral ions filled my mouth as blood pooled from within my guts.
The smell of sweat, blood, water, smoke and many other things mixed into a dizzying cocktail as I spun in the air.
The sound of air itself splitting as the blade neared my neck, the roar of flames delaying my seemingly inevitable death.
The feel of heat covering my limbs, the air rushing at my skin, the sweat coming out of my pores, the beat of my heart slowing in my chest.
The sight of a blade nearing my neck, the numerous fibres combining their strengths to form a shirt around my chest, the ever approaching visage of my new death.
The thought of me dying once again.
'You know? Third times the charm.'
The Challenger's rune at the side of my waist began to glow softly as it consumed what little mana I had left in my body.
+++
Whoever calls football soccer are insane people and I'll die on that grave.
Tree