The Price of Time and a Surprising Revelation

“It’s time to end this!”

Irina’s voice rang out.

The world came to a standstill.

The golden-haired Bloodkin gracefully approached Xiu Lan, aiming at the shadow’s weak point.

“Then farewell, you reckless little…” she purred, a note of pleasure in her voice.

“No further!”

A sudden, sharp shout cut Irina’s actions short.

Accompanied by the wind pressure of high-speed movement, the black-haired hunter, Yao Jing, had appeared at some unknown moment not far behind her.

The greatsword clutched in his hand glowed faintly red, operating at full power.

‘Someone can move within stopped time!?’

This unexpected interloper instantly plunged Irina into a dilemma.

If she continued to strike down the person before her, she risked being cleaved in two by the greatsword behind her.

But if she dodged…

That would mean letting this person escape.

“Damn it!”

Her entire focus was consumed by maintaining the time stop.

In this state, confronting an enemy was far too taxing.

After glaring fiercely at the time-stopped figure in black, Irina ultimately chose to evade, simultaneously releasing the time stop.

‘But I’ve still left you a little surprise…’

“Whoosh!”

Yao Jing narrowly avoided the sword strike that had been aimed at him from the front, a surge of relief filling him.

During the previous time loop, although he had forced Irina to release the time stop, her cunning had led him to take Xiu Lan’s attack head-on, resulting in his demise.

However, a Saint Fighter would not fall to the same move twice.

This time, he had adopted an uncanny posture in mid-air, narrowly evading the slash.

“Yao Jing, are you f*cking eager to die faster, or what?”

Xiu Lan narrowed her eyes, cursing him without a trace of good humor.

“If you’re tired of living, just tell me next time, and I’ll send you straight down.”

She had been absolutely confident that her previous sword strike would slay the Bloodkin.

However, Yao Jing’s sudden appearance within her attack range had genuinely startled her.

It had been by the barest margin that her enemy hadn’t died, but her teammate almost had.

The girl’s hand, still gripping her sword, was trembling.

‘Damn it, I came to save you, and now I’m getting cursed by you, you dead weight.

How could such a beautiful person have such a mouth?

I really need to find a chance to teach her how to speak properly.’

Even though he cursed her fiercely in his mind, Yao Jing suppressed his urge to retort, feigning composure as he explained:

“This Bloodkin possesses the ability to stop time.

I was just manipulated by her into your attack.”

“Fortunately, my constitution is unique, unaffected by such abilities, which allowed me to engage her during the time stop.”

The power of [Time] allowed him to remain unaffected by most time-based abilities, a fact he had only discovered during Irina’s time stop.

After all, he had never encountered an enemy with such capabilities before.

“Time… stop…”

Chewing on the meaning of the words, Xiu Lan instantly understood a great deal.

No wonder she hadn’t been able to land a single attack on her; she had initially thought it was teleportation or spatial leaps, never imagining it was a temporal ability.

‘But for Yao Jing to be able to ignore time stop… truly, one cannot judge a book by its cover.’

‘Still… how do you fight against infinite time stop?

Even a few seconds of time stop next door is enough to try and conquer the world.’

Sensing her apprehension, Yao Jing continued to explain:

“Have you noticed the red gem that appears on her body from time to time?

She’s only able to use time stop through that object.”

“However, from what I’ve observed, she can only perform one action at a time while using that item.

This means that once she activates time stop, she cannot use any other abilities.

So, during a time stop, just leave it to me, understood?”

All of this information he had gathered through multiple time loops and from The Doctor.

After Yao Jing finished explaining, it was the Bloodkin, moments ago brimming with confidence, who now felt a chilling dread.

In front of this man, she felt as though her entire being had been seen through, her every secret laid bare.

Even the trump card only she knew about had been revealed.

But to her horror, his explanation continued:

“When she uses the red gem, it can be touched.

This means we can work together to seize the gem.

As long as we get our hands on that item, we can use it to end all of this.”

‘How could that be?

Only Bloodkin can use this; for you, it’s just a stone.’

Irina feigned composure, about to mock her opponent’s ignorance, but the sudden appearance of Wu Liyun running past made her smiling expression freeze.

‘Why is this useless person here?!’

‘Damn it, has this guy defected to the Regulatory Bureau?’

Fury surged within her, but the two figures closing in left her no time for other thoughts.

“Hmph!”

Xiu Lan was still the first to attack, once again enhancing her abilities through the shadows.

She leaped up, her demon sword, which inflicted damage upon touch, stopping just before Irina’s eyes.

She stopped time.

Having dealt with one side, the other followed like a shadow.

“Clang!”

The greatsword and the parasol clashed.

‘I can’t beat that one over there, but surely I can beat you?’

Irina’s frustration, fueled by everything going wrong, drove her to attack Yao Jing.

The sound of weapons colliding echoed through the time-stopped world.

Then Irina realized that she genuinely couldn’t win.

She had fought hunters before, and her skill was beyond doubt, given that The Doctor had entrusted her with the responsibility of controlling the gem.

She could hold her own even among the multitude of strong elders.

Yet, the combat prowess of the man before her was unexpectedly high.

His grasp of timing and extensive combat experience made her even suspect that a seasoned, battle-hardened hunter had arrived.

“Splat.”

In a moment of inattention, another wound was carved across her waist.

Even with the Bloodkin’s formidable regenerative abilities, taking too much damage in a short period would still impair her combat effectiveness.

Facing the Bloodkin’s decline, Yao Jing chose to press his advantage.

He stepped onto a skyscraper, used its surface to propel himself high into the sky, and there, adopted a ‘one-line’ posture.

Accelerating sharply, he lunged towards Irina.

Irina dared not gamble her life on whether the hunter’s attack could kill her.

She rapidly retreated, increasing the distance, and released the time stop.

Immediately afterward, a square shield, shimmering with starlight, began to rotate continuously before her.

[Unbreakable Starlight Shield]

In the past, she had seen a hero use it to repel a massive invasion by the Darkborn (TL Note: “黑生种” (hēishēngzhǒng) refers to a race of dark, monstrous beings, often associated with corruption or shadow, distinct from ‘Bloodkin’ or ‘Vampire’).

Though her version was merely a crude imitation, similar in form but lacking in true essence, it was more than enough to block a single hunter.

“Ugh…”

In the blink of an eye, that detestable Bloodkin had fled into the distance.

Xiu Lan knew she had used time stop again, but pursuing her further would only lead to a prolonged stalemate.

She pondered a way to resolve this predicament.

Finally, she decided to try out a new skill that had appeared in her mind at some unknown moment.

“Hmph.”

The black-clad girl covered her right eye, as dark shadows converged towards her left.

Her previously fixed vision now transformed, like a camera, capable of adjusting its zoom.

‘Hmm… I’ll just adjust it to roughly the size of that Bloodkin for now.’

At this moment, Irina was creating the shield to block Yao Jing’s attack.

Although she wasn’t completely stationary, she wouldn’t deviate too far.

So…

With difficulty, Xiu Lan adjusted her vision’s scope, precisely framing the Bloodkin within it.

She swung her sword with a cold sneer:

“Taste this, you b*tch.”

[Eye of Perception: Sever]

‘Usable only with the left eye, this terrifying ability ignores distance, ignores defenses, and severs all things.’

“Aaaah!”

A painful, shrill scream ripped through the air.

Irina’s right arm was half-severed by an attack from an unknown source.

Her created shield, unable to be maintained due to her shattered concentration, vanished into thin air.

The charging Yao Jing then slammed her directly onto the ground.

“Hand over the gem, and we’ll spare your life.”

Like village bullies cornering an innocent woman, Xiu Lan and Yao Jing flanked the fallen Bloodkin, one on each side.

Their faces were etched with malicious smiles.

“I will not yield.”

When Irina declared this with a righteous expression, Xiu Lan actually thought she would rather die than surrender.

So, she merely dangled her shadow sword around Irina’s neck.

“I’ll… give… them… to… you…”

Faced with the threat of death, the golden-haired Bloodkin still chose to grovel.

Her twisted expression of unwilling shame and indignation made Xiu Lan feel as refreshed as drinking a cold soda on a hot summer day.

One word: exhilarating.

Indeed, trampling enemies underfoot was the most satisfying feeling.

Ignoring Xiu Lan, who was busy bullying the Bloodkin, Yao Jing handed the gem to Wu Liyun.

“End all of this.”

Although he had no idea what it was or what Yao Jing wanted him to do, Wu Liyun still took the gem.

“So that’s how it is.”

The moment he took possession, a continuous stream of memories flowed from the gem into Wu Liyun.

Under Yao Jing’s direction, he gathered all the vampires, isolating them within sealed spaces, then progressively shrinking the world’s boundaries.

For a novice like him, this was a massive undertaking.

“So, how much longer do we have to wait?”

Even the most interesting toy grows tiresome with constant play.

Having grown bored of the golden-haired Bloodkin, Xiu Lan was now sitting on the ground, idly watching Wu Liyun play a live-action version of [Your World].

“Can’t you be a little more patient?”

Robin tapped Xiu Lan’s head, but unfortunately, under the protection of the shadows, the person in question showed no reaction whatsoever.

She had now changed back into her black robe, sitting behind Xiu Lan and embracing her waist.

She was now absolutely certain that the black-clad girl before her was one of her classmates.

Although the softness she had felt when being protected earlier had made her briefly doubt if she had mistaken the person, after the battle, she had managed to trick out this person’s identity through clever conversation.

It was her classmate, Liu Yu, disguised as a male.

However, there was a more pressing matter she needed to address now:

“Um… Senior Yao Jing, may I ask what the Regulatory Bureau will do with me?”

What couldn’t be escaped, ultimately couldn’t be escaped.

Concealing her bloodlust, stirring up public opinion – she had, in a way, fanned the flames of the rampant [Vampire] crisis.

In a more serious scenario, even imprisonment wasn’t out of the question.

Thinking of this, Robin subconsciously tightened her embrace around Xiu Lan.

“…”

‘She really knows how to bring up an inconvenient topic.

I’m practically dead from exhaustion today.’

Yao Jing looked at Robin helplessly.

From his perspective, the two black-clad figures huddled together made it impossible to tell who was who.

‘How troublesome.’

Carefully choosing his words, Yao Jing deliberated: “Although this shouldn’t come from me, let’s just let it go this time.”

“Oh?”

“The Regulatory Bureau will likely be entering a busy period.

Anomalies like [Vampires] and [Bloodkin], which involve [Darkborn], will be their primary focus for now.”

“You just need to stay quiet for a few days until everything settles down.”

“Is that so…”

Though she received an unexpected answer, Robin felt little joy.

Committing a mistake and not facing punishment left her feeling unsettled.

“Don’t overthink it.”

A sudden turn almost made her bump into Xiu Lan’s head.

The girl, whose face remained obscured, clumsily comforted her: “Since Little Yao said it’s fine, then it’s fine, don’t worry about it.

Go back, have a good sleep, and when you wake up, everything will be alright.”

“…”

“Little Yao?”

Yao Jing, inexplicably demoted a generation, felt entirely uncomfortable.

However, he had no mind to bicker with Xiu Lan at the moment, turning instead to ponder the true identity of this child.

Aside from hair color, their appearances were almost identical.

Even if someone dyed their hair and went out claiming to be [Vanguard], people would be able to discern the truth.

He had never met the hero in person, but based on popular rumors and various records, [Vanguard] was supposed to be a reliable figure who, upon appearance, could instantly bring a profound sense of security.

Not this short-tempered, childish little person with poor combat awareness.

‘Could the rumor of [Vanguard’s Daughter] circulating within the [Association] actually be true…?’

“Success!”

As they chatted, Wu Liyun’s work finally reached its conclusion.