Diana was still too late.

The man in the black hoodie stood less than three meters from Victor. His dagger had already begun its descent toward Victor’s heart. The blade gleamed with a sickly purple poison, enough to kill an Epic Rank awakener in seconds.

Diana’s scream tore through the battlefield.

"No!"

She pushed her body beyond its limits. Mana exploded from her core. Her muscles screamed. Her bones cracked. But she could not close the distance fast enough.

The assassin’s eyes gleamed beneath his hood. Cold madness burned within them. Killing such a genius was the ultimate honor of his life. A boy who had slaughtered thousands of Elite monsters while unconscious. A boy who had forced the entire battlefield to kneel through sheer power alone.

And now that boy would die by his hand.

The assassin smiled.

Victor could not react. He was unconscious. His body barely functioned. Even if some instinct remained, there was no way an Apprentice Rank mage could protect himself from an Epic Rank assassin’s direct attack at such close range.

The dagger pierced toward Victor’s chest.

Three centimeters away.

Two centimeters.

One.

---

Then something stirred.

Deep within Victor’s broken body, beyond his shattered mana circuits, beyond his fading consciousness, something happened.

The supreme element of the universe.

The ultimate king of all elements.

Time itself responded to its master’s desperate need.

A silver gray ripple exploded outward from Victor’s body. It spread in absolute silence. No sound. No vibration. No warning.

Twenty meters in every direction.

Everything within that sphere stopped.

The assassin’s dagger hung in the air, frozen mid thrust. His smile remained captured on his lips, unable to complete its cruel curve. His eyes, gleaming with madness, became still as painted glass.

Dust motes suspended in the air.

Droplets of blood from Victor’s wounds floated motionless.

The assassin’s heartbeat ceased. His thoughts ceased. His very existence paused within that frozen bubble of rejected time.

One second passed.

Two seconds.

The time stop could not last longer. Victor’s broken body could not sustain it. But two seconds was enough.

---

The bubble shattered.

Time resumed its flow.

The assassin’s dagger continued its path toward Victor’s chest. But something was wrong. The air felt different. The light shifted.

Then he saw her.

Diana stood between him and Victor. Her ocean blue eyes blazed with fury beyond description. Her twin swords had vanished. In their place, a single dagger gleamed in her right hand.

A dagger already buried in his chest.

The assassin looked down. Blood poured from his chest. His own blood. Dark red and warm against his cold skin.

He looked back up at Diana. His mouth opened.

"How?"

He could not understand. One moment he was about to kill the boy. The next moment, a dagger had pierced his chest. There was no transition. No movement he could perceive.

Diana did not answer.

Her veil was gone. Torn away by the impossible speed she had just achieved. Her beautiful face was fully visible now. High cheekbones. Flawless skin. Ocean blue eyes that normally held warmth and wisdom.

But now those eyes held something else.

A sadistic smile spread across her lips. It was the most terrifying expression the assassin had ever seen. Every hair on his body stood on end. His skin crawled. His remaining blood turned to ice.

He knew that smile.

Everyone on the battlefield knew that smile.

Diana was not just a Sage. She was not just humanity’s strongest female warrior. She was an assassin. The greatest assassin the Federation had ever produced. And assassins, by nature, were cruel.

The stories about her cruelty were legendary. Enemies begged for death before she finished with them. Her torture methods were whispered about in fear across every continent.

The assassin realized his mistake too late.

He should have aimed for the boy from farther away. He should have waited. He should have never come within twenty meters.

His tongue moved toward the poison capsule hidden beneath his molars. A quick death. Mercy. He would take mercy over whatever she had planned.

Diana moved faster than his tongue.

Her left hand shot forward. Her fingers gripped his jaw. A sharp twist. A wet crack. His jaw dislocated with a sickening pop.

Then her fingers reached into his open mouth. They found his tongue. And they pulled.

The assassin’s eyes widened with unimaginable horror as she gouged his tongue out from the root. Blood sprayed from his mouth. He tried to scream but could only produce a wet gurgling sound.

Diana looked at the bloody tongue in her hand. She examined it briefly, then tossed it aside like garbage.

"You are not going to die so soon," she said. Her voice was soft. Gentle even. That made it infinitely more terrifying.

She placed her palm on his forehead. Her element, darkness, seeped into his consciousness. His eyes rolled back. His body went limp. He would remain aware. He would feel everything. But he could not move. He could not speak. He could not even close his eyes. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He would experience every second of what came next.

Diana released him. His body crumpled to the blood soaked ground.

---

Then Diana turned toward Victor.

Her expression transformed instantly.

The sadistic smile vanished. The cold fury dissolved. The terrifying assassin disappeared.

In her place stood a young woman with trembling lips and wet eyes. A woman who had just watched the person she loved almost die in front of her.

"Oh, Victor," she whispered. Her voice cracked.

She took a step toward him. Then another. Her hands reached out.

Victor’s body, which had been standing on nothing but instinct and stubbornness, finally gave out. His knees buckled. His body tilted forward. He began to fall.

Diana caught him.

She pulled him against her chest. His blood soaked her robes. His warmth seeped into her skin. His breathing was shallow, almost nonexistent.

She held him like he was the most precious thing in the universe.

Because he was.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. They fell onto Victor’s pale face and mixed with his blood. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

"You have already captured my soul," she whispered into his ear. "How will I wait for five years?"

Her fingers traced his jawline gently. Her thumb brushed away a streak of blood from his cheek.

"Please don’t leave me. Not yet. Not when I have just found you."

Behind her, the battlefield lay silent. Thousands of humans watched the scene unfold. Strong warriors wiped their eyes. Young mages covered their mouths with trembling hands.

The Sages descended around them.

Diana looked up at the oldest among them. Sage Merlin. His white beard was stained with blood. His robes hung in tatters. But his eyes still held a gentle light.

"Sage Merlin," Diana said. Her voice broke. "Please. Use your healing spell on him. I know you have consumed almost all of your mana. I know you are exhausted. Please do this for my sake."

Tears continued falling from her ocean blue eyes.

"I am begging you."

The old man’s expression softened. He knelt beside her and placed a wrinkled hand on Victor’s forehead.

"Lady Diana," Merlin said with a gentle smile. "Please do not beg. It will be my honor to heal the savior of humanity."

He pulled out his healing focus. A small crystal staff that glowed with soft golden light.

"This old body still has some fuel left."

He grinned weakly and began channeling.

---

Gentle golden light poured from Merlin’s hands and enveloped Victor’s broken body. The healing element seeped into his cracked skin. Into his shattered mana circuits. Into his torn muscles and fractured bones.

But something was wrong.

Merlin’s eyes widened in horror.

Victor’s body was absorbing mana like he was healing an Epic Rank being. No. Like he was healing something beyond Epic. The mana drain was immense. Terrifying. Impossible for an Apprentice Rank mage.

"How is this possible?" Merlin whispered.

His face paled. His hands shook. Sweat poured down his forehead.

Elyndros stepped forward.

"What happened, Merlin?"

Before Merlin could answer, his face turned as white as snow. His knees buckled. His hands dropped from Victor’s body. He collapsed sideways, caught by another Sage before he hit the ground.

Mana exhaustion.

The old man had given everything he had.

But it was enough.

---