Chapter 26: The Owl's Valor

June 2, 2101, 10:00 a.m., above the Pacific Ocean.

A fight to the death that could decide humanity's fate seemed to have reached its conclusion.

By now, no one could get near the maddened Jarvidon Harl. In his fury, he was destroying everything around him with his virtually limitless power.

Half of Hell Island's total volume had been ground to dust by the pulverizing storm and scattered on the wind, and the destruction was still spreading. A few minutes earlier, Sean, the head guard in the safe room, had been forced to abandon the subdued Leech Demon and slip into the sea beneath the island, dragging the badly wounded Jefferson with him.

Driven back by the storm, the prisoners of Fierce rank and above leaped off the island into the sea. They joined the lower- and middle-tier ability users who had jumped earlier and were struggling to cling to floating debris. All looked up at the madman's handiwork in the sky.

The Inverted Cross's live broadcast had essentially gone from an action movie to a disaster movie. For the past few minutes, all the faction leaders watching the feed had been considering the same question: Would Earth have a tomorrow?

Clinging to a piece of debris, Yan Kong coughed up a mouthful of seawater. He looked up at the sky and sighed with a bitter smile. “Is this the end, then…? When the gates of hell opened, what we gained wasn't freedom, but the destruction of the entire world.”

Just then, something unbelievable happened.

Suspended at the heart of the invisible storm, Jarvidon staggered, his body tipping sideways and jolting two meters to his left. At that same instant, the edge of the pulverizing storm briefly stopped expanding.

“What's happening?”

“Has he overused his ability?”

“What's wrong with him…?”

“Hey… doesn't that look like…?”

Less than three seconds later, Jarvidon lurched backward another few meters, his head snapping back and spittle spraying from his mouth. From a distance, the details were impossible to make out, but everyone who witnessed it had the same impression… It looked as though someone had punched him in the face.

Over the next several dozen seconds, Jarvidon careened through the air like a kite with its string cut. Every abrupt change in direction looked as though he had collided with something. The pulverizing storm he was unleashing actually began to contract, its reach gradually diminishing until it disappeared altogether.

“What happened? What on earth is wrong with him?”

The crisis had been resolved just like that. Jarvidon was darting around alone in the sky as though he were having a fit. Both those watching the broadcast and the powerful fighters on the scene were astonished by this sudden, inexplicable change.

“I see!” Yan Kong thought in astonishment. “Someone's attacking him… but they're moving too fast for the naked eye.”

Higher in the sky than Jarvidon, Time Attendant had regained control of his body. He extended his force field and flew back down, drawing a little closer for a clearer view.

“They've broken the sound barrier. They're moving faster than sound.” Time Attendant couldn't catch a glimpse of the attacker either. He could only faintly sense the residual energy fluctuations and use them to deduce their path. “Judging by the trajectory, they don't seem able to fly. Can they reach that speed just by stepping on thin air…? And the energy around their body was enough to let them move freely through that storm. Just who is this?”

After being battered back and forth nearly a hundred times, Jarvidon finally forced himself to hold steady. He roared and made a violent wrenching motion with his remaining left hand. A transparent shock wave suddenly blossomed before his palm and swept outward like a gale, blasting apart a huge section of the island below.

A second later, a figure appeared before Jarvidon, poised to throw a punch. But he came to a halt just an inch or so in front of Jarvidon's left palm.

“Come on! Try it again! See if you can get that fist through!” Jarvidon glared at Blood Owl. “Your brute strength can't beat my power! It can't!”

With another bestial roar, he sent Blood Owl hurtling higher into the sky with his invisible power. This time, however, Blood Owl turned halfway around and spread his arms, black energy coiling around them. He brought his palms together, and in that instant, something like a dragon's cry rang through the air. His upward momentum stopped.

“I don't care what kind of ability user you are, or whether your power is infinite…” Blood Owl took two steps through thin air and shot across the sky like an arrow. “Once I get my hands on you—if I want you dead, there's no living thing I can't kill!”

Blood Owl's reflection grew larger in Jarvidon's pupils. Once he closed in for the kill, Jarvidon might not last even a minute.

“Why!” Jarvidon's roar was almost a wail. “Why does everyone have to go against me? Why does everyone try to catch me? Kill me? Why… Why don't you all die! You're the ones who should die!”

At that moment, the sky tore open. A spacetime rift appeared before Jarvidon as his mind collapsed completely and his ability ran out of control. From simply moving objects with his thoughts, to forcibly moving Time Attendant along with the force field he had created, to raising a storm that pulverized everything, Jarvidon's ability had been pushing past its limits throughout this battle. Now the effects of his “movement” ability were beginning to reach beyond this physical plane.

The immense gravitational pull from the rift seized Blood Owl's body and tore at it. He fought desperately to break free, but was still being dragged slowly inside.

By now, many ability users had climbed back onto Hell Island and begun attacking Jarvidon. But energy projection and manipulation abilities had no effect on him. As soon as their attacks approached his body, the enormous energy radiating from him canceled them out. Trying to approach him in person was practically suicide. Against Jarvidon as he was now, even a Fierce-rank ability user's energy might not withstand his power. Anyone who got too close might be torn apart on the spot.

“Get in there! Wait for death in the void!” Blood seeped from Jarvidon's nostrils. His own body was already on the verge of falling apart.

“Looks like you're just about at your limit too.” A woman's voice sounded beside Jarvidon's ear.

He turned his head in terror and saw a woman of about thirty with long brown hair. This was the last thing he saw in this world. The last face. In a sense, Jarvidon was relatively lucky. At least the face wasn't ugly, and he did get a look at the person who killed him.

The woman wasn't floating in the air. She seemed to be standing on something invisible. In any case, with a spinning kick that should only have been possible on solid ground, she sent Jarvidon into the spatial rift he had created himself.

The high-ranking ability users understood just how much that ferocious kick revealed… She possessed a Mad-rank energy form, speed to match Blood Owl as he was now, and a thoroughly devious streak. Judging by her words, she had arrived much earlier and concealed herself by some means, never showing her face.

Jarvidon flew into the rift wearing the classic expression of a man dying with a grievance. The instant he entered, his connection to this world was severed. Everyone present suddenly felt a weight lift from them. The savage energy pressure and oppressive atmosphere vanished, and the spacetime rift snapped shut the instant it swallowed the w-class mutant.

Time Attendant flew down and immediately demanded, “If you were here, why didn't you act sooner?”

The woman smiled. “What right do you have to lecture me, Mr. Nolan? You're a fugitive yourself now.”

“I have neither the time nor the inclination to argue with you,” Time Attendant replied. “In any case, let's find a way to subdue these escaped prisoners first. I'll return to Tiandu and explain everything.”

“Subdue them? Heh…” The woman laughed. “I haven't received any orders to subdue anyone. Judging by the video, Tidal Prison is completely finished, isn't it? You can't rebuild a prison like that overnight. Even if all these prisoners were willing to surrender now, the imperial court wouldn't know how to hold them securely.

“So… kindly meet your end at the bottom of the sea.”

She brushed the hair away from her forehead and looked deliberately into the camera robot's lens. She knew the leaders of those resistance organizations were watching, though they couldn't hear her. She articulated each word clearly for them to read on her lips. “Let those who look forward to the so-called ‘age of chaos,’ the rebels with their hidden agendas, and the opportunists waiting for their chance all take a good look at what happens to these prisoners.”

“Long Tassel, you think a single Celestial Guard can kill every prisoner here?” Time Attendant stared into her eyes, pronouncing each word distinctly.

“What? Have I hurt your male pride?” Long Tassel smiled. “Of course these people are going to die. And by the way, Time Attendant, you're a wanted criminal too. Since I'm going on a killing spree today anyway, would you be so kind as to die as well?”

“What you people do is your business.” Blood Owl had landed back on the shattered surface of Hell Island. “You'll have to excuse me.”

“Hmph… Trying to run away?” Long Tassel said. “I'd advise you to take a good look at the situation first.”

Before she had finished speaking, six more unfamiliar figures suddenly appeared on the island. They seemed to have been standing there for some time, concealing themselves by some means.

Time Attendant knew these people, and his heart sank into despair. Even facing Jarvidon couldn't have been worse than this, because all six were Celestial Guards.

All of the Ten Celestial Guards were assembled except for the dead Tosaka, “Lord,” and “Absolute Shadow.”

Of the seven Celestial Guards present, three were Mad-rank experts, while the other four were all outstanding Fierce-rank fighters. Ranking among the Empire's ten strongest fighters, they unquestionably possessed abilities suited to killing. There would be no ability users like Gunsmith or Wei Sheng among them.

After fighting Jarvidon for so long, the prisoners had already spent enormous amounts of energy simply protecting themselves, never mind their combat injuries and the effects of prolonged confinement in Tidal Prison.

As for the lower- and middle-tier prisoners, who had spent all this time in the sea watching that apocalyptic display of power, just avoiding drowning or being crushed had left them utterly exhausted. Fighting the Celestial Guards was out of the question.

To be honest, killing everyone here now wouldn't be difficult for the Celestial Guards. Taking out Blood Owl would be half the job. Finish off Time Attendant too, and their grand undertaking would be complete.