Second World Chapter 1999: Chapter 1999. Battle Inside the Time Dimension

"Hah! I’ll make sure that in the history books of this new world, you are the one remembered as the villain!" Master retorted while weaving a spell.

As Jack’s claws lunged forward, Master’s physical form dissolved into liquid. He had activated the Liquid Form spell. While it functioned similarly to Jack’s Ghost Form, the latter was a high-tier technique only accessible to an Archmage.

Jack unleashed a flurry of slashes, but his attacks proved futile as his claws passed harmlessly through the fluid. Even a Flame Strike failed to yield results, as the liquid body simply resisted the intense heat. Master remained just as invulnerable in this state as Jack was during Ghost Form.

Normally, Master would be unable to attack while in this form, just like the limitations of Ghost Form. However, by tapping into the divine authority of God Mode, he was able to cast spells regardless. He triggered a refreshed Extreme Teleportation. Although Jack’s mana awakening-enhanced void possessed a gravitational pull strong enough to disrupt standard Teleportation, Master’s God Mode neutralized the effect. Consequently, the Extreme Teleportation successfully whisked Master far away from the danger.

"F*ck...!" Jack spat out a curse.

Master utilized Extreme Teleportation once more, reappearing directly in front of Will Corner. He immediately began a spell to execute the sailor, but Jack managed to intercept him.

"What...?" Master was stunned that Jack could match his instant arrival, but he quickly noted a change in the opponent's presence. Instead of a multi-colored shimmer, this Jack was enveloped in a radiant golden aura. It was one of Jack’s clones.

Anticipating Master’s focus on Will, Jack had dispatched a clone to the location. The brilliant golden light surrounding the duplicate was the result of the War God Manifestation.

Master unleashed the Hellish Black Drill. Under the augmentation of God Mode, the drill was powerful enough to kill Will instantly, yet the clone stepped into the path of the attack. The ten golden orbs of Jack's aureole merged into a singular, massive golden shield to intercept the dark projectile.

While the black drill was coated in a multi-colored aura, the golden shield was not. The barrier held firm for only two seconds before shattering into fragments. The drill surged forward, piercing into Jack. Even though Jack triggered his War God’s Suit, the black drill tore through the armor with ease. His HP plummeted toward zero. Just before death, he activated War God’s Recovery. Finally, the drill’s energy was spent just as Jack’s health neared depletion for the second time.

Will reacted exactly as he had before Jack originally reversed time, invoking the Voice of God. Jack’s interference provided Elayne the opening she needed to recover. Fighting through the repulsive force of the Voice of God, she launched a Sound Cannon directly at Master.

Master found himself hammered by the combined pressure of the Sound Cannon and the Voice of God. He raised an augmented magic shield to deflect the sonic barrage while simultaneously casting Telekinesis. The invisible force snared Jack’s clone, Will, Elayne, and two nearby Council of Elpo members. Master dragged the five targets together before unleashing a devastating combo: Final Explosion followed by Elemental Turbulence.

Already weakened, Jack’s clone perished in the Final Explosion. Will was finished off by the Elemental Turbulence. Though Elayne and the Council members survived the onslaught, Master ignored them. He used Telekinesis to slam them into the earth before taking to the skies.

By the time the mana-awakened Jack arrived, Master was already hunting his next target. "Ugh! I can't let this continue..." Jack muttered.

"He's far too potent for the others while he's in God Mode. They can't stall him," Peniel noted.

Jack suddenly halted his flight.

"Hey! Why are you stopping? I know the situation is grim, but you can't just quit now!" Peniel cried out.

"I'm not quitting," Jack replied. "I'm considering a massive gamble."

"A gamble?" Peniel asked.

"...I felt something during the last time reversal. After Master struck me with that Mind Blast, an idea took root, but I haven't had the opportunity to test it. Since I can only trigger Time Reverse again after using Reset, I only have one shot at this. If it fails, the skill is wasted."

"Could things really get any worse? I think we should go for it," Peniel said, offering her support.

Strengthened by her words, Jack steeled his resolve. "Alright. Let's do this!"

He watched as Master closed in on the group consisting of John, Jeanny, Grace, and Paytowin. The four prepared for the impact. The Celestial Moth and Jeanny’s battle dragon attempted to intercept the villain, but Master used Greater Dispel to banish the dragon and then utilized Wind Jet to streak past the moth.

Jack activated Reset. Immediately after, he began chanting Time Reverse. As he cast the spell, he poured his entire willpower into the Runestone of the Devil King, pushing it to its absolute limit. Multiple runic rings manifested around his magic circle, transforming the spell formation into a complex, glowing chart.

The spell took hold, and the world began to rewind. Jack watched the flow of history move backward. Master, protected by his Chrono Guard, was fully aware of the shift. He had just used the Necronomicon to refresh his Telekinesis and was about to disable the four players when his body was jerked backward against his will. While the Chrono Guard kept his consciousness intact, his physical form was forced to repeat his past movements in reverse.

Empowered by both mana awakening and the Runestone of the Devil King, this Time Reverse reached much further back than the usual sixty seconds. Time spiraled back to the moment where Jack and Master had crossed paths when the Void-tearing Slash trapped Master.

"You simply refuse to surrender, don't you?" Master’s voice echoed in Jack’s head.

Actual speech was impossible during the rewind, so Master used Telepathy to communicate directly.

In his mana-awakened state, Jack could reply in kind. "After everything we've been through, you should already know the answer to that," Jack countered.

"Hmph! It makes no difference." Master unleashed a Mind Blast. He had preemptively refreshed the skill with the Necronomicon, anticipating another time reversal from Jack.

Jack was ready. He reshaped his Ring of Runic Defense into a protective helmet. With the boost from his mana awakening, his mental fortitude was high enough that even a God Mode-enhanced mind blast couldn't break through.

"This time, I'm the one who should thank you," Jack projected to Master. "Your mental attacks made me realize that actions not requiring physical movement are still viable within this time dimension."

A spell formation ignited on Jack’s palm even as their bodies drifted backward. Jack triggered Tracing Light Beams. Thirty brilliant pillars of light erupted from the formation, homing in on Master.

Master was unable to evade; his body was locked into the reverse path of his previous actions. However, he could still activate skills that didn't require limb movement. Five celestial shields from his Valiant Paladin class appeared, expanding and interlocking to form a protective sphere around him.

The thirty pillars of light slammed into the barrier but failed to pierce it. From within his spherical defense, Master began chanting his ultimate magic: the Tri Elemental Dragons.

Jack countered with his own high-tier spell, Storm Wrath. The tempest covered a massive area, yet only Master felt the impact. Because time was rewinding, everything else was being undone. Even if Jack’s Storm Wrath struck other people, they were simply returning to their states prior to being hit in the original timeline, making any damage to them irrelevant. Only Jack and Master, existing outside the standard flow of time, could actually be harmed.

Storm Wrath still couldn't shatter the defense of the Celestial Shields. Meanwhile, Jack’s Ring of Runic Defense had taken too much damage from previous encounters. Its surface was webbed with cracks. When the three elemental dragons collided with it, the ring finally gave way, shattering with a loud explosion.

Even without his primary defense, Jack wasn't exposed. He triggered Void Defense. The three elemental dragons swirled around him but couldn't make contact. He remained safe. As time continued its backward crawl, Jack and Master drifted apart again. The elemental dragons eventually ran out of mana and vanished without reaching their mark. "Are you alright?" Peniel’s voice reached him. Jack was unharmed, but even if he weren't, she couldn't leave her hidden dimension to heal him. She spent most of the battle tucked away. In this reversed state, she was conscious of the events but had no control over her own movements.

"I'm fine," Jack replied.

The rewind continued. Jack and Master were pulled back into proximity at the moment Jack had been struck by the Hand of God. They were essentially re-living their duel in reverse, constantly trading spells. In a pure magical exchange, Master held the upper hand due to his nearly infinite repertoire of spells.

Jack’s own spell list was much smaller. Before long, Jack was forced into a purely defensive role as Master’s magic rained down on him. He resorted to using the Elemental God Barrier from his cloak. He used the Nine Yin Phantom Swords to neutralize targeted spells, while relying on the runic suit from his runestone to survive area-of-effect attacks. Master’s telepathic voice mocked him. "You honestly believe you can beat me by dragging me into this time dimension? You're even more of a fool than I imagined! Surrender! No matter how hard you fight, you are no match for me. You will never win, regardless of how many times you try!"

Master expected Jack to crumble in despair, but instead, he heard a soft chuckle.

"Hehe. This is it. Our battle is about to end."