Chapter 546: No Salvation in the Last Instant

Peter glanced between the assassin and the baron.

“You have my attention,” Miles continued. “How about we settle this with a duel? A proper noble’s challenge. A war fought by only two individuals. Just you and me. No serpent aiding you, and I won’t use my soldiers.”

Peter almost smiled. The assassin was dead. The baron’s Rank Skill would save him, as it always did. Peter had seen him duel dozens of times. He always won because of that skill. It was why he became one of Peter’s father’s most trusted men, why they had pushed him as a candidate for the Reaper Court. Last Instant really was a cheat of a skill.

“A duel?” the assassin asked.

“Yes. You and I, right now. We were going to try to kill each other anyway,” the baron said. “You invaded my base, ruined months of work. But I’ll be the one ending this. I want to kill you with my own hands, not force you to run. A duel, for our honor as warriors.”

Would the assassin accept? It was obviously a trap. Anyone could see it. The baron wasn’t even hiding it.

“I accept,” the assassin said.

Peter blinked. What? He accepted?

“Then let’s begin.”

The assassin glanced at the baron’s spear. “If I win the duel, will you agree to serve me?”

What is this idiot saying?

“Serve you? That makes no sense. A duel is to the death,” the baron said.

“I wasn’t talking to you. I’m talking to the weapon.” The assassin pointed at the spear. “Spirit tools are picky. You can’t just steal one. I want the spirit’s friendship.”

The baron shifted into stance, spear lowered, posture confident.

“And you allow that?” the assassin asked him.

“Of course. If I lose, I authorize the weapon to serve you fully,” the baron said, barely keeping a straight face.

Victory was already his. The assassin flicked a coin toward Peter.

“When the coin hits the ground, we start.”

***

Miles watched as the baron tossed the coin into the air. He gripped his spear tightly, already savoring the moment. The coin spun slowly, glinting in the sunlight. The assassin tightened his grip on his twin kukris. The instant the coin touched the earth, both men dashed forward.

The assassin blurred, leaving a streak of black behind him. The baron sprinted to meet him, spear aimed for a killing thrust. For a heartbeat, the baron realized the truth. The assassin was far faster. He would die.

Goodbye, fool.

And then his skill activated.

[Last Moment (Rank F)]: Your failure to react before the final instant shaped this skill. When a blow or event would deal significant damage to you, time around you slows for a brief interval. While the world hesitates, you move freely for a few seconds, unrestrained, fully aware of the incoming impact. Consecutive uses reduce the duration cumulatively, until there is no time left to slow. Over time, the lost interval gradually recovers. Use with caution. The more you rely on this moment, the shorter it becomes.

Reality washed into a muted gray, freezing in place. For a heartbeat, the baron actually stepped back. The assassin had slipped beneath his lance, crouched low, one hand extended with a kukri aimed directly at Miles’s heart.

“You’ve lost,” the baron said, pacing behind the immobilized assassin.

There was nothing the baron could do here. Mana was locked, stamina muted, the world suspended. Only Miles could move during these windows. For ten seconds, time froze though earlier he had used the ability to survive an explosion, reducing its duration to eight. Each activation chipped away at the clock until it eventually hit zero and the skill went dormant to recharge.

Miles raised his lance, aiming the tip squarely at the assassin’s spine.

“Whoever you are, you shouldn’t have challenged me.”

He focused, ready to release the ability and let time flow again. For an instant barely a flicker the world shifted.

[Last Moment activated]

He locked up.

[Last Moment: 6 seconds]

“What? I didn’t trigger that.”

The counter floated above him, ticking downward.

[Last Moment: 5 seconds]

What the hell is happening?

It was a passive skill, always ready to activate automatically. He remained stuck, lance still aimed at the assassin’s unmoving form, as time stuttered forward for a fraction of a second before…

[Last Moment activated]
[Last Moment: 4 seconds]

Miles stepped back, a tremor running through him. The skill only activated when he was about to die. Panic bubbled up fast.

What’s going to kill me? Where? How? What’s coming?

He scanned frantically, searching for an archer, a hidden trap, anything that could explain the threat.

Damn it.

The next second hit zero, and time lurched forward again.

[Last Moment activated]
[Last Moment: 2 seconds]

He froze once more. Sweat prickled down his back.

Where? Where is it coming from?

[Last Instant: 1 second]

He gripped his lance tighter. Eyes locked on the assassin’s skull. Fine. If something was going to happen, he’d strike first. Kill the bastard. Whatever trick this was, he’d break through it.

Time resumed.

[Last Moment activated]
[Last Moment: 0 seconds]

And then the world stayed in motion. Miles lunged, lance driving toward the assassin’s neck. He knew this strike perfect form, perfect timing. The same attack he’d used a thousand times. The same attack that always worked.

He watched the assassin’s shoulder lift. The body twisted, just barely enough that it looked like he’d slip free by a single thread. The gap closed. The world regained weight. Miles shoved his lance forward to finish the strike.

And that was when the air changed.

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Metal whispered past his cheek. Another gleam flashed low. A third shimmer sliced across his vision. He felt the cold rush of displaced air an instant before the pain caught up. There was no following it. Just the sensation of his attack collapsing mid-motion.

The first knife struck. Another followed. More impacts came in a blur leg, arm, torso forcing his stance to falter. His grip failed. His forward step died where it stood. The assassin finished the movement. The kukris were already in motion, carving a sharp, controlled arc. Miles stumbled as the weapon was knocked clean from his hand before he even realized he’d lost control. In the next instant, both of his hands were severed. Only then did the pain hit, fierce and blinding, as he realized his leg had been taken as well.

He hit the ground. Confusion. Pain. A shout torn from his throat. The assassin completed the spin, kukris lowered, and behind him the shadowy figure his echo mirrored the motion a half second late, like a delayed reflection.

“I win,” he said, and several more knives streaked toward Miles, but stopped midair, hanging motionless around him.

“You… lost!?” Peter screamed at Miles. He spun to run, but the serpent lunged, cutting off every escape. A kukri sliced across Peter’s leg and he crashed to the ground. The spectral snake clamped down, fangs burying into his abdomen as he shrieked.

Miles laughed to himself, unhinged. “How? How? How?”

“Telekinetic Pull. You’re a porcupine now.”

The assassin crouched in front of the baron’s broken form and lifted his face by the chin.

“Look into my eye.”

Miles didn’t want to, but the command hit something primal. His gaze locked onto a deep blue iris unnaturally vivid, hypnotic and agony detonated through him. Soul deep, scalding pain. He screamed.

Luke let go.

“I see. So that’s how your teleport skill worked,” he murmured. “But I don’t want that power.”

Miles writhed, frantic. “How!? How did you know where I’d appear!?”

“I pulled every knife I’d thrown nearby into a single point, all of them coming for me at full force from every direction,” He said calmly. “Didn’t matter where you reappeared. You were going to get skewered along with me. Difference is… I know how to dance.”

He stepped onto the baron’s face, grinding it into the ground.

“I should leave you alive so your kingdom can judge you, but…”

He leaned down until their foreheads almost touched.

“In the world I intend to build, there’s no place for someone like you.”

The kukri fell. This time, no skill slowed anything.

***