RE: LORD OF TIME

"Arghhh!!!"

William ignored Lucas’ pig-like scream and quickly picked up the severed finger that still had the storage ring on it.

He pulled the ring off the finger and slipped it into his pocket before casually throwing the severed finger away like a piece of garbage.

He did not forget about the wooden staff and the Restriction Bronze Bell he had hidden as bait for Lucas.

Only after securing everything did William turn his attention toward Lucas, who was glaring at him with bloodshot eyes as blood poured from his mangled hand.

"You fu*king bastard! Who are you? How dare you attack me? Do you even know who I am?" Lucas roared in rage.

However, if one looked closely, they would notice the fear hidden deep within his eyes.

William didn’t answer a single one of Lucas’ questions. Instead, he shot forward at full speed, the long blade of Blood Moon gleaming with an icy light.

The reason William had cut off Lucas’ fingers instead of aiming for his head earlier was simple.

There was no way he could kill him that easily.

As the sole heir of a Count’s House, it was impossible for Lucas not to carry a life-saving protective artifact with him at all times.

Such protective artifacts were extremely rare and could only be obtained from Treasure Orbs found inside Astral Rifts.

If someone carrying one of these protective artifacts encountered a life-threatening attack, the artifact would activate automatically and protect its owner.

William was certain Lucas possessed such an artifact.

If he had gone straight for the kill, the protective artifact would have activated instantly, blocking his attack.

That was why William had chosen to sever the hand carrying the storage ring first.

Now, even if the protective artifact activated later, it wouldn’t matter as he would simply wait until its effects wore off before killing Lucas.

If Lucas still had access to his storage ring, he might have been able to use one of the emergency artifacts inside it to call for help.

But now that the storage ring was out of his possession, he had no way of doing so.

When Lucas saw William charging toward him without saying a word, his expression changed dramatically and he immediately pulled a dagger from his waist.

William arrived before Lucas in an instant.

As he swung Blood Moon downward, the enormous blade completely engulfed Lucas’ figure.

Lucas hastily raised his dagger to block the incoming strike.

Clang!

Blood Moon collided with the dagger with explosive force, sending sparks flying in every direction.

Boom!

The ground beneath Lucas shattered as the impact forced him several steps backward despite the vast difference in their cultivation realms.

Lucas’ entire arm went numb, and the tremendous impact nearly caused him to lose his grip on the dagger.

’What monstrous strength...’

Lucas’ expression became even uglier as he realized his opponent was anything but ordinary.

Although his fighting powers had dropped by nearly thirty percent since he could only fight with one hand, he was still a peak Star Warrior.

Being forced backward by an early-stage Star Warrior was something he had never imagined.

William also raised an eyebrow in surprise as he had expected that, with Blood Moon, his terrifying physical strength, and the attack amplification granted by the Sword Dominator Trait, he would be able to slice Lucas’ dagger in half.

Yet apart from sending sparks flying, he had failed to damage it at all.

’A Rank Three dagger...’

The thought immediately surfaced in William’s mind, and his expression turned serious.

All of these thoughts flashed through his mind in less than an instant and without giving Lucas any chance to recover, William charged forward once again.

Lucas hurriedly prepared to defend himself.

But suddenly...William disappeared right before his eyes.

Lucas’ pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints as he realized that the figure standing before him had merely been an afterimage.

Using Phantom Step, William appeared on Lucas’ left side.

Swish!

A sharp streak of sword light slashed toward Lucas’ neck.

Lucas instinctively sensed the danger and immediately raised his dagger once again.

Clang!

Another violent collision erupted, sending sparks and shockwaves flying across the crater.

A ruthless glint flashed through Lucas’ eyes and taking advantage of the brief moment while William was still retracting his sword, Lucas stepped forward and thrust his dagger directly toward William’s left eye.

As William watched the sharp tip of the dagger rapidly enlarge within his vision, a hazy silver light flashed across his pupils.

Temporal Perception.

It was one of the abilities born after the fusion of the Timeless Scripture and the Supreme Star Scripture into the Time Star Codex.

The world around him instantly slowed down as if moving in slow motion.

Although everything within his perception became much slower, William realized that his own body wasn’t fast enough to completely dodge or block the attack.

For a brief instant, golden ripples spread around his body as he activated Time Acceleration, increasing the flow of time affecting himself.

He activated the skill for only a single second. Yet the burst of speed it provided during that brief instant was enough.

A cruel smile had already appeared on Lucas’ face as he could already picture his dagger piercing straight through his enemy’s eye.

However, just when victory seemed certain—

Clang!

"What?!"

The sound of metal colliding rang through the night as his dagger slammed into the massive sword instead.

Not only had the attack been blocked, but the violent impact also threw Lucas slightly off balance, causing him to stagger backward.

William didn’t miss this opportunity and immediately stepped forward, his sword already slashing toward Lucas’ chest.

Rip!

The sword easily cut through Lucas’ academy uniform. But just before it could slice through his skin and draw blood—

Clang!

The sound of metal colliding with metal echoed through the area, and William’s expression changed.

’A Rank Three armor...’

A victorious smile curled across Lucas’ face when he noticed the shock in William’s eyes.

Swish!

The dagger in his hand shot forward at terrifying speed, heading straight toward William’s face while he was still in the middle of completing his slash.

Hastily regaining his senses, William once again used the combination of Temporal Perception and Time Acceleration to evade the attack.

But this time, the attack was simply too fast and the dagger still grazed past his cheek, cutting away a portion of the black cloth covering his face and drawing a thin line of blood.

"You filthy rat! Do you really think you can defeat a noble like me? I will slowly rip you apart and make you pay for injuring my ha—"

Lucas wasn’t able to finish his sentence before William’s figure suddenly disappeared from in front of him and reappeared at his right side.

A cold gleam flashed in William’s eyes and a deep-blue water current flowed across Blood Moon’s edge, compressing into an almost invisible film that made the blade seem unnaturally thin.

Swish!

A brilliant blade of light flashed through the air and struck the right side of Lucas’ arm.

Lucas sneered when he saw the attack and didn’t even bother trying to dodge, as he had complete confidence in his Rank Three armor.

However, reality soon dealt him a harsh blow.

Puchi!

The Water Elemental Energy increased the cutting power of William’s sword to its absolute peak, and with the additional bonus from the Sword Dominator trait, the blade successfully cut through Lucas’ armor, drawing a faint trail of blood.

Although it was only a shallow cut, Lucas was still stunned, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! — — —

While Lucas was still frozen in shock, William rapidly unleashed several more slashes, leaving a total of six bloody cuts across his arm.

"You damn bastard!"

Lucas roared in fury when he saw this and immediately used Wind Steps, a low-level movement-type battle art, to retreat from William.

However, his mastery of Wind Steps was only at the Beginner Level, making it impossible for him to shake off William, who was using Familiar-Level Phantom Steps.

Using afterimages to confuse Lucas, William swiftly closed the distance again and landed three more strikes with Blood Moon.

What filled Lucas with fear was that although the wounds William inflicted were all shallow and didn’t significantly affect his combat ability, he couldn’t stop the bleeding from any of them.

Despite being nothing more than surface wounds, blood continued to flow from every single cut.

"Wait! There might be some misunderstanding between us! I don’t even know you, so why are yo—"

William paid no attention to Lucas’ words and, using Phantom Steps once again, delivered another slash.

Swish!

The instant the tenth strike from Blood Moon landed and the tenth wound appeared on Lucas’ right arm, a strange bloody energy suddenly erupted from the previous nine wounds and converged toward the tenth one.

"What?!!!"

Lucas was stunned when he saw this, and a look of panic instantly appeared on his face.

However, before he could react, the tenth wound on his right arm began to glow with a bloody light and the very next instant—

Boom!

Blood Moon’s Blood Burst ability activated and Lucas’ entire right arm exploded into a cloud of blood mist, sending flesh and blood flying in every direction.

"Arghhh!!!"

A heart-wrenching scream escaped Lucas’ mouth as his body staggered backward, nearly collapsing to the ground.

William did not miss this opportunity and instantly stepped forward, his fist already hurtling toward Lucas’ face like a cannonball.

Bang!

The punch landed squarely on Lucas’ face, sending blood and shattered teeth flying through the air.

William’s physical strength was already terrifying and now that the punch had landed directly on Lucas’ face, Lucas’ mind instantly went blank, and his vision spun violently.

"You filthy bastard! How dare yo—"

William had no intention of listening to Lucas’ rant, and without giving him even a moment to recover, he immediately unleashed a relentless barrage of punches.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!—

Punch after punch crashed into Lucas’ face without giving him even a chance to scream.

Blood, saliva, and broken teeth sprayed everywhere and his face rapidly caved in as bone after bone shattered beneath William’s fists.

William punched so quickly that both of his fists began producing faint trails of smoke.

Had Lucas not been a peak Star Warrior, his head would have exploded long ago.

Just as William was about to continue, Lucas’ body suddenly collapsed backward.

His swollen eyes rolled upward as he lost consciousness, his entire face reduced to a bloody, unrecognizable mess.

William paused upon seeing this and slowly took a deep breath, glancing at both of his fists that were already drenched in blood.

"What a fu*king disgrace for a peak Star Warrior..." William sneered at Lucas’ lack of fighting ability as the moment Lucas lost one of his hands and found himself in danger, he became so flustered that he couldn’t even put up a decent fight.

William had actually thought Lucas would be able to put a good fight as he still remembered his haughty attitude from the original timeline.

But after exchanging only a few blows with him, he realized that this guy had almost no real combat experience.

Calming down his emotions, William bent down and picked up Blood Moon from the ground.

There was another reason he had chosen to use his fists instead of his sword just now.

Holding Blood Moon tightly, William swung it toward Lucas’ neck without the slightest hesitation.

However, just as the blade was about to sever Lucas’ head, a brilliant azure barrier suddenly erupted around his body, completely enveloping him.