Soon after that, we left the Waterfall area and rushed back to the surface. Although Minerva tried to move us as fast as possible, it still took a little over a minute before we reached the surface.
"Where's the gun?!"
I tried to recall past events, but my mind was a little blurry. It must be the effect of our bodies fading.
As my gaze landed on Fatima, fighting the Void Beast barehanded, I recalled how she passed the gun to me back then. I scanned the surroundings before turning to a faraway cliff, pointing at it, and directing Minerval.
"There! Go There! Quick!"
Minerva didn't ask anything and just followed my command, sending us to where our past selves should be. As soon as we approached, I saw someone lying prone on the rocky surface of the cliff.
He was wearing a pink, futuristic-looking suit, more like an exoskeleton, while wielding a long sniper rifle and aiming at the battle ahead. The two women beside him were either busy diverting the debris flying toward them or working on a ballista set up beside them.
I looked at the scene and felt a little weird.
"... Did I look like that when wearing Ember's Slime Suit?"
It was a little different from what I imagined, but, well, it was all in the past. "Ember" and "Fang" definitely looked younger than they were currently, probably since I got used to looking at their current, further evolved forms.
"Right, the Fragment!"
I turned to Minerva, asking her to do the impossible once more.
"Can you insert that into the core area of the sniper rifle without [us] noticing?"
"... It's a piece of cake!"
Minerva smiled for the first time, seemingly confident that she could do what I asked. As soon as we approached the area of the three until we were about a hundred meters away, she started her operation.
Using one of the large pieces of rubble flying in their direction, she pulverized it and spread the debris all over the ground. The dust covered the view of the three, but "I" didn't flinch one bit. It was as if "I" were merged with the gun, only seeing what the scope could see.
"NOW!"
Minerva shouted as she waved her hand, sending the small fragment of the Void Space's core into the middle of the rifle. The instant it did, "I" flinched a little, as if detecting the anomaly for a moment, but quickly returned to a deep focus state.
"... That was superb!"
I praised Minerva's handiwork and stared at mine and Ember's bodies. The transparency quickly vanished like a lie, returning our arms and all to their solid appearance. My mind cleared up rapidly, and even my presence seemed to have strengthened.
"It worked!"
To think that it was really the Core Fragment... Rather, that fragment appearing in the gun was actually our doing. Now I know why I felt it was strange when the dwarves found it.
It was even more surprising that a fragment like that had such a powerful effect on our fates that not placing it in the gun was enough to completely erase our existence.
"So this is the butterfly effect, I guess?"
I just shrugged before gazing back at the ongoing battle. Fatima was busily moving around, limiting the chances of the Void Beast locking onto her. Her speed was something that I was barely able to keep up with with my eyes, but compared to the past, where I basically wasn't able to see sh*t, it was a great improvement.
*GRAAAAAAAAHHHH!*
A familiar roar of the void beast echoed, and a bright light appeared in its mouth. Fatima was unable to move at that instant, and she gazed in a certain direction, to the place where the Void Beast was aiming.
"Ugh...!"
I fell to my knees and was about to use my hands to push myself back up. However...
"Why? Why are we fading again?!"
It was too timely to think that it wasn't related to this Beam Attack. Why? Who is it aiming for? I turned to look behind me, and of course, there was only one other target on this battlefield. It was the past "us".
"F*ck! Dodge it, you weakling!"
I roared at my old self, staring ahead with a blank expression. Fang and Ember were similarly unable to react in time, only moving to his back in panic.
Time felt like it slowed down to a halt. All the movements around me became so slow, it was unbelievable. No, it's not the world that slowed down; my consciousness sped up. I don't know what's happening, but I quickly watched my past self's actions.
In a desperate attempt, he aimed the sniper rifle slowly forward and pulled the trigger.
"...!"
"My" arm and shoulder got blasted back, literally. A phantom pain appeared on my shoulder for some reason. Was I perhaps resonating with my old self's pain? Anyway, the bullet that he fired was way off target. It wasn't even in the path of the beam.
I waved my hand, copying Minerva's actions, and "pulled" the bullet back on track. It wasn't as smooth as I expected, and the bullet was still slightly off the mark, but it should be enough.
The beam met the bullet, and a small explosion occurred. This explosion sent the beam veering slightly off-kilter and ending up missing its target.
"Buhah!"
I released the breath I was holding, and time seemed to return to its normal flow. The beam was unable to hurt me, Ember, or Fang.
The ending was nigh, as after this, Ember's ballista would be launched and would hit the Void Beast.
"But why do I feel like my job's not done yet?"
I observed the battlefield closely and noticed that Fatima was far from the Void Beast. In my memory, she should have been moving to distract it, letting it fall to its knees so that it wouldn't be able to dodge. However, even after Ember finished loading the ballista, ready to shoot, she was still on the move.
'She won't make it in time!'
It was just a difference of milliseconds, but at the scale of a God-level battle, milliseconds can define the boundaries of life and death. I don't know if it would help, but I did two things as soon as I realized this problem.
One, I pulled the nerves inside the exploded eye of the Void Beast, irritating it and hopefully distracting it a little. And two, giving a "tailwind" to Fatima, boosting her speed as she flashed across the battlefield.
"...!"
At that instant, I felt that Fatima turned her gaze in our direction. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but she turned to focus on the battle again as soon as I realized her brief gaze.
With the minuscule flinch that pulling on its exposed nerves caused and the boost that I provided Fatima with, she managed to reach the target in time. She sent a kick to the back of its knee, letting it fold forward into a kneeling position. It was supposed to be complete already, but then I noticed that Ember's clone javelin was already flying... And the Void Beast was doing something to send it off target.
"...!"
I won't let that happen, though. Using whatever energy I had left, I covered the path of the ballista with a "mental" barrier. The barrier was something I made impromptu and wasn't really tested against real attacks, but it should be able to "repel" anything that touches it.
Something touched the part right ahead of the clone javelin's path. After resisting for a bit, that "something" got diverted, missing its target.
"UGH!"
I, on the other hand, felt like my head had been opened and my brain had been stirred crazy. My vision spun, not only from losing so much energy in an instant but also from the feedback of repelling the attack.
I didn't close my eyes, and even with my spinning vision, I continued to watch the battle. The javelin, just as I remembered, hit the Void Beast in the chest. The Void Energy covering its body quickly melted, vanishing into nothing.
I turned to Fatima, and as expected, she had already finished the last attack. She sneered, victory already apparent, and shouted the skill's name with exhilaration.
"[Black Hole]!"
A small black dot appeared on the palm of her hand. It didn't look intimidating at all, given its small size, but I quickly told Minerva to close her eyes. Ember was already aware of what would soon follow, so she had hers closed even before I told her so.
A bright flash of light appeared as soon as the tiny black dot touched the rear end of the clone javelin. Enormous amounts of energy, enough that any god-tamer wouldn't be able to handle them, exploded in a moment.
When we opened our eyes, the Void Beast was no longer... And Fatima was already next to the past "me", smiling sweetly while gazing at the three with gratitude.
An exchange of words that was too far away for me to hear, but whose contents I still clearly remember. As I watched them, the entire space suddenly started shaking. The sky cracked, and the atmosphere stirred.
I could vividly recall this moment of despair.
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