SSS Ranked Awakening: I Can Rewind Time!-Chapter 45: Colorless World [1]

Before the dagger pierced through its heart. Before its life force began to fade.

I had scouted the battlefield, searching desperately for a way out of this precarious situation.

And, as the battle raged on, it soon dawned on me.

The surroundings.

Every single part of the nightmarish shattered dimension, was made in a way that ensured that stealthy beings and children of darkness could thrive in them. Every jagged rock, every broken structure seemed to whisper darkness, but amidst the chaos swirling around me, an idea began to form.

It slowly took shape within me.

My eyes lit up as I pieced it together.

Flick--!

In that moment, it became a flicker of hope against the oppressive darkness that surrounded me.

Clench.

A way out of this precarious situation.

***

Far ahead, Mia clashed with the nightmarish entity.

Claang! Claang!

Each clash of theirs sent terrifying undulations across the dark maze, the clangor of steel and blood rolling through the darkness.

Crack!

Their blades met with explosive force, each detonation throwing them away with terrifying force.

Crack!! Kaa~!

Landing on their feets, the ground beneath them shattered, their battle tearing through the dark maze. Each step brought them closer and closer to the towering nightmarish tree.

Its roots layed firmly within the ground beneath it, its dark branches grasping for the heavens as though to pierce through the cracked sky above. However, it wasn’t the tree’s macabre form that drew my attention.

"..."

It was the darkness.

As the plan started fitting together, as they pooled together within my mind, I caught a glimpse of a suffocating, all-consuming shadow wrapped around the tree like a... living shroud.

A dark smile slowly touched my lips. But it was soon replaced by a grim sense of apprehension.

Just staring at the tree made my legs quiver, dread slowly creeping up my spine like icy tentacles.

My chest tightened and my heart thundered in my ears. But,

Rattle! Rattle--!

The emotive chains held still.

Glancing at Mia one last time, I darted for the tree.

Whoosh—!

The jagged cliffs, and crumbled ruins provided cover as I sprinted through the debris. My breath came out in sharp bursts, each step driving me closer to the tree. Closer to the abyss.

My heart threatened to burst out of my chest as I reached the tree’s shadowed base. Leaning against its massive trunk, I struggled to steady my ragged breaths.

"Huh, Huh..."

Panting heavily, I peered out from the shadows, and watched Mia and the nightmarish entity close in. Their movements were swift and calculated. However...

Ba- thump! Ba- thump!

It was working in my favor. Every step, every slash, every move, it was moving my way.

...Everything was slowly falling into place. And now, all I had to do was keep count of the seconds I had before they got to the tree.

Just...

Clench.

...A considerable distance that would be enough to put an end to it all in a single move.

And so, I began to count.

’Three.’

My heart sank.

’Two.’

My stomach churned.

And finally,

’One.’

...The moment arrived.

And without a second thought, I stepped out of the shadows and unleashed my pent up anger. I poured everything- every single emotion- into the blow, and the dagger, transformed into a spear by the [betrayal’s reach] enchantment, pierced its heart with a sickening crunch.

And yet, as I gazed at the rose on the cold floor, a chill ran down my spine.

Ba- thump! Ba- thump!

I shifted my gaze, and my blood froze.

The entity’s shadowy form was unraveling. As its darkness dissipated, pale, flawless skin was revealed beneath. First its legs, then its torso. In moments, a humanoid figure lay before me.

Ba- dump! Ba- dump!

My heart raced wildly.

The figure. I-It wasn’t a Djinn.

My throat went dry.

’I-... It was a human.’

Terror surged through me, and I felt as if an invisible hand was tightening around my throat.

"Ugh!’

I struggled to breath, trembling as my gaze drifted towards its face. And then—

Pain.

It struck like a tidal wave, crashing into my mind with relentless force. It came flooding in, trying to overwhelm my subconsciousness:

’Why did you kill him?! WHY?!!’

The voices screamed within me, each word a dagger to my soul.

And with this familiar emotion that I could understand. With pain,

...Came an unfamiliar emotion.

Grief.

It slowly overwhelmed me.

But why?! Why was I filled with so much grief?

It was trying to kill us all. I had no other choice but to kill it.

But even then, the pain only worsened. As I stared at the face, something about it felt awfully familiar.

Drip! Drip--!

Tears welled in my eyes, streaming down the corner of my face.

...I-I was lost in the baffling cacophony of harrowing changes.

Creak.

My knees buckled, and I collapsed, my body trembling violently.

Drip--!

Blood dripped down the corner of my lips, and a crushing weight bore down on my chest.

"Why?" I choked on my blood. "Why does it hurt?"

The sorrow consumed me, dragging me into its depths, and the pain intensified. It soon reached a point where I felt as though my heart was being clutched.

My face paled as blood dripped down the corner of my mouth.

Drip! Drip--!

I couldn’t understand the reason for the various surges of emotions. But I felt that I deserved them.

But why?

The pain. The questions. The confusion. The sorrow, and the grief.

They slowly crawled their way towards me, slowly eating me from the inside.

Creak.

As darkness seeped into my vision, slowly swallowing my world, Mia’s voice reached for me, faint and distant:

"Dean! Dean!!"

Her cries echoed, distorted, as if it came from all sides and at the same time... nowhere.

It was as though my vision had been submerged into the depths of the sea, and I couldn’t see anything around me. The world was getting darker and so were my surroundings. Not only was it getting darker, it was also getting... colder.

Creak~

A chilling cold slowly tightened around me, its icy claw sinking deep into my soul. And Mia’s desperate cries only grew farther, as though it were coming from a distant land.

Tak—!

Tak--!

The sound of her footsteps echoed through the stifling silence, and it felt as though the sound was coming from everywhere.

It was all around me.

The sound.

The voices.

Some reverberated through my psyche and I desperately tried to hold on to them. Whilst some...

...some just seemed too far away to hold onto.

All this seemed to have lasted for an eternity, yet I knew only a few seconds had actually clocked by. And that sent me further spiralling into despair.

"...Uak!"

Clutching at the ground beneath me, my nails dug deep into the ground as I desperately tried to cling onto something. Anything to anchor myself.

"Akh...!"

As I clutched at the ground beneath me, my fingers slowly moved towards the figure’s forehead, and the nine-leaf petals on my forehead shone.

It was in that moment that a chilling realization settled in:

My body.

I-It was moving on instinct. Or rather, something within me was... controlling me.

And by the time I realized it...

’W-hat—!’

It was already too late.

Throb!

I felt something within my mind throb softly. The flame sigil seated on a nine leaf petal on my forehead glowed even brighter. And then,

"..."

The void came.

Darkness swarmed over my vision with unstoppable momentum. And, it... It felt as if it was trying to swallow me whole.

But just then-

Crack!

The space surrounding me crumbled. And before long, the shattered space slowly reformed itself. Right about then, an endless darkness consumed my thoughts along with my vision.

The last thing I saw was a blurry figure kneeling before me.

***

Crack! Crack--!

Fragments of reality twisted and warped before reforming, dragging me into an abyss so deep it felt eternal.

I floated in the void, time losing all meaning. And then—

"...."

After what felt like forever, I was able to open my eyes again. Opening it proved more difficult than I expected, but eventually, I’d succeed.

...And when I did,

Ba- thump! Ba- thump!

The sight before me only further served to deepen the terror and unease within me.