The clock in the arena showed the final 5 minutes.
Waves of white mana radiated from the body of the blue creature, spreading with incredible force. White light cloaked every inch of its skin, evoking a deep fear within Gyan and Rendi. The energy was pure—too pure—too powerful. The blinding aura surrounding the creature seemed capable of tearing through reality itself, obliterating anything in its path.
The atmosphere in the arena changed instantly. The crowd's cheers, which had only been faint murmurs before, now roared louder, echoing through every corner. They knew. They could feel it—this was the climax. The blue creature was finally getting serious, and that meant this battle had entered an extremely dangerous point. If Gyan and Rendi failed now, there was a high chance they would die.
Gyan felt the pressure of the energy digging deeper, piercing his body, seeping into every fiber of his muscles and bones. He had never felt anything this overwhelming before. It wasn't just his physical body that was in danger—his very existence could be destroyed in an instant. His body trembled, not only from physical strain, but from the presence of this pure and incomprehensible power.
Beside him, Rendi stood tall, though his breath was ragged. His face looked serious, focused, yet there was a tension he couldn't hide. He stared at the blue creature, which now drew closer, its body enveloped by the white mana aura, almost as if ready to annihilate everything around it.
"This creature is too strong… just standing is already lucky for me," Rendi whispered, his voice trembling, as if realizing how easily he could be killed by it. And how couldn't he? How could he endure such an aura without training, without preparation?
The blue creature finally moved—an incredibly fast motion, nearly imperceptible to the human eye. Suddenly, it released a burst of white energy in all directions, striking the air with extraordinary speed. Without warning, Gyan felt the wave slam into him, hitting him hard and flinging his body through the air. Rendi, who had tried to flee, was also struck by the unimaginable force.
Their bodies crashed to the ground with a loud impact that echoed across the arena. Gyan felt his throat tighten, pain surging through every part of his body. Powerless to stand, he heard the crowd's cheers becoming more distant, as if his consciousness was slowly fading. All that remained was himself and the suffocating sensation of being crushed by that overwhelming force.
In the midst of his fading awareness, Gyan felt something—something strange.
The world around him… began to slow down.
Gyan opened his eyes, and once again, he was in the black-and-white world. Everything fell silent. The arena that had once been deafening was now mute, like a blank canvas without sound. In the grey sky, the giant clock reappeared—14:02:10. The second hand was still ticking. Five seconds had passed since he had last seen it. But this time… time hadn't just slowed.
It had stopped.
Gyan's body slowly rose from the ground—not from physical effort, but as if time itself was lifting him. His gaze sharpened, taking in every detail of the blue creature mid-attack, now frozen in midair. The white mana wave formed a halo of light, unmoving, still, like a god's painting suspended in eternity.
"I… am still alive?" he thought.
Then a voice echoed inside his mind. Deep. Resonant. Unknown.
"The decisive second. Use it."
Suddenly, Gyan felt light—no longer human. His physical limits stretched outward, and the power of time within him began to expand. He could see trajectories—countless paths of movement, all stretching forward from every object in the arena. Every breath, every twitch, every particle of dust in the air had a thread, a trace of motion a second into the future. And for the first time… he could choose which thread to follow.
His breathing calmed. Pain faded. Not because it was gone, but because his focus had shifted beyond it. He stepped forward, and time ticked—just one second.
Tick.
Color returned to the world. The blue creature moved again, but this time Gyan was faster. He twisted his body mid-air, narrowly avoiding a piercing arc of white mana that would've shattered his ribs. The audience gasped in amazement, but their voices came like echoes—background noise to Gyan's focus.
Rendi, still on the ground, watched in disbelief. "What… was that? Did he just dodge it?"
Gyan landed lightly on one knee, then stood tall. His eyes were no longer wide with fear, but focused, calculating. He wasn't invincible—but in that second, he knew what would happen. And that made all the difference.
The blue creature paused, sensing the change. Its glowing eyes narrowed. It had underestimated its prey.
Then Gyan took a deep breath and sprinted forward.
This time, he attacked first.
The echoing cheers from the stands slowly faded. The dust swirling in the air seemed to float—suspended in time that was no longer flowing normally—and his body, which should've slammed into the ground… felt like it was moving at a different speed.
Everything turned dark.
Gyan saw a giant clock, ten meters in diameter, completely still at 14:02:04. Suddenly, the clock moved forward by one second.
In that instant, Gyan was transported into the black-and-white world. Behind him stood that same massive clock, and before him—everything was frozen.
But when the clock ticked forward, for just a moment, he saw what was going to happen.
He would crash hard into the ground, his back smashing against the colosseum floor, sending pain cracking through his bones.
Then, the clock reset to its original time—14:02:04—and he was pulled back into reality.
This time… he could react, because he had seen it.
With reflexes sharpened by desperation, Gyan twisted his body in mid-air, angling his fall to reduce the impact.
Crash!
His body still slammed into the ground, but the pain that should've fractured his bones now merely struck the side of his body—blunt, yet survivable.
But there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief. In the distance, Rendi was still rolling across the sand, his face covered in dust and blood from the small wounds opening across his body.
The blue creature still stood at the center of the arena. Unmoving. Not pursuing. As if it were waiting for something.
Suddenly, the air around them shifted.
It was as if gravity itself had become heavier. Gyan felt an invisible pressure weighing down on his body. The grains of sand near his feet began to rise into the air, as though being pulled upward by some greater force. Rendi, who was trying to stand, froze—his body refusing to move any further under the suffocating aura.
"What… is this?" Rendi muttered, his face showing the same shock.
The blue creature raised one of its hands.
Its white mana surged larger, brighter.
Gyan could see it. The light surrounding the creature grew more intense, pulsing like a rapidly beating heart. The energy kept gathering—denser… heavier… more concentrated…
Then, with a single swift motion, the creature swung its arm forward. Instantly, a blinding white light shot toward them.
But it wasn't just light that came—everything vanished.
Sound disappeared.
Color faded.
And for a moment, the world collapsed.
Gyan was flung elsewhere—not the colosseum, not reality. He was… in another dimension.
As the white light was about to touch him, Gyan saw it—it reversed. The light pulled back, returning to the creature's hand. As if time itself was rewinding.
Then, everything went blank.
He couldn't feel his body. No cold, no heat. It was as if he wasn't a body at all, but pure consciousness drifting in absolute void. No direction, no boundaries. Even time seemed to stop—or maybe… he could no longer comprehend it.
And then, from within that emptiness, a voice appeared—or rather, a whisper.
Not from outside, but from within himself.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
Gyan didn't answer. He wasn't even sure he could. But the voice continued—calm, deep. The echo of it seemed to resonate through his very bones.
"One second… is enough to survive.
But not enough to win."
Suddenly, the world cracked.
The white light wrapping the void shattered—like glass breaking in perfect silence.
Gyan woke up.
His body lay sprawled on the hard sand, ears ringing, breath ragged. His vision was still blurry, but he knew… he was alive.
The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, and through the gradually returning roar of the arena, he heard one thing—
A scream.
Rendi.
Forcing his body to move, pain screamed through his joints and bones. But he couldn't stop. He knew the next wave would be even bigger.
The blue creature was repeating its previous motion. Glowing cracks spread from the point of impact, like a spiderweb splitting the arena floor. The ground shook. The air vibrated. The crowd's voices morphed into hysteria—half excitement, half terror.
Gyan looked at the creature… and for the first time, he felt something strange.
Not fear.
Not even courage.
But… awareness.
This creature could kill them. In a single blow.
But why hadn't it?
Gyan suddenly understood something.
This wasn't just a battle to survive—this was a test.
An experiment.
They weren't fighting to win.
They were being watched… measured… weighed.
The creature was intentionally holding back its power.
"Rendi!" Gyan shouted, his voice hoarse, but loud enough to pierce the rumble in the air.
Rendi turned slowly, his eyes clouded with pain—but also… filled with resolve.
"We're not going to die here," Gyan continued, his voice steadier now.
"That thing… it's not trying to kill us!"
Rendi gave a bitter smile, blood on his lips.
"Then they'll regret that choice. But... I'm grateful if that's the case."
One minute left on the arena clock.
The crowd's cheers crashed like waves, wild and thunderous beneath the grey-hung sky. The white mana blast the blue creature released had already shattered most of the arena—massive stone walls had crumbled, the ground cracked to its core.
Gyan, breathing heavily and covered in wounds, stood at the edge of his strength.
Blood dripped from his brow, his eyes red from holding back the pain.
He could still feel the pulse of time—the massive clock that governed the seconds ahead.
But… nothing moved this time.
That second didn't come.
The clock remained still.
"Why…?" Gyan whispered. He tried forcing his power again—to enter that black-and-white world, to see even one second ahead—but there was nothing.
Only emptiness.
Then, the voice returned. Cold. Calm.
"Time is not a tool to be abused.
Every repetition… has a price."
That's when he realized.
This was his limit.
Gyan didn't even know how many times his power had bent time during this battle—seeing, rewinding, dodging, surviving.
But his body... his mind... reality itself... was exhausted.
"Gyan!!"
Rendi screamed from afar, but his own body could no longer stand. He crawled across the burning sand, blood marking the path behind him.
The blue creature raised its hand once more.
Merciless. Unwavering.
This time, there was only a trajectory—no dimension-shifting, no black-and-white world.
Gyan realized he had two types of powers:
He could see one second into the future.
He could see the trajectory of attacks heading toward him a fraction of a second ahead.
The white blast shot forth like lightning.
Gyan tried to move, his body reacting instinctively—
But he knew... this time, he wasn't fast enough.
Braaakkk!
Gyan's body was flung through the air, slamming into the wall, shattering it to pieces.
He rolled across the ground, unmoving.
Rendi screamed in fury. "GYAN!!!"
The blue creature stepped forward again, and without warning—
Braaakkk!
Its final strike hit Rendi, slamming him into the arena wall.
His body crumpled like a lifeless doll, and that deafening sound echoed in Gyan's fading mind.
Consciousness began to slip.
His vision blurred. Breath ragged.
The world began to fade—colors and sounds dissolving with the weakening beat of their hearts.
DONG.
The arena's great clock struck once.
One minute left.
Gyan tried to move his fingers, his hands—anything… but it was useless.
His body was no longer his own.
Completely frozen, trapped between pain and exhaustion.
He could only stare ahead… right at the blue creature stepping forward like an angel of death.
But just as it crossed the final threshold—
A red light fell from the sky.
Like lightning, it transformed into a massive transparent barrier stretching between them and the creature.
Its searing aura swept through the air, scattering the dust, painting the sand with the glint of blood-red light.
The crowd erupted in a roar—
Then fell instantly silent.
From the sky, a large silhouette slowly descended.
A figure in dark robes floated mid-air, followed by four other beings whose bodies shimmered as if embedded with fragments of fallen stars.
An intangible wind whispered through the arena, swallowing sound—and even fear.
One of the beings raised its hand.
Then, a deep and thunderous voice echoed, as though it came from the heavens themselves:
The creature spoke in their alien tongue.
Gyan blinked slowly.
His consciousness was slipping away fast, yet his mind clung desperately to one screaming question inside his chest.
With the last of his strength, his lips trembled, shaping words barely audible.
"Wha... what... are you... go—"
Time was cut short.
In an instant, everything disappeared.
When Gyan came to, his body jolted instinctively—his memory flashing back to the last moment of the battle.
Suddenly, Gyan and Rendi were back in the white room.
The same place.
The place where they had first awakened after being captured.
Where it all began.
The white light was still blinding.
Silent. Soundless.
As if the world had just been paused.
Gyan slowly lifted his head, his eyes clouded.
Rendi still lay beside him.
Breathing. Alive. But unconscious.
Gyan could only stare blankly… then slowly lowered his head.
Flash after flash flooded his mind.
The asteroid that struck Earth.
The screams. Fire. Crimson skies.
Tran—the alien beings who captured them.
Raff, who dragged them to the colosseum.
The brutal fight against two giant blue creatures…
Blood. Terror.
Time that stopped.
And now…
He was back here.
His eyes welled up.
His lips trembled. Breath caught in his throat.
Then the tears came…
Silent, sliding down his cheeks.
One… two… until the sobs could no longer be held back.
Gyan cried.
Not from pain.
Not from defeat.
But for one simple reason—he was still alive.
He buried his face in both hands, shaking.
His sobs turned into muffled weeping, like a child realizing at last that the world is too cruel…
…and he is too small to fight it.
Not a dream.
Not an illusion.
Real. All of it was real.
And the most painful truth…
He now understood that every second of his life could end at any moment.
Without warning. Without reason.
In the silence of that white room, only his quiet sobs echoed…
Proof that Gyan—though alive—was not truly safe.
His sobs began to shift.
From soft… to strained.
From strained… to a silent scream.
His tears kept flowing, but something in his gaze began to change.
Amid the wreckage of his heart, something began to stir.
A tiny presence… something buried deep within him all this time.
The will to live.
To survive.
No matter the cost.
He clenched the white floor with his trembling hands.
His fingers curled so tightly his knuckles turned white.
His eyes stared down blankly—but that gaze pierced through space itself, as if staring straight at the universe that had made him its pawn.
"I don't want to die…"
The voice was soft. Barely a whisper.
But slowly, with growing resolve, the words gained strength.
"I… won't die here."
Gyan gritted his teeth.
His whole body still felt shattered.
His bones protested, his muscles throbbed.
But his heart…
His heart had begun to burn.
He began to lift his body.
Slowly.
As if defying gravity itself.
"If I die… who will fight them?"
"Who will protect Earth? Who will save Rendi…?"
"Who will… avenge all of this?"
Suddenly, the world felt incredibly silent.
No sound. No motion.
Only the pounding of Gyan's heart, crashing against his chest like a war drum.
His fists clenched tighter.
"If I don't become stronger, I'll die. Rendi will die. We'll all be destroyed."
His gaze sharpened. His breathing steadied.
Even though his body was a wreck, his mind began to focus.
"Whatever it takes…"
"Even if I have to sell my soul…"
"I will survive."
His eyes quivered. A small flicker lit within his pupils.
Resolve.
Not hope. But a firm, unshakable resolve not to be defeated by fate.
"I will live. I will keep living."
"Until those who once called me weak… tremble at the sound of my name."
And at that very moment, Gyan felt something stir within him.
Something different.
Not physical power.
But… a door.
A door inside him cracked open—just slightly.
As if his body was responding to the fire of his will.
He turned toward Rendi, still unconscious, and whispered:
"Wait for me… I'll find a way. We won't die at their hands."
And in that silent white room…
For the first time, Gyan stopped being a victim.
He began to become someone who would be remembered by history.
Whether as a savior…
…or a monster forged by suffering.