The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 561: A Training Session with the Big Sister

”So it’s your turn to train me, big sister,” I say to Azraelith, who was already waiting for me. The moment I stepped out of my universe, she pulled me straight to the castle’s training area.

Following her is a strange girl who seems shy, which is even weirder since I never imagined finding a monster in the Abyss that’s timid, considering how intense the place is.

Azraelith said she’s one of my mother’s servants, sent by my mother to cater to my every whim, which sounds great, especially the part about her doing absolutely anything I ask.

”Yeah, it’s my turn, and first, I want to test how powerful you are. I want you to punch me with all your strength.” She speaks, moving back a little from me. She stands still, but from her posture, she won’t stay put; she’s clearly planning to dodge.

’If she dodges... she won’t counterattack? She’s really underestimating me...’ I smile wickedly. Theoretically, I have infinite speed. Zero-time speed means I cover 100 meters in 0 seconds and cover 1000 meters in 0 seconds.

Just like I also cover 1 million meters in 0 seconds, which basically means I take ”Time” out of the speed equation, causing me to always arrive in 0 seconds regardless of distance. It’s different from teleportation because my body actually travels the path.

And I don’t see anything within this speed because my body isn’t actually experiencing the effects of speed. This prevents me from reacting within that speed, but it’s still extremely powerful. Maybe in the future, I’ll be able to move and perceive this speed.

’Wait, what if I don’t define point A and point B as something static?’ I can only use this absurd speed if I predefine a point A and a point B, an obvious limitation; otherwise, I can’t activate this power.

But what if point B is a moving point that traverses an area infinitely? That way, I’d technically never reach point B. How would that work?

’Well, it doesn’t hurt to try...’ I mark myself as point A and mark the area around Azraelith as Point B, but Point B circles around her without stopping at a single point.

”Ready, big sister?”

”Of cour–” Before she finishes speaking, I move, and immediately, I’m surprised. I can see everything because I never reach Point B.

’Time has stopped...’ I look around. My body doesn’t stop circling Azraelith, always chasing Point B, which is in constant motion. However, since time can’t pass, literally everything has stopped.

”How crazy... I’m faster than time...” I’m so fast that time can’t move. Probably, if Azraelith had timelessness, she could move, but it seems she doesn’t, or if she does, it’s a weak version.

”Would Azraelith be able to adapt? Or not?” I don’t know. She’s 100% static. If time doesn’t move, does adaptation still work?

”What an amazing discovery...” I never imagined time would stop moving because I never reach Point B. Plus, I can see everything because my eyes are using mana.

Light no longer has movement. No light, no sound, no movement of atoms, but magic is still in motion. It seems Mana doesn’t depend on time, which I expected, and it’s thanks to the Mana in the environment that I see everything.

’Though it’s kind of nauseating...’ I’m spinning around her so fast my brain is starting to hurt from sensory position overload. Before, I couldn’t perceive the path because I arrived at Point B instantly. Now that I don’t reach Point B instantly, I can see everything.

’What... would happen if I fainted here?’ This is dangerous. What if I faint and never wake up? Would I be eternally trapped inside the Zero-Time Zone, chasing after Point B? Or would I adapt to how damaging this place is and wake up eventually?

’I’d better get out of here quickly, before something bad happens.’ I change the position of Point B, marking Azraelith while changing my body’s position, reaching her instantly and landing a punch with all my strength right in her face.

Unfortunately, even in the zero-time zone, there’s no acceleration for my body, so speed doesn’t influence the punch’s force. Therefore, the force was the same as if I’d just walked up to her and punched normally.

But it was an interesting discovery, knowing that time stops when I move like that. Maybe I’ll use it in some future fight.

”...” Azraelith takes a step back, blood dripping from her nose. She didn’t react in time, although her head had already started to move to dodge the punch.

’That’s insane. She perceived the punch and almost dodged, even though the punch was already almost touching her face...’ If she hadn’t underestimated me at the start, she would have dodged the punch.

”...That was a good punch. Was it time magic?” She asks, wiping her hand across her nose to clean the blood, and I’m surprised she guessed so easily.

”How...”

”It’s pretty obvious. I didn’t see you until you were already hitting me. Teleportation doesn’t work in the Abyss, and you left no traces of movement or Mana. That only leaves options like time magic, though I’d recommend being careful. Time magic isn’t very stable. Plus, your surprised reaction ended up giving away the answer I wasn’t sure about.”

”Be more careful with your reactions. I wouldn’t have known for sure it was time magic if you’d stayed quiet and neutral.”

”Don’t worry, I’ve noticed, and I’ll be careful,” I say, hiding my surprise. She noticed so easily. What truly monstrous perception.

”So, what’s my training, sis? O-Ouch!!” She appears in front of me, punching me in the nose, which I can’t dodge.

”This is our training. We’ll each take turns punching the other. The training will be on reaction. Normally, I didn’t expect you to be able to hit me, but since you can, this is good for me to try and dodge too.”

”Why this?” I ask curiously.

”Most goddesses focus on smaller but more powerful and faster attacks. Few goddesses focus on gigantic, extreme attacks. So, for most, you’ll need a high level of reaction capability.”

”Especially if you’re going to fight against Elysia or the goddess of the elves. They’re the two you’ll need the most reaction time to dodge. Elysia uses a lot of hand-to-hand combat.”

”And the goddess of the elves fires extremely fast and dangerous arrows. Besides, many goddesses use magic in a limited way because of the damage it causes to reality, so hand-to-hand combat will be inevitable.”

’That makes sense. They must have such destructive magics that they’re only used if necessary or in emergencies. So they’ll probably focus on buffing themselves, debuffing the enemy, and then resorting to physical combat.’

”Everythi–” I move my hands to the side to block something, but there’s nothing there, and I receive another punch to the face from the front. Blood trickles as I stare at Azraelith in disbelief.

”What the hell was that?”

”It’s simple, Pandora. It’s a technique I learned a while ago. It’s basically a ’feint’ done with magic. It generates the sensation that a dangerous attack is coming from one direction, creating openings when you try to defend against something that doesn’t exist.”

”Like this.”

”!!!” I spin around to defend my back, only for her to simply step forward again and punch me in the back. Despite my tail trying to block, she was faster.

”F-Fuck, that hurts!” Her punches aren’t that strong, but they cause a strangely high amount of pain for something so basic.

”That’s another point we need to improve. Our bodies are very instinctive and often react before we even intend to. When I fought the goddesses, it happened to me many times—I’d turn to block something I didn’t need to and end up taking a worse hit.”

”We need to make our reactions more controllable. You don’t need to stop them entirely, but you have to teach your body to react better to false threats, just like teaching it to take damage that isn’t too high and doesn’t require dodging.”

”But...” I try to block another attack and receive another stupid hit. This damn woman does it out of nowhere! Although I understand it makes no sense to warn me she’s going to attack, or I’d know it’s a lie.

”...And my turn? You said we’d each throw one punch!! You’ve already hit me several times.”

”Your turn to punch me will only come when you can at least react properly! After that, we can start taking turns striking.”

”Fine, I understand... alright...” She’s getting revenge for all the ways I insulted her during the training I put her through.

”Glad you understand.” I stay alert, ready to react, realizing this training is going to be long and intense since it’s about dealing with something the body does automatically.

”And don’t use your tail, Pandora. I know you’re thinking about it.”

”Tsk, sure, big sister...” When I get back to my days of training her, she’ll see!! My clones will be even more chaotic and malicious!!