Defense

...Alex's PoV...

*Fuck, what am I supposed to do?! *

I turn towards my squad leader; he should know how to react in this situation. My instincts tell me to run away while screaming and shooting at her, but I'm still able to realize that this would be a terrible idea.

"Hey, are you guys with them?" she says while crossing her arms. The smoldering pile of destruction that was the mercenary group reminds me of how fucked we are. I feel like she could turn me into ash with a single gaze, and that impassible old man also has the aura of a trained killer.

"Fuck, I don't know who they are, but we can't let them reach the camp." Our leader declares.

"Hey, I asked you a question, don't you know that it's impolite to ignore someone?!" she shouts with even more power, and she almost knocks me unconscious. "I only want to know where John Thomson is. We have things to discuss!"

Yeah, right. It's evident that she's another mercenary interested by the bounty on Prometheus' head.

"Listen, we'll try to fire a volley of MH Shells towards her. Meanwhile, the gunner will focus on the old man, and he should be able to take care of him quickly." Our leader says before aiming his rifle towards the woman, we all nod in unison and obey our leader's orders.

"On my mark...Fire!"

...??? PoV...

I can't believe that these people were after John Thomson, but it isn't too surprising considering that the Enforcers did put a sizable bounty on his head. However, I doubt that those mercenaries would have been able to do anything to him. But what makes me pause is the group of people aiming at me with their rifles. As far as I know, John Thomson isn't allied with anyone, so could they be from the same mercenary group?

It seems unlikely, they are human and their equipment is too different from the one that the mercenaries had.

Gunfire followed by a blinding light interrupts my thoughts, and I grit my teeth when raging mana smash against my body. This is very similar to the spell John unleashed during the Incident. Maybe they copied it?

Anger wells up in my stomach, these people could have used this power to help him save our species, but instead, they are after his head! This cannot stand!

I barely pay attention to the many popping noises ringing in my ear as I activate my ability to prepare a spell that will be able to annihilate those bastards in less than a second.

But something weird happens just as I raise my hand, a fist-sized ball of hyper-compressed mana appears between my targets and I. The popping noises get increasingly numerous as a red-robed figure steps out of the newly formed portal.

I can hardly believe what I'm seeing, who in their right mind would waste so much mana for teleporting?

The armored figure is wielding a mundane looking shotgun, and hundreds of popping noise ring in my head as he pulls the trigger, thus creating another beam of wild mana. I endure the stinging pain before I modify my spell to turn it into a defensive shield, and the construct struggles against the raging power.

A second pass, and yet another hundred of popping noises ring in my ears as I blindly fire multiple beams. I feel enormous amounts of mana being generated, and I deduce that the figure teleported out of the way before I even released my spells!

But I don't have time to think about the implications since another beam hits me in the flank, sending me flying through the tree-lines. The figure didn't waste any time, and it has already teleported to my landing area. I can hardly focus since the number of popping noises keeps increasing to the point where I can barely hear anything.

But I still notice that the figure has changed his shotgun for a pistol. It looks like these people more or less copied the equipment and spells of John Thomson, so I know that this pistol could pack quite a punch.

The bullet fired towards my head is barely stopped by a hastily made barrier, my intuition tells me that I must not be hit by this thing no matter what.

A familiar presence appears in front of me "How dare you strike my daughter! I will-" But my father is silenced and punched so hard in the jaw that he crashed through a tree. The old man is sturdy, so he'll live through it, but he's going to be knocked out for the time being.

Rage mixes with my excitement, and I glance towards my unconscious father with a wry smile. "Sorry, but I think I might break my promise..."

A mighty shout knocks the figure back and causes even more popping noises. I don't let him recover and immediately unleash another beam, but this time I don't hold back. His shield appears but it soon breaks, and I grin with satisfaction when I hear his pained screams.

But I was not prepared for what happened next.

The figure, which is still wearing his half-melted armor, stands up. A gasp escapes my mouth when I realize that the exposed parts of his body aren't damaged at all. But what is frightening is his voice. It is distorted beyond recognition, and it sounds like something straight out of hell.

"YoU wiLL PaY! I wiLL nOt DiE HeRe!" the figure shouts before rushing towards me.

The popping noises, which have disappeared, are back in full force. They are even stronger and numerous than before, and I hold my head to stop them while I fire at my target. A bolt of fire burns off an unprotected hand, but it grows back in an instant!

*Who, or what is this person? Even I can't regenerate so fast, and I have the blood of a fucking dragon! *

He steps to the side just as I fire a beam, and the popping noises became so numerous that I didn't even realize that I was screaming in pain.

*Fuck, this is the worst timing possible! *

The creature grabs a magazine and shoves it into the device strapped to his arm. His shield comes back to life as I teleport on top of him and punch him. The barrier groans and a lot of empty casings fly out of the device, and he shoots me in the leg just as I am jumping out.

Complete agony instantly spreads into the limb, I activate my ability and focus on the wounds. I can't believe how damaged I am. This leg will need several days and numerous potions to be back to normal.

Of course, this is assuming that I survive this encounter.

The pieces of metal are spreading through my body, and I use localized spells to forcefully eject the metallic pieces before unleashing all my remaining mana. A dome of colorless flames burst out of my body and disintegrates everything around me.

Everything except one person.

I can hardly believe what I'm seeing, his regeneration is stronger than my attack, and each limb I destroy instantly grows back only to be disintegrated again!

His expression shows that he's feeling pain, so how can he endure so much?

Wait, I think I recognize that face through the melting helmet...

Oh shit, I made a huge mistake.

...John's PoV...

Holy fucking shit.

These mercenaries aren't fucking around. That woman had attacked the patrol and utterly disintegrated them, so I Rewound time to save them. But nothing could have prepared me for this.

This woman forced me to Rewind so much that I probably wasted ten years of my life by continually repeating certain events. She was ruthless and enduring that last attack likely shattered my last remnant of sanity. Now, the voice is screaming with hate in my head, and it takes a lot of efforts to ignore it.

She's probably one of the most powerful beings that I ever faced, and while she didn't resist the Exploding Growth Bullets, she still somehow ejected the ever-expanding pieces of metal from her body.

Oh well, it doesn't matter.

We'll JuSt hAvE tO aDd mOre!

"W-Wait!" she says while raising her hands. "This is a huge misunderstanding, I can-" she is silenced when I empty my magazine into her body. She contorts, convulses and does her best to remove the bullet fragments.

Too bad that I just loaded another magazine.

This time it's enough to kill her, her skin bulges and she emits one last deafening scream before exploding into a rain of blood and chunks of flesh.

Killing that woman was quite cathartic, and the voice asks for a redo.

Who am I to deny it?

I Rewind to when she was at my mercy.

"This is a huge misunderstanding," she says while raising her hands.

Fuck it; I might as well listen to her ramblings. I wonder how she is going to try to get out of this situation... And the DesPaIr iN hEr EyEs is gOiNg tO bE veRy enJoYabLe WhEn wE ShOoT hEr!

"I can explain!" she continues, "I am here to see you! I didn't know that those guys were not mercenaries, I never knew that they were with you!"

This is new, but I don't believe it for a second. The timing is just too good to be true, and they must have been after the bounty on my head. It's been a while since I haven't checked it, but I bet it has grown to a ridiculous size.

"It's true, I swear! I saw your battle during the Incident, and I immediately understood what you were doing. You want to free our species from the Enforcers, right? I came here to help you!" she says, and I almost shoot her in anger.

How dare she act like she wants to help us? Someone like her is obviously not human despite her appearance, so why would she want to help us? It's evident that she's a mercenary trying to save herself from my wrath.

I shoot her in the torso and Rewind, then do it again, and again... I may be slightly angry.

I am about to shoot her for the twentieth time when something that shouldn't ever happen happened. Her face distorts as soon as I emerge from my Rewind, and she clutches her head while screaming.

Something changed between Rewinds. She should have been scared, but now she's screaming in pain.

Time seems to stop when I realize the implications behind her reaction. This means that she is, in some way, aware of what I'm doing.

I can't let her go, and killing her would be a waste of critical information. I need to know if she's the only one aware of the effects of the Rewinder, how much does she knows and if she's the only one with this ability.

My head turns towards the hidden cultists, "Tell the camp that I'll be bringing these two into custody, the woman is dangerous so prepare the adequate facilities!"

The members of the squad nod and one of them pulls out a secure phone.

My attention then focuses back on her, "How much do you know?" I say while pointing my gun towards her face.

"W-What do you mean?" she says while making a pained expression.

All right, if you're going to play it like this, then I'll force the information out of you! I Rewind the same second a few hundreds of time, and the results are as I expected.

She's now trashing on the ground, and I think I see foam at the corner of her mouth. Her reaction confirms my suspicions, so I ask again. "How much do you know?"

"N-Nothing! P-Please make it stop!" she mutters while sobbing.

"We'll see about that..." I say just as the characteristic noise of helicopters reaches my ears. Two flying vehicles soon land near my position, and a group of Legionaries comes out of each of them. One of the group is carrying large, weirdly shaped heavy steel chains covered in pulsing runes.

Alan, the Chief Fabricator, soon comes to greet me, "Prometheus! We came as soon as we heard your message!" He points toward the chains that are being wrapped around the woman. "These are restrictions chains; they should be able to contain her. But I also added some MH Shells to them, so they'll detonate if she somehow breaks out and it should vaporize her. If it isn't enough, she'll be contained into a prototype of the Starmetal containment project. It will freeze her to death if she tries to escape."

Holy shit, that's a bit extreme. But I thank him anyway, at least I'm sure that she'll not escape no matter what, if she knows about the Rewinder then I'll execute her without a second thought. The unconscious old man receives the same treatment as the woman. The helicopters carry all of us back to the compound, where multiple M2s are aimed towards us in case the prisoners try to escape.

Fortunately, they don't try anything funny. The old man is still unconscious, and the woman looks at me with a fearful gaze while tears are streaming down her face.

I'm not falling for that. You killed hundreds of mercenaries in an instant, so you're far from a helpless victim.

We land in the middle of the camp, and Legionaries immediately escort the prisoners to the large black metallic domes located near the holding cells. Each of them is unceremoniously thrown into the re-arranged boxes.

"We'll interrogate the old man later. Fetch the mind-reading girl. We'll need her ability." I say before stepping in front of the viewing port on the dome. The bound prisoner shuffles towards us, "This is a huge misunderstanding, why don't you believe me!"

Golly gee, I fucking wonder why I would not believe a word coming out of the mouth of a world-ending calamity.

I stare at her and don't bother acknowledging any of her pleas. It doesn't take a lot of time for the mind-reading girl, I think her name is Sarah, to appear while flanked by a few Legionaries.

"P-Prometheus," she says with a hint of nervousness.

"I need you to read the mind of this woman over here," I point towards the prisoner, "I want to know who she is, what she is and why she's here. If you can, also try to discover anything about her employer."

Of course, if that woman knows anything about my little secret, then Sarah will know too. This is a risk I must take. I need to be confident that she tells me the truth, and reading her mind is the best way to do that. Sarah shouldn't betray me, or the Oath will burn her to a crisp before she can reveal anything. Furthermore, the propaganda she hears regularly should have molded her way of thinking to the point where betraying me shouldn't be something she thinks about.

But I can never be too so sure; the Oath may not be as absolute as the Order thinks. So I need to be careful when handling such sensitive matters.

"All right, let's see how this goes." She closes her eyes, and I glance at the mercenary. We don't know anything about Sarah's ability, so there might be a possibility that our prisoner can somehow counter it.

It takes a few minutes before she opens her eyes. Sarah takes a deep breath and looks at me with a complicated expression, "Let's see... Her name is Mary Rosewood, and she had quite a rough life. I'll skip the details, but the most interesting point is that she's a sort of human-dragon hybrid."

My jaw drops at the revelation. No wonder that she was so strong, and it doesn't bode well for the future if powerhouses like her are already after my bounty.

Sarah, who doesn't seem to realize the implications of her last sentence, continues her report with a monotonous voice, "According to her memories, she came here to see you after seeing your battle against Beelzebub."

Oh.

I might have made a tiny miscalculation.

"Are you certain that her memories are real?" I ask the mind-reader, who nods, "From my experience, altered memories have a certain 'fuzziness' to them, for lack of a better word, and hers were devoid of any. Of course, there might be a way to alter memories that I don't know."

"All right, is there anything else?" She didn't mention anything about the Rewinder yet, so I brace myself for the worst.

Sarah shakes her head, "There's nothing that sticks out... Except for one little detail. She's plagued with popping noises, they began a few months ago, and they went crazy during your battle."

The revelation acts like a cold shower. The appearance of the popping noises perfectly matches with the moment I started using the Rewinder.

So this Mary Rosewood has been aware of what I've been doing since the beginning. From her memories, we can affirm that she doesn't know the reason behind the popping noises, but who knows if she hasn't altered her memories.

Tremors course through my limbs. This woman and her likely employer potentially threaten my very existence.

It would be good if she were alone, but I doubt that someone who's so powerful isn't working with anyone.

I have to rethink my course of actions. As must as I loathe doing it, I might be forced to Rewind the same day thousands of time to make progress on the projects I initially handed to the Fabricators.

If a group is aware of me, and the Rewinder, then I need to eliminate them as soon as possible. Or they might be able to replicate the effects of the Rewinder. Hell, they might have the know how to improve it.

And this would bring untold destruction upon the world.

I turn towards Terrence, "Can she hear us in there?"

The Commander shakes his head, "She cannot, the containment facility can transmit sound from the inside but blocks any sound from entering."

Good, it's time tO hAvE a tAlK.

"I'll interrogate the prisoner myself. I need to confirm certain things. Be on the lookout for anything unusual." I order before stepping into the box.