Chapter 17

(General P.O.V)

Clearly things couldn't go on like this. No matter what plan Ash had come up with, nothing seemed to work. Attacking Lancer head on without waiting only brought on his death quicker at the hands of the child of Light.

Trying to work with Shiro only kept them away from death for a short time, only making it close to the Workshop before Shiro was injured or Ash died, killed faster than he could react, sending him back in time.

At this point he had done this for over 15 times. But not all was bad news. For starters, every time he looped, Ash would see an increase in all of his physical parameters. The strange increase was not as big as the first loop. If anything, the returns were diminishing but the results? Yeah the results were not something he was complaining about.

His body was coiled with muscles, lean like Shiro who had spent countless hours practicing Kendo or archery. His strength was almost three times more as compared to the him from before the loops. Ash felt strong but that strength was still nothing infront of a servant like Lancer.

He still could not capture his image when he blurred, everytime Lancer decided to stop playing and finish them off. However, some instinct inside Ash was letting him anticipate 2 out of every 10 blows that Lancer threw when he wasn't being serious. And that blow was all he needed to push his quirk to the next level.

Shiro was a bonus to have. Any attacks that had Ash sent stumbling back, he covered him before Lancer could use the opening to kill him. It got to the pint that the 7th loop out of the 10 that Ash had been in, the fight lasted for more than 30 seconds. The two boys working in tandem to fight back against what was like a force of nature.

Every spear attack that landed on Ash's body, he pushed his quirk to adamantly block or deflect it, this left him open to more attacks that had cost him his life more than once, but he was learning.

At this point, Ash had been gutted, slashed into two parts, (which was not at all fun), turned into paste from a heavy fist, his limbs cut off, his jaw broken off his face, every bone in his body broken and stabbed over 10 times!

It never got easier. The pain was always as fresh as the first time. But fortunately, he could ignore it and when that usually failed, he allowed it to break his mind, knowing that the damage would be reversed and the memory would fuel his determination to fight back again and again and again.

Loops remaining 19/35

This time things needed to be different. The 20th loop, Lancer and used the blunt end of the spear to stab right through Ash's eye. That pain had been so intense, Ash had immediately gone insane, his thoughts a jumbled mess before the sweet release of death claimed him.

He landed on the ground, his legs hardened while the rest of his body remained as normal flesh.

"Who are..."

"Wait."

Ash interrupted Shiro, before turning to Cú chullain.

"I can't beat you. I've tried over and over again, hound of Ulster. Truly you are powerful."

Ash admitted before a cold light flashed in his eyes.

"But you owe me an eye."

He turned his back on a very confused Lancer. Ash knew he wouldn't attack him from the back. 10 and above loops and he knew that the man acted with a code of honor. Ash was not the same. What use was honor in his current predicament?

"I need you to do something for me Shiro." Ash told the teen. He had a plan in his head, something he had realized after the 22nd loop.

"How do you know my name?"

Shiro asked, the pipe in his hands lowering.

"Not important. Can you reinforce me like you did that pipe?"

He pointed at the pipe in Shiro's hands.

"No! Are you crazy?! Your body wouldn't hand..."

"Not my body." Ash quickly countered, turning his hand into a jagged shape. The fingers were sharpened to a high degree.

"There is a layer of rock like material covering my skin and it is tough enough to handle your reinforcement."

Seeing that Shiro was about to protest again, Ash held his shoulder tightly, looking into his eyes while injecting as much determination as he could.

"It's alright." Ash smiled reassuringly.

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"We will not die here today. Not in the hands of someone like him."

The words resonated deep within Shiro and he unexpectedly found himself nodding.

There was something so...raw about the teen who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Good." Ash said, turning to face Lancer.

"After you are done Shiro, run as far away from this place as you can."

Shiro walked forward and placed a hand on Ash's shoulder.

"Not a chance."

He stated with conviction. Ash chuckled.

"Can't say I'm surprised."

His entire body bulked up as his skin broke out into thick spikes and jagged lines.

"Trace On!"

With one hand on the pipe, slightly concealing it behind his legs, Shiro used the other one to reinforce Ash just like they had agreed.

'His body...it's so unique. This power what is it?!'

Shiro was surprised by the reading he received of Ash's body. He was human yet no human biology could support such weight imposed by the rocky substance that made up his power. This boy...was incredible.

"You ready?"

Ash asked the almost distracted teen.

"Yeah..."

Shiro nodded, fully facing Lancer.

"Okay, I won't lie." Lancer who up until this moment had been quiet, smirked.

"I like this set up much better. Both of you against me, sounds like a party."

'Just a scratch. All I need is a scratch and I can work myself up to truly making him bleed.'

"He usually starts with a feint to the side followed by a broad slash from the left of your hip to your shoulder. Lean as far away as you can the moment he favors his left leg, it's usually a Killing thrust."

After saying that, Ash sped towards the stunned Lancer. The smirk had been wiped off his face.

"How did you know that?"

"Aahhh!!"

Clang!

Ash's fist collided with the shaft of Lancer's weapon. The young teen immediately ducked, evading the sudden retaliation and avoiding death. That particular one had not been pleasant.

Lancer's shock was palpable. Once was enough, twice was a coincidence... He pushed his foot to the sky then brought the leg swinging down onto the bent arc of Ash's belly. The teen pushed his legs off of the ground, just barely missing Lancer's heel. Ash complete the jerky flip and lost his footing as the floor exploded and the hard ground underneath cratered apart into dust, loose soil and rocks.

...but three was not happenstance. This kid somehow knew every move that Lancer was about to make. Two weird magecrafts? But how? There was no mana involved! Lancer prided himself with keeping his cool during any altercation, however here and now, he lost his cool.

"Damn you..." He thrust Gae bolg forward, seeking to end this entire battle by simply moving faster than Ash could see his moves. The spear head crashed against a spot on the teen's left chest hardening. For a second there Lancer could have sworn that the color of the hardening had turned gray and smooth. Like Granite.

"Mmph! Is that all you got?"

Ash ridiculed. What he was doing was something he had coined himself. 'Leading Path, a skill that lets me use my senses to accurately read the battlefield and then use the loops to learn of different responses to any generic and mostly specific things in the course of my interaction with them.'

Ash thought.

The ability was something born out of countless painful loops. Ash had died up until now which was the only reason he had survived up until now.

"Growing a big head already? Don't worry, I'll just decapitate it."

Lancer promised, getting into a very familiar position.

There was only problem with Leading Path. No matter how accurately he could read the battlefield, that meant nothing if he didn't have an appropriate response to any incident and even if the response was good enough, all paths led to the same thing eventually. A show of Power from Cú chullain.

This particular loop, Ash did not back down. He physically recoiled at the thought. Lancer pointed his spear head to the ground and slightly leaned to the front. Even if Ash would have been faster than Lancer, there was no way he could evade a strike that reversed cause and effect.

"Get ready to perish!" Lancer shouted, finally pulling his move.

"Gae Bo...aarrgh splurt!!"

His eyes opened up in shock as blood sprayed out of his mouth. From behind, Shiro held a sharp, shaved off piece of pipe that was lodged deep into Lancer's chest through the back.

"Damn you..."

Realization dawned on Lancer and with it came shame and anger. He had been duped. So focused was he on the fact that someone could actually read his mind and find out what he was going to do next that he forgot the most important lesson of all. Never understand any opponent.

Lancer threw his head back and slammed it onto Shiro's face. The boy let go of the pipe with a crushed nose and stumbled back in pain.

"Yaaaahhhgggg!!"

From the dust cloud hanging around after Lancer had stabbed the ground with his heel, a rocky figure with sharp blue eyes that glowed through the air and long black hair that was spiked into a tough material, erupted from out of nowhere.

Lancer abandoned the move set meant to activate Gas bolg and twirled the spear with desperation. Ash on the other hand slammed his feet on the ground and pushed off it with every ounce of his being. He only needed to put a scratch on him. A scratch to verify that he was truly doing something right! As always his senses started relaying to him information he could not have picked up on before.

His fist was heavy, changing to grey at precisely the instant of contact between both. He slammed against Gae Bolg once, then twice, thrice...then over a dozen times as Lancer sought to defend rather than attack. The both of them danced around, Lancer reducing his speed and power to match the young teen's yet feeling a grudging respect to the young boy.

"Amazing." Shiro muttered, waiting for another chance like before. Waiting, just as Ash was. Lancer jerked his hand back as a sudden movement worsened his injury. In that split second, Ash rushed into his guard.

"Huh...what...how?!" Lancer asked, seeing the determined gaze of Ash right under his chin. He leaned his head out of the way of the spiked knuckle fist and retaliated with a thrust. He unexpectedly felt the weapon dig in to Ash's body followed by a clang from his hardened skin's contact with his weapon. The lance dug through a small part of the rocky material, breaking some pieces away.

It had speared through his side, yet instead of despair, Ash grabbed onto Lancer's hand and pushed himself closer to him.

"What...?"

Lancer could not believe it when he felt a brief heat sensation across his neck.

Then the world begun to tilt on it's side. His head with a surprised look on it's face, detached from his neck and fell to the ground.

Ash looked on in shock, hand holding on to the plasma knife he had confiscated from the Chitauri before he left the M.C.U. It had been tricky, getting Shiro to sharpen the end of his pipe into something dangerous with it. Ash then had held on to it, knowing that all he needed was a chance. However...he never thought it would work so well.

Ash had only been after a scar but looking down at the head of Lancer...

"Did I just...kill him?"