The two women had disappeared from his sight. But she remained. He threw his chain weapon at her.

She regained her movement this time and backstepped out of the blade's range.

(“So she does possess mana. How strange, I don't think I've seen someone taking longer than another to escape my magic. Is hers especially low?”)

He brought his chain back and continued watching her.

A boom could be heard and she was stopped again.

(“I see. I really have run my body ragged. I still have a limited amount of these I can shoot out within a certain time frame.”)

He heard footsteps behind himself and turned to see a spear in his face. He quickly stopped the wielder and stopped the spear as well.

(“It seems I require more mana than usual to stop her spear.”) He calmly assessed, with the spear blade touching his nose.

He slowly swung the blade at her. This was more than enough time for Agatha to throw one of the blades from her claw at him.

It struck his hand and the chain went off course. It caught her cheek instead of his intended target of her neck. He looked in her direction and another boom was heard.

He couldn't see it but she had been stopped. He began pulling the blade out of his hand.

(“It seems that women's electricity has damaged me in ways unseen. The divine powder certainly helps but I still have major damage inside me. My muscles feel off.”) The slow movement was not the bravado of the priest, showing off his improved power but a reality of his indecisiveness that led him to this point.

(“I was foolish to think I could defeat them without the powder. Did I really fear meeting that white-haired boy without the powder?”)

In his sloth, Elizabeth had gained back her ability to move and closed the distance between them in the time it took him to turn around.

(“Are we bound to be in a stalemate?”) He wondered as she closed the distance.

He stopped her and coughed up blood as a result.

(“A suppose that's what I get for overdoing it. Now what to do-”)

She didn't have her sword in her hand.

He lost part of an ear and now had a sword embedded in his shoulder.

(“She threw it up and presumably aimed for my head. Such precision. She's first on the chopping block.”) He thought with the most urgency he had since absorbing the powder.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

She was so close, that he knew dragging back his chain was the wrong move. He began pulling on the blade, struggling to dislodge it. He originally looked like a child but now it seemed he had the strength of one. He managed to pull the blade out of his shoulder and swung down at her. Seven seconds had passed in this time and she grabbed the blade coming down at her head.

She kicked him away and he threw the sword. She caught the handle and rushed forward.

(“That time ended quicker than normal. Is he weakening?”)

She continued rushing him but she believed this would be a wasted effort.

With the blade still in her cheek, Tina looked like a batter ready to hit a ball. The still-flying Daniel was headed her way.

He looked at her and she pointed her spear in his general direction.

(“Heh, try and stop me now you bastard. If you do, you'll still be stabbed.”)

He stopped himself in mid-air and stopped her.

(“Shit, he can still do that!?”)

He stopped just inches from her and reached for his weapon. He pulled it out of her cheek.

Before he could kill her, he moved his blade upwards to stop an incoming Elizabeth.

Elizabeth slammed him to the floor with her strike and left him momentarily dazed.

If he didn't position his blade in front of hers he would have been bisected.

She moved her blade down and even in his dazed state he had the instinct to stop her.

Several moments of silence, with Daniel doing his best to regain his footing. He struggled like he hadn't walked in years.

Tina regained her movement and decided to back away for the time being. Elizabeth followed her lead and backed up as well.

The group soon converged together out of his sight.

“Have any clues about what he can or can't do?” Tina asked.

“We'll have to assume he possesses his previous techniques based on what happened to you, Tina.”

“So not only can he stop us anywhere, he can do all that other stuff too?” Lily added.

“Based on what I saw it seems he reacts based on vision.” Elizabeth continued. “For the time being, I'd recommend taking our boots off for quieter footsteps.”

The group had dropped their torch and Father Daniel was so kind as to pick it up for them. It seemed in their scuffle, he ended up next to it.

He looked around as he held it up.

“I can't see any of them… Hahahahahahahahahahahahajahhahahahahahaha.”

He began walking around the room and a trail of light followed him.

“He isn't!?” Lily whispered loudly from the shadows.

“I didn't think of that,” Elizabeth commented as he carried the light of the room.

“That's something that can be stopped!?” Tina showed no hesitation in shouting at the current development.

He was freezing the light his torch produced, lighting up the darkness of the canteen. He turned around when he heard their voices but only managed to stop Lily and Nora.

The light shined bright to now cover a quarter of the room and made it far more difficult to approach him.

They had already taken off their shoes but there was no time to go back to look for them.