Already having felt the privilege of cloth burn two days before, she took him up on the offer and changed into the other outfit. It had the stench of old sweat, the fabric clung to her skin, but it looked durable enough to use in the ring. The worst was that it tore, which meant little as Sasha didn’t intend to pay for it.

The fighting ring wasn’t as soft as the other ones she’d stood on in the past. It beat fighting on a concrete floor, the padding here still softened some falls, but it certainly wasn’t enough to stop a shoulder from breaking if she fell the right way.

“Not a fan of what I built?” Cas questioned as she looked down at the white flooring. “It was expensive enough for this material. Anything better would’ve taken all the savings I brought with me.”

With.

“You’re not from here,” Sasha said, getting into one corner while he got into the other. He was already stretching, getting muscles to loosen up before he injured himself. She did the same, letting the blood flow into her arms and legs as she performed the standard routine.

“You’re not from here either, so don’t say it like that,” he countered, silent for a moment as his arms were pulled high and back to let the abdominal muscles have their turn. “Only difference is that I came by boat while you and that other twerp came by the portal.”

He knows too much.

Sasha wasn’t a fan of it in the slightest, already feeling unnerved by the time he said her name along with those made-up titles. She’d never thought of them outright herself, had never been called either of them in the past, yet both somewhat fit her actions through the last years. Especially the latter.

It only became worse every time she looked at him for too long. The strange facial features barely made her blink, but the sight that came when she looked inside him made her shudder a little. Jack called it her ‘third eye,’ Elijah explained it as magical senses overlapping with her sight to make her brain process it easier, but Sasha just thought of it as a headache. People with abilities could spot others similarly gifted, and the fighter before her was one of them.

Though it was hard to put into words, his insides were a constant gray fog, changing in shape to somewhat reflect the movements he made. There was no clear pattern, and the fog would often make massive shifts without any direct correlation to his limbs, but Sasha could just feel that there was some form of connection between the two.

“You can see the future in some ways,” Sasha observed, Cas nodding without commenting yet. “Anything in the moment is seen two to three seconds before it happens. Larger events that influence you can be spotted further away.”

“Not a bad guess,” Cas admitted, putting his weight on the front of his feet for a second to put weight on the ankles. “Not totally accurate but it’s close enough to work with for now.”

“You’re not telling me?” Sasha asked. Jack would’ve spilled everything he could think of by now. Maybe there were some actually smart people around in this world.

“That wouldn’t be fun, right?” he replied with a grin. “How about we make it more interesting? If you get me on the ground, I’ll tell you.”

“And if you get me on the ground?”

“Let’s do this a few times before we start making consequences for that.”

Arrogant.

Sasha knew she was wrong for thinking like that as well, though. Even with her years of experience, even with the hundred of fights she’d won without too many marks to show for it, she knew that underestimating others would do her no good.

And against a person able to see her movements two seconds ahead, cheaper tricks meant very little. Only quick reactions, predicting his tricks as well, and endurance could help her out. Her one true help here was the fact that he’d already just finished a fight minutes ago.

“You ready?” Cas asked. She nodded. “Then do your best.”

Neither ran in like an idiot. They kept up their footwork, ready to work against an attack at any moment. Though they moved, nearing each other for the first seconds, the first punch took ten to arrive.

And it didn’t come from her, Cas starting out with a quick jab. Nothing too serious, Sasha dodging the first while blocking the second without an issue. There was pride in the third repeat, making her counter and advance for a straight punch that he avoided before she could get close.

He hadn’t thought he could take it easily, so he didn’t allow the situation to unfold. Annoying but informative.

The play continued. She tried for a hook, he blocked the first, twisted to avoid the second, and then threw a lead kick when Sasha took a step back. She blocked with her arm, but the force was enough to make her grit her teeth.

For a starting match, there was little held back in that attack.

I can accept no restraint.

Intending to win, she went through the basic set of combinations. A double jab, a right hook, and two left kicks in quick succession. From the way Cas tried to avoid it instantly, she knew it was the right choice, advancing and going through them all.

Then came the counter, a straight hit before an uppercut that would’ve had her on the floor if it’d managed to hit. No playing around at all. She tried for a low kick, but barely got it going before Cas was on her.

He was faster than she thought he would be. Enough that she couldn’t adjust in time to block properly and get a hit just above her chest. It hurt, making her distracted and not blocking the next body shot either.

No.

Another attempt at an uppercut forced her hand, the feeling of emptiness honing in on the area the fist was flying towards before latching onto it.

Sasha was ready for the hit, ready to absorb and counter instantly, yet the fist never reached her. It stalled in mid-air, a breath away from hitting before it was pulled away.

“That took a while to get out of you,” Cas said as he stepped back, the man shaking his arms and legs as he walked back into his corner. “Knew you had it in you, but you didn’t seem like you intended on using it.”

“You’re cheating by looking into the future,” Sasha accused. “I’m making it fair.”

“Yes, but don’t call what you have cheating,” the man corrected, grabbing his bottle on the side of the ring and taking a sip. He offered but she rejected it. “It’s a part of you that you can use, just like the knuckles you seem so happy to try getting through my face.”

She didn’t refute the notion.

“I put a hole through a table by putting my hand on it,” Sasha said matter-of-factly. “If I use it, don’t complain about what happens.”

“Sasha, you’re not going to do anything I don’t see coming.”

That had her worked up again, ready to take on the fight with little consideration regarding the hits to her stomach. She could feel the aches, yet the potential of making the man hurt more made it worth it.

Another quick round ended in her being spared before she began to fully incorporate the absorption into her movements. Adding to it after so long felt strange, it felt unnatural, and it made her reactions slow down to undesirable levels. Being able to see a hit coming meant little when half a second needed to be present preparing for it.

Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her Core, or whatever it was called, ready to take a hit constantly. The absorption it provided needed to be timed, only staying up for half a second before the energy had to be brought to their internal organ and piled together. Before and after that, there was nothing protecting her, nothing to take the kinetic energy.

Through effort, she could force it to stay for half a second extra, but that meant so little when Cas simply waited it out and abused the next second of temporary weakness. It was too mentally draining, too easy to force her out of the zone. All her other senses were dulled, and he abused it every time she overstepped.

“The dreams told me you could take fighters twice your size,” Cas commented, standing over her as she fell to the floor from a hit to the stomach. A direct one from the front, one that she should’ve been able to block normally yet hadn’t now. “What’s happening, Sasha? Did you grow weak so quickly?”

Pitiful attempts at making her angry, to make her see red.

It was working, making her the worst one between the two.

At least the anger worked as fuel, getting her back up on her feet and into the starting form for the tenth time. Her eyes were shaky from the adrenaline, and her pulse was starting to hurt from the pressure as it beat, but she held her hands true. This was not the time to falter.

Cas smiled as he went in to embarrass her further. A jab to the face made her block, the hook that came after was blocked with her ability, but the elbow that came out of nowhere hit her square in the jaw.

She could see his smile as she stumbled back before it turned to horror as he tried to reach around.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

By then it was too late, a bloodied grin coming from Sasha as she got her hand firmly on his shoulder.

Farewell.

Desorption was activated, and a chunk of the kinetic energy built up was released directly into the limb. Something snapped under her grip, something likely vital, but the wave of force traveling across the man’s body made it all worth it. Was this a crippling blow? Most definitely.

Not letting him stumble back, she pulled him closer before throwing him over her shoulder and onto the floor. The mild padding saved Cas from too much injury from that alone, but he didn’t get back up either.

“Finally,” Sasha muttered as she collapsed next to the man, breathing hard as she looked him in the eyes. He was under the same form of tiredness, which wasn’t surprising after over an hour of this. “Was it worth breaking a shoulder to prove a point?”

Whatever that point might’ve been, she wasn’t sure. Didn’t care either, just wanting to lie down for a while as her body returned to normal. It had been too long since she was this physically tired.

“I’m starting to get second thoughts, if I’m being honest,” Cas confessed with a grin. “Crawl back a bit, if you would.”

Sasha didn’t listen until she started hearing the crackling and sound of bones breaking all over again, pushing herself another meter away from the man as the shoulder she’d most definitely broken began to reform. It wasn’t a form of healing, the sounds and sight of it making sure she understood that but neither did it keep being broken. It was as if the wound was just being reversed.

Disgusting.

“And… there we go!” Cas announced, sitting up and feeling at the unbroken limb. “Good as new, don’t you think?”

“It’s still bruised from earlier,” Sasha replied dryly, seeing the marks that had steadily started turning blue. She had several of them as well, the marks being consequences of blocking kicks too often. “You can just undo the hits you get? Looks like cheating to me.”

“Told you not to call it cheating,” he reminded her, making Sasha roll her eyes. “And, no, it’s not so powerful that I can simply reverse any wound or injury inflicted on my beautiful body. If my arm gets ripped off, then that’s that, and anything too large in scale would empty me of Mana before it's even close to being undone.”

The scars on his body were a testament to that, she supposed. Thoughts had been swirling for a while about why those were there. At first, they seemed like regular battle wounds, but more and more of them looked like they were purposely made to form art or text of some kind. Reminders, perhaps?

“I suppose I owe you a full explanation of this mess?” Cas said, taking a mouthful from his bottle before handing it over to Sasha so she could do the same. Having some liquid in her body again felt heavenly, when she’d sweated half her body weight out already. “Ugh, where to start? I guess the official name of this Affinity of mine, though it’s honestly an over-exaggeration. Do you know about Chronomancy?”

“Something to do with time?”

“That covers it well enough,” he supposed. “It’s mainly known for its use in divination, to figure out what happens in the future. If they’ve told you about any of the legends that have prophecies, you can thank some Chronomancer for being the inspiration behind it. Though… that’s not to say that everything we predict is going to happen.”

“You’ve predicted my movements flawlessly until the end, so there can’t be too many problems with it,” Sasha commented, making him laugh.

“I got distracted by your face at the end there, though faking pain and then grabbing me a second later was a good trick,” he said in a vain attempt to defend his failures. “But, no, the accuracy with that is because it’s barely two seconds ahead I’m predicting. Time has mostly settled in place when it’s so close and so small in scale. I start seeing double when I go to ten seconds, quadruple at fifteen, and from that point on it becomes exponential. The reason that those prophecies come true is because they are major events that anything probable from that point on won’t change the existence or the outcome of the scenario.”

It matched up with what Sasha had seen previously in how the man seemed to fight. Though there was some long-term planning in his movements, and in how he fought, Cas was truly dominant in the short term. Anything that could be exploited was given that treatment and any opening was used as fast as they arrived. Deadly but not a good planner in the long term. It would be his downfall at some point.

Though it also meant that her arriving here was something he’d seen coming over a week ago. He’d known about her arrival before she’d known about this world.

A strange realization that made her wonder.

“The future changes when you know about it,” Sasha said.

“To a stupid degree that messed up my fights for many years,” Cas confirmed. “Looking slightly further into the future and locking onto the one that seems best has been my strategy since. Not always consistent in results, truthfully, but it’s worked well enough for now.”

“Hmm,” she replied. “And knowing my full name? And turning back time on your shoulder?”

“I looked into the future where you told me your first name, and then I allowed my mind to take a brief look at your past,” Cas explained, hands up in surrender before she could tighten her hands into fists. “Not enough to know everything, since I don’t have the powers to do that regardless, but enough that the world told me a few of their favorite titles for you. ‘Protector of Kids and Beater of Idiots.’ Not bad titles, you must admit.”

She just rolled her eyes, not seeing it worth it to comment.

“And I already told you about the shoulder a little, but more details while we wait doesn’t hurt, I suppose,” Cas continued, Sasha frowning at the last part. Waiting for what exactly? “The other field within Chronomancy, the one that people normally expect, is the manipulation of time. Making it run faster, making it slow, making it stop, making it repeat, or even making it roll back a little. Endless in potential and basically impossible for anybody given this curse. I personally know how to roll back some of the wounds I’ve attained through the past decades, but that’s all I can do. Anything more is saved for figures of legends or fools who don’t understand the consequences.”

Even to Sasha, playing with time itself seemed like a dangerous gamble. While she wasn’t one to think too hard about the conceptual parts of the world, manipulating one of the fundamental forces didn’t sound like an activity that would be ignored for long.

“Is that why you’re down here? Because you won’t be safe outside?” she questioned, the man smiling at her. Even with the muscles that seemed to match somebody her age group, those streaks of gray in the beard along with the pale skin made it clear they had been here for some time. “What happens if you’re caught?”

“If I was a child? Some form of control would be put on me, and I would become somebody’s puppet and weapon,” Cas rattled off, seeming to speak from experience. Had he foreseen it? “If I were to leave now? Interrogation that would leave me longing for death before my wish would be fulfilled. Not a pretty sight.”

Yet again, she didn’t doubt that he had seen it. Haunted eyes like that were hard to fake. Those who knew too much, who had experienced too much for one person to endure. They could usually handle themselves until a certain breaking point where they shattered harder than anybody else.

“... I’m sorry,” Sasha muttered, an inkling of empathy pushing through her usual walls. “That’s terrible.”

“It’s fine, little guardian,” Cas assured her, arms wrapping around her before she knew what was happening. “I chose to come here. It was my choice to be a part of something bigger.”

Yet again she questioned his words.

“What?” she said, but he didn’t answer. “You told me you would explain everything so start talking.”

He kept quiet, retreating a little while staying silent. Her mood returned to that quiet seething, and she was ready to wrap her hands around his throat when she heard a door slam open.

The same door she’d used when entering two hours before, though she’d had the decency to do it quietly. The kid who’d waltzed in had none of the sort, a sour expression on their face as they walked up to the fighting ring.

“Cas, I need you to do some stuff for me,” the man said, entirely ignoring Sasha’s existence. “Hurry it up.”

Already, she had a good idea of the kid. They had to be around twenty with that scrawny build, no work done in their lives with the lack of calluses on their palms, and that attitude of constant superiority. The blonde hair wasn’t even bleached, making their punchable face entirely natural.

“Louis, would you mind waiting five minutes? My scheduled training hours should end soon,” Cas requested, making the kid frown. Finally, they looked over and noticed Sasha’s existence.

“You new? Where are you from?” the scrawny man questioned, impassive until it became clear she had no intention to reply. “I’m talking to you. I expect you to answer.”

“Sorry, I try to avoid talking to worthless people,” Sasha dryly apologized, her eyes steady and her tone making it clear she couldn’t care less about him.

She wondered if the young man had some innate gift as well, as they turned red in such a short time. There had to be something to them as well, as they instantly climbed into the fighting ring, approaching her with quick steps.

“You little—” the kid started, raising a hand to do something. Maybe a slap or an awkward right hook. Didn’t matter, as she grabbed the arm and used the momentum to throw him onto the floor. “Ugh, you—”

Her boot got him in the face right on the nose, stomping it in just a little.

“Quiet,” she said, keeping her mirth to herself as the instant moan of pain came, hands over his face as blood began to flow. “That’s better.”

She was surprised Cas kept quiet through it all, just looking at the events unfolding without interrupting. Maybe he was making sure to stay out of it to avoid the consequences. She didn't blame him.

“I want you to listen to my voice,” Sasha said, going down on one knee so the scrawny man could hear her. Tears were welling up in their eyes. “I don’t care who you are, what you want, or why you want it. Leave, clean yourself up, and come back another day when I’m not here. I don’t want to look at you again. Understand?”

The man tried to talk but her look made them stop before the first word could come out fully.

A moment passed before they nodded.

“Good,” Sasha said. “Leave.”

They left, needing a moment to climb out of the ring while still holding their nose, but otherwise keeping a good pace as they retreated out the door and up the stairs.

That was easy.

“Any guesses who the owner of the nose you just broke is?” Cas asked, making Sasha shrug. “Prince Louis Newell, third in line for the crown.”

…

“Shit,” she muttered, making Cas laugh. Of course, it couldn’t be some random worthless person. It had to be a worthless royal. “Thanks for the warning.”

“No problem,” the Chronomancer replied, looking weirdly serene. “This is actually one of the few moments I’ve seen coming for a long time. Sometimes in a different spot, sure, but you breaking the nose of a royal has been a constant when looking into the future.”

Huh. Sasha was surprised about how little she cared about that. And here she thought beating up some of the more powerful figures of the world would bring her happiness.

“If you can see the major events for the future, I need to know about one of them,” she said, making Cas look at her. “Do I ever get back to the other world?”

…

“I’m not sure,” Cas answered after some time. “There are too many dice rolls before that point, so I can’t say. But, if you work hard, you’ll probably reach the point where you can choose whether or not to return.”

…

She accepted that answer, leaving to go shower and return to her usual outfit. It was better than nothing.