I Rewind time to the moment when the mysterious attackers arrived, and I ready my weapons.

"I'm going in; there's more to these guys than meets the eye," I say to Terrence, who nods before I teleport away.

Of course, I could have used the Hammer to deal with them; but there are several problems with that. First of all, there's the possibility that they can cancel the portals, it would make our weapon ineffective. The second point is that they might be able to resist the Hammer, their mana-less abilities seem to be very strong so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

But I need to go in, even if they can't endure the Hammer. I need to know who sent them, and what's behind their abilities. Their powers are too fearsome and bear a striking similarity with the Rewinder since they can do extraordinary things with no mana usage. Sarah and I share a similarity in that both of our abilities aren't using any mana and, as far as we know, cannot be countered by 'normal' means.

I do rely on an external device to Rewind while Sarah can use her power with just a thought, but the similarity is there. And, from the looks of things, we aren't isolated cases. For instance, these people were able to burn my mansion is less than a minute without any equipment or mana usage.

Unease spreads in my mind as I arrive near the unknown invaders. If I admit that Sarah, these people, and I share the same properties and use the same kind of abilities, then it could be possible that they'll detect the Rewinder, and they could be able to block it.

That would be disastrous, to say the least.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts, even the Oracle isn't aware of the Rewinder, and the fact that it isn't an innate ability should mean that there's more to the Rewinder than all to other ability users.

The key word here is 'should,' but this is neither the time nor the place to think about these subjects. Instead, I focus on the enemies, who barely reacted to my arrival.

But I don't let their seemingly uncaring attitude bother me; the earlier timeline showed that they don't have to move a finger to wreak havoc.

I activate my robes as a show of force, and as an attempt to intimidate them. Even the Oracle reacted to my light show, so they should be too.

"My name is-" I am suddenly interrupted by a feeling of burning. Crippling pain arises from my abdomen, but it dissipates in an instant thanks to my regeneration.

This development seems to cause a stir in the group in front of me, and the woman with red hair at the front glares at me before messing with her helmet. The same burning feeling comes back, but this time every cell of my body seems to be set ablaze in an instant.

My regeneration barely keeps me alive. I fall to my knees as the air around me turns into pure fire; even my equipment seems to heat up. I'm lucky that my phone case is stronger than my body since it appears that the woman can only heat a group of objects to a single temperature rather than separate ones.

I do my best to keep calm and raise my head, causing the woman, who is grimacing while her pale face turns into the same shade as her hair, to take a step back.

"Who are you?" she finally asks as I struggle to get back on my feet. She readjusts her leather jacket and cracks her neck.

"Who cares?" a lanky guy says while glancing at his phone. "The way he's dressed makes it obvious that he's related to the target, so-"

"Shut up Carl. I'm the one in charge." The red-haired leader says before smacking the phone out of the hands of the guy named Carl. To my surprise, the phone stops before hitting the ground, and it flows back into Carl's hands.

"I was checking my Amazon delivery," he says.

"Shut up! We are on a mission, so focus!" the enraged leader says while threatening to smack the phone again with a hand gesture.

"All right, it's obvious that your flames are not able to incapacitate him without killing him, so let me try." He says before messing with his helmet, just like the red-haired woman, and glance at me.

A massive gust of wind washes over me, thousands of blades of air crash against my shield while one of my lung explodes. The destroyed organ grows back in an instant, but it's still not a pleasant experience.

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ShOw ThEm!

The voice shouts in anger in my head, and I follow its helpful advice. I use all my strength to get back up and raise my pistol towards the nonchalant Carl, who is distracted by his phone.

My gun seems to heat up as I aim, Phase 3 seems to have reinforced it beyond what the woman is capable of as she grits her teeth. I don't let her warn her companion, and shoot a couple of bullets into his head. It's not bragging when I say that I've become a good shot over the centuries of battle I endured, so my bullets should not miss.

A grin creeps on my face as the surprised teen gasps before his cranium explodes in an instant.

"CARL!" the red-haired woman shouts. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she says before slapping the smaller woman standing next to her, who seems shocked and has pieces of her friend's skull tangled in her hair.

"I-I didn't connect in time... There were too many projectiles, they were too fast, and his aura was already too much..." she says while staring into nothingness.

"GET A GRIP! We need you!" the red-haired woman says before slapping her.

"Everyone, connect! This guy is dangerous!" she says, and the two other members of her small group nod.

"Already ahead of you!" a bald, muscular guy wearing sportswear growls before cracking his fists. A sonic boom echoes and a baseball-sized hole appears where my heart should be. The burly guy almost keels over after his shot, and they all gasp when they realize that the hole into my chest already healed.

"Come on Simon, don't overextend yourself! You should know that by now!" the leader shouts.

"Fuck off Alison! This guy fucking killed Carl! I do not give a shit about the servers' state or potential brain damage!" Simon replies before furrowing his brows.

"You fuckin' idiot!" the last member of their team, a short androgynous-looking guy wearing a floaty blue sweater and a pair of jeans along with white sneakers, says as he points towards me. "Don't you see that the hole the gorilla made is gone! This dickhead isn't normal!"

Alison sighs, "Thank you, Lucas; I didn't notice because I'm retarded. What would we do without your incredible insights!"

I sigh and ready my weapon while doing my best to not react to having one of my leg blown off by Simon, who fainted in the next moment while blood drips from his eyes and nostrils.

Lucas is the first one to notice me, and a massive laser the size of a motorcycle almost disintegrate me. A flash of light then erupt in front of my eyes but my armor protects my retinas, so it allows me to sidestep to avoid yet another laser.

Alison is the next one to attack as heat fills my armor. "You piece of shit! Tell us where John Thomson is, and we'll consider killing you quickly!" she shouts.

A grin creeps on my face as I crack my neck. These people wield terrifying powers, but their abilities are quite limited, and they are not using them to their full potential. Furthermore, they aren't bullet-proof.

What a WoNdErFuL dAy!

The voice and I roar in unison as we Rewind time, we are back to our first encounter with the mysterious group. I don't make the same mistake as last time and shoot them as I activate my robes. It takes a few tries to correct my aim, but I now have killed everyone except the woman wearing yoga pants and a tank top which is two sizes too small.

Her jaw drops and she falls on her back; tears flow from her eyes as she crawls away from me. She fiddles with her helmet, and a transparent appears between us. I punch the wall; it causes her to shiver, but the barrier still holds. I check my Portal Gun, and my grin widens.

This barrier isn't a magical construct. And it isn't defending its inside perimeter against teleportation.

What a ShAmE.

I sink into the ground and reappear near the woman. She cries and raises her hands, and I'm suddenly encased in the same material as before. The incredible pressure causes my shield to empty its ammo as an alarming pace, and my armor makes an ominous groan.

Lesson learned, do not approach her. Her ability must have a range limitation.

I Rewind and stay outside of the barrier raised by the lone teenager. I raise my gun and aim towards her abdomen. "Who are you? And who are you working for?" I say while doing my best to appear as threatening as possible.

It's quite successful. But maybe killing all her friends while wearing a set of integral bulky armor already did the job.

The woman sobs, "I-I'm Carla; I w-was sent here to-"

A rock suddenly appears where my heart was.

"Got you!" a woman with short blond hair appears behind me, and a myriad of random items replace my organs before being deleted by my regeneration.

I grit my teeth. I forgot about this one. Where was she hiding?

"E-Eva!" Carla says between two sobs.

"Shut up you dumbass!" Eva says before taking out a box of nails. "Let's see how you like it!"

The box empties in a second, and all the pieces of metal are now embedded in my body. I feel a liquid seeping out of the nails, but everything is deleted before I can endure the effects of what I assume must be some form of deadly poison.

Eva glares at me and grins, "So how do you like my paralyzing nails? This poison is so strong it could stop the heart of a Minotaur!"

Interesting, so these guys know about the Hidden World.

I pretend to be paralyzed, and Eva casually approaches the still sobbing Clara. I wait until she's within arms reach and-

I shield-punch her in the face.

The top half of her body explodes, and her bloody legs fall on the ground while blood seeps out of the broken arteries. I glance at my guts-covered hand, I knew that shield-punching was quite powerful, but using it onto a 'regular' person makes me fully realize what a powerful attack it is.

It also shows how sturdy my enemies are.

This moment is when I realize what I've done. I didn't even hesitate to kill people who should still be in high school. I freeze the timeline for a moment; the voice is demanding more violence while I do my best to ignore it. It's clear that I've been carried away, that I'm-

I shake my head. The one responsible for this is their leader. Who would send a bunch of sixteen years old to a magical battlefield?

This situation is cruel; they are bound to fail miserably and die a horrible death if they are not captured and tortured for information.

Of course, I'm aware that this line of thought is a cope out from what I've done, a way to distract my broken mind from the consequences of my actions. But it's very effective.

I know that time travel has changed how I view the world, and the violence-filled Hidden World only accelerated the warping of my thoughts.

In fact, I'm already beyond caring for these teenagers forced into war by a disdainful master. Maybe I'll try to recruit them, their powers are too useful to ignore, and they must have a wealth of helpful information at their disposal.

But, before all of that, I need to know more. I turn towards Clara and take a deep breath.

By now, Clara has been turned into an incomprehensible sobbing mess. She vomited when her companion exploded in front of her, and her now lifeless eyes stare at me. I grab my shotgun from my back and aim it towards her barrier while being sure that the blast won't hit her body.

I fire a Shell, causing the woman to grimace. I was right. It seems that their abilities can cause some backlash if they over-use them. And, as luck would have it, her talent seems to make her able to form barriers.

Too bad for her, I have a LoT of firepower at my DiSpOsAl.

I fire another Shell, causing Clara's body to contort as she flails her limbs around.

"You know what to do," I say as I aim my shotgun. "Talk, and I'll let you leave."

"R-Really?" she says with teary eyes.

"Of course." I declare.

"O-Okay," the helpless teen says. "What do you want to know?"

I grin, this is going to be a very productive day.