Life Before Becoming an Omniverse Entity-Chapter 113: Time element

"Huh?"

Renan muttered as he looked around, finding himself back in the place where he had been standing a few seconds ago outside the big hall. The katana that he had formed using his ice element had also disappeared as if it never existed.

'How,' he thought, his eyes narrowing in confusion. But just as the thought surfaced, an answer naturally came to his mind.

'Time,' he thought again, but before he could process it further, a voice came ringing in his mind—Elaris—and her voice was laced with unmistakable happiness and excitement,

'Yes, Renan! Good, that was an amazing decision to attack her outright—as expected of my husband!' she said, nodding her head up and down in joy.

'Huh? What do you mean, Elaris? Can you explain it to me properly?' Renan asked, still puzzled and trying to understand what just happened.

'Well, Renan, I still can't tell you everything since you need to clear the dungeon before I'm able to explain fully, but that was also why I couldn't warn you about her time element power. However, now because of her arrogance and you not wasting that opportunity, you've managed to learn her biggest trump card—and that is her time element. Since you already know about the time element now, I can at least explain a little about it,' Elaris said, her voice finally sounding relieved as her earlier worry faded.

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

'I see... So how much can you tell me about it?' Renan asked, his gaze drifting back toward the hall and locking onto the box where the shadow Elf had previously been sitting. She was no longer relaxed. Now she stood with her wand firmly in front of her, prepared to fight at any moment. Her entire stance radiated alertness, a clear sign that she no longer saw Renan as someone she could underestimate.

'I can only tell you about the time element, nothing more,' Elaris replied after thinking for a moment.

'I understand. So can you tell me how to kill a mage at the eighth stage who has access to the time element?' Renan questioned further, watching the movements of his opponent carefully.

'Hmm… You can kill them only once they run out of mana. If not, they will continue to rewind time every time they die. Each time you kill them, time element is used to rewind time to a moment when they were still alive. That costs an eighth-stage mage around ten percent of their total mana reserves every time they use it,' Elaris explained, giving Renan a critical advantage.

'Ten percent... So I only need to kill her nine more times before I can truly finish her off?' Renan asked with narrowed eyes, calculating his odds.

'Yes,' Elaris confirmed with certainty.

While Renan and Elaris were mentally communicating, the mana level of the shadow Elf suddenly surged—from the seventh to the eighth stage. Renan felt the difference instantly, the weight of the air shifting around them. He raised an eyebrow at the rising intensity.

'She's serious now,' Elaris noted.

'I can see that,' Renan responded. And the very next second, he stepped into the hall once more.

Without hesitation, Renan activated his space element and vanished from his spot. He reappeared behind the shadow Elf, aiming to strike her again. But unlike before, the shadow Elf had already moved. In the spot where she had been, a large magic circle with intricate designs had formed beneath his feet. The moment he landed on it, a loud boom rang out, and overwhelming flames burst out from the circle, engulfing him completely.

The shadow Elf had made a safe distance from the blast and watched closely with keen, focused eyes. She wasn't about to repeat her previous mistake. And just as she expected—

The flames, which a second ago had seemed so fierce, stopped abruptly in mid-air. Then, slowly, they started to rotate and shrink down until they were the size of a palm. The flames, now glowing in a threatening shade of purple, hovered above Renan's hand. He stood untouched by the explosion—his clothes intact, his body unharmed.

"Ohh right, I forgot to tell you one thing. Elemental powers don't work on me—especially from someone who's on the same level as me," Renan said calmly. The purple fire disappeared from his hand as he propelled himself forward at full strength, arms drawn back to strike and destroy.

Seeing him coming, the shadow Elf raised her wand and formed two new magic circles in front of it. One released fire, the other lightning, both aimed at Renan. But as he had said, the elements were useless. The attacks didn't even graze his clothing.

As he charged forward, Renan's voice echoed toward her.

But before he could reach her, the shadow Elf suddenly used the wind element to push herself into the air, increasing her speed dramatically.

"You can use wind too? Interesting. But if you think you can run away from me, you must be dreaming," Renan said as he increased his speed even further, chasing after her like a predator.

Then she did something unexpected—she changed her grip on the wand and threw it at him like a spear. Since the wand wasn't elemental, if it hit, it could cause serious injury—or worse, it could be fatal.

*SWISH*

The wand flew at him like a missile. Renan dodged by shifting slightly to the side.

*SWISH*

It continued past him and crashed into the ground.

*BOOM*

"Huh… Now what? Losing your weapon during a fight you're already losing? That's just asking for death," Renan said mockingly, not slowing down at all. In fact, he pushed himself faster.

But that wasn't all. The shadow Elf raised her hand toward Renan, her expression unreadable.

'Huh? What is she—' he started to think, but then his body suddenly halted. A white aura enveloped him.

A second later, his halted body began to move—but not forward. Instead, it was pushed backward at the exact speed he had been moving forward.

'Huh, so she can even use the time element on a specific target… interesting,' Renan thought, but before he could analyze it further,

*THUD*

"Cough," Renan gasped, blood spurting from his mouth. He looked down—and saw it. The end of the wand that the shadow Elf had thrown earlier was now pierced through his chest, dangerously close to his heart.

*Cough*

He coughed again, more blood staining his lips. As he looked up, he saw the shadow Elf descending slowly from the air, her wand now gone, but her dominance clear.

She looked down at him coldly.

"You,"