Applying the maximum number of stacks on the giant's body, Shiro consumed them all and looked up at the portal. Feeling much lighter now that her physique was reinforced, Shiro didn't spare any second and charged up towards the portal.
Swinging herself to avoid the wardens that were trying to eat her, Shiro twisted herself and pushed for the portal.
*TSS!!!!
Feeling the barrier once again, Shiro narrowed her eyes and pushed harder with Nivlim.
However, she couldn't stay in the same spot for long since the wardens were just behind her.
Pushing herself to the side, Shiro managed to dodge out of one of their jaws as she watched the warden crash against the barrier which caused it to vibrate heavily before knocking him back.
Narrowing her eyes, she took this chance to try to force her way through the barrier once more.
Feeling the surface budge a little, joy filled her heart but this joy was soon extinguished as several wardens launched ranged attacks at her.
If she pressed on to try to escape, she'd be cut in half but if she retreated, she might lose this chance.
Gritting her teeth, Shiro could only choose to go back for now since more chances will appear.
Dodging their attacks, Shiro wondered what she could do. Right now, all she needed was for something to distract these wardens long enough so that she can force her way through.
Just as she thought of this, she watched the barrier open slightly as Error returned to her right hand.
Quickly jumping up, she didn't want to miss this opportunity.
Activating her Spirit Nature again, a raging blizzard exploded out, obscuring her from the wardens' sight.
Pushing as hard as she could, Shiro could feel her hand pushing through the barrier. Gritting her teeth, she continued to push since she could tell that the wardens were searching for her right now.
However, all of the wardens opened their jaws at the same time and prepared a breath attack towards the blizzard. Even if they don't target Shiro directly, it'll hither regardless.
'You've got to be kidding me…' Shiro thought to herself since it was a bit late to move into cover. Plus, even if she was to move into cover, the breath is probably going to hit her regardless.
Watching the flames approach her, Shiro gritted her teeth and was about to release her hand to make some defences.
But before she could, a hand tapped her on the shoulder.
Glancing back, she could see a man with grey hair that seemed like it used to be black along with a set of black eyes which had heavy bags under them.
Ignoring her looks, the man reached his hand forward and snapped his finger.
As if pressing the pause button, the time around them seemed to stop and the flames were halted in mid air.
"We've got plenty of time to waste now. Just focus on getting out first." The spirit said as Shiro furrowed her brows but nodded eventually.
She recognised the voice but didn't know why he was helping her. Plus, if he could freeze time like this, it meant that he had obtained Chronos' divinity.
However, this only leads her to ask one question. Why didn't he do this before?
But right now her main concern was to just get out alive.
Pulling her hand back with Nivlim, Shiro gathered her strength and pierced forward.
Now that she had the free time to focus on piercing this barrier, it didn't take long for the barrier to rip apart like a piece of cloth.
Jumping up, Shiro managed to climb out of the prison and land in the arena once more.
Breathing out heavily, Shiro glanced back and saw that the spirit reached out for the weak point that she had created.
Grabbing it with his right hand, he swiped his hand aside and the gap widened instantly.
Cracking his neck, the man landed next to Shiro and looked around.
"Nothing much has changed and I see a few familiar faces." He smirked while glancing at the sisters before narrowing his eyes at Tenma with some slight killing intent.
"So who are you and why did you help?" Shiro asked with a frown.
"Me? Mn well I was a prisoner of Nyx but she decided to free me to help you. You would have died there if I didn't intervene." The man shrugged.
"And your name?" Shiro asked.
"Wait you don't know my name?" The man raised his eyebrow and glanced at Shiro with confusion.
"Should I know your name?"
"Well aren't you the spirit queen? Surely you'll recognise the great betrayer that almost killed you all?" The man asked.
"My circ.u.mstances are a little… special." Shiro shrugged.
"Mn I see. So as the Spirit Queen, what do you think you should do in this situation?" He asked as he leaned now and narrowed his eyes at Shiro.
"What do you want me to do? I can't kill you nor do I plan to since you helped me. Plus, since Nyx freed you to help me, it means you're probably the best choice compared to the other prisoners." Shiro replied while not backing down to his gaze.
"And you realise that she can't do anything if I want to kill you right?" The spirit glared at her with killing intent as Shiro glared back with her own killing intent.
"I know but that doesn't mean I will back down without a fight."
Feeling her killing intent, the spirit grinned.
"I like you. You're not spineless."
"A few people have told me that. What's new?" Shiro shrugged back.
"Hn, funny. Anyways, since I'm here I might as well tell you that as you are right now, there is no way for you to clear this tower."
"Huh? Why?" Shiro furrowed her brows.
"You haven't tapped into the real power of the sixth sense. While your senses are superb, you haven't pushed it past the boundary yet. The key of this trial is to push your senses past this boundary. Once you achieve this, the fights will become easier for you."
"How would pushing it past the boundary help with this fight? I can barely harm the big bastard." Shiro pointed at the giant.
"Oh you'll understand once you push it past the boundary. I wasn't able to before hence why I failed this tower. I can tell you how you can try to. But grasping it is a whole nother matter for you." The spirit smirked.
"I doubt I'll be able to do it in a short amount of time. You probably have a limit to stopped time don't you?" Shiro asked.
"Maybe. You don't know. But I can tell you now that I can stop time for much longer than you think." The spirit smiled as Shiro nodded.
"I'll tell you the method. Whether or not you can grasp it is up to you. I'll give you a bit of help at the start but I'll leave after a day."
Hearing this, Shiro understood that he could freeze time for more than a day.
After learning about this, she couldn't help but wonder how much energy this requires along with how it influences the outside world.
"Wait, if you can stop time for more than a day, why is Nyx's tower higher ranked than Chronos?" Shiro asked curiously.
"Hmm… Well it depends but you don't need to know. Anyways, I'll teach you about how you can try to grasp this I suppose."
"Ok, but one more question."
"Go."
"Why are you helping me this much? You've already escorted me out of the prison." Shiro asked.
Hearing this, the spirit stayed silent for a bit before looking back at her.
"I guess it's to repay my crimes of betraying the spirit race. The best way is to help the spirit queen."
Seeing that he had no intention so say anything more, Shiro nodded her head.
###
*Sigh…
Sighing in relief, Nyx relaxed in her chair as the spirit decided to help Shiro in the end.
"Seems like she's on his good side." Gaia chuckled seeing the spirit teach Shiro how to push past the border of her sixth sense.
"Mn, he's also telling her the secret to my tower too which saves me the effort." Nyx chuckled.
"What do you think will happen when she masters it?"
"What do I think will happen? Let's see… it's going to become very hard to hit her even for powerful queens and gods. The only thing that will limit her then is her body." Nyx grinned.