Chapter 126 - 125 - South Quadrant Conundrum(Part 5)

Point-of-View: Aku 

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Huh? What the...? I blinked, and then suddenly, I found myself standing in a different spot. What's more...the time stopper isn't here. What the hell just happened, how did I-...the hole in the ceiling, it's gone. 

And the table isn't broken...no way, don't tell me...I walked over to the table and picked up Sofia's watch, checking the time...no doubt about it, it should definitely be later than this. 

I...I must have been sent back in time, that's the only explanation. No, it's more like I got dragged back...the time stopper must have gone back in time, and I was inadvertently pulled along too. How...terrifying. 

Had I not been nearby, I likely would not remember any of this, who knows how many times he has rewinded time...who knows, maybe we've defeated the Sanctuary already, only for him to undo it. He alone may well be a bigger threat to us than the entirety of the rest of the Sanctuary. 

I then shook my head and focused, slapping the sides of my face...I shouldn't stay here, he must be on his way here again, and this time, he might be coming with reinforcements...it looks like it's finally about time for me to leave the Sanctuary, even if, by some off-chance, I can defeat him again and whoever he comes with, it'll become so much more difficult for me to operate now that they know I'm here. 

And besides, if he can literally go back in time, I might be fighting an impossible battle. Sneaking up to him clearly won't work, his senses are too sharp. Hm, wait a second, why did he go back this much? Why not about five to ten minutes? I wonder how this ability works, there must be some restrictions-...no, unfortunately, I don't have time to think about it. 

I won't push my luck any further, I'm leaving right now. I turned invisible and intangible, starting to leave, before glancing at the chained humans, the only ones still alive...should I kill Sofia? 

No, I think I'll spare her...I got a lot of information from her, but I didn't tell her a single thing about myself or any of my brethren. So while she may survive, which isn't guaranteed in her current condition, all she'll be left with if she does is a sense of guilt over betraying her kind...that should be worse than death. 

She won't have a single thing to offer them, not even the most trivial bit of information...speaking of which, I'm starting to deeply regret giving the time stopper as much information as I did...but how was I supposed to know that he can time travel as well!? 

Forget it, there's no sense in worrying about what's already done-...or rather, what will happen-...no, what hasn't happened yet-...this is confusing. Screw it, I gain nothing by figuring out the technicalities, time for me to leave... 

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Point-of-View: Kilzachs 

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I was pleasantly surprised when Load actually worked despite the presence of another Anomaly...but that was short-lived, now that I see what the catch was. It'd been about ten minutes since I arrived at the bowling alley...again. And there was no sign of Aku. 

So, looks like I finally know exactly what happens when I use Load while another Anomaly is present...they get to retain their memories of the time I undid by going back to my last Save point. This is bad...the Wights will now know that I can travel back in time. 

Interestingly enough, Aku had spared Sofia and the other people that he had chained up...I'm guessing that once he realized the fact that he'd been sent back in time, he probably figured that I'd be back but had no idea when that'd be...so he must have left pretty much as soon as we went back in time. 

Should I try using Load again and see if I can cut him off somehow? No, too risky...he probably won't know that it happened again, but he probably will still remember our first encounter in the bowling alley, so he'll still know about my time travel powers. 

Not to mention, I don't have a plan for getting around his invisibility. The Nullification Wave would probably work, but only if he's within range...so in all likelihood, it'd be nothing more than a wild goose chase on my part. 

And the bigger concern is the uncertainty...more often than not, when I use Load multiple times to go back to the same Save point, things rarely work out the same as they did in the previous attempt. If I go back again, there's a chance he might kill these people before leaving this time around. 

It isn't worth the risk...and besides, considering the distance between where I was at the current Save point and this place, he'll have plenty of time to get away...even if I freeze time, I've already used up more than half my XFE, so I probably won't even be able to maintain it for five minutes. 

Even running at full speed, it'd take me a good fifteen minutes to get here from there, at the very least. Well, I suppose that I should get these people out of here and to a hospital. Besides Sofia, three others are alive, a young man and woman, and a kid who looked like he was around ten or eleven. 

They were all unconscious and weak, none of them even budging as I used an X-Blade to cut through their shackles. How did that Wight get these chains and shackles? It looks like they've been nailed to the walls pretty crudely, he must have taken them off a fence or something. 

Oh, these shackles are made of rubber...though metal wire had been tightly wrapped around them to keep the captives from slipping out of it. Alright, guess I should leave now, no sense in hanging around this creepy place any longer. 

I then used Pause to freeze time and slowly linked up the arms of the survivors and then pulled them along with me, taking them up to the ground floor of the bowling alley. In order to keep my time traveling powers hidden, I made sure to make my way over here as naturally as possible the second time around. 

No one bothered me this time though...because of the small group of thugs that had suddenly fallen into vegetative states. Yeah, the ones whose heads I swapped with each other. With that serving as a commotion, I was able to make my way to the bowling alley pretty easily. 

And once I got here, I froze time before using Cut to form another hole in the floor to drop down into the basement room where the corpses and captives were being kept. 

This way, I can say that I encountered Aku while time was frozen, restrained him and got some information out of him, and he then managed to break out of my grasp, turned invisible and retreated...and that I didn't go after him because it was too risky in the dark and I could have wound up giving him an opportunity to kill me instead. 

Yeah, that works. No plotholes that I can think of, anyway. I can mull it over and flesh it out a bit more on the way back, but no matter what, I'm not revealing that I went back in time. My powers may be public knowledge now, but something told me that my time traveling power is a factor that I need to keep hidden.

The Wights may know now, but there's no helping that...I did reason before that revealing my powers in the Sanctuary became necessary once I realized that the Wights know about my powers, since it doesn't make sense for my enemies to know something about me that my 'allies' don't...yeah, calling the people in the Sanctuary my allies feels weird, since I've probably more unpleasant encounters than pleasant ones. 

Anyway, I have a feeling that revealing my time traveling power would be problematic...even if it's just to Director Silva, I'm still hesitant. I mean, I'd be wary and suspicious as hell if I knew someone who could undo anything they do by going back in time with nothing but a small chant. 

I'm determined to never abuse this particular power and do things that I otherwise would never do, but it's not like anyone can read my mind to confirm that, so it's too risky to reveal. 

Now, then...I unfroze time using Play and then contacted Director Silva on my I-Watch. After a few seconds, she picked up, sounding a bit surprised... 

"Kilzachs? Don't tell me you're done already?" 

"Yeah, I am...in a way things end up easier than I expected, but on the other hand, I had a very unexpected, downright shocking encounter. I'll tell you all about it later, for now...mind sending someone trustworthy to my current location? I can't use Cut to transport multiple people simultaneously, only one at a time, and I'd rather not drag them all the way back," I requested. 

"Oh, I see, got it...I'll send someone right away, at most it shouldn't take more than half an hour from now...is that okay?" 

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Alright, then, we'll discuss everything you found once you're back."

"Yeah...the sooner the better."

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