Reborn as an Extra

Chapter 432: The Duel of Time and Existence... Part-4.

’I lost focus in mid-battle? Me?’

Jin found it hard to believe when he thought about the previous attack of Alverto.

In that instant, he had lost focus of his mind, and as if his soul itself had loosened its grip on his body, he found himself in a very weird state.

He felt weirdly ’calm’ and ’peaceful’ in that state.

There’s no way a seasoned war veteran like him can lose focus mid-battle; someone like him can’t possibly make a novice mistake like that.

’Death... I saw death in that instant...’

Once a person’s soul loses focus of their body, it’s pretty much equivalent to entering the state of ’Death’.

When Alverto used ’Soul Resonance’ to put Jin’s soul into a ’trance’ for a few milliseconds, Jin’s soul lost its focus on his body, and he entered a ’near death state’ for those milliseconds.

’Only in death can you feel such immense calm and peace that you completely forget about the outer world...’

A grave look appeared on Jin’s face as he thought about all this in his mind while maintaining a distance from Alverto.

’This guy is trickier than I originally thought; no wonder he has the confidence to say that I should have brought Ashtel with me...’

In his current state, Alverto has a deep connection with the ’Spire of Ascension,’ and he can borrow immense strength; his mana will never run out, and he will keep healing himself infinitely.

This is simply way too overpowered.

’If I let him continue to draw the power of the ’Spire of Ascension,’ killing him will be an impossible task...’

Jin doesn’t have the power to blow up the spire of ascension and weaken Alverto like Ashtel has; thus, he’s at a great disadvantage right now.

’I guess I will have to use my own trump card then...’

While Jin was contemplating the countermeasures in his own mind, Alverto waved his spear and spoke in a calm tone.

"What? Already feeling despair at my immense strength? Are you already out of tricks to keep fighting me?"

"You are surprisingly much weaker than I originally thought, Jin Walt..."

Hearing Alverto’s provocations, Jin smirked a bit and replied in a panting voice.

"And you are more talkative than I originally thought..."

Ignoring Jin’s words, Alverto pointed his spear towards him once again.

"Forget it; I am already tired of this chit-chat. I will end you with this one..."

[Soul Resonance!]

[Chronos: Spear Art: Soul Piercer!]

At this point, Alverto didn’t even need the help of his world authority anymore; he used soul resonance and then directly used it in sync with his spear art.

With this attack, he was going to stab Jin’s soul and destroy it in an instant; just touching Jin’s soul even a bit would be enough.

And as this attack is enhanced with a ’Legendary skill’, it’s impossible to stop it with regular defensive moves.

Jin knew that no matter how powerful defensive skills he put forward, Alverto’s spear would directly bypass them in this state, thus he didn’t bother with it all.

Despite being at such a great disadvantage, the smirk on his face widened even more.

...

(A memory of the past)

Academy Training Grounds.

"I kind of understand why you repeatedly told me that I can’t learn ’Sword Intent’... It’s really a tricky skill..."

Jin sighed heavily as he leaned his back against the bench.

"Well... I don’t want to discourage you or anything, but Sword Intent is a very high-end ability; if just having talent was enough to learn it, then a lot of people in history would have it..."

"It’s the pinnacle of sword arts; it’s a skill that represents that you have attained immense insight into sword skills..."

"And aside from all the conditions, you also need the favor of the ’Law’ of ’Sword’ to gain it..."

A confused look appeared on Jin’s face while hearing all this from Rio’s mouth, and he asked in a disappointed tone,

"What about you then? How did you gain the favor of the ’law’ of ’sword’..."

Hearing Jin’s question, a rare, proud look appeared on Rio’s face at that moment.

"Me?"

"I ’Forced’ it to acknowledge me... There’s no way a ’law’ of the ’world’ can like me in normal circumstances; I literally forced the ’law’ of the ’sword’ to favor me..."

"In fact, I think the ’law’ of ’sword’ hates me for forcing its hand like that..."

A look of shock appeared on Jin’s face after hearing those words. He was left completely speechless after hearing those words.

"What the... You mean it’s possible to force a ’law’ of the ’world’ to favor you?"

Rio nodded his head at that question.

"Yes... Consider it like this: imagine you are a demon god, and you have been looking for a powerful vessel for your descent for thousands of years, but none are good enough..."

"Then suddenly a guy appears who shows extraordinary affinity for you, and then you would be forced to seize that vessel for yourself even if it’s a ’fake’ vessel and is only for show...."

Rio was never meant to have sword intent; he was never liked by any ’Law’ of the ’World,’ as half of his soul is not even a part of this world, which makes it impossible for him to gain ’sword intent.’.

The reason he has it is because he used the other half of his soul to force the ’law’ of ’Sword’ to acknowledge him.

"Well, I don’t recommend doing what I did; my case is kind of special. I can resist it even if the ’law’ of the ’world’ goes out of control... but others can’t..."

A rare serious look appeared on Rio’s face at that moment as he spoke while looking into Jin’s eyes.

"Never ever try it... It’s like purposely letting a wild beast enter your body... It will destroy you from the inside out; the only outcome is death..."

...

(Back to present)

Feeling his soul losing its focus once again due to Alverto’s skill, Jin remembered that conversation he once had with Rio during their training sessions.

’Well, if I am going to die anyway, why not risk it all anyway... I know I am not as talented as you or that kid, Qi Meng, but even I have some pride in my sword skills...’

A smile of satisfaction appeared on Jin’s face as he entered a state of trance all of a sudden.

Just as his soul was about to lose focus due to Alverto’s skill, Jin accepted his weakness.

For all his life, Jin never accepted that he was lacking in anything compared to others.

But today, he finally accepted that he lacked everything when compared to monstrous geniuses like Rio and Qi Meng.

’I can feel my life slowly passing out of my grasp... this sensation... this moment... It’s calm, absolute calm...’

Alverto had aimed his spear at Jin’s heart; this time, his spear was just about to pierce his chest and was only a few inches away at this point.

But for Jin, time seemed to have stopped in that instant. In that near-death state, Jin had a realization that changed his fate once again.

’Calm... Time... Sword... and Intent... Beyond and Far....’

[Ding! You have grabbed the attention of the ’Laws’ of the ’world!]

[Ding! You have achieved a realization in a near-death state!]

[Ding! The ’Law’ of ’Time’ hates you to the core from now on!]

[Ding! You have achieved a partial awakening!]

Ignoring all the messages from the status panel, Jin’s eyes once again focused on Alverto, who was just about to kill him.

’I asked for a pistol... and I got a cannon, it seems...’

[Partial Manifestation: Shard of Chronos!]

*Crack!* *Crack!*

As if the space-time fabric had become as fragile as a shard of glass, it cracked and broke apart.

Jin forcefully reversed the time and reverted it back to a few moments ago when Alverto still hadn’t attacked him yet.

A look of shock appeared on Alverto’s face under the helmet.

As an extremely talented time elemental user himself, Alverto easily realized that Jin had reversed time to save his life.

"You!?.... H-How is this even possible!? You awakened the legendary skill ’Shard of Chronos’!? This is impossible!!"

*Cough!* *Cough!!*

Ignoring Alverto’s confused tone, Jin coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, and his clothes got tainted in his own blood.

Even his eyes became bloodshot and started to bleed in that moment.

"Hehe... It’s not a proper legendary skill... It’s just a partial manifestation.... Yet the drawback is so strong..."

’Forgive me, Rio... I didn’t listen to you after all...’

After spending a lot of time training with Rio, Jin already knew that he can never awaken ’Sword Intent’ in his entire life, and his body is too weak to withstand the manifestation of a ’Law’ of the ’world’.

The reason Rio’s body could withstand the forceful manifestation of the ’law’ of ’Sword’ was because his body was already like a ’weapon’ from the start.

But Jin isn’t in that category; he’s a normal human; he’s not an ’Anomaly.’.

Yet Jin wanted to pursue higher strength; he wanted to have a legendary skill of his own.

Thus, today, he forced the ’law’ of ’time’ to manifest in his body ’partially’ and grant him the power of the legendary skill, ’Shard of Chronos’.

From now on, the ’Law’ of ’Time’ will hate him for forcing his way with it, but Jin didn’t care.

He was going to die in Alverto’s hands anyway; he decided to risk it all in that final moment.

It was a gamble of life and death, if not for the fact he was already a demi-god and had a world authority related to time; even the partial manifestation of the ’law’ of ’time’ would have killed him.

But he survived; that’s all that matters now.