*BANG BANG BANG!!*
*SHWING SHWING SHWING!!!*
Bullets and blades hung motionless in the air—a dizzying array that bore witness to countless exchanges already unleashed.
'No good... she has no openings.'
'This human... does her time freeze have no limit either?'
They clashed again and again, yet neither could fight with their usual fluidity.
Both had assumed the other could only move for a short while. Yet minutes stretched on, and neither showed any sign of exhaustion.
Which confirmed one thing for Homura and Sakuya alike—
The Servant before them could operate within frozen time just as freely as they could.
A dire situation.
Time stop was their greatest advantage. If that edge was nullified, it dealt a critical blow to either combatant.
'But on the other hand...'
'If I eliminate her, the rest pose no threat!'
The same thought, arriving simultaneously.
"How unfortunate. You've nowhere left to hide."
"Isn't the same true for you?"
Separated by a few buildings, the two faced each other at a narrow intersection—surrounded by suspended bullets and blades.
"..."
Homura studied her opponent's unruffled expression, unable to read her.
If time resumed now, both would be struck. Every escape route was sealed.
But Homura didn't fear this. As a Magical Girl, so long as her Soul Gem remained intact and her mana held out, her body could regenerate indefinitely.
Injury didn't frighten her.
Trading wounds might actually leave her ahead.
What gave her pause was Sakuya's equally unbothered demeanor.
As if she, too, possessed some trump card to survive this onslaught.
"You know..."
"I noticed something interesting earlier."
Sakuya's sudden words sharpened Homura's vigilance.
"We both can stop time without limit..."
"And we can each cancel the other's freeze."
"Seems identical abilities share some... connection."
"!"
The instant she finished—time resumed. The frozen bullets and blades surged into motion.
*SHLCK!!*
*SHLCK!!!*
Knives buried themselves in Homura's body. Crimson blood spilled from the wounds.
But then she witnessed the impossible.
Every bullet that should have struck Sakuya hung suspended around her—as if time for those projectiles alone remained frozen.
"Unfortunately, even among time-manipulators... there are levels of mastery."
"What I control isn't merely the 'stopping' of time."
Sakuya struck an elegant pose, knives pinched between her fingers, confidence radiating from every word.
"I can do this, too."
The halted bullets reversed course, carving out space for Sakuya to evade.
She stepped casually through the gap, then released her hold on the projectiles.
They resumed their original trajectory—and slammed into the ground where she'd stood moments ago.
*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!!!*
'She can freeze individual objects separately... and rewind their time?'
Homura hadn't anticipated such profound temporal mastery from this maid-uniformed Servant. Shock rippled through her.
The woman's control over time completely eclipsed her own!
"The outcome is decided."
Sakuya regarded Homura's battered form.
"Sakura-san was right... I can't afford to underestimate the opponents here."
Head bowed, Homura recalled Kyoko's warning.
In the Dragon Ball War, overconfidence was a death sentence. You never knew when someone stronger would appear.
She'd made bold declarations to her Master—and nearly been carved in half the very next moment.
Pathetic...
Still. At least she'd gleaned a few key insights.
Ignoring the blades lodged in her body, she produced flash grenades and explosives from thin air.
"!"
Sakuya spotted the canisters hitting the ground and instinctively sensed danger.
Blinding white light devoured her vision.
*BOOM!*
The detonation forced her to hurl her pocket watch forward.
Space ahead froze—the explosion couldn't fully reach her.
By the time her vision cleared and the blast dissipated, her opponent had vanished.
"Think you can run?! Not a chance!"
No way the other had died in that explosion. And with those wounds, she couldn't have gotten far.
Sakuya refused to let her escape.
"Luna Dial: The World!"
The world bled to gray—then snapped back to color in an instant.
"!"
Her lips twisted with frustration.
Just as she'd told Homura...
As unlimited time-stoppers, they could nullify each other's freezes.
Which meant that as long as either wanted to interfere, truly utilizing time stop became nearly impossible.
The moment one activated it, the other would cancel it within two seconds.
"What a troublesome opponent..."
...…
"Huh? Jotaro-san—where'd that girl go?"
Josuke stared around, bewildered by Sakuya's sudden disappearance.
"Didn't expect someone like that..."
"Able to stop time without relying on a Stand."
Ignoring Josuke's question, Jotaro dwelled on what had just occurred.
If he wasn't mistaken, time had frozen for 10 minutes and 11 seconds.
A duration that he and the late DIO combined couldn't outlast.
At his peak, DIO had managed only 9 seconds.
Jotaro himself had recovered to roughly 2 seconds.
And this Servant could sustain at least 10 minutes? What did that even mean?
Given 10 minutes with Star Platinum, he could pummel DIO and Yoshikage Kira until not even their corpses remained.
And this might not even be her limit.
"She may have already won."
"What did you say?!"
...…
"Master—how did it feel, moving within frozen time?"
"Mm. A novel experience. Thank you, Assassin."
"I must apologize for my earlier rudeness."
Rohan Kishibe offered an apologetic look to the Servant before him.
Old habits. The moment his Servant materialized, he'd instinctively deployed Heaven's Door on her.
He hadn't read her entire life—but he'd gleaned enough about her abilities and their cost.
Assassin was a Contractor.
Her power encompassed all forms of temporal manipulation—time stop, reversal, anything. But the price...
Each use shaved two years off her lifespan. Once the balance ran dry, forcing another activation meant death.
Her name was—
Amber!
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TN: Amber fron Darker than black, its goated anime, watch it if u havent.