"So, wait, you were an assassin in this world during the pre-WWIII era?"

"Yup, sure was. My codename was Kuro-...which is now also my real name-...while I was an assassin," I responded, as I closed up the portal.

He seems to be a lot less hostile and suspicious now, good. I'm not sensing any bloodlust from him at all anymore.

"Huh, I wonder if I'll find anything if I look you up online?" He mused in fascination.

"Hey, Kuro, check it out!" Called out Belia, who was floating in midair in a relaxed pose, looking like she was having a ton of fun.

"What's her story? Those black feathered wings and the dark halo, is she, like, a fallen angel or something?" The guy asked me.

Oh, right, I should get his name.

"Uh...not quite, it's kind of a long story as to what she is, exactly. By the way, what's your name?" I inquired in response.

"Oh, right...I'm Kilzachs Light. Nice to meet you, Kuro. Got a last name?" He replied, as he extended his hand out towards me.

"Well, about that...it's, uh, it's Black," I responded sheepishly.

"Huh? Your name's Kuro Black? Isn't that kinda..."

"Yeah, I know."

"Hi, I'm Belia Lasmodeus! Hey, tell me, how strong are you compared to everyone else in this world?" She inquired in fascination.

"Hm? Oh, uh...well, actually, at the moment, I don't know of anyone who can defeat me," He shrugged in response.

"Yeah, you'd be a force to be reckoned with in our world too," I nodded as I recalled his speed and fighting ability.

"That reminds me...how exactly are you two not affected by my time freeze?" He frowned apprehensively, not looking too pleased about that.

"The two of us are currently in possession of this powerful energy called Divine Magic, otherwise we'd most likely have been frozen in time like our friends," Belia informed him.

"Well, with a power like that, I can see why you'd be unstoppable in this world," I remarked in response.

"Actually, it doesn't affect everyone...see, most people with powers in this world form energy-based weapons. They're referred to as Prodigies. Those with different types of powers are called Anomalies, which is what I am. And my powers don't affect other Anomalies. But at the moment, there are only four others that I know of that are still alive. Well, not counting the Mutants-...the mutated animals roaming around...-that have started to appear," He explained with a grimace.

"So, like, if you're fighting another Anomaly, you aren't able to use your super speed or time freeze?" I asked him.

"Not exactly. I can still freeze time, but they'll still be able to move, just like you two are right now. As for my speed...if another Anomaly touches me, then it'll get negated, but otherwise, I can use it freely," He responded.

"I see. Oh, what about that thing you did where you erased my blast and then copied it?" I inquired in fascination.

"Well, guess there's no point in hiding it if you've figured it out. Basically, I can cut, copy and paste anything so long as I have enough energy to do so. And if I copy an attack from a Prodigy, I can use it against other Anomalies too. I prefer not to reveal too much about what I can do though."

"Yeah, that's smart."

Super speed, the ability to freeze time, and the ability to copy the attacks of others? Not to mention that other thing he used when he made my head vanish, like he did to Belia's arm earlier. Was that part of the 'cut' power he mentioned, or something else?

"Hm, let me see...," Muttered Belia, as she walked over and placed her hand on his head.

"Uh...what're you doing?" He responded in bemusement.

"Woah, holy shit, you can travel back in time too!?" She exclaimed with wide-eyes, "Well, I mean, so can we, but still!""Wha-...hey, are you reading my memories or something!?" He replied in alarm, as he stepped back and pushed her hand away.

"Damn, you've had a foursome with three girls, that's awesome!" She grinned teasingly.

Huh? He did? That...makes me kinda jealous, not gonna lie.

"Sorry about her, she's something of a, uh...impulsive, carefree, chaotic moron," I apologized sheepishly.

"Yeah, I can see that," He sighed in exasperation.

"Hey, that's mean!" She frowned indignantly.

"Well, anyway...mind unfreezing time now?" I requested, as Belia pouted with a miffed look on her face.

"Oh, right...don't want to waste my energy," He replied with a nod, his mouth moving slightly, before everything went back to normal.

There was a bit of confusion following that, his friends were bewildered by the situation, and Persia and Az were pretty confused too.

He then introduced us to his teammates, as I did the same with Persia and Az, while Kilzachs explained who we were to his team. Naturally, they seemed kinda skeptical, but I could tell that they trusted him.

"So, hey, how strong was he?" Inquired Persia quietly, looking curious.

"Pretty tough, I don't think I could defeat him alone...though, if Kuro was fighting to kill, I'd say he'd beat that guy without too much trouble," Answered Belia in response.

Yeah, he's really strong, beating him without going all out in every sense of the word would be really difficult.

"Alright, we'll take you guys back to the Sanctuary and explain your situation, if you want to come," Remarked Kilzachs, as he approached us.

"Mhm, let's go! And I'll tell you what, show us a good time and we might let you see the past of this world in the flesh," Smirked Belia in response.

That seems wildly irresponsible...

"You can really do that?" Responded one of his teammates...I think he said her name is Seila.

"Sure can! I can also tell you all of this guy's deepest, darkest secrets, from when I peeked into his memories earlier," She grinned mischievously.

"Don't you dare," He frowned with an alarmed look in his eyes.

"I'd like to hear some of what you saw," Spoke up one of the others...uh, Suri, I think.

"Yeah, same here," Grinned another one...his name's Mitchell, right?

"Hehe...well, this is something he wants no one to know, but he's been hoping for you to trip and fall on him more often," Belia informed Seila.

Huh? What's that about? Is she, like, the super clumsy type or something?

"O-oh, uh...," She trailed off awkwardly."Hey! Ow...," He grimaced, as two of the other girls elbowed him, Suri and the one with an unexpressive face, Katie.

"A real harem, huh? Must be nice," I signed enviously.

"What, am I not good enough for you?" Responded Persia with a nudge, giving me a glare.magic

"Anything I say will only make things worse, so I won't say anything."

"Smart."

"Hey, let's go...we'll take you guys to the Sanctuary. Though, those in charge will probably want to scan you and stuff to make sure that it's safe to let you in," Remarked Kilzachs.

"I guess that's fair enough," I shrugged in response.

He and his team then led us to the Sanctuary, while communicating to their leaders or whatever using their watches...their tech is pretty cool, I bet we can get some ideas from the Sanctuary to implement in our world.

We then got to a large, fortified building along the wall I'd spotted through my clones before. We headed inside and were taken to a platform that can apparently teleport people.

They teleported us to an area inside the Sanctuary called the X-Warrior Zone, before we were taken to an underground facility to get tested and scanned and stuff.

Kilzachs took us down there, while his teammates went home. It all looks so high tech, though our world in its present state probably looks a bit more futuristic. Still, though, considering that this world was practically destroyed by nuclear warfare, these people have done pretty well for themselves.

"So, isn't anyone in charge here?" I asked Kilzachs.

"Oh, uh...well, the previous director tried to kill me because he thought my powers made me too much of a threat, so I killed him instead. A replacement hasn't yet been elected," He answered sheepishly.

"Makes sense...huh, I might have gone through the same thing if we didn't have threats after threats popping up in our world," I mused thoughtfully.

"Heh, yeah, I bet I would've brought our world to total chaos if it wasn't for you," Laughed Belia in amusement.

"Wait, aren't you on the same side?"

"That's true now, but she started off as our enemy. And then we teamed up once a common enemy showed up," I surmised in response.

"Yup, the being who created me and this other guy...that guy was blindly loyal to that being, but I march to the tune of my own drum, so we didn't exactly see eye to eye."

"Created you?"

"Mhm, I guess you could call me a Demi-God. Though, well, the being who created me didn't consider himself to be a God, he was in charge of the cycle of reincarnation for that world. We killed him though."

"Uh...was that a good thing?"

"I mean, he started it, so I didn't exactly have a choice," I shrugged in response.

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP