Two figures were rapidly exchanging sword strikes against each other. The two of them were inhumanely fast and that was because their time wasn’t normal.

The first one was wielding two swords. Her name was Kronii Ouro, the Warden of Time. Thanks to her abilities, she was able to speed herself up and unleash a barrage of swift and precise strikes.

However, her opponent, Moona Hoshinova, was keeping up with her. Normally, she would be overwhelmed by Kronii’s quick attacks but thanks to her ally’s support, her time was sped up too.

Amelia Watson was away from the two and was exerting energy to her pocket watch. She was using her ability as the wielder of the Primordial Time’s vessel to speed Moona up in order to fight Kronii.

She knew she was playing a dangerous game by speeding up Moona’s time but she had no other choice. This was the only way in order to defeat their opponent who was also manipulating time.

Since both of their times were equal, the fight would be decided by their swordsmanship. Kronii had millennia of experience in wielding dual swords but even with that advantage, Moona was managing to hold on in their fight.

“Damn it, Watson! You’re getting too irresponsible!” Kronii shouted.

  “If that means I can protect my friend, then I’ll break any rules!” Amelia replied.

And then she felt an eerie feeling in her mind. It was as if she was staring at a deep and dark abyss and getting a suspicion that something else was staring back. And to make matters worse, the powerful being living in her watch talked to her.

The Primordial Dark is awakening, the Primordial Time said.

Moona stopped moving as her face also looked surprised. Amelia could easily deduce that the Primordial Moon may have said something to her too.

And in the next second, a pillar of darkness came from the direction where Mikage and the others were hiding.

“Omegaɑ succeeded. Looks like it’s time to go back”, Kronii’s stance relaxed and she was about to walk away.

“Did one of us lose?! Is Mikage dead?!” Moona asked worriedly.

“No. The Primordial Time said that the Primordial Dark is awakening. What’s going on?!” Amelia glared at Kronii.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a detective? Why don’t you get the answer yourself?” Kronii smirked at her.

Everything became quiet as the world became still. Kronii’s body began to move after a second and she sighed.

“Stopping time again?” she asked.

Amelia didn’t reply as she sprinted towards where Mikage could be. Time repeatedly halted and continued as she ran. There was a limit to how long she could stop time. As a wielder, she had to sacrifice her mana in order to use the abilities of the Primordial Time. And another side effect of it was that she would get hungry.

The first time she time traveled was back when she formed a contract with the Primordial Time. She was about to get killed during the Dark Times but the Primordial Time found her. Amelia then made a contract with it and she was sent 4000 years to the future.

That was why when Ranpo Doyle found her, she was too hungry and tired to think.

Her body was getting tired and her stomach was growling as she stopped time again and again. She knew it was an emergency because the eerie feeling in her mind was getting stronger. Amelia had to get there as soon as possible even if it meant stopping time repeatedly.

And when she arrived, she saw Suisei fighting Mikage.

Darkness was oozing out of Mikage’s body and even wrapped his limbs. His face was emotionless as if he was in a trance. Amelia saw that face before. It was the same face that Mikage made back in the Idol Fan Tournament when the Primordial Dark took over his body.

So this is what the Primordial Time meant by awakening, Amelia thought.

Mikage raised the darkness-enhanced Anya and was about to cut down Suisei. If it weren’t for Amelia stopping time and grabbing her, Suisei would be cleaved in two.

“Amelia! Great timing!” Yagoo shouted.

“What’s going on?!” she asked.

“A girl named Omegaɑ touched Mikage and commanded the Primordial Dark to hasten its awakening. After that, Mikage started attacking anyone in sight! I had to control Suisei and even then, I’m barely holding on!”

Amelia noticed that Suisei’s eyes were closed and she was snoring. If Yagoo was using the Primordial Dream’s Sleepwalk ability, he must be very desperate.

Shadows formed into spikes and lunged at Amelia and Suisei. Time stopped once again and Amelia moved out of the way. 

“What should we do?” Amelia asked.

“I have no idea”, Yagoo said.

Mikage’s shadow rose and lunged towards them and Amelia stopped time to avoid it. However, she was reaching her limit. She already used too much energy in her fight with Kronii and she even had to extend her authority to make Moona an exception to the rules of time. The situation was getting dire.

“Mikage! Snap out of it! Don’t let the Primordial Dark take over!” Amelia shouted.

It was a desperate move and she wasn’t surprised that it had no effect. Mikage’s shadow lunged once more and Amelia was about to stop time when a flaming object descended from the sky.

“This looks very bad”, Kiara got out of the flames and pointed her sword at Mikage.

“Kiara! Thank goodness, you’re here!” Amelia breathed a sigh of relief.

“It seems there’s no time to explain. Mikage’s really aiming to kill all of us”, Kiara said as she dodged Mikage’s shadow.

“He’s not himself! We have to knock him out!”

“Can we even do that? My instincts are telling me he’s the most dangerous being I fought in my entire life.”

Kiara got Mikage’s attention and managed to hold on against his attacks. She might be a pacifist but her experience from her long life in this world made her a formidable foe. 

The situation looked like it was manageable since Kiara was doing well against Mikage’s relentless shadow attacks. But things took a turn for the worse when the eerie feeling in Amelia’s mind strengthened.

Several creatures made from darkness appeared. Bats, wolves, serpents, and even dragons surrounded them. Even if Kiara was a powerful phoenix, there was no way she would be able to defeat all of them on her own.

If we retreat here, there’s no guarantee that Mikage would calm down on his own. There’s a huge chance that he’ll cause a tragedy with his powers. We don’t have a choice but to stop him here, Amelia thought.

Bolts of light hit the creatures made from darkness as a girl in a purple witch’s outfit descended from the sky.

“Hey! Why is that man attacking you?” Shion asked.

“Shion! Where’s Haato?!” Amelia looked at her.

“Haato is resting. When Mumei left without warning, she got out of Full Lunacy. She’s experiencing extreme fatigue now.”

Amelia was actually hoping that Haato could help them. Her Full Lunacy would be able to give them a fighting chance against Mikage and his army of darkness.

With Shion’s magic and Kiara’s flames, they managed to hold their ground against Mikage’s shadow creatures. However, the odds were against their favor. For every shadow creature they defeated, a new one would appear. Their enemies were endless while their stamina was limited. Even if Shion, Yagoo, and the sleeping Suisei were vessels of Primordial Beings with powerful Life Forces, they couldn’t fight forever.

“The sound of the cannon roars.

The firing of the guns shall commence.

Come forth, Rapid Bombardment!” a female’s voice chanted and several bolts of light hit the shadow creatures.

A large wave of water flooded down and pushed the army of darkness away. In the next second, the water froze and the battlefield turned into a frozen wasteland.

Amelia turned around and saw Ina’nis, Gura, and Lamy.

“I would make a DARK joke but this is not the TIME for that. It would turn the already dire situation into a COLD and awkward atmosphere that even MAGICAL WATER can’t wash away. I’ll just DREAM of a day when my jokes would make the STARS laugh”, Ina grinned.

“Ina! Gura! Lamy! Just in time!” Amelia felt hope blooming in her heart.

Mikage’s shadow rose up to shield himself from a silver beam of light.

“I finally caught up”, Moona said as she jogged towards the battlefield.

“What’s the situation, Ame?” Gura asked as she stood beside the blonde detective.

“Mikage lost control again. We need to knock him out”, Amelia answered.

“So this is what the Primordial Ice meant when they told me that the Primordial Dark is awakening?” Lammy wondered as an ice sword appeared near her.

“This is odd. The Primordial Knowledge is refusing to give me information about Mikage”, Ina’nis frowned.

“What do you mean?” Ame looked at her.

“They are saying they don’t want to anger the Primordial Dark.”

“It’s not the time for that! He’s coming!” Moona shouted and they all prepared for battle.

Even with all of them working together, the battle was still a stalemate. Moona and Kiara were able to get near Mikage and force him to fight in close quarters. Shion, Gura, Amelia, Lamy, and Suisei, who was being controlled in her sleep by Yagoo, were dealing with the shadow creatures and making sure that Moona and Kiara could focus on Mikage.

“What the hell is wrong with him? He's using that much darkness and he’s still not tired?” Gura asked while panting.

“How strong is his Life Force?” Lamy asked.

Even more creatures made from darkness appeared and the rest of them were getting worried. Amelia felt that she was fighting an unstoppable machine who had total control over every single darkness in existence.

A pink-haired girl jumped in and swung her scythe. In one swift motion, she cut down a shadow that had the form of a dragon.

“Am I late?” Calliope asked.

“It’s okay! We’re going to need all the fighters we can get!” Gura told her.

The eerie feeling in Amelia’s mind became stronger as a powerful wave of darkness came out of Mikage and pushed Kiara and Moona away. 

“Amelia. Now that Calliope is here, we have to be prepared to do the worst solution for this problem”, Yagoo had a grim expression.

“Don’t tell me that you’re planning to kill him?!” Amelia glared at him.

“That’s the worst solution. If he doesn’t calm down before all of us get defeated, we might have to use Death’s Embrace in order to put him down for good. Even if his Life Force is strong as a vessel, it’s not infinite.”

“But that would make this entire thing pointless! We’re supposed to protect him!”

“Amelia. Do you want us to get killed? Do you want him to walk around in this world like that and cause chaos and destruction?”

Amelia bit back her words. Logically speaking, it would be for the best if they would do that. She was even sure that Mikage would agree and forgive them. But for some reason, she was refusing to let her friend die. She hated losing people who were important to her.

No… That’s not the worst solution, she thought as she stared at her pocket watch. 

She was the wielder of the Primordial Time’s vessel. Her authority with time would let her get out of this situation as long as she was prepared to face the consequences.

Calliope charged at Mikage as a black haze came out of her body.

“W-Wait! Calli! We still haven’t decided to kill him yet!” Amelia shouted.

But it was too late. Death’s Embrace touched Mikage’s body and Amelia was prepared to use her last resort.

And then nothing happened.

Mikage didn’t even look bothered by the black haze as he commanded his shadow to rise up and impale Calliope. Thinking fast, Amelia stopped time and moved Calliope out of the way.

“Thanks, Ame”, Calliope said.

“What were you doing?!” Amelia asked.

“I’m just testing things out and just as I feared, we can’t do Yagoo’s plan.”

“What do you mean?” Yagoo looked at her.

“He’s like those Council and Kiara. He has an infinite Life Force. He is a deathless creature.”

The gears in Amelia’s brain started to work rapidly as she tried to come up with an explanation. She could feel that she already knew the reason because she already saw the necessary clues. But the more she tried to grasp it, the faster it fled away.

“So we can’t do a thing?” Shion asked.

“No. We still have a chance. All five of us are here”, Kiara grinned.

“Oh yeah. It’s been some time since all of us are together”, Gura exclaimed.

“With the five of us, it’s common KNOWLEDGE that we would defeat any enemy in no TIME. No WATER can douse out the powerful FLAME called our teamwork and we can even bring DEATH to anyone who stands in our way”, Ina’nis said as her book floated in front of her.

“Very well. Shall we go with Formation C?” Calliope asked.

“Let’s do this then”, Amelia answered as she gripped her pocket watch harder. 

Kiara went to the front as Gura and Calliope were on her sides. Ina’nis and Amelia were at the back and were ready to support them.

Just you wait, Mikage. I’ll be sure to save you, Amelia swore in her mind.

Then, the eerie feeling in their minds became stronger as all of the shadow creatures in the area turned into waves of darkness and surrounded Mikage.

“What’s happening?” Moona asked.

The darkness along with the eerie feeling disappeared. And Mikage was nowhere to be seen.

###

A/N: That’s the last chapter of Volume 4! I’ll be dropping the Epilogue next week and then I’ll be taking a break!