Chapter 110: Stellar Energy Spell — Clock in Reverse

【Rust Iron Hell, District Five, Gray Rat Gang Hideout】

【Abandoned Warehouse, Manager’s Office】

"Damn it! They said ten o’clock for the deal, but now it’s almost here—where the hell are those bastards?!"

"Hey! Someone bring me another Coal Ash Black Beer—move your ass!"

In the dimly lit Manager’s Office, Jacks the Mad Rat slammed his Kong bottle down onto the scarred metal table, roaring drunkenly toward the door. But something felt wrong. Despite his orders, no response came. Not a single rustle, not even the faint shuffle of tiny feet.

That silence unnerved him.

"Hey! You little brats out there! Where’s my Black Beer?!"

His furious bellow echoed through the hollow corridors of the Manager’s Office—only to be met with a chilling, oppressive stillness.

For the first time, Jacks felt his command had no power.

Snarling, he surged to his feet, ready to teach those insolent little rats a lesson about Gray Rat Gang discipline.

He staggered toward the door, his body jingling with homemade bombs. The hydraulic mechanism on his mechanical right leg hissed ominously. His calloused hand gripped the rusted doorknob.

Then—unexpectedly—it happened.

Clang!

A silver flash tore through the iron door like a blade through paper.

The blade shot forward with blinding speed—straight for his head.

Years of surviving on the edge of death kicked in instantly.

Rats knew how to run. And Jacks, a madman forged in the gutters of Rust Iron Hell, knew how to survive.

Boom!

At the very last moment—just inches from his nose—the miniature thrusters at the base of his mechanical leg detonated.

He was flung backward in a burst of sparks, barely escaping the fatal strike.

But Jacks wasn’t just running—he was fighting back.

As he tumbled, his sleeve erupted with dozens of red-lit mechanical rats.

Portable Factory · Exploding Rat Swarm!

They surged toward the door—just half a meter from the frame—when a calm, icy voice cut through the air.

"Second Hand Slash—Six Strikes."

A whisper of silver. Six precise arcs.

The ancient, rusted door of the Manager’s Office shattered like tofu, split cleanly into six jagged lines.

The swarm of self-destructing rats were struck mid-flight—each one detonated in a flash of fire and shrapnel.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One after another, the explosions ripped through the room. The door, the wall beside it—both vaporized in a storm of debris.

Dust and smoke swirled in the air like a storm cloud.

And from the haze, a woman stepped forward—calm, composed, clad in a silver-white uniform.

Her short brown hair fluttered gently in the wind of destruction. In her hand, a slender silver blade glinted in the firelight, cold and deadly.

"Tell me where the relic is," she said, voice quiet but sharp as a blade. "I might let you die with your body intact."

"Relic? I don’t have any of your Gear Church nonsense!" Jacks sneered, gripping a detonator in his right hand, his grin wild and unhinged. "But sure—no relic… just a few surprises I saved for your white eagle hide, heh heh!"

As his laughter echoed, Vivian—Silver Knight—suddenly sensed the unnatural stirring in the walls.

A low, skittering sound. Then another. Then hundreds.

From every crack, every shadow, mechanical rats poured out—black waves of iron and circuitry, swarming toward her like a storm.

They surged forward—then, at the perfect distance, exploded in unison.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosion tore through the air in a cacophony of fire and noise.

And then—time slowed.

The screen dipped into slow motion.

Vivian raised her Second-Hand Dagger.

Around her, a unique pulse of Stellar Energy flared.

Click-clack.

A crisp, metallic sound—like gears turning in perfect harmony.

The dagger transformed.

Gears interlocked. Blades split and reformed. The weapon reshaped itself in seconds—emerging as a colossal black iron sword, its hilt and blade joint embedded with a massive, black iron clock face.

Vivian gripped the hilt with her right hand. Her left hand rested on the clock.

She activated her Stellar Source.

【Stellar Energy Spell — Clock in Reverse】

A strange golden aura erupted around her—spreading out in a translucent field, three meters wide.

Any explosion wave, any fragment of shrapnel that touched the field… reversed.

They didn’t just stop—they retreated, recoiling like time itself had been rewound.

And the waves collided—canceling each other out, one by one.

Vivian vanished beneath the firestorm, buried under falling rubble and collapsing stone.

When the smoke cleared…

The Manager’s Office was gone—reduced to rubble. The entire area around it was buckled, cracked, and half-collapsed.

In the dust-choked wreckage, Jacks tore off his blast-proof cloak and looked up—expecting to see blood, limbs, a corpse.

Instead…

He saw her.

Vivian.

And in her hand—the legendary weapon.

The Hour-Hand Heavy Sword.

The symbol of the Clock Knights.

A memory surged.

Ten years ago. A stormy night. That same sword. That same golden field. And the clean, surgical cut—his right leg, severed like a twig.

"Hour-Hand Heavy Sword…" Jacks whispered, his voice trembling. "You’re… William’s daughter?"

His face twisted instantly—green electronic veins flared across his skin, pulsing like infected circuitry. His expression warped, grotesque.

"Perfect… perfect."

He laughed—wild, manic.

"I was wondering where to take revenge for my leg… now that old William’s dead. But you—you just walked right into my hands."

He threw his head back and roared with laughter.

Then—silence.

The calm that followed was darker than the storm.

A killing intent, thick and tangible, filled the air.

"You think you can stand here, little girl?" he spat, voice dripping with venom. "Let me show you what it felt like—being hunted by your dead father."

Boom!

The ground trembled.

From deep beneath the abandoned factory, something massive burst through the earth.

A monstrous, three-story-tall mechanical rat—half-machine, half-biological, its body writhing with green veins of injected chemicals.

Jacks leapt onto its head, jamming his mechanical leg into a socket.

Cables shot out, lashing into his body—connecting his nerves to the beast’s systems.

Perfect Fusion.

Now, he was one with the monster.

Looking down at Vivian, Jacks raised two detonated bombs, their fuses sizzling.

"Your father? He might’ve made me fear him," he growled. "But you? You’re nothing."

He hurled the bombs toward her.

"Old friend!" he screamed to the beast. "Eat her!"

The mechanical rat roared—a sound like tearing steel.

It charged.

Its claws screeched across the floor, sparking. Each step cracked the ground, leaving deep craters in its wake.

The beast was unstoppable.

But Vivian?

She didn’t flinch.

She simply lifted her heavy sword.

And once more, the familiar, steady tick-tock of a clock filled the vast, hollow warehouse.

[Name: Jacks (Mad Rat)]

[Affiliation: Rust Iron Hell · Gray Rat Gang · Deputy Leader]

[Rank: Level 2, Lower]

[Base Stellar Energy Value: 8,000]

[Stellar Source: Intelligent Mechanism Class — Portable Factory]

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end