CHAPTER 55: LET’S GO, REWRITE!

The sun still hangs high in the sky, our path clear as day. Today, we’ll finally learn to fight as a team. But before that...

"I’ll take the back. I need to do something as we walk—no glancing back!" I command, earning countless suspicious looks from my companions. Figures. But it can’t be helped. Before we begin, I need to deal with my scythe. Right now, it’s nothing more than a sharp blade to hack someone down up close. It needs more than that—it needs a power worthy of me.

I twirl my quill between my fingers, mind racing. If I’m choosing control as my path, then my scythe should be the mask behind those powers. But what should it control?

Time.

The idea hits me, heavy and dangerous. What if I gave it the ability to control the flow of time?

It sounds... complicated. Maybe too strong. And suspicious, if I go overboard. But what if I kept it subtle? Hear me out, readers—what if my scythe could slow the movement of anything it cuts? Nothing extreme, maybe just five percent slower, but enough to tilt the flow of battle. Instead of straining muscles or breaking bones, the effect would tamper with time itself. No matter how strong my enemy’s body, no brute force could simply shrug it off. To resist time, you’d need to understand time.

I glance at Roxy. Just watching her, I know—if she were cut and her body slowed, her burning muscles would just push harder, forcing her to move even faster to break free. But slowing time... no matter how powerful, no one can fight against that.

I lower my gaze to my scythe. Black as night, it looks... plain. Boring. That won’t do.

So I write.

A single rune, etched into its surface by the tip of my quill: ᛞ. The symbol for time, one I once read in an old, crumbling book.

The moment I finish, the rune glows gold. Subly. A golden light that pulses faintly from a weapon that should never glow at all.

That’s so pretty... and cool. It’s like a fantasy come to life. I can’t help but stare at the glowing rune in awe. My scythe feels... different. Almost alive.

Now comes the tricky part. My ability is silent. One slice, and my enemy slows by five percent—no sound, no flash, nothing to see. That’s a problem. I’ve been reading the Book of Lore, studying Glorius’s party. Every single one of them has flashy, dramatic techniques. If I don’t disguise mine, people will notice. People will start questioning me.

I glance at Roxy again. How do you slow the bull?

Then it hits me. Chains. Of course! How did I not think of that before? Chains fit perfectly—snaring, binding, slowing prey. Spectral chains, maybe crystal in color. Hard to see in daylight, invisible at night, but visible enough to look like something. When I swing, the chains will lash out like serpents, coil around the target, and slow them down. The time-slow will be real, but the chains will be the mask. A perfect illusion.

Excited, I tap the ᛞ rune with my quill. The symbol pulses and suddenly flares, glowing with a crystalline brilliance that shifts through a spectrum of colors. Beautiful.

My scythe vibrates in my hands, as if it understands, as if it’s... happy.

"Hey, Powder!" I call, grinning wickedly at my best friend, my one and only test subject. "Catch!"

I slash the air. Two crystal serpents burst from the blade like lightning. They coil toward him before he even has time to react. His eyes widen—sorry, buddy.

"What the—?! What is this?! My body’s moving slower!" Powder flails, struggling as the spectral serpents wrap around him.

Not bad... it actually worked. I snap my fingers and the chains dissolve instantly, vanishing like shards of glass into the air.

"What are you playing at, Quill?! You wanna fight?!" Powder snaps, for once actually sounding mad. But I can see the twitch of his lips—he’s more shocked than angry, checking himself over, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

"Sorry, sorry!" I rush up to him, patting his shoulder like a guilty child caught red-handed. "I had to test it on someone. It’s my ability. Chains that slow enemies by five percent. Not much, but in battle? It’ll be invaluable."

Powder narrows his eyes at me, then suddenly bursts into laughter. I laugh too, the tension breaking instantly.

The girls don’t join in. They’re watching with wary expressions, a flicker of unease in their eyes. None of them moved to stop me when I attacked Powder—because deep down, they knew I’d never hurt him. But they’re on alert all the same. Except Roxy. She didn’t even look. She knows. Powder and I have always been like this, fooling around, testing limits. But when it comes down to it, we’d die for each other before ever turning on one another.

"I didn’t know you had powers..." Roxy says, her tone edged with suspicion. Her gaze is sharp, searching—not at the chains, but at me. She doesn’t care about the spectacle. She cares about why. About the truth I’m hiding. And I can tell—she doesn’t buy the excuse of "suddenly awakening." She knows me too well for that.

"I’ll tell you someday," I answer, forcing calm into my voice. "What matters now is we rush to the beast and stop it. I can feel it moving closer to the city, heading for the fields."

Our eyes lock, and I catch something ripple in her gaze. Hurt. A quiet, unspoken wound. Is it really so important that we have no secrets between us? My chest tightens. I feel bad for her. But how can I explain the truth—that I wield the powers of creation itself? Even after they’ve already seen my mana core, some things can’t be revealed.

Maybe... maybe I could lie. Tell them I can create things from my own blood. That would be safer. But that’s not a decision I can make alone. I’ll need to consult Big Boss—if he ever decides to stop ghosting me after the chaos I caused in the main plotline.

Twenty long minutes pass. The road stretches quiet before us. My friends walk at my side, but the mood feels heavier now, weighed down by what I didn’t say. Did I ruin it?

Crack.

A tree snaps and tumbles in the distance, and my heart kicks so hard it nearly bursts from my chest.

"There!" I shout, adrenaline flooding my veins. "The boar’s right there, behind the trees! Roxy! Take the lead, my trusted vanguard!"

Her lips twitch, caught between duty and doubt. But my words land, just enough. A faint smile pushes through. It’s forced. It hurts. But she still raises her thumb high.

"Leave it to me, boss! That beast won’t know what hit it. Not a single one of you will get hurt with me in front!"

"That’s what I love to hear!" My grin spreads wide as I throw my fist out. "Let’s go, all of you! Battle awaits!"

One by one, their fists collide with mine, the sound crisp and sure.

"Let’s go, Rewrite!"