“Tch…” I click my tongue and sigh, my last attempt at killing the assassin failed miserably.

What a surprise.

I can’t find a way to bypass his arm-cutting technique…

My instincts scream at me so I duck under the blade headed towards my head. I feel some hair falling on my shoulders as I retaliate and fire into the stomach of the assassin, sending him back a few feet. I jump to the side before he even has the time to react. A column of flame erupts from the ground I was standing just a second ago.

This little play we put on has been rehearsed countless times, so I know that the next attack is a jet of acid that would’ve blinded me. I shoot the lizard’s open mouth before he can finish his incantation, causing him to pull out a knife and carve a piece of his face apart.

I almost forgot to speak about it, but the assassin won’t hesitate to cut off anything that has been damaged by my bullets. And the pill he swallowed at the beginning of the battle means that whatever he cuts off will grow back in a few seconds.

The Dragonewt stumbles back and in the next instant a wriggling tentacle made of pure shadow erupts from his torso and pierces my stomach. I grit my teeth and endure the needle-covered limb that is wreaking havoc in my insides before it vanishes. The tentacle flops to the ground like a fish fresh out of water before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

At first, I tried to avoid the tentacles, but all my efforts were in vain when it just turned around and pierced me from the back. So, even if it's extremely unpleasant, the best option is to endure the attack and let my regeneration do the rest.

This mysterious regeneration of mine is a godsend since the Scalebound didn’t seem to know about it, meaning I can trick the assassin by not defending against certain attacks. However, this tactic has obvious limits since the majority of his attacks are a one hit kill.

Something more troubling than my repeated deaths is the rattling noise spreading through my mind. Rewinding doesn’t get rid of it; it just seems to get louder with each one.

No, I must be imagining things. Nothing can influence me when I shift timelines…

Right?

My musings are interrupted by a hand going through my torso, soon followed by darkness before coming back to life.

And that’s where my current knowledge ends… let’s try again!

I redo the fight against the assassin until I reach the moment when the hand went through me. However this time I step to the side, causing the hand to miss my vitals by an inch.

A grin split my face in half when I hear a surprised yelp from the assassin.

I would freak out too if my hand suddenly disappeared.

I turn around and shoot the legs of the assassin, still staggered by the sudden loss of his hand. The bullets blow his knees out so he falls to the ground while metal is rapidly spreading through his body. But the Dragonewt is unfazed by the situation and teleports away, only leaving behind a pool of thick blue blood.

He reappears in front of me and uses a laser-like spell to cut his body to the waist. I click my tongue since the other half explodes just as he finishes his cutting; a second later and he would've died. I fire at the assassin but he disappears from my view again, this time reappearing on top of me while holding his sword in two hands.

I gasp when I notice the dark mist swirling where his legs should be. Just how resilient are these people?!

However, the desperate attack never lands since I press the button hidden in my palm, causing the world to shift in front of me.

This time I raise my pistol and fire into the sky just as the assassin emerges. I need a few tries to get the timing right but I finally succeed. He materializes just in front of the bullets that pierce his flesh like a hot knife going through butter. The mist around his missing legs dissipates when he falls to the ground and spits out a large glob of blue blood.

He raises his head and glare at me for an instant before red cracks spread around his body. I only have time to notice the similarities between the cracks on the assassin and the ones on my failed artifacts before a blinding flash robs me of vision.

I’m back in the midst of battle, so I must assume that I died. Shit! I was so close…

Frustration wells up in my stomach while the battle plays out like the last one. But this time around I don’t let myself get frozen by the half-Dragonewt jumping from the sky and put him into the ground before emptying the rest of my magazine into the lizard’s head. His body twitches before exploding into a rain of blue blood and red flesh.

“FUCK YEAH! Take that you shitty lizard!” I wipe my sweaty forehead and scream my well-earned victory as loud as I can.

I fucking won! Holy shit! I've never felt better in my entire life, and the rattling stopped-

A sudden sense of dread invades my body and I’m paralyzed before I can even comprehend what’s happening. I try to breathe but no air reaches my lungs, and a shivering cold invades my trembling body.

Not a single sound reaches my ears, and I feel my consciousness slipping because of the lack of air. But my agony is prolonged by my regeneration that repairs the damages in an instant. Every fiber of my body is screaming for more air, but I can’t make my lungs work and have to endure the burning agony sweeping through me.

“Impressive.” An unknown male voice speaks up in front of me, and the pressure is released in an instant. I take deep breaths and only look up once I no longer feel the pain caused by the lack of oxygen.

“…So you owe me a drink now!” a chirpy child-like voice chides in.

I raise my head to take a look at the intruders and my blood freeze.

Twelve robed figures wearing the same set of armor as the assassin I just killed are standing in a semi-circle. Their scaly faces are visible under their hood, and some are looking at me with curiosity while others are releasing enough killing intent to make my heart skip a beat.

"I guess you're right… But first, let's take care of this insect over there.”

The ambient temperature drops even further as the first figure raise a sword towards me.

“I’ll admit, you fought well against my failed Puppet.” A dozen of figures identical to the assassin I killed earlier appears behind him before vanishing from existence with a snap of his fingers.

My jaw drops and realization washes over me. I have been playing into this guy’s hand since the beginning!

All my pain and struggles were for nothing… I had no chance from the start.

Something furiously rattles in the back of my mind, but I’m too stunned to pay attention to it.

“And I don’t know how you survived my aura without any defenses, but I’m not here to ask questions. So die.”

A beam of light emerges from the tip of his sword and pierces me in the head.

I look around once I regain my senses. I’m back to the moment when I killed the first assassin. I hold my head in my hands while my vision is clouded by tears.

“FUCK THIS SHIT!” I yell between two sobs.

There’s no point in fighting anymore, this guy nearly killed without even lifting a finger. And the other killers didn’t even do anything. They would cut me down before I even move a finger…

I can’t do anything without any artifacts-

Wait.

I DO have artifacts.

This is going to be a long shot, but-

I smirk before Rewinding to the beginning of the day.

I don’t pay any attention to my surroundings as I jump out of my bed and grab my equipment before rushing into my workshop.

My plan is insane, and I’ll be the first to admit that it reeks of desperation. But this is the best I could come up with. I'm going to bury all my artifacts under the area where the assassins will arrive, and somehow make them explode all at once.

Of course, my plan hinges on the fact that they aren't observing me. Which is unlikely, or else the Puppet, as they called him, wouldn't be able to track me down. But my brief interaction with the assassin revealed a crucial piece of information; they saw me as trash, unable to do anything.

And in any other circumstance, I'll agree with them, the difference between them and me is like the one between an ant and a nuclear bomb.

But I’ll show the Scalebound why you never begin a blood feud with a time traveler.

I sigh and throw my shovel to the side and look at the large hole I just finished covering up. The dirt is obviously dug up, but the assassins probably didn’t care that I was burying trash in my backyard. My artifacts were so weak and inert that they should not sense anything but I’m not an expert on mana, so we’ll see how that goes.

Now let’s focus on the plan. I welded a wire on the absorption rune of each artifact and hooked the wires to a steel plate. A simple electrical mechanism controlled by a timer will drop a large bundle of Magicite onto the absorption rune of the plate. This will Overcharge every single artifact. I hope the resulting explosion will be enough to take care of those scaly bastards.

My phone alerts me that it’s time to prepare so I lean against a wall of my house and ready my pistol.

…??? PoV…

“Are you sure this is wise? The Patriarch told us that this mission was extremely important, so doing this is a bit…”

I interrupt the anxious female Dragonewt, “Come on, he’s an Outsider! What could he possibly do? I need to get rid of a failed experiment, and I already made a bet with the kid!”

"I'm not a kid, I'm only two years younger than you!" a high-pitched voice chimes in.

“Aha! Come on Usgia, don’t be such a worrywart!” I smile and lean back in my chair,” Look, everyone knows the guy did a number on the boss’ daughter. But he had the help of those furry fucks, now he’s completely alone.”

She finally relents, “I’ll admit that calling all of us to face a simple Outsider is a bit of an overreaction… You’re right Zarand, I’ll just sit back and enjoy the show.”

Usgia leaves my side and sits on the couch just in the middle of the room.

"Now, everyone grabs your snacks and get ready for a good show!" I shout and wave at Hosond. The green scaled Dragonewt is the best tracker I ever worked with so he's responsible for providing entertainment today. He nods and waves a hand in the air, creating a big screen displaying a top-down view of our target and his surroundings.

The rest of the squad patiently waits for the fun to begin and I don’t want to disappoint them.

I close my eyes and feel a slight resistance, but pouring a bit more mana into the spell allows me to teleport my Puppet near the target.

Fuck, this body is shit! It barely responds to my commands and has a pitiful amount of mana. I guess that'll teach me to abduct bums…

My Puppet Control spell gives me a top-down view of my own, so I can see that the target hasn't noticed the arrival of the Puppet.

I almost feel bad for the poor guy… If he doesn't notice this then this will be over in an instant.

I order the Puppet to do a short range teleport before charging towards the target. This should end things quickly-

A dozen alerts pop up in my head as soon as I finish the spell, causing roaring laughter and jeers to erupt from the rest of my squad. I ignore them and focus on the damage reports. According to the spell the armor offered no resistance at all, and the projectile exploded as soon as it entered the Puppet’s arm.

Looks like it's the same thing he used to cripple the boss's daughter, even if it's spreading too fast… Maybe he upgraded it?

I frown since the damage reports show an impact speed that is too high when considering that it had to go through the Puppet’s armor. It wasn’t a good set of armor by any stretch of the imagination, but it would still be sought after if it was sold to the civilian market.

This is intriguing; the data the Boss gave us didn’t mention an attack that powerful…

The upgrade theory is more than likely then, but then it begs the question: Why would the Wolfheart bother with supporting a disposable asset once it outlived its purpose?

I shake my head and focus on the battle, all of this political stuff is none of my business. The surprise upgrade in firepower does throw a wrench in some of my plans, but it doesn’t matter since it allows me to test something I recently came up with.

The Puppet cuts off the infected arm before swallowing the prototype regeneration pill, all the warnings disappear.

Fuck me! That lifespan reduction is no joke.

According to the spell, the Puppet only has four hours to live before it expires, but it doesn’t really matter since this is more than enough time to finish the bastard off.

Forcing the Puppet to regenerate an entire limb each time a projectile pierces its skin doesn’t help with its lifespan, but it’s far better than letting it explode.

Now let’s end this farce…

Disappointed shouts reach my ears when the Outsider once again avoid one of my attacks and fill the Puppet with projectiles.

"Come on Zarand! What are you waiting for?!"

“This is getting boring…”

The various members of my squad once again express their displeasure at the boring combat displayed in front of them.

I’ll admit that it’s getting to my nerve too. Every single one of my attacks are either avoided or dodged and each time the Puppet is punished beyond measure.

Those projectiles are better than I anticipated… The Puppet already lost half of its lifespan in five minutes.

And the way he dodges also makes no sense; he moves at a snail's pace yet still makes just the right amount of movement to avoid a deadly attack.

A grin spreads across my face, revealing my pointy teeth.

This is getting interesting… Let’s see how you handle this!

I force the Puppet to use a spell beyond its power, causing a significant decrease in lifespan. The massive Shadow Tendril sprouts out of its torso and the audience cheers as the unstoppable attack pierce the target.

I order the Tendril to destroy the target from the inside, let's see how you like it when it's done to you-

But a heavy silence falls when I lose my connection with the spell.

I don't know what to say, and a quick glance towards the other members show that they are all shocked to different degrees. Shadow Tendril isn't the most powerful spell in the world, but canceling it without chants or any preparation is unheard of. And even then, only a being with high amounts of mana should be able to do that.

But this Outsider has none.

Or is he purposely hiding his power? No, it can't be. I trust Hosond's abilities and the target wouldn't have acted like he did if he was as powerful as I imagined.

But I don’t have the leisure of wasting time with rhetorical questions, so I focus back on the battle and teleport behind the target. I smile and the audience cheers again when the hand of my Puppet goes through his torso.

I click my tongue since he moved at the last second, making me miss his heart by a small margin. But it doesn't matter, this time I'll-

My jaw drops when the hand of my Puppet disappears from existence.

It wasn’t cut, melted or destroyed… It was just gone.

The Outsider exploits my brief stupor to blow out the legs of my Puppet. The massive amount of warnings pull me back to reality and I use the few remaining minutes of lifespan left in the Puppet to launch one last attack. I pour every bit of power the battered body still has into this strike, but the attack that should’ve cleaved the bastard in half is stopped by a volley of projectiles.

I lose the connection with my Puppet once it explodes, causing several members of the squad to curse under their breath. Those deadly projectiles exploded an adult Dragonewt in less than a second, so it's not a stretch to imagine that they think that this could happen to them too.

“Well, that was unexpected.”

Sadly my attempt to lighten the atmosphere falls on deaf ears.

Well, there’s only one thing to do now…

“Black Claws!” They all turn towards me, “We’re going to kill that bastard with our own hands!”

They shuffle around and look at each other before nodding and getting up.

“Is everyone ready?” I ask after a minute of silent preparation.

“Yes!” They all answer in unison, so I nod and ready my weapon.

“Then… Onward!”

The scenery changes from the comfortable room to a flat grassy area next to a large house.

I’ll crush him with my Aura of Death, and then we’ll finish him off!

The others nod at my telepathic message so I spread my Aura to the unsuspecting Outsider. His frail body offers no resistance as the pressure forces him to his knees.

…This is it? Was it that easy? Man, I worried for nothing! I should’ve used a better Puppet from the start!

A cracking sound comes from the Outsider and my jaw drops. How is he still alive?! The Aura should’ve stopped him from breathing!

I can’t help but take a step back when he slowly raises his hand. This is a feat of incredible willpower since the Aura is actively restraining his muscles, causing his veins and muscle fibers to explode inside his body.

He manages to smirk as he extends a middle finger.

This image gets burned into my retina as a sudden white flash engulfs me before I can even react to the insult.