"SIRIUS!!"

Spring-Autumn heard a scream in the distance. It was none of his business so he continued to water his house plants, adjusting his straw hat.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground shook, causing one of the potted plants to almost fall over. Spring-Autumn quickly pushed it back into place and said in a relieved voice, "That was close,"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground continued to shake.

"SIRIUS!!"

Spring-Autumn looked back. There was a rather large werewolf in front of his house. It had the head of a wolf but the boy of a hairy man. On top of that, it was wearing clothes.

"Who sent a dog to my house?" Spring-Autumn said in an irritated voice.

"Where!? Where is he!?" Shadow howled crazily.

"If you don't stop making noise right now, I'm going to have to eat you, sir," Spring-Autumn said threateningly. He recalled a few seconds prior to which his flowerpot almost died.

"I can smell him! Where is he!?" Shadow lifted his nose in the air and sniffed loudly.

"Who sent this crazy dog here?" Spring-Autumn scratched his head. He thought that Shadow was a monster who could communicate like the black dragon.

"He was here! I can smell him on you!" Shadow ran towards Spring-Autumn at a frightening speed, shaking the ground with every step.

Spring-Autumn dodged by stepping to the side. His cloak began to lift off his body and condensed into that of a gray sword.

[Bullet Time]

It was time to put the wolf down. Spring-Autumn recalled what Sirius told him when they first met. He said he was looking for a wolf. Maybe Sirius would owe him a favor after this? Spring-Autumn chuckled in his monochrome world.

He appeared behind Shadow and prepared to knock him out by hitting Shadow with the hilt of his sword. At the last moment, before Spring-Autumn was able to hit Shadow, he shockingly moved!

It was just a slight movement but Shadow was able to escape the strike by a hair's breadth. [Bullet Time] did not completely stop time, but rather, slowed down time and increased the processing speed of Spring-Autumn.

Shadow was the first person Spring-Autumn had ever seen move in his [Bullet Time]. It meant that the guy was extremely fast.

The duration of [Bullet Time] ended and Shadow immediately leaped back several feet. Cold sweat dripped down his back.

"You must be colluding with Sirius," Shadow said coldly. The only thing on his mind now was revenge! "If you aren't going to tell me, I'll get you to tell me!"

Shadow's body began to partially transform into a shadow, his body merged into the ground. The sun was too bright as of now. A complete shadow transformation would bring more disadvantages than advantages.

Half of Shadow's body was in the ground, leaving only the upper body exposed. He became faster than before in this state.

[Bullet Time]

Spring-Autumn was very curious about the transformation of Shadow. He did not know how to fight against an opponent that was a shadow. In [Bullet Time], Shadow was moving at about the pace of a running person. It was still slow in the eyes of Spring-Autumn, however.

When in doubt, simply slash forward.

Slas.h.!.+

One of Shadow's arms was sliced off. While in the air, it transformed into a shadow and merged back into his body.

Shadow did not sit back and do nothing as his arm was sliced off. Despite Spring-Autumn being unimaginably fast in his eyes, his senses were able to keep up. He punched with his other arm the instant his arm was sliced off, knocking Spring-Autumn back.

"..."

"..."

Both men were shocked at each other's level of power. Spring-Autumn had never expected to meet someone who would be able to move so fluently within his [Bullet Time] and have instant healing on top of that.

Shadow was shocked at Spring-Autumn's speed and raw power. He grabbed over his newly recovered arm. His recovery did not come with a cost!

"Hahaha," Spring-Autumn started laughing. He was the first to break the silence. "This is fascinating!"

He kicked off the ground and appeared in front of Shadow. Shadow gritted his teeth and said with a determined voice, "You are definitely colluding with that monster, Sirius!"

Clank!

Sparks appeared when Spring-Autumn's sword met with Shadow's claws. However, it was different this time. Shadow's claws began to yellow and age. The man did not notice until they became so brittle with age that they simply snapped off.

"You can't heal yourself if they simply disappear!" Spring-Autumn chuckled.

"Don't look down on me!" Shadow's shadow form began to morph itself into multiple shadow spears and stabbed Spring-Autumn from all directions.

Spring-Autumn had no time to dodge.

[Bullet Time]!

The shadow spears became slower. He sliced them off one by one. Before they all recovered, he broke free and jumped out of the shadow spear cage. As he was in the air, one of the spears fully recovered and shot towards him at a rate that he could not dodge.

Clank!

The spear was deflected away with a swing of the sword. Spring-Autumn no longer gave Shadow any more chance to prepare his attacks after this.

[Bullet Time]!

He had adopted a habit of activating [Bullet Time] in bursts and not in one long session after hearing and seeing the river inside his world. He did not know what the river would do so he opted using [Bullet Time] in bursts which would not bring in the water.

Against Shadow, he no longer limited himself to this. He had to end the dog before he got stabbed.

He sliced off one of Shadow's arms once again without giving him any time to react. It was different this time. The arm immediately began to age and rot. It could not transform into a shadow and reconnect right away.

Slice!

Another arm flew into the air.

"It's over," Spring-Autumn said softly. He planned to use a slash of the past to decapitate the man without killing him.

At the last moment before Spring-Autumn's sword met the neck of Shadow…

Clank!

Another sword intercepted this strike. The sword was simple in design but Spring-Autumn immediately recognized it. An air of suppression stopped Spring-Autumn's [Attribute Cloak: Sword Form] in its place.

It was the [Suppression Sword]! Its wielder… Winter.

"How about we stop it right there?" Winter said slowly. He stood in front of Shadow, protecting him with his [Suppression Sword].