As tensions rose on both sides, Kiana spoke up.
"Kid, if I give you the Xuanyuan Sword, will you let us go? As you can see, we have an injured person here. In my opinion, a broken sword is far less important than the life of a comrade."
Hearing Kiana's request, a wide grin spread across Sin Mal's face.
"How could I~? Who told you that handing over the sword would let you leave? How dare you call me a kid! None of you are getting out of here today!" After speaking, the hands on the clocks in Sin Mal's eyes began to turn, and the time around them started to stop.
This was a power Sin Mal didn't have before. But in order to experience the pain that Bronya and Seele had suffered, she had secretly restarted the X-10 Experiment behind Cocolia's back, with herself as the test subject.
Because Sin Mal was in charge this time, there were no failures due to Cocolia's recklessness in injecting too much or Bronya's body being injured. Thus, the X-10 Experiment was a success on Sin Mal.
The X-10 Experiment brought Sin Mal unimaginable pain, but it also granted her immense power. Sin Mal could create a reality-warping field based on her inner world and could briefly stop time.
And it was by using this brief time stop that Sin Mal had managed to sneak past Ryn and the others, secretly following Kiana's group into Jiuyou.
Sin Mal created a dagger in the shape of a clock hand and, during the time stop, rushed towards Kiana. Kiana had called her a kid just now, so she would be the first to die.
"Heh, you annoying pest, always hanging around Bronya. Why is it that all of you can be so happy together, while I'm always alone!" Sin Mal suddenly screamed at Kiana in a rage, then viciously stabbed the dagger towards her.
But Sin Mal saw Kiana's eyeballs move slightly, looking towards her.
Sin Mal's time stop ended, and time began to flow normally again.
Clang—
Sin Mal's dagger fell to the ground. Her fatal blow had failed. Kiana had seen her movement and had knocked the dagger away with a single strike of the Xuanyuan Sword...
Witnessing this unbelievable scene, Sin Mal lost her sanity and screamed hysterically at Kiana.
"How is that possible, how is that possible, how is that possible! I stopped time, why could you move!"
"Tsk, so it was a time stop..." Kiana quickly distanced herself from Sin Mal, then patted her chest, feeling a bit of lingering fear. "I was wondering why I kept feeling like the world had suddenly stopped for a moment, but Mei and the others didn't feel anything. I thought I was mistaken, but it turns out I'm just exceptionally talented."
"Heh, just a lucky break. Even without the time stop, I can still take care of you easily!" Sin Mal created another dagger and rushed towards Kiana. The time stop consumed a lot of her energy, and she had to wait a long time before she could use it again.
"She has a strange ability to stop time, but it's very brief. Everyone, keep your distance from her when fighting!" Kiana shouted to the others as she continuously moved away from Sin Mal.
Enraged, Sin Mal chased Kiana relentlessly, but Kiana had no intention of fighting her head-on and kept her at a distance.
Having lost her senses, Sin Mal even forgot to command her tactical mechas. Otherwise, Kiana's group would have had no chance to resist.
Fu Hua was getting anxious. She didn't want anyone else to get hurt, but she hadn't brought Fenghuang Down on this mission. Until she understood Sin Mal's time-stop ability, Fu Hua wouldn't risk fighting her in close combat. In her current battered state, with only a fraction of her strength, if she were caught in a time stop, she would be instantly defeated.
The group could only continue to kite Sin Mal, relying on Bronya to fire at her from a distance.
After a period of chasing, Sin Mal's frenzy subsided. She stopped her pursuit and made a gun gesture at Kiana.
"Playtime is over. I'm done playing with you. Mecha squad, open fire!"
With Sin Mal's command, the tactical mechas began to transform, extending struts into the ground as missile launchers, machine guns, and laser weapons emerged from their bodies.
But not a single tactical mecha fired. Instead, a voice, filled with rage and spoken through gritted teeth, came from the mecha at the very front.
"Having fun, you little brat? Now the roles of hunter and prey are reversed. Start running. Your daddy is about to arrive!!"
"That's Ryn's voice!" Hearing the familiar voice coming from the mecha, Kiana cried out with tears of joy. She had thought for a moment that she was going to die here.
"Hmph, just smoke and mirrors. Let's see if you get here before I kill them." Sin Mal was completely unfazed by Ryn's threat. When has a madman ever been afraid of threats?
Sin Mal smiled ferociously and continued to run towards K-423, but before she could take a step, a massive force descended from the sky and slammed her violently into the ground.
The immense force created a deep crater, sending dust and debris flying. Ryn walked out from it, clapping his hands.
As soon as the communication from Kiana's side was cut off, Cortana had sent him an alert. Realizing Kiana might be in danger, Ryn had torn through Chiyou's body and headed straight for the location where the signal was last sent.
At the critical moment just before the tactical mechas were about to fire, Cortana's radiation field had enveloped them first, and she had directly hacked and rewritten their control systems.
"This one is tough."
Ryn kicked the unconscious Sin Mal. Her body had been partially turned into pulp by his attack, but she wasn't dead yet and was healing at an extremely fast rate.
This self-healing ability made even Ryn a little envious.
Fortunately, Ryn was a very compassionate person. He immediately created a pseudo black hole, preparing to end Sin Mal's endless suffering from regeneration.
At that moment, Bronya quickly flew over and stopped Ryn from turning Sin Mal into dust.
"Ryn, wait. Can you let her go?"
"?"
Seeing Bronya's still deadpan expression, Ryn pressed the back of his hand against her forehead to check for a fever.
"Has your brain injury finally spread, Bronya? It's not just your emotional module; has your intelligence also been affected?
This person almost killed you all just now! And during the time we were entering Jiuyou, she slaughtered the entire permanent Schicksal branch force in Canghai City. They didn't even have time to send out a distress signal..."
"..."
Bronya was silent for a moment, but she still insisted on stopping Ryn from killing Sin Mal.
"She used to be my friend... It was because Bronya once said the word 'monster' that she became like this. If possible, Bronya wants to..."
"Sigh, alright." Ryn interrupted Bronya's explanation. He wasn't in the mood for explanations right now.
Then Ryn grabbed Sin Mal by the neck, lifted her up, broke her limbs, and threw her to Bronya.
"I hope you can save her from Theresa's wrath."