Raven was stunned beyond belief. She could only see a bit of what had happened due to her new skill ’Shadow Scrying’ which allowed her to sense the world through the eyes and ears of everyone who was under the control of her corruption.

That meant anything from a Crawler to a Clone would give her the information she needed. Using Super Nova, she could get the same information, but way, way faster.

Super Nova had the ability to attain information at a super speed and could move at such a speed too. Using her, Raven had thought she would win this battle. Against a man who could see the future, she had delved him into a world where one could not see.

And yet, he had somehow killed the Super Nova in less than a minute. It wasn’t even half a minute.

Raven had lost all information after the second time her puppet had been cut. Her shadows hadn’t even reached to consume her before Stanley was no longer standing where he was before.

Raven could still feel the Super Nova alive until she didn’t. Then, a wave of energy flowed into her, giving her an ecstatic feeling, and at the same time the dread of knowing that the Super Nova had died.

’Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!’ Raven realized how screwed she was. The bit of hope she had of winning was slipping by the second.

’How is he so strong? Why is he so strong?’ she thought, unsure of her success at victory here. She was safe where she was, and would be so long as she remained there. However, for now, that was all she could do.

’He will keep culling away my crawlers, and then...’ Raven realized the issue. Even if she didn’t die by the end of it, she was going to have to run away.

’Run away,’ she thought. ’Yes, I should run away. That is the only... NO! I can’t run away. Not when he is this close. I have to kill him. I will kill him.’

She pulled out a single gun, one only she could use. Her clones could use it too, but the aim simply wasn’t good when it came from the clones. She had to do it herself.

Inside Shadow World, Raven could use her powers regardless of distance limits. And through that, she began creating thick tendrils of adhesive darkness that attached to the body of her enemy.

As it grabbed onto him, he began losing mobility. He was stuck, trying to pull himself out of it, but there was just too much for him.

’Ha! Hahaha! He can’t get away,’ Raven thought. And with the delight that came from the revelation, she shot the gun.

A single red bullet tore through the air, blasting directly onto the young man. A large explosion lit up the darkness, revealing many of the crawlers being wounded at the same time.

Raven was taken aback, both by the attack and the rebound from the gun. She had heard the gun could destroy even thick walls of steel, but she wasn’t told it would be so explosive.

She massaged her arm while looking through the crawlers and noticed Stanley’s wounded body in the distance. "I did it!" she shouted in exhilaration. It had actually worked.

Stanley hadn’t died, but he was wounded. The right half of his body was singed down to his skin disfiguring him, and he was knocked out completely.

This was the chance that Raven had been waiting for.

Of course, she didn’t make her way toward him just because he was down. She sent her army of clones and crawlers to kill him first. The ones that remained hit him, trying their best to hurt him, but no matter how hard they hit, Stanley was still alive.

’Tsk! His body is too strong,’ Raven thought. She shot him again, resulting in another explosion, and an arm that hurt even more. The rebound from the gun was just too strong.

’Damn this thing,’ she thought, putting it back into the shadow storage where it came from. She looked back at Stanley and found him even more hurt now. He was bleeding profusely from his right shoulder when he had been seemingly struck.

Raven frowned. ’He survived two direct gunshots?’ she thought. Was the distance too large? It didn’t matter now. She had the crawlers hit him a while before she realized it was useless. She had to use another way to kill him.

She remembered the liquid she had taken away from the sphere and created it around Stanley’s unconscious body. The acid pooled, tearing through his body.

Or so she had imagined would happen, but instead, nothing actually did. ’Hmm? Is he immune to acid too?’ Raven thought in confusion. ’Just how many powers does this bastard have?’

There was only one way to deal with it then. "Screw it. I won’t kill you. Death is too good of an escape for you anyway for what you did to my brother," she said as she appeared next to Stanley, coming out of the shadow.

"For what you did, you deserve to have to watch you kill the people you love," she said, grabbing his neck and pulling him up. Shadows moved and grabbed Stanley’s mask, plucking it away, and revealing his mouth.

A dark liquid began gathering in her hand in the darkness. "Now then," she said as she began dripping it down into Stanley’s mouth. "Enjoy."

Stanley’s head suddenly blurred before it stopped. "I will."

Raven’s eyes widened and she disappeared into the shadow at the same time. However, as she went somewhere, she felt a force pull at her, sending her right where she was before.

Stanley quickly got up, pushing Raven down onto the ground in the darkness. Raven disappeared again, going somewhere else, sending all she had toward Stanley.

"Do you think you can escape me?" Stanley asked. "Do you think you can run away? You killed my brother, Raven. You killed my mother. Today, you pay for everything you have done to ruin my life."

"Today is the day you die."

Raven tried to flee, and yet, she was dragged right back to where she was before.

Stanley held her neck by his left hand, choking her. His right hand was half burned from the bullets he had purposefully taken with the least amount of danger to his own life to lure out the real Raven.

He bet everything on the fact that if he was near death, she would come for him. So he took both the shots, hoping it would lead to this. Even if it did not, he could always retry.

The dozens of crawlers came for him and spikes grew from all around to stab him, but Stanley ignored everything, focusing on the only thing that mattered right now.

The Shadow Nova.

Raven tried to disappear again, but she arrived right back in his clutches.

"Death is too easy an escape for you too," Stanley said. "But I can’t take any other chances."

Even as Raven disappeared again, she arrived right back as Stanley punched down at her face.

The punch contained all of his sadness, his grief, his determination, and his promise. It contained his vengeance. He struck down, punching Raven’s head so hard that not only did it explode, but the entire Shadow World came undone.

The very ground shook with his punch as the darkness disappeared and light enveloped them. Stanley looked down at the mess on the cracked floor where Raven’s blood and matters seeped into.

There was no healing here. No shadow to creep out and reform her head. As Raven’s soul went into Stanley, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was dead.

Dead.

His greatest enemy. The Shadow Nova.

Raven was finally dead.

"AAAARRRRGHHHH!!" Stanley shouted and punched down at where her head was again.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

He punched, again and again, releasing all of his fury, all of his emotion onto the dead nova. He punched until he was done with the emotions within him.

Finally, he stood up, having won the fight.

And with the win condition fulfilled, the loop had ended as well.

Stanley had won the battle, but the war wasn’t over yet. The Crawlers, now with no one to control them began rampaging toward him.

Stanley looked around until he saw his floating white sword, grabbed it, and went back into action.

His body hurt like hell, but he fought, destroying all the crawlers one by one. He cut up the crawlers as he did with the Nova he cut down and killed them the same way.

It was such an easier way to mark them and speed up their healing to kill them again. Using such a method, Stanley took no more than 2 minutes to kill all the crawlers.

Well, all but a single one.

A smaller crawler stood to the side, still. It had a mind of its own, but not its body. Raven had taken away that and corrupted it until it wasn’t there anymore.

Stanley walked toward it. "Freddy..." he said softly. "I’m sorry it all came to this."

He knew he had to kill him. Death was the only release for someone so far gone.

"I wish I could..." Stanley thought for a moment and paused. "Can I?"

He looked up, a curious thought crossing his mind. It had been 6 months since Freddy was turned.

’6 months. 180 days. With 100 times that, less than 2 days,’ Stanley thought. He placed his palm on the crawler’s body and turned back time.

At 100 times the regular speed, it would take 2 days for everything to revert to how it was originally. Stanley simply laid down on the side, relaxed while still using his powers.

He had won. He had really won.

He couldn’t help but grin as he waited. The people inside the AAA were probably in danger, but Gray had gone in there. He would save them all. He would...

Stanley felt something chance and quickly got up to look back. The crawler that stood behind him was no longer there. Instead, there was a young man in simple clothes, tears in his eyes.

"Stanley..." he said. "You... you saved me."

"Freddy? How..."

Freddy took him into a brotherly hug and cried. All the pain he had been carrying until now was let out at once.

Stanley heard the wailing and felt his own tears coming. "It’s okay," he said, patting Freddy’s back. "It’s okay. She’s gone. We did it."

Sheila appeared out of nowhere, revealing herself a few meters away. She had her hands to her face, seeing Stanley.

Stanley let go of Freddy and looked at Sheila. "Sheila..." he said slowly.

"Are you okay?" Sheila asked, worried.

Stanley smiled. "You said... you said you would give me the answer if I won," he said. "I won."

Sheila’s eyes went wide in shock. "You... killed the Shadow Nova?" she asked, shocked at how quickly it had been done.

Stanley nodded. "And the answer?" he asked.

"It’s a Yes, you idiot," she said, running up to him and jumping into his embrace, kissing him.

Stanley had become the happiest he had in a long time. He had gotten his revenge, got his friend back, and now found the love of his life.

It couldn’t get any better than that.

The people inside the building began coming out one after another, and soon military from all around the world came to aid them.

Many had died in today’s invasion and the bodies were taken out. Many of the enemy, many of the allies. In the end, they were just corpses.

Stanley saw Ulia’s corpse being dragged out. Gray cried by Reena’s corpse. He had never seen him cry before.

Hobb gave a speech, commending the bravery of everyone who fought today, regardless of what the outcome was. Today was a dark day for them, but it was also one that spoke of their bravery and their might.

It was a day to remember nonetheless.

The headquarters was more or less unusable now and many wondered if they would be moving, but apparently, they didn’t have to worry about that.

Amy gave a short farewell speech to everyone and in that speech she let them know that her final gift to them would be a rebuilt headquarters.

Everyone believed her, even though no one understood how she was planning on making it happen.

The ones that survived were sent to rest, and the ones that were wounded were sent to get healed.

Stanley was both, so he had to stay at the hospital to get healed. It did not matter to him. As long as he had Sheila by his side.

He lay in the hospital bed, with bandages wrapped all around his body. He got an amazing power while in the hospital, something called Perfect Restoration.

He could change something to exactly how it was during a period in the past.

Stanley turned back time on himself to the morning of the day of the invasion, all wounds gone along with that.

That was good. After all, there was one more thing he had to do just yet.

[End of Volume 5: Day of Vengeance]