Once Ace blew her cover, she dropped her dwarf disguise. In a shimmer of light, she reverted to her true form: a stunning woman with smooth, waist-length black hair and neat bangs.
Her features were delicate and her skin fair, but her eyes held a cold, cynical detachment—the look of someone shaped by hardship and fueled by obsession.
She wore a sharp, high-collared white top held by a striking gold belt.
Her posture was perfectly upright, radiating a mysterious and dangerous aura.
"So, a great beauty was hiding under there all along," Ace remarked. "No wonder I caught a faint fragrance. What a headache. What am I going to do with you?"
Now in her true form, Ultear's magical power surged.
She raised her hands, palms facing each other, and transparent crystal orbs materialized from thin air.
Each one swirled with light and shadow, reflecting glimpses of possible futures.
They began to rotate around her, emitting ripples that warped the very fabric of time and space.
"Arc of time: Flash!"
With a sharp cry, Ultear thrust her hands forward.
The dozens of crystal orbs frozen in mid-air and unleashed their attacks simultaneously.
Beams of light shot out from every direction, surrounding Ace with no room to escape.
Each beam carried the power to distort time, making them impossible to block or dodge by normal means.
Facing this unpredictable magic, Ace's eyes narrowed as he transform into Aldamon.
He beat his dragon wings to retreat while raising his right hand.
The Rudriya Darpanas—the mirrors on his arms—flared with a brilliant crimson glow.
"Brahmastra!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions filled the chamber.
His fiery projectiles collided with the beams, and though his flames dimmed under the pressure of her magic, he managed to intercept most of the attack.
Ultear, however, just smirked.
"It's useless. Against the Arc of Time, you are only delaying the inevitable."
She clenched her fists.
The crystal orbs, which had dimmed after the attack, suddenly glowed as the time on their surfaces reversed. In an instant, they were restored to their peak state, as if they had never fired at all.
"Restore," Ultear whispered.
The orbs brightened again, unleashing a second wave of beams even more ferocious than the first.
They tore through space toward Aldamon before his flame barrier could even recover.
The onslaught was relentless.
'Tsk, what a pain,' Aldamon thought, frowning.
Her ability to constantly "rewind" her weapons made her endurance terrifying.
He used his mirrors to deflect the beams while dodging the ones that broke through, searching for a gap. If he stayed on the defensive, she would eventually wear him down.
"It looks like brute-force flames aren't enough for this weird time magic," Aldamon (Ace) said, suddenly stopping his retreat.
He dropped his guard entirely. "How about I just get close?"
Seizing a split second while she adjusted her aim, Aldamon lunged.
His right fist, wreathed in highly compressed crimson-gold flames, aimed straight for Ultear.
"Naive," Ultear sneered.
She didn't move an inch. She simply held out her hand, a magic circle appearing in her palm.
"Parallel Worlds."
The searing energy on Ace's fist, powerful enough to shatter mountains, vanished instantly.
It didn't miss—it was as if the fire had been skipped forward to a point in the future where it had already burned out.
"What?!" Ace stared at his bare fist.
In the original story, she had evaporated Gray's ice.... it seemed her magic was just as effective against fire.
"Before the future I choose, your flames are meaningless." Ultear flicked her finger toward him.
"Future Flash."
The crystal orbs merged and compressed until they formed a single sphere the size of an egg.
"Arc of Time: Second Origin."
She pushed the chaotic ball of light toward Ace.
As it moved, the space around it distorted and peeled away, as if reality itself was being erased.
The wave of time washed over Ace's armor, but it did nothing.
Ultear's face filled with shock.
Ace looked her in the eye and explained that his armor was a Warrior Spirit—an entity that existed outside her laws of time.
"Your time tricks are interesting," Ace said. "But let's play a different game."
A golden summoning circle bloomed on the stone floor.
Radiant and holy light shimmering as the Mega-level Digimon Sakuyamon stepped out from the light, looking like a high priestess from an ancient legend.
"Sakuyamon, purify this distorted space!" Ace commanded.
"As you command," Sakuyamon replied. She slammed her golden vajra staff into the ground.
"Amethyst Mandala!"
A massive purification barrier expanded instantly, filled with flowing golden scripts and falling cherry blossom petals.
The sacred energy stabilized the room, neutralizing the temporal distortions.
"A..... priest?!" Ultear's expression crumbled.
This wasn't in any of her reports.
She could feel the divine-like power of this new summon actively resisting her magic.
"It's not over," Sakuyamon said.
She traced a pattern in the air.
The four colored pipe foxes at her waist—red, blue, yellow, and green—sprang to life and hissed at Ultear.
"Izuna!"
The foxes transformed into streaks of light, lunging at Ultear from four different angles.
The red fox burned, the blue froze, the yellow crushed, and the green moved with blinding speed.
Each one carried anti-magic properties designed to tear through Ultear's defenses.
Ultear scrambled to manipulate her orbs, trying to force the foxes into a different "future" to avoid the hit.
Just then—
"Holy Aegis!"
A brilliant white light shot into the room, forming a shield in front of Ultear that barely deflected the foxes.
Angewomon descended into the chamber, her eight white wings glowing.
She landed beside Ace, nodding to Sakuyamon before turning a cold gaze toward the disheveled Ultear.
"Angewomon? You're here too?" Ace was surprised Gatomon had been able to evolve by herself.
"I sensed an evil aura and a disturbance in time," Angewomon said, her voice holy and calm.
She looked at Ultear with pity.
"To toy with time and fate is a grave sin. Your path is built on sorrow and lies."
"Hmph, another preacher." Ultear wiped a trace of blood from her lip—a result of the magical backlash.
She looked at the three of them, her mind racing.
Every one of her opponents now possessed a power that countered her own.
"Give up, Ultear," Ace said, stepping forward.
He, Sakuyamon, and Angewomon surrounded her. "Stop now, and you might still save yourself."
"Stop? Heh..." Ultear let out a low, bitter laugh.
Then, her face shifted.
Her cold expression melted into one of fragile, tearful beauty.
She looked at Ace with mournful eyes. "Ace... you've misunderstood me. I only wanted to release Deliora so I could destroy it properly. I wanted to fix what happened to my mother, Ur... Please, let me go."
She leaned forward slightly, her voice becoming soft and seductive. "I can help you. My time magic is very useful..."
She moved closer, trying to use her charm to sway him.
"You're so powerful, and so handsome... if you let me go, i will give you everything. And... I can be at your disposal. You can do whatever you like with me."
Ace watched her with a completely blank stare.
'Why would I fall for this? Do you think I'm an idiot?'
Still, he had to admit, her acting was top-tier!
Finding Ace unmoved, Ultear's eyes flashed with annoyance before she doubled down, swaying her hips and looking at him with a bold, inviting gaze.
The response she got was Ace instantly appearing behind her.
Without a hint of mercy, he delivered a heavy slap to her ass.
Smack!
The sound echoed through the silent chamber.
"Kyahh!" Ultear cried out in shock, staggering forward.
Her seductive mask shattered, replaced by burning shame and fury.
Her face turned bright red as she spun around to glare at him. "You! How dare you—!"
"What do you take me for?" Ace asked, flicking his hand with a look of pure boredom. "You really think your 'charms' work on me? You're dreaming."
"You...!" Ultear trembled, pointing a finger at him, speechless with rage.
She had never been treated with such utter disrespect!
"Me what?" Ace turned his back on her. "Sakuyamon, take her out."
Sakuyamon didn't hesitate.
Several golden talismans flew out and pinned themselves to Ultear, instantly sealing her magic.
Ultear collapsed to the ground, unable to do anything but glare at Ace's retreating back.
"Let's go," Ace said, heading toward the altar where Deliora's roars were getting louder.
As they left, Ultear watched him go.
She was boiling with resentment and humiliation, yet, somewhere deep down—so deep she didn't even realize it—she felt a strange spark of curiosity toward the man who had seen right through her.
"Ace... just you wait," she hissed through gritted teeth.