The Author's POV

Time stopped.

The world within my vision came to a halt.

From the crowd to the noise. The only thing that stood in front of me was Duke Azonech.

Carefully placing my hand on the ground, my body slowly stood up.

In parallel with this, Duke Azonech's face changed dramatically. In a mutter, he opened his mouth.

"…Y..you were hiding your strength?"

He slowly took a step back.

He appeared to be in shock and fear.

"Not really."

My mouth automatically opened and answered.

"That's impossible!"

In a state of trembling, he screamed.

"Do you really expect me to believe that you weren't hiding your strength?"

"...You call this hiding my strength?"

I suddenly felt a wave of disgust wash over my body as I sensed my other self's emotions.

I found my head slowly rising up.

My eyes soon met with the Duke's.

"Is it really worth hiding this little amount of strength?"

"Wh...what?"

While the two were conversing, I was secretly trying to grasp what was happening around me.

It had to be noted that currently, time was flowing at a much faster rate than reality. For the two of them to be able to converse properly...just how fast were they?

Not only that, the world around me. It looked different. Everything looked a lot more colorful as I was able to catch a glimpse of the mana in the air.

There wasn't much, in fact, there was barely any mana in the air, but it was still there.

Regardless, that wasn't what attracted most of my attention.

'...Limit Breaker?'

These words...

This was the first time I had ever heard of these words, and my curiosity about them was at an all-time high.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury to ponder over those words as my head glanced around the frozen space, and I suddenly found my calves tensing up.

My mouth soon opened.

"My time is limited. This amount of strength will suffice for now."

Within a split instant, I

Swooosh-!

toward the Duke's throat in

However...

attack by moving his head

he counterattacked with his own

like an open book, his every move was clearly visible in the eyes

slap of my

and demonic force burst out of his hand, forcing out a black

be a

self to avoid the attack was a simple movement of my head, having clearly read his movements ahead of time. The beam soon flew past the side of my

face hardened when he

to attack again, but in the blink of an eye, my hand had already reached out and grasped his

him from doing whatever he was planning

hand,

"Give up."

I felt my other's emotions

Duke's resistance clearly irritated

me now that we're both in the same ranks again. You couldn't do anything when we were of the same rank before, yet you think a small power-up would make

fingers pressed against Duke Azenoch's arm as I squeezed his hand. The Duke's face changed, but my hand continued to squeeze before it compressed it completely and I was able to close my

the demons crush

me

of the Duke's body and

glanced at the torn-up hand for a brief moment before throwing it behind me, only to see it

as it remained still in the air. Slowing

"Huaak!"

my action, the Duke's face twisted savagely as he screamed

a torrential wave of demonic energy burst out of his body, converging toward the top of his palm in the form of a small

"H..how dare you!"

pushed out as a result

though he could read his mind, with just a casual tap of his hand,

voice speak inside of my head. The mana inside of my body started to

end him. Make sure you feel how

hand and I felt the mana

despaired at

emotions

a thin yet durable veil that enveloped my

armor puzzled itself around my body, it didn't take me long to

'...Mana agglomeration.'

elders at the Monolith. In the years since then, I had been deeply impressed with her gallant and

multiplied many times as the armor completely encased

was

'Hm?'

after that, my vision completely shifted without me even

of black blobs now. There were a couple of more colorful ones inside

the blobs were smaller than

'What's this?'

to make out

not important, look

question remained unanswered as my other self spoke. Listening to his words, I sharpened my gaze and paid more attention to the blobs

It was then...

small circles

size of tennis balls tucked within blobs. Additionally, they appeared

Then it hit me.

'Wait, don't tell me...'

Those are