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."

those words, the tension within my legs disappeared. Within a split instant, I

Swooosh-!

hand thrust toward the Duke's throat in a lightning-fast

However...

he dodged my attack by moving his head to the side. It was by a

that, he counterattacked with his own palm,

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

of my left hand, his palm

didn't give up, as he rotated his hand and demonic force burst

still proved to be a futile effort in the

read his movements ahead of time.

Duke's face hardened

in the blink of an eye, my hand

doing whatever he was planning

hand, my mouth then

"Give up."

I felt my other's emotions run down

resistance clearly irritated

same ranks again. You couldn't do anything when we were of the same rank before, yet you think

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

demons crush inside

me

back, the hand tore off of the Duke's body and blood began to slowly

glanced at the torn-up hand for a brief moment before throwing it behind me, only to see it stop mid-air and fall down at

be said for the blood as it remained still in the air. Slowing

"Huaak!"

action, the Duke's face twisted

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 of

just a

flew past my head, I heard a voice speak inside of my head. The mana inside of my

one more thing before I end him. Make sure you feel how I control the

of his raised his hand and I felt

despaired at the

my emotions remained

mana followed after this. Forming a

itself around my body, it didn't take me

'...Mana agglomeration.'

this scene once before, back when Monica was fighting the elders at the Monolith. In the years since then, I had been deeply impressed with her gallant

many times as the armor completely encased

was flooded

'Hm?'

my vision completely shifted without me even having a chance to rejoice

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

were smaller than others, with the blob representing the

'What's this?'

as I tried to make out what

not important,

spoke. Listening to his words, I sharpened my gaze and paid more attention to the blobs around

It was then...

the small circles in the

the size of tennis balls tucked within

Then it hit me.

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

right. Those