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."

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

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 narrow margin, but he was

his own

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

my

didn't give up, as he rotated his hand and demonic force burst out of his hand, forcing out a black beam that dangerously aimed

still proved to be a

of my head, having clearly read his movements ahead of time. The beam soon flew past the

face hardened

to attack again, but in the blink of an eye,

him from doing whatever he was planning

grasping his hand, my mouth

"Give up."

with annoyance as I felt my other's emotions run down my

resistance clearly irritated

we're both in the same ranks again. You couldn't do anything when

squeezed his hand. The Duke's face changed, but my hand continued to squeeze before it compressed it completely and I was able to

feel the bones of the demons crush inside

me any

tore off of the Duke's body and blood began

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 the same pace time

remained still in the air. Slowing

"Huaak!"

face twisted

torrential wave of demonic energy burst out of his body, converging toward the top of his

"H..how dare you!"

out as a result of

just a casual tap of

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

show you one more thing before I end him. Make sure you feel how I control the mana inside of

raised his hand and I felt the mana in my body expand outwardly. Encompassing

Duke despaired at the

emotions remained

Forming a thin yet durable veil that enveloped

it didn't take me long to figure out what was

'...Mana agglomeration.'

before, back when Monica was fighting the elders at the Monolith. In the years since then, I had

many times as the armor

body was flooded with

'Hm?'

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

see a series of black blobs now. There were a couple of more colorful ones inside of the arena, but that was about

of the blobs were smaller than others, with

'What's this?'

tried to make out what was going

important,

other self spoke. Listening to his words, I sharpened my gaze

It was then...

are the small circles in

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

Then it hit me.

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

Those