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."

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

Swooosh-!

my fingers together, my hand thrust toward the Duke's throat

However...

appropriately as he dodged my attack by moving his head to the side. It was by a narrow margin, but he was

he counterattacked with his own palm, pressing it towards

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

casual slap of my left hand, his palm changed

as he rotated his hand and demonic force burst out

be a futile effort

his movements ahead of time. The beam soon flew past the side of my ear,

Duke's face hardened when he saw

teeth, he prepared to attack again, but in the blink of an eye, my hand had already reached out and

whatever

grasping his hand, my mouth

"Give up."

twitched with annoyance as I felt my other's

resistance clearly irritated

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

as I squeezed his hand. The Duke's face changed, but my hand continued to

demons crush inside the palm

annoy me any

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

for a brief moment before throwing it behind me, only to see it stop mid-air and fall down

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

"Huaak!"

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

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

"H..how dare you!"

pushed out as a result of

mind, with just a casual

the ball flew past my head, I heard a voice speak inside of my head. The mana inside of my body started

I end him. Make sure you feel how I control the

felt the

Duke despaired at the

my emotions remained

this. Forming a thin yet durable veil that

body, it didn't take me long to figure out

'...Mana agglomeration.'

was fighting the elders at the Monolith. In the years since then, I had been deeply impressed with

already tremendous strength multiplied many times as the armor completely

body was

'Hm?'

my vision completely shifted without me even having a

before, I could only see a series of black blobs now. There were a couple of more colorful ones inside of the arena, but that

were smaller than others, with the blob representing the

'What's this?'

as I tried to make out what was

important, look

words, I sharpened my gaze and paid more attention to the

It was then...

are the small circles in the middle of their

inspection, I observed small circular balls the size of tennis balls tucked within

Then it hit me.

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

right. Those