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."

disappeared. Within a split instant, I

Swooosh-!

my hand thrust toward the Duke's throat in

However...

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

counterattacked with his own palm, pressing it

open book, his every move was clearly visible

of my

give up, as he rotated his hand and demonic force burst out of his hand, forcing out a black beam that dangerously aimed at

to be a futile effort in the

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 ear, before piercing through the pale red clouds in the

face hardened when he saw

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

him from doing whatever he

grasping his hand, my mouth

"Give up."

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

Duke's resistance clearly irritated

funny how you think you can actually do something to me now that we're both in the same ranks again. You couldn't do anything when

fingers pressed against Duke Azenoch's arm as I squeezed his hand. The Duke's face changed, but my hand

the demons crush inside

me

the hand tore off of the

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

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

"Huaak!"

action, the Duke's face twisted

of his body, converging toward the top of his palm in the form of a

"H..how dare you!"

tremendous force was pushed out as a result of his

with just a casual tap of his hand, the ball flew past

speak inside of my head. The mana inside of my

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

raised his hand and I felt

despaired

emotions remained

this. Forming a thin yet durable veil

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

'...Mana agglomeration.'

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

already tremendous strength multiplied many times as the armor completely encased

body was

'Hm?'

after that, my vision completely shifted without me even having a chance to

to before, I could only see a series of black blobs now. There were a couple of

than others, with the

'What's this?'

to make

not important, look

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

It was then...

small circles in

tucked within blobs. Additionally, they appeared

Then it hit me.

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

right. Those are