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 my legs disappeared. Within a split

Swooosh-!

thrust toward the

However...

in the 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

with his own

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

my left hand, his palm changed

rotated his hand and demonic force burst out of his hand, forcing out a black beam that dangerously

still proved to be a futile effort in the

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

Duke's face hardened

attack again, but in the blink of an eye,

him from doing whatever he was planning

his hand,

"Give up."

felt my

Duke's resistance clearly irritated

can actually do something to 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

Duke's face changed, but my hand continued to

demons crush inside the palm

annoy me

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

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

the blood as it remained still in the air. Slowing

"Huaak!"

action, the Duke's face twisted savagely

wave of demonic energy burst out of his body, converging

"H..how dare you!"

pushed out as a

with just a casual tap of his hand, the

past my head, I heard a voice speak inside of my head. The mana inside of my body started to circulate in an

thing before I end him. Make sure you

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

despaired at

emotions

of mana followed after this. Forming a thin

my body, it didn't take me long

'...Mana agglomeration.'

seen 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

already tremendous strength multiplied many times as the armor completely

was flooded

'Hm?'

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

a series of black blobs now. There were a couple of more colorful

I observed that some of the blobs were smaller than others, with the blob representing the Duke

'What's this?'

as I tried to make out what was

important,

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

It was then...

are the small circles in the middle of their

small circular balls the size of tennis balls tucked within blobs.

Then it hit me.

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

Those are their