Ch.921I Stopped Time

The month passed like flowing water.

No, perhaps I should say it flowed like blood?

The core forces of Hestella, including myself, had to devote ourselves to training and combat without a single day’s rest.

Teams that lost in group battles received criticism through “interviews” with me about their shortcomings, while victorious teams would get a brief rest before being immediately mobilized for monster subjugation missions again and again.

By the time Demian’s internal organs had ruptured about twelve times, and Frider’s attack style had transformed into something more suitable for smashing metal chunks around 170cm in length rather than fighting Werebeasts…

“…Good. I think there’s nothing more I need to teach you for now.”

I finally declared the end of this semester.

Because they had all reached the limit of what could be improved through training.

“Finally…!”

“Does this mean we can rest now, miss?”

Leonore collapsed to the ground, looking up at me with expectant eyes while catching her breath.

The dust that had risen settled like mist on her uniform, which was so soaked with sweat it was nearly transparent.

“Rest? Are you serious? When training ends, you focus on real combat, not rest.”

I smirked and shook my head.

“Even while you’re sitting here like this, helpless and weak people outside the palace are being torn apart by monsters. So how could we… ahem, you have time to rest? Don’t you agree?”

I laid out an irrefutable justification, blocking any potential objections.

“That’s not fair. When you put it that way, there’s nothing I can say. That’s really underhanded…”

“If it bothers you so much, become strong enough to defeat a dragon. Then I’ll make sure you get plenty of rest.”

Indeed. Leisurely rest was a luxury these people couldn’t afford.

What rest could humans who had never even reached their level cap possibly need? If they had that kind of time, they should be hunting one more monster.

If you neglect building your strength just because things seem peaceful around you, you’ll deeply regret it later.

You’ll be properly humiliated when latecomers suddenly surpass you.

Like the Northern Duchess, who went from being a senior teaching Millia and Demian to becoming their student instead.

—-

Unlike the other members of the Five Swords who were driven from the capital and assigned to monster subjugation throughout the kingdom, Demian remained in the capital to continue training with me.

“Why just me…!”

“Are you really asking? Then I should explain.”

As I launched myself like a rocket, swinging my blade diagonally with the power of spatial cutting, a startled Demian drew his white wings to dodge and hurled five spears of light at me.

“Hagalaz, Kenaz!”

The rune of collapse. Karma of murder transformed into flame, the heavenly demon’s destruction technique.

The crimson heat beam shot from my fingertips, erasing three of the light spears as it passed through them, while the collapsing mana I released as I struck the light spears destroyed and scattered Elpinel’s holy power.

“Kuk… then!”

Demian swung his holy sword horizontally, shooting hundreds of light fragments like arrows. It was like watching a waterfall of pure white feathers pouring down.

“You have numbers… but what good are they if they lack power?”

I extinguished the karma flame I was using for flight, and compressed the power of murder karma I expelled from my body into thread-thin strands, weaving them like silk.

[I’m the one performing the technique, so why are you acting so smug?]

…Hersella.

Can’t be helped. I can’t use this myself.

– Whoosh!

The karma technique, Golden Silk Wall.

The crimson silk unfurled like a rippling curtain, enveloping my entire body as a barrier, blocking the hundreds of light fragments like a shield as it fluctuated.

– Crack! Crackle! Crackle!”

Whether due to some compatibility between murder karma and holy power, it didn’t last long before being punctured and torn apart…

“Amateurish.”

But it gave me enough time to move out of the line of fire. The waterfall of light, having lost its target, futilely tore up the ground instead.

“See? These kinds of attacks are nothing once you break their initial momentum.”

I escaped the torrent of light through the gap the Golden Silk Wall had created, and soared high into the sky using karma flame to fly toward Demian who was hovering above.

“Not yet!”

Demian shouted down at me, holding his holy sword high as if he had been waiting. The sacred letters engraved on the blade shone brilliantly, emitting a dazzling pure white radiance like the sun.

So that previous attack was just to buy time for this.

“Hah.”

He’s really pulling out all sorts of techniques since I’ve been going easy on him.

“Hey, hey. Is that really something you should be using in a sparring match?”

I let out a hollow laugh as I stopped mid-air to adjust my posture.

I could tell at a glance from the preliminary signs what Demian was trying to do.

“Heaven’s Wrath? When did you learn that…?”

Heaven’s Wrath.

Known among players as Gustav’s Holy Cannon, the highest-level attack miracle of the Church of Elpinel.

A technique that would turn even Joshua to ash if he couldn’t dodge it. The miracle Demian was about to unleash on me.

“Haaaah!”

Either he didn’t hear me or chose to ignore me.

Demian let out a battle cry and brought down his pure white-enveloped greatsword in a diagonal slash.

Toward me, who was looking up at him with an incredulous expression while gripping Durandal, which vibrated intensely with transcendent karma.

– Kwaooooooo!

My entire field of vision filled with pure white light.

A torrent of holy light as fierce as a dragon’s breath, as vast as a rushing tidal wave, and as violent as a lightning storm.

The pillar of Elpinel’s light, which obliterated everything it touched, pierced toward the ground like divine punishment.

―――!

A roar beyond sound. The massive pillar of light penetrated the earth, vaporizing it and leaving a deep, deep scar.

It was a magnificent and overwhelming sight.

Though the strike lasted only a few seconds in real time, watching from the side made it feel as if it would continue forever.

“Haaaa….”

And just as Demian, holding his now-dimmed holy sword, began descending to the ground with a deep sigh of exhaustion…

– Splash!

From the scar left by Gustav’s Holy Cannon, groundwater burst forth like a fountain, thoroughly soaking the earth and rising up.

The light bombardment had created a deep lake where there had once been flat ground.

It was such a powerful strike that unless I countered it head-on with Sky Slash, there would be no other way to withstand it.

If I had directly taken the hit, I would have died instantly regardless of my evolved body.

“Hey. Demian.”

If I had taken the hit, that is.

“Huh…!”

Startled by the voice coming from right beside him, Demian hurriedly turned his head and swung his holy sword.

– Clang!

I blocked Demian’s slash by holding Durandal vertically, then rotated the blade to deflect his greatsword sideways as I slipped into his embrace.

So close that our foreheads would touch if we just leaned forward.

“Did you just try to kill me?”

I asked, pulling the corners of my mouth up to my ears.

At first I was going to compliment him on being able to use Heaven’s Wrath, but seeing the lake that had formed on the ground, I suddenly felt quite indignant that he had fired such a dangerous technique at me.

I couldn’t even use Sky Slash because I was worried the trajectory might twist and turn Demian into De/mian.

But you fired Heaven’s Wrath at full power. So much that your karma was depleted to the point you could no longer maintain flight.

“No, right? After all I’ve done for you, surely you wouldn’t be so ungrateful as to try to kill me. If you had any conscience, you couldn’t do such a thing.”

This was an attack that could kill even Persiella if she took it wrong. Though of course, that half-human half-dragon wouldn’t take such an attack head-on unless she was insane.

“How…!”

What do you mean, how? It’s obvious.

No matter how strong an attack is, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t hit, right?

“Curious?”

I tucked Durandal at my waist and firmly gripped both of Demian’s arms with my hands as I began to explain.

To tell him why his finishing move hadn’t even grazed me.

“I stopped time. With my heroic tale ‘Defying Fate,’ for exactly 3 seconds, just before Heaven’s Wrath could reach me.”

That’s right.

It wasn’t just my physical body that had evolved through Astraea’s blessing.

My heroic tale of time compression, Defying Fate, had also evolved to the next level, reaching time stoppage beyond mere compression.

The time I could maintain the time stop was limited to about 5 seconds even if I consumed all my karma, so this time I had to narrowly escape within just 3 seconds.

It seems somewhat strange to talk about 3 seconds or 5 seconds when time is stopped, but anyway, it was actually about 3 seconds.

“And I escaped. When time is stopped, Heaven’s Wrath is nothing more than a dazzling light show.”

Time stop and evasion. That was my secret to avoiding Heaven’s Wrath.

In truth, I couldn’t be certain if time had actually stopped.

After all, the stopping of time might just be my misconception.

In reality, perhaps the world had simply slowed down to the point where even my senses couldn’t perceive any movement.

But… what does it matter?

If it slowed to the point where even I couldn’t perceive movement, what’s the difference between that and being stopped? The result is the same.

Therefore, the moment I experienced the power of the evolved Defying Fate, I decided to consider it as stopping time.

Why, you ask?

Isn’t asking that question itself an unrefined way of thinking?

As a warrior… no, as a man.

No, anyone would agree.

That time stoppage sounds much stronger than extreme time deceleration.

So this was time stoppage.

Because I decided it was.

“You… stopped time?”

Demian stared at me blankly, unable to hide his astonishment.

“Yes. And now, it’s time for you to stop breathing.”

I declared as I ripped out both of Demian’s shoulder blades like blocks.

Since Lena could heal him anyway, I was going to beat him to the brink of cardiac arrest as punishment for using such a dangerous technique against me.

“Kuuuk…! Wait, wait Haschal…! It’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”

Demian, with a pale complexion, was sweating profusely.

“All the world’s tragedies begin with misunderstandings.”

I cut off his excuses and firmly clenched my raised right fist.

—-

…Lena scolded me.

She said that even if she could heal him, beating someone until their heart stops is a bit excessive.

…Yes, honestly it was a bit much. I should reflect on that.

—-

Four days later. New rumors once again struck the world.

The ascension of the second dragon to return to earth, the death dragon Tarasque, and…

“What, it’s already dead?”

…news of its fall.

“Who could have… the Heavenly Demon? That woman Persiella?”

Persiella, the dragon slayer.

It was the moment when, for the second time in eight hundred years, a superhuman who had slain a dragon was born.