The gods of creation each control a fundamental law of nature, shaping the world we live in. Everything we are able to do is said to be because of their existence. The powers we call authorities are gifts from one or multiple gods, but among them is said to be the ‘stingiest god’—one who has never passed his gift down to anyone. Some say it is out of fear of what his power can do, while others think it’s because he isn’t strong enough. His name is Lazarus, the god of time. Of course, this was all speculation on humanity’s part, as it would only be years later that a true god descended into our world.

“Or should I say, Lord Lazarus, master of time?”

Time seemed to stop at the headmaster's words as an eerie silence spread across the office. I looked at him with a puzzled expression. In my fight against Eliana, there were multiple attributes that could have been associated with how I used my authority, yet somehow, the headmaster had already concluded it was time magic. This meant that he was really watching the fight from the shadows when it happened. If I'd known that beforehand, I might have used it more discreetly.

“Don’t call on the gods for petty reasons. Do you think you can withstand the punishment?” I replied with scorn, but he seemed to acknowledge his mistake as he let out a chuckle.

“Maybe I went a bit too far, but you get what I’m trying to say, right?”

That my attribute was time magic, not illusion.

“And what if it is? Why does it matter?”

Arguing with him would only get us nowhere, so I decided to get to the real reason he called me here. The fact that I used time magic was something people would eventually know, but at the current time, I wasn’t confident I would be able to defend myself if multiple parties suddenly targeted me.

“Oh, then that would make you a national treasure. Time magic started and ended with only one person, and now, thousands of years later, it finally makes an appearance. I can already see tomorrow’s headlines…”

His last statement didn’t sit well with me. I glared at him with open hostility, but it didn't seem like the headmaster was bothered at all. It was already bad enough that two people knew about my authority, but announcing it to the world was something I couldn’t agree with.

“I see. So you want to use me to overshadow the future headlines about Dante’s death…”

I could quickly piece together what he was thinking. The coverage of time magic would definitely overshadow any other news around the whole world. It was sad to think that even in death, Dante’s name would be forgotten.

“Oh, that certainly does sound like a good idea.” The headmaster smiled as if I was the one who thought of it. I looked at him carefully, analyzing his actions from the time I'd entered this room.

Was the headmaster always this cunning? He seemed different from the Lloyd I knew in the future, or maybe he seemed that way because we used to talk as fellow adults instead of teachers and students. I thought about what to say, but there was no way to get out of the situation without taking a few risks. For the moment, I tried to feel him out.

“If you do that, you won’t find out who really killed Dante.” I threw my first bait, but the headmaster didn’t look convinced. He looked at me in confusion before asking out loud,

“What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said. If my guess is correct, he was probably found with a blade through his throat from what looks like a self-inflicted sword stab.”

The headmaster opened his mouth in surprise, then squinted his eyes, looking at me suspiciously. What I told him was simply the description of how Precious died in my past life. Her death was also ruled as a suicide at the time, but the man sitting in front of me had told me otherwise during my past life. That was why, even this time, I was confident Dante’s death wasn’t a simple suicide. This also confirmed my suspicion that the same people who killed Precious in my past life were the ones behind this incident.

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“Well, you are right about that, but it doesn’t matter. I can still conduct my own investigation, so announcing your ability to the public will still benefit me.”

He stood firm by his words, even at my taunt. It seemed the discovery of time magic was more important than the death of a single student. He really wasn’t leaving me with any other options. I again remembered the words I'd told myself again and again since the time I saw the announcement of Dante’s death.

Make bolder moves…

“Sigh. Then if it’s like that…” I reached into my pocket and scrolled through my contacts before calling a certain person. The headmaster didn’t react to my actions and simply watched on with a curious gaze.

“Hello?”

“Lily, is that you?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Lily’s sweet voice reached my ears. I turned on the loudspeaker for the headmaster to hear and issued some instructions.

“Do you have a sword near you?” At my words, I could see a slightly concerned expression from the headmaster, but it disappeared as fast as it came. Lily’s confused voice rang out from the other side,

“Um, yeah, but why are you asking?”

“I want you to take that sword and murder all the Ten Kings at the dorms.” I casually said out loud, causing the headmaster to squint his eyes suspiciously.

“Huh!? W-what?” A perplexed Lily shouted from the other side.

“You heard me right. My life is currently in danger, so I want you to do it immediately.”

“What? Where are you!? I will come to help!” She shouted on the other side. I could hear the sound of things falling next to her as she presumably tried to run out of her room.

“No, just do as I say.”

“Uh… Okay.” She ended up folding and agreed to my absurd terms.

“Good, keep your phone close.”

I hung up the call and looked back at the headmaster, who wore an amused look on his face. He was more than capable of stopping that call before Lily agreed to my terms, so in a way, he allowed me to finish the call. A light chuckle escaped his mouth as he spoke out loud,

“I see. So if she kills multiple kings, the academy’s reputation will sink even further. But on the other hand, if one of the Kings manages to kill her, then we'll garner the full wrath of the Dragnok family. Are you really a 16-year-old boy?”

Pick your poison.

I kept quiet at his words and simply looked at him with a calm expression on my face. In truth, I was already prepared to die the moment I took this gamble. With the unique skill [Regress], I could be reborn again. But since I had no idea what day I would wake up again, I made sure to play the very best cards I could think of.

Mmh? Why isn’t he moving yet?

In the next moment, the door suddenly burst open, and an enraged boy walked in with a furious gaze while shouting,

“Ian, what the hell are you doing!?”

The enraged Liam pointed at me with shaking hands as if he couldn’t hold his anger anymore. Since the headmaster baited him by calling me in, he was the other person who knew about my ability. The reason I knew he was there was because of how sloppily he tried to hide his presence. It was a far cry from whoever was tailing Lily and me earlier.

“What are you doing here, your highness?” I spoke calmly to Liam, who looked at me with an even angrier face as he shouted,

“What you're are doing is treason, and you won’t get away with it.”

He unsheathed his sword in a quick and smooth fashion, then pointed the blade toward me. I simply stood there with a calm face and spoke to him in a casual tone,

“Then kill me.”

He paused in confusion before kicking the ground and swinging his blade at me. I used [Future Sight] and saw the arc of the blade, deciding not to move from my spot. Just as anticipated, the blade stopped a few inches from my neck, and Liam looked at me with a confused expression.

“If you kill him now, then you give Lily justification for what she’s doing.”

The headmaster’s voice reached Liam, who widened his eyes in surprise as he looked at me with a frustrated expression. He pulled his sword away and turned around with the same momentum.

“Then I’m going to stop her.”

“No, you won’t.”

I said the line while releasing my mana with a mix of bloodlust directed toward Liam. He quickly reacted to the sudden pressure and turned around with a pale face. As Lily’s brother, I was also a bit gifted when it came to mana capacity as it was, after all, my only positive trait in the future, my weakness being the fact that my skills use up a lot of mana. Liam glared at me while clenching his teeth, then took a deep breath and assumed a stance. Being the fifth prince, he had been trained from a young age to be ready for every situation. Soon, the crackling sound of lightning filled the air as blue sparks flew from his sword, ready for an all-out assault.