Count Bellatris runs into the side passage adjacent to the throne room, his movements become faster, and faster. He runs past closed doors, and runs into the room at the end of the passage. The count grabs onto the heavy door, and straining greatly, starts pushing it shut.

「My liege! Wait for me! Wait!-」

Thud!

Count Bellatris slams the reinforced door shut, and pushes the door bar down with a loud slam. He sighs with relief, and backs away from the door.

Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang bang!

On the other side of the door, the young captain of the guard is desperately banging his fist on the door.

「My liege! Please open the door!」

The captain pleads in shouts, still banging on the door. He freezes when he hears an odd sound behind him, as if a howling wind blew past the passage. The captain shakily turns his head around, and sees Cycelia rapidly walking towards him with a sword in her hand, and her eyes glowing.

「Hiiiiii!!-」

He turns around and hugs the door with his back, squealing in sheer panic. Cycelia stops a few paces in front of him, her golden eyes glaring at him.

《I'm dead. I'm dead. Ahh, I really should have been a baker. I want to eat some nice, well-floured bread one last time-》

「Out. Of. The. Way.」

She enunciates, with a serious face. The young captain immediately dives to the floor, slightly off to the side, and covers his head with his hands. Cycelia grabs the hilt of her sword in both of her hands, and pulls it back for a swing, with the door still well out of the sword's reach.

Swish-boom!

She slashes the air with her sword, and golden light projects from her blade. It shoots through the corridor, flying above the captain, and impacts the reinforced door. The door flies off the hinges, cracked and bent, and the impact momentarily fills the corridor with black smoke that quickly disperses.

The captain shakily turns his head to take a look at what happened. When he sees Cycelia's boots walking past him, he smooshes his face into the ground, trembling out of fear like jelly.

《Oh fuck, don't tell me. Maybe I'll survive if I just pretend to be dead. Or see who wins and act like I am on their side. Fuck, what do I do!?》

The young man's thoughts race in his head, as he lays on the ground…

…

Straf keeps walking forward, and the unmasked, bloodied assassin points his dagger at him.

「Oh no, don't mind me, I'm not here to fight. I'm just going to watch Lia go at it, I guess. You guys have fun in the teamfight, or whatever it's called in this state.」

Straf explains, dismissively waving his hand in front of him, keeping his other one still in his pocket as he's looking past the assassin with bored eyes and a slanted mouth. The assassin is puzzled, but this does not confuse him enough to let Straf simply walk past him. He lunges forward, trying to deliver a quick stab to Straf's throat.

「Wha-!? Again!?」

The assassin blinks as Straf simply disappears from in front of him.

「'scuse me, passing through…」

Straf nonchalantly exclaims, already walking past the man as if they were passing each other on a busy street.

The mercenary mage looks at Lukhyur and Vitsa struggling with Shien and Lian, and points his palm at them, aiming directly at distracted Lian. Will notices him lift his arm, and sees his lips move.

「Fickle flows and turbulent streams, dominate and subjugate wisdoms third-rate…」

Will points his wooden staff at the mage and begins casting, as Greaves jumps in to attack the assassin distracted by Straf's unconcerned departure.

「I'm right over here!」

「Shit!-」

Greaves shouts, slashing his sword at the assassin, who leaps away and rolls on the ground. He gives up on chasing Straf, and points his dagger at Greaves. At the same time, both of the mages finish their incantations, although Will is a little faster.

「…Right the wrongs and silence false songs! 『Disrupt Mana』!」 「『Energy Ray』!」

Will and the mercenary mage call upon their spell names, a wide, shimmering cone of air projects all the way across the room from Will's palm. As Will shouts the last parts of his incantation, Lian realizes she's under attack, and leaps backwards.

A small blue orb appears in front of the mercenary, and a wide beam of bright blue light shoots straight at Lian.When it hits the shimmering air between them, the beam disperses as if it were light passing through a prism, and like light, a harmless rainbow flashes over Lian when it passes through the shimmers. The room becomes noticeably hotter. Lian glances at Will, and nods lightly.

「Hey! Beard! Take this fuckin' kid off of me!」

Hakkonen shouts, and Lily's swipe of claws using her blessing to add to its force pulls his crossed axes apart from each other. Just as she rears her hand back to tear his throat out, Lukhyur arrives behind him, with axe at the ready.

「Finally! Fuck! I'm going to deal with that girlie!」

「I am Lukhyur…」

「Who fuckin' cares!?」

Hakkonen shouts a question looking over his shoulder, as he runs to intercept Lian on her way back to the mercenary line of defense.

「Running in fear? Understandable, coward.」

Lily scoffs at Hakkonen as he runs off, smugly smirking as she considers herself victorious.

「Looks like it's a fair fight now, missy.」

In stark contrast to his previous aggressive and ferocious tactics, Lukhyur now warily eyes Lily, planning his moves.

「You are gravely mistaken.」

The little vampire glares up into the bearded axeman's eyes, readying her claws. Meanwhile, Straf is ignoring the ongoing battle, and simply passes by battling Vitsa and Shien.

「'Scuse me…」

《New spell memorized. New spell memorized.》

「Hm? Cool, ought to check them out later.」

Straf shrugs, and casually disappears into the side passage.

「Another girlie who thinks she's a warrior, huh?」

Hakkonen steps in front of Lian, grinning at her with a disdain in eyes that she recognizes well.

「And you must be a man who doesn't think much.」

She replies with a faint, smug smile as she's holding her spear at the ready.

「Don't you know women are for making kids!? You should be back home raising some. How about I give you mine and you go home!? Hahaha!」

Hakkonen thrusts his hips in a vulgar manner, taunting Lian without much response from her. His comments distract Vitsa and Will, however. Enough for Shien to steal advantage from his spearwoman opponent. Will points his palm at Hakkonen in anger, but then glances at the mage watching his every move.

「Tsk. You got lucky, bastard.」

《Mage duels are won and lost by casting one wrong spell at a wrong time… I have to let it go for now.》

Will clicks his tongue and grits his teeth as he observes the battle from behind cautiously, and adjusts his glasses angrily.

「If you ever find a way to restore your severed manhood, ask me again. I'm not interested in raising kidnapped children.」

Vitsa scoffs in amusement as Lian retorts, causing Hakkonen's face to twitch in anger. Her smug expression has not changed even a bit, but her almond-shaped eyes glare at him with bitter cold.

「Pft. We'll see if you feel like talking back when I'm done with you…」

Hakkonen growls as he approaches Lian with axes raised, and his face twisted into rage.

Clang-clank!

Before he can even get in range, Lian flashes two lightning-quick strikes at his vitals. Hakkonen blocks purely by the virtue of being a veteran fighter, covering his heart and throat as soon as he sees Lian move as much as a finger.

Even then, the force of her blows is enough to make him grunt, he sees her wind her spear back for a powerful thrust, and he predicts it will be aimed at his chest.

Clankkkrrrrrrrrr!

「You're just a fuckin' woman, it's high time you learn that battlefields aren't a place for you…」

Lian's black eyes widen when Hakkonen deflects and catches her spear with one of his axes. He scowls at her with his teeth bared, and looks down on her spear.

Crack!

He slams his other axe into the spear's shaft, cleaving it apart with a gleeful grin before Lian can pull her weapon back.

「Ha! What now!? You're helpless-!」

He throws the spearhead down on the ground, and lifts his eyes up to Lian, whom he presumes to be terrified. He sees a blue shape shooting for his eye, and leans away as far and fast as he can, adding a twist to his head.

「Gyaargh!」

Hakkonen grunts in pain as Lian manages to still poke him in the eye with her gloved fingers despite his effort, albeit likely preventing it from being gouged out completely. He stumbles backwards, covering his eye. The axeman pulls his hand away, and forces his eyelids open to check if he can see. They twitch from the irritation, and his reddened eye is heavily flowing tears.

「Argh… You bitch… You'll pay for that.」

Hakkonen snarls looking at Lian, who is frozen in almost ice dancing-like pose. Two of her gloved fingers and arm outstretched are towards him, and her leg the other way to serve as a counter-weight. She pulls her arm back, and assumes a peculiar, open-handed, unarmed fighting stance. She glares at him with sharp eyes, and a murderous expression.

「I am a helpless, and now unarmed woman, surely that's not too much to handle for a great warrior such as yourself, is it?」

She asks, as her face returns to her usual smug expression.

「You are really getting fucked now…」

The great Hakkonen seethes in great anger at Lian…

…

Just a moment ago, in the side passage…

Straf enters with his hands in his pockets, he raises his brows as he sees a man from before laying on the ground with his hands on his ground.

「…What's with this guy, is he dead?」

Straf thinks out loud, tilting his head as he stops beside the armored man, focusing his eyes on him.

Lucius Cravant

[|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||] Lv. 2

Strength: 10 Perception: 10

Agility: 10 Endurance: 10

Dexterity: 10 Willpower: 10

Luck: 19 Intelligence: 10

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Charisma: 11 Wisdom: 10

「Average highschool boy in your previous life, huh? Lucky you.」

Straf scoffs and continues onward into the doorway at the end, as two indistinct voices are having a back and forth within. The young captain of the guard dares not to ask what Straf means, and continues pretending to be dead.

「…And what of Otto!? What did he do!?」

「Sins of the father… I see your dog has already made it through…」

Cycelia screams a pained question at Count Bellatis, and he takes his eyes off her to glance at Straf. Both he and Cycelia are facing each other with sword in hand.

「Straf, don't interfere. Not this time.」

Cycelia takes a quick peek at Straf over her shoulder with her golden eyes, before returning to glaring at the count.

「Don't worry Lia, I like to watch- Wait, not like that. I mean I am here to spectate, okay? Kick his ass.」

Straf explains with a wave of his hand, as he steps to the side of the large room.

「Hmpf. Well? Will you take revenge, princess?」

The count takes his eyes off Straf, as he sees he's just standing off to the side with his hands in his pockets, and asks.

「My grandfather, I could understand… My father, I could understand… But my mother, Albus, Otto… You'll pay with your blood!」

Cycelia screams with tears in her golden eyes, and closes the gap in a flash. Both Cycelia's and the count's arms blur.

Clankkk! Clankclankclank!

Sparks fly as they trade blows faster than Straf can see.

「Hold on, this isn't right… Why is this loser so fast?」

Clankclankclangclangclang!

Straf rubs his chin with furrowed brows as he mumbles under his breath, thinking out loud as more imperceptibly fast blows are traded.

「Ah. Wasn't there a…?」

Straf's brows rise as he comes to a realization, and he activates [Contextual Time Perception]. He ignores Cycelia and the count nearly frozen in a battle to the death, and walks back into the throne room.

《There it is, I knew it.》

Straf thinks with his fists on his hips, as he looks at the empty phial on the floor, ignoring the flying magic projectiles, Greaves leaping above the assassin, Lian expertly dodging Hakkonen's axes, and Shien's head narrowly evading Vitsa's spear as it nicks his cheek, all in the background of the phial.

He shrugs, and returns to the adjacent room, taking his old position. Time resumes its normal flow.

Clangclangclinkclankclangclangclank!

Cycelia jumps away from the count, gritting her teeth.

「Hey, didn't you drink a potion of haste or something!?」

Straf shouts a question towards the count.

「So what!? I've had my mercenary make an elixir in case of an emergency! Gold well spent, princess.」

The count takes his eyes off Straf after peeking at him for a second, and shouts back. He then taunts the princes with a smug smirk.

Straf activates his [Contextual Time Perception] again, to a low factor. Cycelia closes the gap, sliding across the ground as she lunges at the count. She slashes her sword at him, mimicking the guards she saw many times before, but the count deflects her blade, nearly matching her speed, although not quite.

Cycelia gains ground, after a flurry of blows, and loses it just as easy after the count strikes back. This back and forth continues for at least 5 real-time minutes, as Cycelia continues attempting to strike at the count's vitals using the moves she saw before.

Neither side in the battle has an upper hand, as Cycelia's learned moves are not enough to overpower the count's obvious dueling experience and knowledge, however the speed his potion is offering him is inferior to Cycelia's minor blessing, not to mention her strength and the dexterity of her sword's fine manipulations.

《…This is pretty boring after all. I could probably splatter this guy on the wall right now, but… Lia would be pretty upset, I guess. That'd be like an ending that fucking sucks in her own story. Ahhh, guess I just have to wait it out.》

Straf sighs, and continues watching the fight with bored eyes. Cycelia strikes wildly at the count again.

Clang!

The count blocks, but his eyes suddenly widen and panic starts to set on his face.

Clang! Clang-clang!

《Oh? Is he slowing down?》

Straf's brows furrow as he watches the count lose ground for no apparent reason, that is, until he lowers the factor of [Contextual Time Perception], and sees that the count is indeed getting sluggish.

Count Bellatis confirms it, by jumping backwards from Cycelia after he manages to force Cycelia to dodge with a lucky parry. Straf returns his perception of time to normal.

「Why would you play for time if you are the one on the clock, dumbass?」

Straf points his hand at the count as he asks him. The count glances at him, but ignores him. Cycelia takes a step forward, glaring at him, and the count takes a step back.

「Wait…」

The count says, pointing his palm at Cycelia with a nervous expression, breathing heavily.

Swish.

「Gyaaaaarghhhh!!」

Cycelia zaps in to close the gap. He attempts to block a strike from her, but it was a feint, and the real attack was all too fast. Count Bellatis screams, as his severed hand flies off into the air, still clutching at the sword. He falls over on his back, and the bloodied crown falls off his head onto the ground, doing a donut before clattering to stillness.

Thunk-clank!

「Nice. Let's hope nobody drops a shocking family revelation now, or we're in danger.」

Watching the hand fly, Straf scoffs, and starts walking up to the victorious Cycelia.

「Arrgh!!… No! No!」

The count screams in panic and crawls backwards clutching onto his maimed wrist as Cycelia approaches him, with a strangely calm and expressionless face. The glow of her golden eyes disappears, unveiling her scorn-filled emeralds that glare at him.

She lifts her sword above her head, and pauses, still staring at him with her blank expression. After a moment, the count calms down.

「Ha… Haha… Hahahaha… Well? You won, princess! Go on, take your revenge! Kill me! It's your family tradition to slaughter mine!」

The count abruptly bursts out into a fell, maddened laughter. Despite bleeding profusely and on the ground, he attempts to appear defiant and indomitable, but there is obvious fear behind his smug grin and boisterous taunts.

Only after his dejection breaks through the cracks, does Cycelia begin showing signs anger on her face. She tightens her grip on her sword, as it begins to tremble lightly.

「…You'll pay…」

Cycelia seethes quietly through her clenched teeth, with her head hanging down.

「Yes, I'm certain I will! Dragons are proud creatures after all! The only possible punishment for my rebellion is death! Go on, princess, exact it! You're already stained with blood, what's a few more drops!? Or splashes!? Or tubs, or oceans!?」

The count's falsely indomitable voice cracks again, and Cycelia looks down on her body. A few spatters and a trail of the count's blood stains her clothes.

「…I didn't want this…」

Cycelia quietly says through her teeth, her sword still shaking in her hands over her head.

「You did! I've heard you've had interest in swords and knights since you were a child! You'd be a great war leader, princess! I'm sure the domain would expand under you! Never mind the commoners like me! Like my father!」

The count's voice cracks again, Straf furrows his brows.

「Lia, are you going to kill his guy, or?…」

Straf asks, pointing his hand at the count on the ground.

「Yes…」

Cycelia replies with no hesitation, but her sword doesn't move from above her head, still shaking heavily, and her lips grimace as she keeps her teeth tightly clenched. Straf rolls his eyes.

「Does it hurt, princess!? Do you miss your family!? Your father, your mother!? Good! I wish you'd suffer at least a hundredth of the anguish I suffered!」

《Man, I'm not about to let the fucking 「but if I kill him I'll be worse than him」 thing happen here, that'd be the fucking worst.》

Straf looks around the room, and looks at the count's severed hand. He activates [Contextual Time Perception] again, grinding time to a halt as he walks up to the sword-in-hand.

《I'll just take this…》

Straf carefully pries each finger clutching the hilt open, and cautiously lifts the sword up from the severed hand. He looks back at the count and Cycelia frozen in place, and the ceiling.

《…I guess I'm just gonna fucking wing it, I think lack of subtlety is the lesser evil over that shit cliche.》

Straf thinks, as he walks back to Cycelia. He gently hops into the air above both of them, and slowly floats through the air.

《Ahhh, fuck… I forgot about this shit. Whatever, if I survived animating me versus me fight, I can survive this.》

Straf rolls his eyes, and waits, and waits, and waits, and waits, taking different poses in the air, as if he was lounging on a sofa while waiting to get to the ceiling. Eventually, after a painfully long wait, he makes it there.

《Right. Okay… Now just a geeentle push…》

Straf points the sword at the count, and with his fingertips on the crossguard, he starts pushing the sword towards him. The sword begins to float forward through the air, like an extremely slow missile.

《There we go! Perfect! That should gently tickle his heart and shuffle off his whiny psycho mortal coil.》

Using [Translocation] to save not as much as his time, as his sanity, Straf returns to his original position beside Cycelia, and places his fists on his hips once more.

《But what do I tell her? Hmm… Yeah, that should work.》

Straf smirks in amusement, and returns his perception of time to normal.

SLAM!

「Hurk-」

「Huh?」 「Oh. Shit. Uh…」

The sword shoots into the count's chest as he lays on the ground, piercing through him, and pinning him to the castle floor with a sickening crack of bones and stone, as well as his airless gasp.

Cycelia blinks, simply confused as to what happened, while Straf is trying to quickly recover from the shock of his plan not working quite as he intended.

「Well uh, wow! Look at that, Lia! His sword was stuck in the ceiling up to this very point!」

Straf says with a forced grin, pointing at the sword stuck in the count so deep, that it will surely spawn some legend.

Cla-clank!

Cycelia drops her sword, and starts sobbing heavily. Suddenly, she turns to Straf and wraps her arms around him, shoving her crying face into his chest.

《Shit, did she figure it out? I mean, she'd be stupid not to…》

「…What a coincidence! Right, Lia?」

Straf exclaims with a nervous grin.

「Thank you, Straf… Thank you…」

Cycelia cries into his chest, pausing to calm herself between her thanks.

《Ah. She found out… Well, whatever.》

Straf sighs, and shrugs.

「Yeah, yeah, yeah…」

Straf pats Cycelia's chestnut head, and brushes her hair with his hand as she wails hugged into him…