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708. Cluster Time Dilation
A day and a half ago…
“What are you doing? I already told you I’d help you against Jofis— why are you locking me back in here, you damn b—”
“Calm down, Hartia. This is part of my plan, alright?”
I placated the Fairy as he frowned back at me. The two of us were alone in [The World Of My Mind] at the moment. Outside of my pocket space, the rest of the freed Demons began to make their way away from the valley, led by Haec.
Through the glass-like walls of this reality, I could very clearly see the mass of figures moving. And so could Hartia. He narrowed his eyes, looking out of [The World Of My Mind].
“And what exactly is your plan? Imprisoning me and limiting my full capabilities so that we’ll both die to Jofis?”
The former Ruler of the Border asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes back at him.
“I don’t intend to die to anybody, actually. And stop complaining. I’m bringing you in here because I want you to replenish your Grand Skills before our battle with Jofis.”
“Replenish my Grand Skill? You do realize that’s going to take a while, right?”
Hartia crossed his arms across his chest. He flitted before me as he huffed.
“If my estimates are right, I am only about a tenth of the way there right now.”
“So you need maybe a week and a half, huh?”
I tapped a finger on my chin when I heard what he had to say. He nodded back at me.
“Exactly. So there’s no point trying to rely on my [Expanding Domain]. I do have my [Fractal Barrier], at the very least. We can make full use of that and plan around him being unable to hit me.”
Hartia paused when he realized I wasn’t paying attention to a single thing he was saying. He shook a fist at me in annoyance as I murmured to myself.
“Hey— are you even listening to me?”
“A week and a half is going to be a little bit difficult. But I will try my best…”
I whispered, before taking in a deep breath. Hartia’s brows snapped together as he looked around my pocket space.
“Wait, what are you doing?”
He asked as I brought a hand up to the ceiling. All around us, the transparent walls of [The World Of My Mind] rippled like the surface of a lake. The figures that were moving outside of my pocket space blurred.
And all at once, the color of the world inside my pocket space distorted. Everything became dimmer— darker. Meanwhile, the Netherworld beyond became more vibrant.
But that was not the main change to the outside world.
Hartia blinked a few times as he scanned our surroundings. He flew back away from me nervously, before glancing my way.
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“You can’t be serious, right?”
He asked, and I mustered up a grin as a bead of sweat slid down the side of my head.
“So you finally understand my plan, huh?”
I looked up towards the outside world. And what I saw was what I expected— what I hoped to achieve.
Everything and everyone outside of [The World Of My Mind] was moving slower. Much slower. Even though the mass of Demons were in a rush to evacuate the area, they looked like they were dragging their feet behind them, barely even moving.
“But how?”
Hartia gaped at me, and I explained.
“[Cluster Time Dilation]. Except— it’s not a cluster.”
“What does that even mean?”
The Fairy blinked a few times as I shook my head.
“I layered multiple areas of time dilation on top of each other within [The World Of My Mind]. And all I had to do was accelerate everything moving in here, so that you’d be able to replenish your Grand Skill faster.”
I waved a hand dismissively. But Hartia wasn’t just going to move past this topic so quickly.
“So you’re telling me you’re going to both fight Jofis while simultaneously keeping me in this… time chamber? You’ll die!”
“It is going to be a little bit difficult, if I’m going to be honest. But don’t worry, my clones will be able to distract Jofis for at least a few hours, so I don’t have to engage with him immediately.”
I nodded reassuringly at the Fairy. He pursed his lip, staring back at me uncertainly. I just shook my head as I opened a rift to step out of [The World Of My Mind].
“Anyway, I’m not worried about dying to Jofis immediately. My biggest worry is whether or not your Grand Skill will be ready in time. So… if you can do anything to speed up the process yourself, I’d appreciate it.”
“I—”
Hartia opened his mouth. But I exited the rift before he could say anything, leaving him to his own devices.
—--
Now…
This had been the plan all along. I hadn’t known whether or not Hartia’s Grand Skill would be replenished in time. I just had to do my best to delay Jofis for as long as possible while my [Cluster Time Dilation] worked overtime alongside [The World Of My Mind].
It was something I couldn’t do outside of my pocket space. If I tried doing the same thing in the outside world, it would fail. I couldn’t layer accelerated time on top of each other to increase my speed tenfold. If I could, I’d have done that already. But at the very least, this helped turn my pocket space into a time chamber for Hartia to regain his Grand Skill.
And fortunately, I delayed Jofis for long enough that my plan worked.
I watched as the Winged Horror cursed and leapt back as the world around him shifted. It was a pretty alarming sight, even for me. After all, I had been faced with Hartia’s Grand Skill before, and it was not nice. At all.
“You damned Fairy— I always knew I should have killed you long ago!”
Jofis conjured a ball of black flames, before hurling it up at Hartia. But a blast of lightning shot down, intercepting the attack. He blinked as a powerful explosion erupted, tearing apart the luscious and green landscape that was Hartia’s Grand Skill.
Flitting down from the sky, a familiar Level 200 Fairy floated right across from Jofis.
It was Lotus. The most powerful Fairy that Hartia could summon. I almost sighed in relief when I saw her. After all, she was higher-leveled than Jofis.
She hovered there in the air between Jofis and Hartia as the Winged Horror narrowed his eyes.
“A Supreme Spirit, a Sacred Spirit, and a Primeval Demon against me. And even still, you will all perish here.”
Jofis spoke as he slowly walked forward. But Hartia shook his head, waving a hand in the air casually.
“You’re mistaken, Jofis. It’s not just the three of us here.”
And right as he spoke, a swarm of Fairy ascended from the forest beneath him. They filled the sky of Hartia’s pocket space, aiming their spells at the Winged Horror.
Jofis could only blink as the Fairy’s voice bellowed, echoing all around us.
“You are outnumbered a thousand-to-one.”
And I wiped the sweat from my forehead, watching as the swarm of Fairies descend upon the Winged Horror.
“Man, I am glad Hartia’s on our side now…”