Satan was flying at a speed that far surpassed any man-made vehicle. He was cutting through the air like butter.
While it seemed easy, it was, in fact, extremely difficult.
He had to maintain his balance as he passed buildings while ensuring he stayed on the right track so he didn't crash into anything.
He slowly descended beside a majestic, grand white building. This was Hotel 'Sugoi Shiro,' one of the most popular and prestigious hotels in Shinanomachi, situated at the district's southern border.
Satan stepped inside the hotel lobby and glanced around.
The entire lobby was adorned with white roses arranged in elegant vases, their delicate petals adding a touch of softness to the otherwise pristine space. Abstract paintings hung on the white walls, each piece offering a splash of color and a hint of mystery. The floor was made of polished white marble that gleamed under the soft lighting, reflecting the grandeur of the space. Above, a magnificent crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, its countless facets catching and refracting light in a dazzling display.
Despite the opulence, Satan was not impressed.
'Really? It's so lame. Why is it all white? I was expecting more....'
He sighed and turned his mind back to the task at hand. This hotel was very big and had at least over eight hundred rooms. It would be quite a hassle to search every room for his target, not to mention he was running out of time.
His invisibility would wear off soon. He needed to think of something quick, or there would be quite a chaos in the hotel if they saw him.
'Well... I can blow up this entire hotel, killing everyone here, but Elena said that she wanted no innocents to get hurt in her revenge... so that's out of the question.'
He scratched his head for a few moments before he got a new idea.
It seemed like he was running out of time.
What would happen, then, if time stopped running altogether?
"Tenth Tier Magic: Dark Temporal Corruption."
In a low tone, Satan invoked the spell, and at that very moment, the universe abruptly came to a stop—time had been frozen.
"Alright, I can now focus on my work without worrying too much about running out of time...."
But before he was able to do that, something unexpected happened.
Break!
Something made a sound similar to the cracking sound made when glass breaks into pieces.
'Huh... What? Where did the noise come from?'
Time was frozen; thus, the idea of sound itself was to cease. There shouldn't be any noise or sound in frozen time unless it came from a person who could move in frozen time.
If yes, how?
This was real life; it's not a game where it was easy to counter such things. That wasn't possible... unless there was someone here who could move in frozen time.
There were only three explanations for that: number one, there was some sort of supernatural entity; second, the spell didn't exactly work as it did in the game; and third, there was another player present besides him.
Satan was leaning towards the first and second options more than the third. He hoped there were no other players besides him, because if there were, they would probably laugh at him if they found out he was doing his Devil Role Play even in another world, even if he had no intention of telling them.
Then he heard loud footsteps; someone was descending from the staircase. He quickly raised his guard, ready to burn down whatever was coming.
"Seriously, freezing time? Don't you have better things to do?"
A man, around thirty-four, with short silver hair, blue eyes, and a muscular build, wearing a white suit and trousers and holding a silver cane in his right hand, descended into the hotel lobby.
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'Albedo...'
Satan recognized the man. He was the one he was supposed to kill.
'He looks exactly like in the photo that Elena had provided me... I wonder how many men she had to sell her body to make enough to get his photo....'
"You know you can drop your concealment; I can see you."
Satan's brows drew together in astonishment and dismay. Albedo could not only move in frozen time but also see through his invisibility.
'It's time for my Devil Role Play....'
"Oh, I didn't expect a human to not only move in time but see through my invisibility as well."
Satan made himself visible.
A laughter broke out.
"Hahahaha!!!!"
It was from Albedo.
'Why is he laughing? Did I say something funny?'
Satan didn't like it at all.
Albedo wiped a tear from his eyes.
"It's been a long time since I've laughed this much."
"You laugh a lot for someone who is about to be slaughtered like weak cattle."
"Funny, do you even know who you are speaking to?"
"No, not at all. I don't waste my precious time keeping track of nobodies."
"With that, you missed your only free pass. It's not very often that an elite monster such as myself would offer mercy."
'So he is a monster.'
"I am just stating the truth; your mere pathetic existence is meaningless to someone like me...."
A black aura radiated from Satan, this his passive skill called
"That's quite an impressive fear manipulation you wield, but unfortunately, it's not enough for me."
'So he is resistant to fear'
"It seems you're not so pathetic after all. Why don't you show yours then."
"Well then, behold the power of the great Albedo."
Albedo tapped his cane on the ground, and a green rush of energy swept through the lobby.
....
Darkness...
Filled with dimly swirling lights, a dance of odd and unsettling geometric patterns appeared over the seemingly endless emptiness, their forms shifting with each step.
'What the hell is this?! Where the hell am I?!'
Bam!
Something descended suddenly from the skies.
Satan's eyes widened; he had never seen anything so disgusting in his entire life.
It was pure absurdity.
Its upper half resembled a human face, with a large red eye in the center and a white face with tiny vertical mouths spaced evenly across it. Its lower half resembled a spider with rotting legs, worms crawling out, and a feature resembling a scorpion sting on its back with pus oozing from all the pores, not to mention a human-like chest with maggots protruding.
An absolute horror.
"Now, let's begin, shall we?"
Albedo's voice sounded warped and twisted as though hundreds of people were speaking at once.
"Be grateful that only a few ever get the chance to look at my magnificence."
'This is Albedo, right? ... I didn't think he would look so awful and disgusting. I want to throw up. Though he definitely looks a lot stronger now, I must be cautious. Who knows what cunning this man has?'
"You appear repulsive, vile, and deserving to be destroyed."
Satan assumed his combat posture.
"I see no magnificence, Albedo, but an abomination."
"So much venom in your tone... I wonder what beef you have with me. I believe this is the first time we have ever met..."
Albedo stroked his chin.
"Though... speaking of appearance, how is it a monster looks so humanly... you look way too human, minus those horns."
He gestured to Satan's goat-like horns.
"Why? Is there a problem?"
"No matter how human you look, be it with horns, multiple eyes, or tails, etc., your true form should have revealed itself the moment we entered subspace, but you still look the same."
Albedo tilted his head around ninety degrees.
"That's not really possible; at first, I thought you were a half-breed, but even half-breeds don't look this human, that is, unless... this is your true form."
"You are correct. This is my true form."
"I wonder what bizarre species you belong to..."
Albedo raised his hand, and dozens of spears sprang out of thin air. His single, huge crimson eye glowed from his hand. Satan took a quick look at the spears and observed that they were made of rotting, decaying flesh and spines, and that a red glow emanated from them along with an echoing cry of pain.
'Alright, that's a little unsettling...'
With a loud sonic boom, Albedo hurled the spears at Satan, who easily avoided them and gained some distance by taking a few quick strides back.
It was easy for him to dodge the assault, as they moved really slowly from his perspective. Based on game logic, that means either he was on a much higher level than this opponent or he was just testing him while concealing his true power.
Satan hoped for the former but not the latter, though he wouldn't be surprised if it were the latter.
"Hoho..."
Albedo clapped his hands and applauded Satan.
"I didn't expect you to dodge them that easily. Not many can dodge my spears." He snapped his fingers, materializing a halberd that was rotting and bony and grabbed it. "I guess I just have to try harder."
Satan prepared himself as Albedo dashed towards him. And yet again, it was slow from his perspective, making the incoming assault easy to dodge.
'Is he still holding back his power?'
Satan didn't know. It was annoying to fight an opponent if one didn't know the true level of strength their opponent wielded. He could try some high-tier magic to test his opponent's strength, but there was a problem with that: his mana consumption.
With a total of 300 MP, Satan had already used up some of his reserves—casting third, seventh, and tenth tier magic had reduced his pool to 280 MP. He couldn't afford to spam high-tier spells recklessly; that would quickly leave him drained. Though he had mana potions in his inventory, he wasn't sure if he could access them in this world, and now was certainly not the time to test it.
"Is this the best you can offer?"
"No, I have more..."
A green aura radiated from Albedo, and in a rapid phase, he increased his size fivefold.
'Body Alteration... nothing new, even I can do that.'
But that wasn't just it; soon four more Albedos popped out of thin air, each aiming their halberds at Satan.
"How about now, my friend? Does it satisfy you now?"
"No, it doesn't impress me at all..."
Albedo, along with his clones, charged at Satan.
Satan pointed his index finger.
"Fifth Tier Magic: Darkness Cannon..."
A jet-black beam made of pure mana was fired; it was so large that it engulfed all of the incoming attackers before they even had a chance to attack.
The beam died out, wiping them all out.
"Is that all..."
"Obviously not... that was a mere diversion."
Albedo suddenly appeared behind Satan and tried to slash him at extremely high speed with his halberd, but to his surprise, the halberd just phased through him.
"What the?!"
This was Satan's limited intangibility, something all demon players had as their racial ability. If his opponent was not equal or higher than his level than all physical attacks would just phase through him dealing no damage unless they had a holy attribute weapon which easily bypassed the said intangibility.
"What a waste of time... if I had known that you were this weak, then I would have ended this very confrontation at the very beginning... eighth tier magic: Darkness Incarnate..."
A pillar of black light descended from above, engulfing both Satan and Albedo.
Albedo gave out a horrendous scream, as he felt immense pain, his body was breaking down into tiny pieces bit by bit, turning to dust.
"Tell me how it feels to have a total breakdown..."
While the power of this spell was relatively weak, it was the deconstruction part that made this spell lethal.
Albedo wanted to answer, but the pain was so immense that he couldn't.
"Can't speak? Allow me to lend you a hand..."
Satan aimed his hand at Albedo's chest. He canceled "Darkness Incarnate" as he prepared to fire another spell.
"Fifth Tier Magic: Fire Blast..."
Albedo was blasted far away by the spell, he was curling at high speeds until he crashed into one of the geometric shapes and fell down.
Satan then flew towards Albedo's direction.