In the history books, it is said that the gods of creation each control a fundamental law of nature, the very world we live in, and everything we are able to do is said to be because of their existence. The powers we call authorities are basically gifts directly 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 was out of fear of what his power can do, but others think it’s because he isn’t strong enough to do it. His name was Lazarus, the god of time.

Of course, this was all speculation on humanity’s end since 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 ire silence spread across the office. I looked at him with a puzzled expression. In my fight against Eliana, there are multiple attributes that could have been associated with how I used my authority, and yet somehow, the headmaster had already jumped to the conclusion of time magic. That meant he was watching the fight from the shadows when it happened, if I had 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 to his words with scorn, but he seemed to have acknowledged 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 illusionary.

“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 as I glared at him with a hostile gaze, but the headmaster wasn’t 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 world. It was a bit sad to think, that even in death, Dante's name would still be forgotten.

“Oh, that certainly does sound like a good idea.” The headmaster let out a smile as if I was the one who thought of it in the first place, I looked at him carefully and analyzed his actions which honestly didn't make sense to me.

Was the headmaster always this cunning?

He was a bit different from the Lloyd I knew in the past iteration, or maybe he seemed that way because we used to talk as fellow adults instead of teacher and student. I thought about what to say but there was really 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 while looking at me suspiciously. What I told him was simply the description of how Precious died in the past iteration. Her death was also ruled as a suicide at the time, but the man sitting in front of me had told me otherwise. That was why, even this time, I was confident Dante’s death wasn’t a simple suicide.

“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 had 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 instructed firmly.

“Huh!? W-what?” 

“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 exclaimed with a concerned tone. 

”No, just do as I say.” I replied firmly while trying to maintain a sense of urgency.

“Uh… Ok,”  

”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 drop beyond repair. But on the other hand, if one of the Kings kills her, then we will face the full wrath of the Dragnok family. Are you really a 16-year-old student?”

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, I had no idea what day I would wake up again so I made sure to play the very best cards I could think of.

Mmh? Why isn’t he moving yet?

As if to answer my call, 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 sloppy 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 a distorted expression as he shouted,

“What you 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 but shook his head as if to shake off any thoughts before kicking the ground and swinging his blade at me. I used [Future sight] and saw the arc of the blade and decided not to move. Just as anticipated, the blade stopped a few inches from my neck and Liam only looked confused.

“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 single sentence 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. It was, after all, my only positive trait in the past iteration.

Liam glared at me while clenching his teeth but he immediately let out a sigh before taking a battle stance. The moment he calmed down, the crackling sound of lightning sounded in the air as blue sparks of lightning flew from his sword. A blueish hue surrounded him as his mana grew exponentially and he prepared for an all-out assault.

“That’s enough, Ian. You have made your point, so call Lily and put an end to this whole thing.”

The headmaster’s words finally broke the silence between us and Liam seemed surprised by these sudden words. I had my back turned against the headmaster, so he could have attacked me any time he wanted to, but the fact that he didn’t could mean only one thing.

I win.

I pulled out my cell phone from my pocket and looked at the headmaster before asking,

“I want to hear your promise first.”

“Sigh. Right, I promise the two of us will not reveal anything about your ability. Of course, in exchange, you will tell us who killed Dante.”

“That won’t be possible. I was just bluffing, I have no idea who killed him, but I will tell you if I do find out.”

“Then what ab—”

”…It’s one of my unique skills. That’s how I was able to tell how he died.”

“I see.”

Although the headmaster didn’t fully believe my words, he reluctantly nodded and I immediately called Lily again.

”What’s up?”

“Oh yeah, did you already kill one of them?”

”Um. N-no, I can’t find any of them…”

Well, it was only natural. The other year groups must have already received the announcement about Dante’s death, and since it wasn’t explicitly stated how he died, many students will rightfully assume it was a murder. In a situation like that, the Ten Kings would immediately have a group meeting to exchange information, so it wasn’t that strange that she couldn’t find them.

“Well, it’s fine for now. You can go back to your room.”

“Huh? B-but you—”

”…I said it’s fine. You can come to my room later if you don’t believe me.”

“Ok.”

I hung up my phone and looked at the headmaster who was now wearing a stern face, it was almost as if the way he acted this whole time was all just an illusion. I didn’t offer him any words and turned around to leave, before reaching the door, I bowed to Liam and finally left the room.

I had solved the situation in the most extreme way possible, but it wasn’t the only reason I did it. Though Liam and the headmaster may seem like hostile entities, they were still people I could freely control. Since they knew I had the time attribute, I could always make up a lie about ‘seeing the future’ and manipulating them to move as I wanted.

However, I was still worried about Liam, who might have been carrying a little too much hatred. With such thoughts in mind, I made my way to the dorms without seeing that many students around. Since we were still under lockdown, everyone seemed to be cooped up at their dorm buildings.

The only other issue I had to deal with was Tim’s reign over our dorm building. Lily wouldn’t resist my invitation, so I planned on going to their so-called meeting with her as my insurance.

Would it take another bold move to bring Tim to my side?

I started to feel a bit more in control.