CHAPTER 36

Back in the Dragon Sage Library, there is one stupid thing that makes me a good role model among rookie Dragon Sages. Sure, I'm weak, and my mana capacity is just average compared to other hermits, but I'm capable of doing things fast by sacrificing the quality of my work.

I'm one of the few who multi-task and work on multiple Dragon Sage Thesis at a time.

Timeline Prediction is just my cream of the crop. It's an S-Rank omniscient spell that takes lots of time to practice. It would take me a semester, a year, or even a decade to perfect. I needed Plan B's and Plan C's in case Timeline Prediction spell delays its perfection.

One of my experiment spells can be used in this situation. I might be able to save Deva from that cheating princess and overpowered magical sword.

I'm at the rooftop of a five-story building, and I can see Deva and Princess Amaryllis from here. The distance is about three city blocks or two hundred meters.

I can reach Deva faster than the eye can blink. The only problem is how can I get away from the silver-haired princess. I only have enough mana to reach them. I can only do a one-way trip even if I grab whatever mana Deva has left.

I clapped my face to make myself awake.

"There is no need for hesitation, Ulysses," I muttered to myself. "If I don't do this, Hanna will be finished. This is the time I get to be the hero."

I crouched and went to a ready-to-sprint position. My fingertips touched the floor, charging static electricity with my mana. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"With the power of lightning, enhance my feet with speed."

Lightning sparked on my shoes. As I felt the energy on my legs, I opened my eyes.

"With the power of time, I command thee, to halt your progress."

Everything in my sight became white-and-black. I'm now envisioning the world like watching a decade-old panoramic picture. Time itself has stopped.

Princess Amaryllis is standing like a statue, with her sword pointed at the villainess. Deva is also frozen in time.

I can't keep the Time Stop magic up for long. I need to cast my next spell or else my mana would run out before I do what I intended to do!

I started to run, forcing the frozen atoms around me to step aside. I felt like I'm running underwater, so even with the electric magic's buff, I still felt slow. At least the time is still frozen.

"With the power of fire, give me a powerful leap!" I cried when I reached the edge of the rooftop.

Fire blasted from the soles of my shoes like a rocket. My flight was slow because of the friction in the frozen air as if I were an astronaut walking on the moon.

"Gah!" I cried out loud. Since the time is frozen, I can't inhale air. I also have to keep on moving so that my eyes can absorb light. I fixed my eyes on the defeated villainess on the ground.

I was able to reach Deva in a few seconds. I grabbed her waist with one hand and touched the magical seal on her chest.

Deva's body glowed in an instant, and her silver-blue hair turned to dark blue. Her horns and sword-wings also disappeared, and her outfit changed from a white fairy dress and tight dark bodysuit into a modern blue kimono with a short skirt. She has changed back to Yehanna.

I felt a surge of mana inside my veins, but it was already weak. Yehanna must have used a lot of my mana due to the exhausting fight against the five dragons, Claire Magnus, and now Princess Amaryllis and her Pulsar Dragon.

As I stayed in the same position for more than a second, I heard my leg bones crack. I put a lot of strain on them due to physically and magically forcing them to do the impossible.

I turned around while carrying the time-frozen Yehanna. With a kick in the ground as a head-start, I ran as far and fast as possible from the battlefield.

I know very well the side effects of this unnamed spell that is subject to be my Dragon Sage Thesis Number 2. If I stayed still even for one second while the time is frozen, the atoms in that very location would spark and burst, causing it to split. And splitting an atom will cause a chain reaction.

I was able to run away two city blocks from where I fetched Yehanna before dropping them on the ground.

"Gahck!" I cried.

Time resumed its flow, and then...

A nuclear explosion blasted the night. The mushroom cloud that is as tall as a five-story building roared. Because of the shockwave, all the windows around the city were shattered. Broken glass rained upon us.

I covered Yehanna's head with my arms and hugged her tight. Shards showered upon my body, and luckily I didn't get as much scratch as I expected.

"U-Uly!?" Yehanna muttered.

"I'm... glad... that you're... okay." I smiled while catching my breath.

Yehanna's concerned crimson eyes widened in shock. "Uly! You're pale as snow!" She touched my forehead. "You're suffering from mana deficiency!"

"I will be okay." I forced a smile. "I already got the mana you loaned from me."

Yehanna looked at her hand and noticed that she is no longer Deva. She looked at the place where she should have been.

The nuclear mushroom cloud is still there. The smoke is just slowly reshaping like a jellyfish in a calm ocean. The blast radius is just a city block, but it sure did a lot of damage in the surroundings. The city looks like ruins now.

"The princess must have been caught with that explosion," I muttered.

Yehanna made a scary angry expression.

"Idiot!" The dark-blue-haired beauty grabbed my head and pushed it on her chest. "Thank you for saving me."

"Yeah," I muttered. I can't think of any other words to say. My mind is getting numb, and my feet are aching and shaking. I think my bones, blood vessels, and nerves have been severely strained.

We stayed down, hugging each other for a while. We're both beats, and we can't do any more battle. We just wanna go home and rest already. We've already finished our objective here.

However, the gods are still not on our side. We're the villains in this story after all.

When the mushroom cloud faded, we saw Princess Amaryllis. Her long silver hair flapped as she stood tall in the crater of the nuclear blast. She suffered only a few scratches and burns on her body. Other than that, she's still alive and ready to kick more ass.

The silver-haired princess looked around. "Deva... is gone? Did she self-destruct?"

Princess Amaryllis swiped her magical sword and sheathed it to her back. She held her ample chest and prayed.

"With the power of light, I command thee, to heal myself."

Her body is coated with white light, and then her cuts, burns, and bruises that she suffered from the nuclear blast disappeared.

This princess is something else!