In response, a dark red hue extended from his body as if wanting to eat up the whole room. Theodore's gray jacket, white shirt, and as well as his black hair fluttered wildly despite there being no wind.

He then glared at Sylvia in hatred and chanted.

<[Splice]>

Instantly, a red sprite resembling that of Theodore manifested to the right of Sylvia.

'What?'

Startled, she extended her hand out to try and freeze it with Ice mana. However—

'Huh? W- Why can't I...'

—She couldn't move an inch.

Darting her eyes around the room, Sylvia finally noticed that not just her, but everything else were also seemingly stopped in time.

Even her [Ice spears], which had been tracing Theodore's movements from the beginning of the fight, were frozen in place.

It was then that a loud footsteps rang out.

Tok—! Tok—! Tok—!...

They belonged to Theodore. He was walking towards Sylvia with a slow and steady pace.

Tok—! Tok—! Tok—! Tok—!...

'D- Don't tell me... He can also do... it...  A- AND WITH NO CHANTS TOO!?'

If Sylvia could move her body right now, she would have laughed like a madwoman, as—

'HEHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE EVEN STRONGER THAN I THOUGHT, THEODORE GRAY! THIS WILL GIVE ME AT LEAST A WEEK NOW!'

—The fight had gone even beyond her wildest expectations.

Tok—! Tok—! Tok—! Tok—! Tok—!...

Theodore moved even closer to Sylvia. 

'Hehahahah! Yes! Strike me!'

However, as if he was ridiculing Sylvia, Theodore suddenly stepped to the right, and figure overlapped with the sprite.

It was then that time resumed, and Sylvia could move again.

BAM—!

Due to having observed each and every of his movements earlier, Sylvia could react to his attack in time. She twisted her body to the left and used her tail to slam into his body, sending him flying a few meters back.

If any other dragons were here right now, they would have scolded Sylvia, regardless of whether she was duke Ecertold' daughter or not. After all, a dragon's tail was the main source of their pride.

However, Sylvia didn't care about that, as she believed that everything could, and should be used in a fight.

Despite having been able to successfully counterattack, Sylvia couldn't feel joy. Instead, she felt great annoyance and rage, as—

"A- Are you fucking with me!? WHY DID YOU RESUME IT BEFORE YOU ATTACK!?"

—Theodore's actions were extremely insulting in her mind. It was almost as if he didn't want to end Sylvia's life right away out of mere pity.

Granted, Sylvia was also doing the exact same thing earlier, but—

'I- It's not the same when I'm the one doing it!'

—Her pride didn't allow her to accept the fact that someone else was doing it to her of all people.

In response to Sylvia's outburst, Theodore merely raised his eyebrows. His soul, according to Sylvia's Eyes, had a speck of yellow in it, signifying surprise and... confusion.

However, it last for but a split second, as the yellow specks turned back into the color of overwhelming red soon after.

Sylvia then manifested another Scythe out of Ice, anticipating for his next move.

<[Splice]>

He used the spell again. However, this time, the sprite appeared to the left of her.

'Seriously? Again?'

CLANG—!

"Huh?", Theodore lets out a confused noise.

His soul now was a mixture of red and yellow, but it was still mostly red.

<[Splice]>

CLANG—!

<[Splice]>

CLANG—!

<[Splice]>

CLANG—!
...

"HOW DO YOU KEEPING REACTING IN TIME!?", Theodore shouted in anger.

In response, Sylvia make a confused face.

After all, his attacks weren't the hardest to dodge or react to when the red sprite literally showed what he would do.

'Is what he's doing not... stopping time?'

<[Splice]>

CLANG—!

After one more [Splice], Sylvia was now confident in her assessment.

Sensing that [Absolute zero] was still active, Sylvia started to smile again.

'Whatever he was doing, it doesn't matter. Let's award him for showing me something interesting, shall I?'

Immediately after she finished her thought, Time mana suddenly condensed around her.

"WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING, LIZARD?", Theodore shouted.

In response, Sylvia merely started to chant.

<"Divine wheel of time, heed my words and cometh to my aid...">

CLANG—!

<"...This child offers you the purest of her mana...">

CLANG—!

<"...The air of the mortal world is now fitted for your intervention...">

A red hue started to extend out of Sylvia's body. However, the hue was much more overwhelming than Theodore's, as it enveloped not just Sylvia, but the entirety of the dungeon.

However, those without even a speck of Time affinity wouldn't have been able to see the hue, or even feel the immense pressure that it exalted.

Pausing her chant for a moment, Sylvia looked at Theodore with pride and excitement. "Watch closely. I'll show you what true power looks like!"

As if responding to her statement, Theodore conjured up a spear of red Lightning.

<[Lightning spear]>

Ignoring the [Lighting spear] that was rapidly forming, Sylvia continued to chant.

<"Thus, Divine wheel of time, halt yourself and bring forth judgement to my enemies—">

Bzzzzzzt—! WOOOOOOOSH—!

Her pupils were no longer vertical and reptilian. Instead, it looked like the face of a clock.

Unconcerned by such an unnatural change in her physical form, however, Sylvia completed her chant with a wide smile.

<Great magic: [Pause]>

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hehahahaha!", Sylvia laughed as she stared at the [Lightning spear], which had just barely touched her forehead.

Drip—! Drip—! Drip—!...

Blood trickled off the wound on her forehead. However, she couldn't care less about such things.

Wooosh—!

With a swipe of her hand, the spear of red Lighting was redirected towards the ceiling.

Tick—! Tock—! Tick—! Tock—!...

Creating a shard of clear Ice on her left hand, Sylvia stared at the reflection of her eyes.

Seeing that the clock hands on her eyes were slowly ticking towards each other, Sylvia concluded that—

'6 seconds left'

—The time stop was about to end soon. Thus, she had to make the most of the time she had left.

However, as soon as she took a step forward, an agonizing sensation coursed through her entire being.

"ARGHHHHHH!"

Cold.

Chilling cold.

That was the kind of temperature the world of stopped time had.

Even Sylvia, who had been used to the extreme cold of the North since birth, would freeze to death if she was exposed to this kind of condition for even a minute.

After all, stopping the movement of every mana and aether particles in the area, and by extension, the flow of time, came with a great cost.

However, in such conditions, loud but rapid footsteps reverberate throughout the caverns.

Tok—! Tok—! Tok—!...

Sylvia ran towards Theodore, who was frozen in time. She skillfully dodged the fragments of rocks that were stuck in the air, sometimes even destroying them to make closing the distance just a bit faster.

Tick—! Tock—! Tick—!...

'4 seconds left'

It was then that she arrived right before Theodore.

"What a pity", she sighed. "To think that things would end this early"

Despite that, however, Sylvia still smiled warmly at him.

"I'll still have to thank you. After all, you have freed me from my curse for...", she quickly called her Status up. "...2 weeks and a half! HEHAHAHAHA! IT'S EVEN BETTER THAN I THOUGHT!"

'3 seconds...'

Positioning her Scythe above Theodore's left shoulder, Sylvia tried to let out a soft voice. However, due to the damage to her throat, what came out of her small mouth sounded unusually hoarse. "You deserve a rest, Theodore. You've done more than enough for me... at least for now"

Tick—! Tock—! Tick—! Tock—!...

'2 second...'

Ignoring the severe frostbites that were forming on her smooth white skin, eating away at it, Sylvia continued. "I hope you don't hate me after this is over... like everyone before you"

Tick—! 

Spurt—!

Blood spurted out, and Sylvia's Scythe tore Theodore's shoulder apart.

Or at least, how she had expected things to go.

Instead, what had actually happened was that—

CLANG—!

"Huh? H- How!?"

—Theodore suddenly moved at the last second, and intercepted her attack with his sword of blood.

It was then that time resumed.

BOOOOM—!

The [Lightning spear] shot towards the ceiling and filled the air with dust.

Still breathing raggedly and trembling uncontrollably from what had just transpired, Sylvia dashed back into the dust, obscuring herself.

'...Of course! His Time affinity is <Intermediate>, much higher than mine! Why didn't I think of it before!', she facepalmed herself.

However, a smile soon formed on her face again. 'Looks like we can fight for just a bit longer!'

<[Ice lance]>      

"DON'T THINK YOU CAN CATCH ME OFF-GUARD, SINNER!"

<[Lightning spear]>   <[Gale force]>

After a few moments of uselessly throwing out attacks, Sylvia sighed.

'Looks like I was too excited...'

She could tell that if things went like they were right now, she wouldn't be able to squeeze more benefits out of the fight.

As such—

'Let's change things up a bit, shall we?'

—Sylvia willed Lightning mana, condensing them on the ceiling in great quantity.

However—

'H- Huh? Not enough mana?'

—Sylvia had exhausted her <D-> rank mana.

It was to be expected, as stopping the flow of time was no simple feat, especially for a <E+> rank.

Despite this being the first time she was out of mana, however, Sylvia wasn't panicking at all, as—

'I'll just use my Aether then!'

—She could still fight.

At this point, she was so absorbed into the duel that she couldn't care less if she revealed the fact that she was a Halfling to Theodore.

<[S - Polymorph]: Undo]>
***

"..."

I stared at where the sinner once was.

She seemingly disappeared, and what replaced her was a majestic white dragon. Its tail was of the same color, but scattered on it were streaks of light-blue scales instead of white ones.

However, upon closer inspection, I could see that its wings were different from normal dragons, since as opposed to the scaly wings most dragons had, its wings were rather... feathery, almost like that of an angel. 

'SHIT! SHE ACTUALLY TURNED INTO AN OVERSIZED LIZARD!'

Staring down at me, it lets out a mighty roar.

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR—!

Stalactites fell down from the ceiling in droves as the loud roar violently shook the whole room.

I felt as if my eardrums were going to burst. However, that was the least of my problems, as sparks of blue electricity crackled from around the dragon and shot towards the ceiling.

Aether converged above me, and I could tell that if I didn't do anything right now, things would go really sour for me.

"TAKE THIS!", I shouted as several dozens of [Lightning spears]  manifested right behind me, pointing at the dragon.

'Hehahaha! You shouldn't have transformed, lizard. You're just a bigger target now!'

Although I was dangerously low on mana, especially after using such a big move, I still decided to continue with the fight. After all, that fucking lizard DARED to insult God Vihar.

|Theodore! Calm down!|, a voice suddenly rang out inside my head.

(How many times have you said that now Lyra?), I snickered. (Like I've have told you dozens of times already, this oversized lizard had the guts to insult your father - God of the Storms Vihar! The only atonement for such a sin is death!)

|Theodore, I know my emotions went wild at the beginning but I've calmed down now! You don't need to kill her for me!|

In response, I merely aimed the [Lighting spears] at the dragon's heart.

|Theodore, please!|, Lyra sounded very desperate. |You're not acting like yourself right now!|

Ignoring her, I extended my hand forwards, and dozens upon dozens of red spears of Lightning shot towards the dragon.

However, breaking its Aether concentration for just a split second, the dragon used its tail to swat my spears away like they were mere flies.

It was then that I heard the dragon's soft and beautiful voice in my mind.

{I'm letting you know this for your own good}

I knew better than to fall for its lie. After all, its true, hideous form was of the sinner that dared to compare the great Vihar to the fucker Zeus!

{Raise your defense now if you want to live}

Despite not trusting the dragon even one bit, however, I couldn't shake off the feeling of unease I had. Thus, I gulped hard, and looked up towards the ceiling, where Aether condensed in great amount.

<[Lightning pillar]>

Rumble—!

A thick pillar of blue lightning descended from the ceiling, pulverizing even the air it made contact with as it quickly approached me.

Almost instinctively, I raised my hand up, and conjured a huge spiraling bolt of red lightning.

'Come on! Please be conductive! Please be conductive! Please be conductive'

This was the first time I tried to manifest conductive Lightning after all.

As soon as I plunged the bolt of Lighting into the ground, the pillar of blue Lightning crashed into it.

Fwom—!

A rather... underwhelming sound rang out as the [Lightning pillar] got absorbed by my bolt of Lightning.

"Haaaaah... Haaaah... Hehahahahaha! It worked!", a sigh of relief, followed by crazed laughter could be heard as I watched the scene unfold before my very eyes.

Although I was almost out of mana, I estimated that it was still enough for me to kill the dragon before I would inevitably pass out.

'I just need to get close to that Lizard!'

Thus, I condensed Space mana on the tip of my sword, preparing to behead the dragon as soon as I got close enough.

As I was doing so, however—

Cra— Crack—!

—A very visible crack appeared on my bolt of Lightning.

Bzzzzzt—! Crack—!

The crack was spreading through the bolt at immense speed. Almost instinctively, I knew what was going to happen.

'IT'S GOING TO EXPLO—'

BOOOOOOOOOM—!

A deafening explosion occurred. It's color was of bright-red, with a few streaks of blue.

In self-preservation, I pointed the tip of my sword towards the explosion.

<The third movement of [V- World splitter]: Contraction>

A small blue fissure appeared in the air. Contained within it was an impossibly dense amount of Space mana, and by extension, an impossibly dense amount of mass.

It was so dense that the space around the fissure began to collapse onto itself.

And of course, the part of the explosion that made contact with the space also collapsed onto itself, compressing into a small sphere.

I decided that it was best to get away from the sphere.

<[Splice]>

Immediately after I used the Time spell, the scenery around me changed, and I was now a good distance away from the fissure.

'Shit! That took almost all of my mana'

In fact, I wasn't sure if I could even use <[Spark]> right now.

BOOOOOOOOOM—!

A second, much bigger explosion occurred right as I finished my thoughts.

Thanks to my quick thinking, I wasn't harmed in the very least.

Though, the same couldn't be said for the dragon.

Despite my dangerously low level of mana, however, I was still dead-set on killing the sinner.

Thus, without even waiting for the dust to settle, I rushed in, aiming to end her once and for all.

Before long, I spotted a familiar silhouette amidst the dust.

"HEHAHAHAHAH! HERE YOU ARE!"

|Theodore! Don't!|

Ignoring Lyra, I dashed towards the sinner.

Her blue eyes with a tint of pink looked at me with surprise as she was standing hunched over, holding her right arm, which looked like it had just gone through a meat grinder, with her left one.

The scales that were supposed to protect her body were embedded deep into her skin, making her bleed profusely from multiple places.

Ignoring her pathetic figure that was the far cry from what she looked like when the fight started, I pounced on her and tackled her to the ground.

"HEHAHAHAH! Don't you dare die just yet! You'll have to suffer more!"

As I positioned myself on top of her body, I raised my fist up and brought it down to her face.

BAM—!

She tried to raise her functional arm up to block my punch, but I pummeled her face yet again before she could even do anything.

BAM—!

Mana surged as the sinner tried to use her [Authority]. However—

{Freez—}

BAM—!

—I intercepted it with a punch to the throat.

BAM—!

Tok— Tok— Tok— Tok—!

"HEHAHAHAHA!"

BAM—! 

"DIE!"

-W- What is that bastard doing to my beloved Sylvia?

BAM—! 

"REPENT!"

BAM—! 

"A MERE LIZARD—"

BAM—! 

"—DARED TO INSULT GOD VIHAR!?"

BAM—!

-LADY SYLVIA! I'M COMING!

"FOOLISHNESS!"

BAM—!

"YOUR CRIME IS YOUR OWN EXISTENCE!"

BAM—!

I rested my trembling fists for a few seconds as blood that was not of my own tricked down my knuckles.

Wiping the disgusting blood off my hand and smirking at the pathetic bloodied face of the sinner before me, I raised my fist yet again and infused all of my remaining mana into it.

I was going to cave her skull in with this one strike.

"I'LL SHOW YOU DIVINE JUSTICE!"

BAM—!

A loud sound rang out, but it wasn't caused by me finishing the sinner off. But instead—

"YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO LADY SYLVIA!"

—It was the sound of Max kicking me off the sinner, interrupting my delivery of heavenly judgment.

"Ehehahaha!", I laughed almost crazily, ignoring the fact that I could barely move now. "So the sinner has an accomplice, huh? It doesn't matter, as the divine judgement of God Vihar will descend onto y—"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FILTHY HALFLING!"

<[IV - Heaven Piercer]: Impaling throw]>