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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The Balance of Time.
That was the name of the technique she had used on me – a unique power that allowed her to obtain the memories of her target in exchange for transferring an equal amount of her own memories to them.
However, it was a kind of miracle that required not only an incredibly complex structure from its preparation process, but also the blessing of the Goddess of Time to be used.
Information about the mysterious power I had just experienced was forcibly inserted into my head.
“Ugh!”
When I lived in the Demon Realm Forest, broken ribs were commonplace, but perhaps because it had been a while, the pain felt different now.
There had been many incidents and accidents popping up here and there, but compared to life in the Demon Realm Forest, this relatively calm life was now flashing warning lights.
“Daniel! Are you okay?”
Tana rushed over and tried to use healing magic, but since it was such a high-level spell, the mana condensed but then dissipated in midair.
“I’m… fine.”
I couldn’t breathe properly.
The pain from the Priestess’s heavy blow was even more severe than the broken bones.
“God is perfect. No, God must be perfect.”
The Priestess of Time violently pulled out the black hour and minute hands hanging from her ears and gripped them in both hands.
Those hands, dripping with the Priestess’s blood, began to grow larger until they became a longsword and a short sword, serving as her weapons.
“You are merely the shame of such gods. You were not a chosen one at all. You are just a small dot in the indescribable cycle of the world.”
“Heal him immediately!”
Elise was the first to step forward.
Following her order, Bertia ran with the potion she always carried for Elise, but…
Crack!
The short sword made from the hour hand accurately pierced through the bottle Bertia was holding.
The potion couldn’t serve its purpose and soaked the floor, while the minute hand returned to rest in the Priestess’s palm just as it had flown out.
“Is there anyone who can use recovery magic or has a potion?!”
The Priestess approached.
Bertia shouted urgently, and naturally some of the nobles were carrying potions to protect themselves.
However, no one dared to step forward.
This was because none of them properly understood the current situation.
A girl of unknown identity had drawn a sword and cut off Prince Oliver’s fingers, and the Priestess of Time had gone berserk.
This was all the information people had.
Thanks to her brilliant blonde hair and appearance resembling the royal family, a few sharp-eyed nobles belatedly realized that the girl was the Third Princess, but…
As they hurriedly took out their potions, the hour hand that had suddenly flown in shattered all the bottles, making a round of the hall.
“I won’t allow careless recovery!”
Having read my memories, she clearly knew about my strength.
That’s why, despite being a priestess, she had ambushed me and was now preventing any attempts to heal my injuries.
“Hah, you’re making this difficult.”
I forcibly placed my hand on a nearby chair to stand up.
With Tana supporting me from the side, I was able to get up more easily than expected, but…
“Where do you think you’re going!”
The Priestess immediately charged forward.
Her intention was to finish me off decisively before I could get accustomed to the pain of my injuries, but a golden branch-shaped sword blocked her path.
“You’re rampaging without a master, I see.”
“My only master is the Goddess of Time.”
The ring Elise was wearing emitted light.
With her greatly enhanced physical abilities in this state, there was no one at the academy who could defeat Elise except for Rin, and…
With support, she could even match an ancient magical beast like Apviel.
Bang!
Yet she was sent flying so lightly.
It was praiseworthy that she didn’t let go of her sword even while rolling on the ground, but she couldn’t even hold out for a moment against the Priestess of Time.
At that moment, white-masked assassins poured down from the ceiling of the banquet hall.
The nobles who recognized their identity among those attending the banquet began to flee in panic – these were walking deaths to the nobility.
The Chokugen Faction.
“W-Why are those people here?”
Tana muttered, tightly grasping my hand in bewilderment.
She wasn’t particularly asking for an answer, but I immediately knew why.
“This is not an opponent you can subdue! Kill her immediately!”
It was none other than the Second Prince Alois.
He fiercely commanded the Chokugen Faction, and they obeyed without hesitation.
Alois also received his blue sword from his maid, and with his ring emitting light, he charged in.
‘It seems he made various preparations.’
Judging by the fact that he even called the Chokugen Faction, his preparations were quite thorough, and Alois’s own swordsmanship was quite impressive, but…
“Sinners who live by drinking blood, hiding in the shadows was your only way to survive.”
The Priestess of Time stomped her foot hard.
Boom!
In a heaviness that made it feel like the entire banquet hall was shaking, the members of the Chokugen Faction who had been charging at the Priestess stood still as if they had become statues in an exhibition.
“The God of Death is tearing open its huge mouth.”
The long minute hand swept violently.
For all their impressive entrance, the Chokugen Faction didn’t accomplish much and rolled on the floor, creating only pools of blood.
‘That’s the problem.’
Having gained the Priestess’s memories, I knew she could stop time around her.
But there wasn’t enough time to immediately grasp everything about her.
The Priestess, having used the Balance of Time quite a few times, was able to immediately process the information flooding into her mind in an instant, but I couldn’t.
My head felt dizzy, as if some liquid other than cerebrospinal fluid had been poured in.
I frowned, trying to forcibly organize the memories of hers that had violently flooded in.
“Prince who became ugly to survive, have you come to die?”
It wasn’t just the Chokugen Faction that had stopped.
The Priestess unhesitatingly tried to stab Prince Alois, who had been swinging his sword among them, with her hour hand, but…
Crash!
Elise’s sword struck out from the side again.
The weapon, too curved to be called a sword, swung fiercely, creating distance between the Priestess and Alois.
As the Priestess retreated greatly, Alois, who had been stopped, began to move again.
At that moment, knights entered through the entrance.
They evacuated the nobles who had attended the banquet and headed straight for the current king.
“Quickly escort His Majesty to safety. Use the remaining forces to stop that Priestess!”
Queen Isabel, who had been attending to the current king who had just been freed from what was considered an illness but had not yet fully regained his senses, shouted fiercely.
She also desperately called out to her children to leave the battle to the knights and retreat, but Elise had no intention of backing down.
“Brother, you can step back if you’re scared. I’ll kill that woman myself.”
“It’s dangerous. It’s better to leave it to the knights as Mother said.”
At that, Elise glanced sideways at Alois.
“While the ring’s magic is in effect, we’re stronger than most knights. When else would we shoulder the duty of royalty if not now?”
“…Are you saying that while telling me to step back?”
Alois looked down at the ring on his finger.
The ring was still emitting brilliant light.
Alois took a deep breath and gripped his sword.
Before the approaching knights could say anything, Elise declared.
“Everyone, get your wits about you. If you get close, your movements will stop. However, it seems she can’t use it continuously, so we’ll attack in sequence.”
If she could have used it repeatedly, Elise would have stopped too when she charged in for the second time.
Seeing his sister’s mind working so quickly, Alois let out an exclamation of admiration.
While he had only been thinking about desperately blocking attacks, his younger sister was analyzing the battle.
“Form up!”
At the fierce shout of the man who seemed to be the knight commander, the knights all took their positions and prepared to charge.
Dividing into three rows as Elise had said was quite an effective method, but…
“It’s not enough.”
Knowing the Priestess’s strength through her memories, I could state with certainty.
This woman was a being that could match the ancient magical beasts living in the Demon Realm Forest.
And not just small fry like Apviel, but one that could sufficiently survive among the real ones.
Charging in without knowing anything was no different from riding on the tongue of a lion with its mouth open.
“D-Daniel!”
“I have to go.”
Despite the knights and royalty blocking her path, the Priestess’s eyes were still fixed on me.
As my head started to clear, I began to understand the reason for her extreme agitation.
Was it because I didn’t kill Rin, the Earliest Apocalypse?
Because I didn’t say anything despite having already experienced the end?
Because I had lived as a magical beast wandering the Demon Realm Forest?
To her, these were all merely secondary reasons.
The biggest reason she wanted to erase me from this world was because my very existence was proof that the Goddess of Time had failed.
To the Priestess of Time, gods were perfect beings.
They were absolute entities who knew the answers to all problems and shepherds who guided to the right path.
But the reality was different.
All of humanity had been defeated, and the Goddess of Time had failed and turned back time.
She was challenging the calamity once again.
The moment the Priestess’s lifelong beliefs were shaken, she had no choice but to choose.
Whether to doubt the god she had believed in…
Or to maintain her stubbornness and erase this troublemaker who had caused this confusion, as if hiding it from everyone’s sight.
For the Priestess who proclaimed to be with God, that deliberation was not long.
It was easier to kill a man she had met for the first time a few days ago than to doubt the god to whom she had given her body and soul.
Regarding my regression…
She had instantly reached a conclusion that was still unclear even within me.
‘Are you saying she judged that my regression has nothing to do with the Goddess of Time?’
In fact, I had only learned about the existence of the Goddess of Time just now.
The moment I heard that name, I had judged it to be related to me, and seeing the Priestess approach me calling me a chosen one, I thought it was a god related to regression, but…
I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was strangely getting further and further from the answer.
“Hey! What are you thinking?!”
Lost in thought as the Priestess’s memories mixed in, creating a torrent of ideas, I snapped back to reality at the sharp voice.
Princess Ainis’s small fist, wearing a ring, was suddenly hitting my chest, and a bright light began to emanate.
“This is……”
“I may not be able to fight like Elise or Brother Alois, but I can do this.”
Healing light.
And not just healing injuries, but a green light that filled my entire body, starting from physical fatigue to mental stability.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
The Priestess, who had been surrounded by knights, violently knocked them down and reached above our heads with a single leap.
“No!”
Elise’s anguished scream rang out.
The healing wasn’t complete yet, but if I stayed still now, I would die.
As I was about to push Princess Ainis away to respond…
Another blonde girl threw herself forward.
She blocked the path between us and the Priestess with the determination to sacrifice her life, but despite her great resolve, she couldn’t hold out for long.
It was truly just a moment.
It only created a small opening as the Priestess swung the minute hand in her left hand, and the girl rolled on the ground, bleeding.
“Tana!”
I called out her name without realizing it, but Ainis took her hand off me and told me with her eyes not to worry.
Crack!
Whether she intended to kill both me and Princess Ainis at once, or if she simply didn’t care about the princess at all…
I forcibly swung my fist at the hour hand coming down violently.
Thanks to concentrating even a small amount of mana at the tip of my fist, it ended with just a slight cut on the skin, but…
My leg was already rushing towards her abdomen.
Thud!
The Priestess’s eyes widened as she retreated, having allowed a hit for the first time.
Seeing me fully healed, she chewed on the anger of self-reproach for not having prevented it.
The knights surrounded her again, but the Priestess didn’t shift her gaze anywhere else, as if I was the only one in this space.
“God is perfect and omnipotent. You devil who distorts and defiles that truth.”
The Priestess muttered as if in a frenzy.
“They didn’t seem all that great to me.”
I provoked her with the words she would hate the most.
The Priestess immediately kicked off the ground and charged towards me.
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