Grey and Elsinia walked out of a small café, balancing crepes wrapped into cone shapes in their hands.
The sun was setting, casting an amber glow over the sidewalk as they strolled side by side, exchanging pleasant smiles.
Elsinia, holding her crepe with both hands, took another bite, her eyes lighting up as she savored the sweet taste. "It's so good," she hummed happily.
Grey, with his characteristic calm demeanor, held his crepe with one hand and savored every small bite, nodding in agreement with a soft smile.
"Yeah, it really is," he replied.
Meanwhile, a kilometer away, Zeker's green eyes gleamed.
There was amusement written on his corroded face as he observed them from a hidden vantage point.
Smirking, he chuckled softly, causing some excess slime to escape his lips.
"They're well within sight..."
With an impish glint in his eye, Zeker clamped his hand over his mouth, forcing his stomach to expel small artificial mana beast cores. Ten minuscule cores dropped, and as he poured his magic energy into them, they transformed into sizable insects that buzzed and flitted around him.
With the surveillance insect keeping watch over Grey and Elsinia still active, Zeker linked its visuals to the other insects and himself.
"Perfect," he muttered with a mischievous grin. "Let the fun begin."
Snapping his fingers, all ten of the insects zipped through the air, each launching two drill-like spikes at a speed surpassing bullets.
A total of twenty projectiles hurtled toward Grey, who was enjoying his crepe with Elsinia.
Suddenly, Elsinia caught sight of the deadly attack and screamed, "Grey!"
She abandoned her crepe, charging to push him out of harm's way.
However, before the drill-like projectiles could do their deadly work, Zeker's cackle rang out.
Triumphantly he shouted, "Bullseye!"
However...
His laughter soon turned to confusion as he saw, through the eyes of the surveillance insect, that Grey, with one hand tucked in his pocket and the other holding his crepe, remained nonchalant, while Elsinia clasped him protectively.
"Oh, my crepe's almost finished..." he said.
The projectiles, aimed at rending Grey to shreds, instead collided with an invisible barrier, producing a shimmering ripple effect.
The twenty spikes abruptly halted in mid-air, mere inches away from Grey.
He was unharmed.
Elsinia looked at herself and then at Grey, who remained calmly eating his crepe. "My Darling Grey, you're safe," she exclaimed in amazement.
"Of course," Grey replied with a smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"How did you...?"
Elsinia started to ask, but her words trailed off as she noticed the suspended projectiles behind Grey. Before her eyes, each spike froze in mid-air, almost touching the surface of an invisible barrier.
"Hm?" Grey uttered.
He turned to face them and tapped one with the tip of his finger, although he was merely engaging the empty space between him and the objects.
From a distant vantage point, Zeker watched in shock.
He murmured to himself, "Who is this guy?"
'I already expected that human boy to be a mage, but he what's surprising his magic technique. How was he able to stop my projectiles... He's barely giving off that much magic energy.'
Zeker scrutinized Grey's movements through the visual feed from his surveillance insect.
'I was right to use a long-ranged attack to engage him first... I got a little suspicious when Leo addressed the issue of this human boy in a strange manner - normally, he's obliviously straightforward... I may be arrogant, but not enough to endanger my own life.'
He calmed his breathing as he thought.
'But even with all that, I don't still understand what his magic technique is... The projectiles I shot just now, he effortlessly stopped them... No, they're moving, but very slowly... No, that's not it either, the way it's moving - it's so slow that it feels like those projectiles will never reach him even if they were given a million years...'
He pondered this new revelation, realizing he needed to reevaluate his tactical approach
"Yes, that's his ability..."
Zeker grinned forcefully.
Back on the ground, Grey analyzed the trajectory of the projectiles and reasoned his next move.
'While it's the best defensive magic technique in my arsenal, I don't fancy using it. It takes its fair share of mana, but it'd have been better to if I used 『Temporal Distortion』. Then again...'
He looked at the people around him.
'I can't risk bystanders falling victim to unseen attacks... After all, I can't use 『Temporal Distortion』 to alternate the direction it's diverted to. So in the in the end, using this magic technique was the best choice.'
Again, Grey surveyed the surrounding crowd as he deliberated on his next move.
'Unfortunately it looks like whoever I'm up against isn't entirely foolish. I'm guessing he used a these projectiles as a way to... Test me.'
Grey smiled warmly as he looked towards the direction of the initial attack.
With a subtle gesture, released the projectiles from their suspended state, allowing them to drop harmlessly to the ground.
'In the end, he's not gonna get much of an answer as to how my core defensive magic technique works. 『Timeless World』 isn't a power you can grasp with one or two glances.'
Indeed, this was one of the first 3 magic techniques Grey had created by utilizing the original magic technique of the NewGate clan - 『Esoteric Sealing』.
It centered on creating powerful, impenetrable barriers capable of sealing away anything—be it objects, entities, or even the most formidable of magics. Certain conditions that had to be met to manifest it, but the result of using this magic technique was the creation of a barrier exists in a separate, ethereal plane, rendering whatever it contains inaccessible and untouchable to the physical world.
As a child, Grey's earlier magic technique was manipulating localized time distortions, allowing him to briefly slow or speed up time within a limited radius around himself.
This ability stemmed from his affinity with temporal energies (+/-) passed down to one or two persons every 200 years.
So, when Grey mastered his clan's sealing technique, he discovered the potential convergence between his time manipulation and ethereal energy. And soon, he found a correlation between temporal manipulation and the concept of a temporal void—a gap in time that could repel attacks.
"How did you do that?" Elsinia asked Grey.
Grey turned to her and smiled. "You really wanna know?"
Rather than giving a response, Elsinia just frowned at him a bit.
Grey placed out one hand and decided explained his magic technique in the simplest way possible.
"It's a defensive magic technique called 『Timeless World』."
"Timeless... World...?" Elsinia repeated.
He nodded and continued, "Imagine I have a superpower bubble where time slows down. Now, when someone tries to attack me, it's like they're throwing an arrow at me. But, my bubble makes it so the arrow never really reaches me because there's a gazillion tiny moments between them. It's like trying to catch something that's never quite there."
Elsinia realized what this theory was. "Zeno's arrow paradox..."
Grey snapped his fingers and smiled. "Bingo!"
Zeker cautiously watched Grey and Elsinia from his vantage point on top of the skyscraper.
He muttered to himself, "I'll keep attacking from a distance until I devise a new plan. He's magic technique is a little tri..."
But his thoughts were interrupted as he realized Grey was no longer next to Elsinia.
In a panic, Zeker scanned the area through the eyes of the surveillance insect, only to hear Grey's voice behind him.
"Amusing, isn't it? The fact you think distance gives you some sort of advantage..."
Grey teased a bit, causing Zeker's knees to tremble as he slowly turned around to face the unexpected intruder.
Zeker was infuriated at this development.
'How did he...? No one's that fast. I blinked, and he's behind me. Keeping distance was supposed to be an advantage! How did he close it so effortlessly?'
As Zeker pivoted, he was met with Grey's palm aimed directly at his face.
Stunned and unable to comprehend the situation, Zeker breathed heavily and questioned, "What... are you?"
Grey flashed a smile before replying, "The real question is: why do noses run, but feet smell?"
Before Zeker could even process the nonsensical question, a destructive, powerful force of repulsion exploded from Grey's hand, instantly obliterating a substantial portion of the skyscraper's rooftop.
This sent Zeker and all the debris hurtling backward through the air, like a living rocket.
Zeker screamed at the top of his voice as he collided with the debris.
"Aaaaarghhhh!!"
He rolled from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, right to left, without any control.
'My head feels like it's spinning...!' Zeker thought.
This was attack was variant magic technique of 『Chrono-Repulse』 called 『ETR』 (Explosive Temporal Rejection).
It uses positive temporal energy to generate a potent repulsive force. Through the reversal or dilation of time in a defined area, Grey can produce a shockwave that forcefully repels matter, inducing disorientation and destabilization. Beyond physical impact, it disrupts the temporal flow of objects and beings, severing their connection from the normal progression of time.
Amid the disorienting tumble, Zeker was abruptly suspended in mid-air.
'Wha... What happened?"
Out of nowhere, Grey materializing above him.
"In the word 'scent,' is the 's' or the 'c' silent?"
Grey asked as Zeker struggled to grasp the dire situation.
Before Zeker could respond, Grey's foot crashed down on his face, propelling them both at intense speed toward the ground.
BOOOOOOM!!
The impact carved a sizable crater and caused bystanders to panic and flee.
Grey, unfazed, rubbed the sole of his bloodstained sneakers on Zeker's mangled face, grinning cruelly as he spoke to him.
"Did you really think creating space would mean safety? Trying to keep distance is like trying to outrun your own shadow—pointless. Step back, step forward, the outcome remains the same."
Zeker gritted his teeth furiously as he glared at his smiling, opponent.