314. Grace

“[The Devil’s Grace].”

It was my Title Skill. A brand new Skill I had yet to actually try out. But, somehow, I intuitively knew it was a Skill that would aid me in this situation. And it did.

Something shifted. I couldn’t see it with my own eyes, beyond the fact that a powerful magic— almost familiar— was being cast. It reminded me of when I used [Scattering Displacement] or [Warped Time]... except if I was using both at the exact same time and more.

[Planar Navigation] told me that the world around me was altering. That there was a change to not just the flow of space, but the flow of time. And no— time wasn’t just speeding up or slowing down. It almost felt like it was going backwards.

A magical timefield formed. One that expanded beyond just the forgotten prison and back to the Mortal Realm.

I smiled as the same hole that put me into this pocket dimension opened up. It didn’t so much pull me into it as it reverse dropped me out of the forgotten prison. The Mortal Realm reopened around me, and my body moved back into place.

Simag laughed as he caught that silver-haired girl into the Ring of the Forgotten Prison. She was too cocky— too arrogant. And he exploited it. He lured her in and defeated her with his wits. Such was the folly of those born with too much power.

They lacked the guiles and the wiliness necessary to make it far. They typically only had one plan of action: to punch their opponents until they won.

He was nothing like them. Simag knew what it actually took to win a battle against those stronger than him. His cackling echoed throughout the night as he arched back, looking up. Then he paused.

His eyes widened as he spotted a glowing figure floating overhead. A few glowing figures, in fact. The Grand Spirit and the golden apparitions were still there.

Simag gritted his teeth, reaching into a Bag of Holding. He had to react quickly before the Grand Spirit moved to strike him down. But he had used his only Epic Grade artifact. All he had left were a handful of Medium Grade scrolls, and maybe a single High Grade weapon.

Calm down, he told himself. He needed to assess the situation with a cool mind, lest he made a mistake. His eyes flickered around the battlefield— towards the fleeing wild Demons and [Fiends]. Somehow, he had to rally them back here to deal with the Grand Spirit.

Well, the [Fiends] wouldn’t be too difficult to control. He just had to use a Horn of the Caller, and they’d see that the main threat was gone. The wild Demons, on the other hand, were a tough task to deal with. Even getting them to track down the [Hero] had taken quite a while.

Simag produced a tusk-shaped horn from his Bag of Holding, preparing to blow on it. The [Hero] sputtered something at the Grand Spirit, but the Grand Spirit didn’t move. Such foolishness. Once again, their conceit and hubris in their power would be their undoing.

With a smirk, Simag raised the Horn of the Caller—

And he stopped. His body refused to move any further. He couldn’t even lower his arms. What was this? Why wasn’t he able to do anything?

Simag just stood frozen for what felt like forever, before he finally moved again. Except, this time, it wasn’t by his own will.

He lowered the Horn of the Caller, putting it back into the Bag of Holding. A clear reverse of his previous actions— mimicking the exact same movement he carried out to produce the artifact, but backwards. Then he slung his Bag of Holding back over his shoulder as he leaned back and laughed again.

He didn’t feel joy from this. He just stared up into the sky, maniacally laughing in utter terror at his lack of control over his own body. The Grand Spirit and the [Hero] just watched, unaffected by whatever curse or spell this was. The flying [Fiends] fled further. The wild Demons abandoned him.

None of them came for him. The only thing that moved in reverse was himself, and the grass at his feet.

Simag raised his hand as he stopped laughing, and the realization dawned on him. His Ring of the Forgotten Prison flashed. He quivered, barely able to move his lips.

“N-no…”

And the same void that consumed the silver-haired girl spat her back out. She grabbed him by the hand— the exact same position she had held before being sucked into the pocket dimension. She didn’t seem to have control over her own actions either. Only minor movements, just like Simag.

And, well, she wore a savage look on her face.

Then, just like glass shattering, whatever spell had been holding over the both of them ended. Simag paled as he tried to raise the ring once again.

“Ring of—”

“Not again.”

She ripped off his arm.

“...what is that?”

Daniel Song stared in disbelief as he watched the events of the last minute play in reverse. Salvos reappeared from the Ring of the Forgotten Prison as the grass at her feet seemed to sway backward. She grabbed Simag by the arm while the world around them continued with this odd dissonance.

It was like they were moving in their own world. Their own place. Everything outside of what they touched or did was unaffected. They were being restored to their previous state a whole minute ago.

“That’s… a magical time field.”

Princess Faith whispered. Daniel looked over at her, frowning.

“A magical time field?”

“It’s just something I’ve heard about. I’ve never seen it myself. Powerful [Archmages] who are supposedly able to speed up or slow down time— or even momentarily pause time in a certain radius. However, I have never heard of a magical time field that could reverse time.”

She shook her head, staring in awe.

“But make no mistake, it is a magical time field.”

Daniel turned back to Salvos. He wanted to laugh. Was this how strong she’d gotten since he’d last seen her? He had fallen behind. She truly was…

Then, Simag and Salvos clicked back into place. And time around them resumed.

“Ring of—”

“Not again.”

I ripped off Simag’s arm before he could activate his artifact once again.

I probably couldn’t use [The Devil’s Grace] very often. At the very minimum, it had a one day cooldown. It was annoying, but once I leveled the Skill more, I could probably get it down to once every hour or so.

Which seemed quite useful. Except while the Skill reversed everything that happened between me and a certain target in the past minute, it didn’t entirely reverse everything that happened. For example, I had momentarily turned my hand into a claw just before being sucked into the Ring of the Forgotten Prison. I only transformed back to a fully Human form before I activated [The Devil’s Grace].

Yet, here I was, with a Human hand— no claw in sight.

It seemed that whatever physical change that occurred to me over the last minute wasn’t reversed. So if I was stabbed through the chest, I likely wouldn’t be able to fix my wounds with this Skill.

Nevertheless, I was now out of the forgotten prison. And I stood over Simag, tossing his arm to the side. He stumbled away from me, eyes wide.

“You—”

His eyes sharpened. He glared at me in anger, a glowing spark dancing around him.

“You will not get away with this! You’re with him, aren’t you?”

“Who?”

I cocked my head, and Simag unleashed a volley of fiery attacks at me. I sighed, walking forward as my [Protection of the Sentinel] repelled his magical barrage. I slowly approached him as he drew back.

“You traitors— you think you can defy our king, but you won’t succeed. As we speak, Levithus is moving to crush you and your little rebellion.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I countered his flaming attacks with my salvo. It blasted Simag back. He screamed as he fell back-first to the ground.

“Oh you know. You’re just afraid of what would happen to him once Levithus gets there. Trust me, he will die. Belzu’s little show of force will end.”

I paused. My eyes narrowed.

“You think Belzu is my companion?”

Simag snapped up, unleashing a gust of icy wind at me. I burned it away and walked up to him. I closed my eyes, shaking my head.

“Simag, you really don’t know anything about me, huh? Of course you don’t. You don’t even know my name. This is your first time meeting me. But this isn’t my first time meeting you.”

I didn’t speed up or close the distance. I just continued my approach as a memory flashed. One of simpler times. When Haec and I were still together.

We crested up the plateau, and after taking a quick look around at the top and seeing no one, I decided we would stay there for a bit. I had only recovered some of my health when I heard a noise.

“Stay back!”

Simag yelled. His voice was familiar. I knew where I heard it before. I ignored whatever he threw at me. If Clayton Skyshredder couldn’t break through my [Protection of the Sentinel], there was no way a Level 114 Archdemon could. Instead, I continued.

“I know you, Simag. I remember you.”

Peeking over the edge, I looked down at what was a narrow passage between another hill. It was a valley, and down in the valley were moving shapes. Figures, not ones I had ever seen before, were entering this valley.

I looked at the source of the voice, focusing on a large, gray figure at the front of the group. He wasn’t like any other Demon I had seen before, but I intuitively knew he was one. He only had four limbs— unlike my dozen— and only needed two of them under him to walk. He had a long head, with two crooked horns protruding out of the side.

“Keep on moving! If you break, you will be killed!”

The tone he carried was nothing like I remembered. In my memories, he spoke with an imposing, terrifying weight. One that struck fear into my heart. But now?

“W-what are you talking about?”

Simag asked, trembling. I just chuckled.

“You were so strong, then. At least, I thought you were.”

From the other side of the valley came pouring Demons. Wild Demons. Ones that were also new to me, but unlike the mostly uniform group of Demons, these ones were truly distinct. They came in all shapes and sizes, rushing at the Demons that had been traveling down that path. They roared, they howled, they growled, and they made all kinds of noises— none of them making any sense to me, despite my Racial Skill.

I saw the Demon with crooked horns raise his two hanging limbs— his arms.

A ball of flames appeared in front of him. A massive one that shot forward, and instantly obliterated half of the coming wild Demons. Then once the explosion had gone away— when the bright light had disappeared and the reverberation through the ground had stopped— I looked up and saw something else appear in his hand.

It was a long pointed object. One that was burning, with wisps of flame coming off it.

“Slay these Lesser Demons!”

“Now look at you.”

“Y-you won’t— get away… our King will…”

I stared down at Simag. He collapsed to his knees. Nothing he threw my way would harm me as long as my protection Skill was active. I bared my teeth at him.

“You’re so weak.”

I spotted a Demon. Even amongst the group of [Demon Larvae] did he stand out, because I recognized him. He was the Level 3 Demon I had been with the others.

And I watched as a spear shot through him, pinning him into the hill wall.

It was the fire spear the Demon with crooked horns had. He had thrown it at the coward Demon, instantly killing him. I stared in shock at this turn of events. Weren’t they on the same side? And continued to watch as he raised a hand and pointed at the rest of the fleeing group.

“I had warned you! I warned you you would be killed! Learn this lesson, the rest of you— the survivors. Know that you cannot run from me!”

“Run, Simag.”

I spoke simply as he turned tails. [Intimidation] broke him. He didn’t even dare to speak. His wings spread out as he took off into the sky.

Daniel shouted something— princess Faith cried out. Willy observed, unmoving. And I brought a hand to the sky, blue flames coalescing before turning black. A Nebular Spear of Flames.

“But know that you cannot run from me.”

I threw the spear. It shot out, reaching the Archdemon in an instant. I grinned as it tore through him, and I finished.

“Because I am Salvos, and you will remember me for the rest of your life just as I remembered you.”

Defeated [Asera Changeling - Lvl. 114]!

Less experience is awarded for defeating a enemy at least 10 levels below you!

General Skill [Lesser Enhanced Wisdom] has leveled up!

[Lesser Enhanced Wisdom - Lvl. 6] -> [Lesser Enhanced Wisdom - Lvl. 7]!

Experience is awarded for the leveling of a General Skill!