62 Chapter 59 - Iris

"Who are you?" Princess Iris asked suspiciously.

"Acedia-" I answered quickly.

It was my first time experiencing this OP ability. Using this, I could see everything monochrome and feel nothing.

"Shouldn't air molecules also stop, meaning I can't walk?" I asked to myself.

Using the power of magic bullshit, I broke the laws of science.

Iris was standing in front of me. She stood still and didn't move a single bit. Wondering what would happen, I decided to see what would happen if I punched her.

I struck my fist to her gut, but she didn't move a single bit. Because of that, I could feel the pain of hitting a concrete wall.

"Resume time," I said.

I looked at the results and Iris was thrown all the way back inside her room. I came inside to see if she was fine, but it seemed all I did was take out the air inside her and put her unconscious.

'It feels too weird though...' I thought.

I looked once more at her body, but instead of her knocked out, I saw her eyes staring at me.

"Shit! Aced-" I shouted.

Iris jumped back up and kicked me where I punched her. The force was so immense that the door behind me broke.

"Guards! There's an intruder!" she yelled.

I saw my health to see a good chunk of it was gone.

"Are you fucking kidding me... How is she so strong?" I screamed.

Iris then looked under her bed and took out a sword. It was shiny under the moonlight and seemed extremely sharp and cool.

"This is the blade handed down by our ancestors, Calibur," she told me.

I tried to get back up, but instead she put her hand over my neck.

"Are you the new demon general? You don't seem that strong," she muttered innocently.

"You little girl-! Acedia!" I shouted.

Everything became monochrome. However, I was still being choked by her.

"Get your hand... off me!" I gritted.

Using all my force, I managed to get off her hand by putting my feet on her and pulling off. It was exhausting and I was starting to feel tired.

"Are you kidding me? Can't that happen later?" I yelled to my system.

[No Comment] the system replied.

Without wasting anymore time, I kicked the bricks off the wall and jumped out. Under me, I could see various guards checking.

The moment I landed, I started dashing to the exit. Since they were in still in a state of no movement, I could leave undetected at all times. Leaving the main castle area, I went inside a random storage room I found.

"Resume time," I said.

Out of sudden, I could feel all the tiredness, adrenaline, and pain rushing in. It was painful, but I kept silent so nobody could hear me.

"Did you think you could leave the castle after hurting my daughter?" I heard.

My instinct reacted and I rolled away from where I laid. Behind me was the King and Prince both equipped in armor and weapons.

"It's time for you to die, Durandal-!" the King yelled.

"Arondight-! Exterion!" the Prince yelled.

Flashes of light both came out of their swords as they swung. Leaving me no choice, I used Acedia again to stop time.

"Holy crap... I was wrong... They're all strong." I said in regret.

Infiltrating and trying to assassinate was a mistake of mine, but I wanted to follow through. The Prince and the King were both standing with their swords raised so I walked up to them. I could feel the mana and heat coming off from their weapons.

"I'm sorry, but this is it."

I took out a dagger and stabbed both the King and the Prince's armor. Making a little hole, I opened up my inventory and took out concrete and wood out inside their bodies.

"This should do it... Resume time."

Time started flowing again and suddenly, the King's arm, leg, and chest exploded everywhere with some stone standing where he used to stood. The Prince had it luckier and the wood just took his right arm off.

The attack I just used up made a loud sound and I could hear guards rushing inside the building.

"Oh crap-!" I said.

Standing in front of the corpses, I looked behind to see the Queen and Iris. The Queen was tearing up while Iris had a sad aura coming off her body.

"... Dad?" Iris said.

I thought I made a Batman in this world. Removing those thoughts of mine, I then sensed danger behind me.

"Die-!" said a tall woman swinging her sword.

I took out a katana and broke her sword in half.

"Claire-! Run! You're no match for him alone!" Iris yelled.

Claire, the female knight, jumped back and I could see the guards surround me. There was no escape up, down, nor side to be seen.

"Cast destruction upon this murdurer-!" the Queen hysterically cried.

All at the same time, I could hear chanting and magic spells surrounding me.

"Acedia," was my only option.

Looking around, I was also surround by a barrage of spells which could instantly tear me apart.

'I guess I'll dig.'

Using my bare hands, I scooped up the rock and dirt under me and placed it inside my inventory. I didn't take look of time, but after a while, I managed to go under the castle. From there, I dug my way out of it.

I was extremely tired, but I had to run. Feeling that I couldn't outrun them even with my abilities and stats, I decided on hiding. I went inside the city and hided in the sewers.

"Resume time..." I said.

I instantly went to sleep, feeling exhaustion take over my body.

*****

I woke up. After waking up, I went out and asked questions and looked around. It seemed that I slept around five days and the criminal who almost killed the King and Prince was still not found. It was me of course, but with some priest's help, the King and Prince were still alive, but still unconscious. Nothing about the other royals were mentioned and some drawings of me were made.

I kind of felt bad for Iris, but I felt unsatisfied that they didn't die.

My portraits seemed a bit too realistic. I didn't know how, but everything was in detail. Thankfully, I was wearing a mask to hide my identity, but everything else was recorded. My height, my body features, my abilities, and how I could move instantaneously.

Since I didn't know what to do for the rest of the day, I explored the city a bit more.

After wasting sometime buying food and souvenirs for my buddies, I felt a tap on my back. I looked back to see a blonde girl with a knight and mage behind me.

I opened my mouth, but before I said anything I could sense something sharp on my spine.

"Don't say anything and come with us. If not, you're going to live forever paralyzed," said Claire.

Sensing their hostility, I decided to follow them.

*****

I was brought into a back alley where they tied me up with mythril rope.

"I want to ask some questions. Why did you try to kill the Royalty?" Claire asked.

I just cheerfully smiled at her, "No comment~!"

I received a slap from her.

"Answer my question."

I looked at her, but this time I was pissed.

"Where did you get that confidence, I wonder?"

"I said to shut up and answer the question-!"

"Acedi-"

I was once again interrupted, but this time it was Iris who stopped me. To stop a chant, you need to stop a vocation by stopping the vibrations completely. I slap wouldn't do it, but a punch to the gut will definitely mess it up.

"Whenever you teleported, you said Acedia always before it. So every time you're about to say it, you're getting a punch," said Claire.

"Tch- Boring~! I want the mage to question me, not this ugly knight."

She grabbed my collar, "What did you say!"

The mage, Rain, pushed Claire away.

"Please tell me, why did you try to kill a fellow human?" she asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" I answered back.

They couldn't come up with anything.

"Man, have you guys heard of Ace Attorney? You guys should do better or at least get a lie detector," I suggested.

Surprised, Rain thought about it and got a lie detector from somewhere.

"What's does your ability do?" she asked.

"Ace-"

I was punched by Claire.

"You did this on purpose, right?" I asked Rain. My emotion magic was ringing.

She just giggled, "Why did you try to kill Princess Iris?"

"To test out my abilities," I answered back.

The bell didn't ring and they were all surprised.

"Are you saying... you tried to kill my parents to test that out?" Iris said while in tense.

"Not really," I said nonchalantly.

They all then went away for a bit and started whispering something. In the meanwhile, I was putting the rope bindings inside my inventory.

"Let's do it. Let's put on the slavery magic device," Claire said.

"I agree," said Rain and Iris.

I felt a shiver down my spine, but the bindings were gone already.

"It was nice to meet you all. Acedia," I said.

I slit the throats with a dagger and walked away. Resuming time, they collapsed but I could hear Iris still kicking in, staring at me.

"Let's meet again."