<905 – Dark Shadow vs Dark Shadow(14)>
Forever More was different from Ishtar.
He had no personal feelings toward Oknodie.
So he could analyze the situation objectively.
‘Sudden change in Ishtar’s emotions. Unchanging assault from Oknodie. There was external pressure.’
The number of bigwigs who could exert external pressure on the Gift Academy is extremely limited.
This is the intervention of a ‘God’.
If you don’t know, you can’t stop it.
But if you know, you can respond.
Forever More stopped the conduit used for interference from an external dimension with [Stop].
The dimensional barrier of the Gift Academy is solid.
Even if they try to force their way in, aiming for the gaps in the barrier, if you apply the Stop only at those gaps, it’s easy to prevent the interference.
This was why those who relied on faith to supplement their lacking skills couldn’t surpass Forever More on campus.
“It’s skewed. Anger twists the heart. What a funny thing to say. Even if you weren’t twisted, what difference does it make when you oppose everyone’s will?”
“I can do this!”
As the undefined mana’s effects were stopped with [Stop], surprisingly, part of the magic formula was ejected to the front and hit [Stop].
The remaining magic, as if it was anticipated to be like this from the beginning, filled the gaps and formed a transformation spell.
[Transformation Spell – Information Bomb]
A collection of wrong methods of handling magic piled up like a mountain.
An interesting attack.
When you think about avoiding an obstacle and run, you collide with it; to avoid a wrong answer, you shouldn’t think about the wrong answer but only about the correct one.
The same applies to spells.
If you think of a wrong example, that method subconsciously remains and unfolds.
‘Overwhelmingly more wrong answers than correct ones. Among those, a spell that induces the use of a magic formula that is similar to the correct answer but wrong, repeatedly.’
But it was useless.
The information that was flying toward Forever More couldn’t break through the [Area of Stoppage] surrounding him and stopped.
This is Forever More’s strength.
Any attack is blocked in the area of stoppage.
In other words, as long as he maintains his Domain Expansion, it means he can unleash one-sided attacks while completely ignoring defense.
[Stop Movement]
[Stop Breathing]
[Stop Space]
Numerous [Stops] unilaterally pressed Oknodie into a corner, tightening the noose.
[Double Jump]
[Air Jump]
[Continuous Jump]
Even in the face of merciless one-sided violence, Oknodie escaped from the space where [Stop] was unfolding with ghostly instincts.
‘Is he spreading the area thin and wide, detecting even the slightest distortion where power manifests?’
There are many ways to use an area to suppress an opponent, but such refined utilization is rare.
The terrifying precision allows for the effectiveness of prevention against preemptive strikes and perfect detection to be recognized.
It’s also impressive that attacks that keep coming and getting caught in this stopping area are increasing.
‘This guy knows my weakness.’
The most bothersome thing was that his unyielding persistence was not just plain stubbornness.
Are you starting to feel the pressure?
That gaze, measuring this side, held no shred of doubt.
Absolute confidence.
That unwavering confidence is the most frightening.
‘No big attack is coming.’
Wide-range attacks.
Continuous follow-up attacks.
Every time you block, the ‘burden’ of the attack increases.
Forever More felt it.
Oknodie’s tactic of forcing him to constantly deploy his [Area of Stoppage] while increasing the number of uses and frequency of [Stop].
This is a war of attrition.
Pushing him to exceed the limit on how many times he can use [Stop] until he can no longer stop at all.
“One thing you know, two things you don’t. Certainly, my stoppage has a high cost. But it’s not because my ability is lacking.”
“I know. It’s because you’re already using too many [Stops], right?”
“…!”
“Let it go. Focus on me. I’ll flatten that nose of yours.”
“Good. That arrogance. It’s been a long time since someone could act like that in front of me.”
Strong power comes with harsh training.
The [Stops] that he went through to reach his current level were just like that.
The mentor who wanted to create the strongest ability user made him experience all sorts of stoppages like stopping the flow of water, stopping music, and so on, to give him functionality.
After that, he followed an efficient training method.
Gather those who are detached from life and stop supplying oxygen in a sealed room.
From indirect methods to direct ones.
As he committed numerous [Stops], Forever More realized that, for some time, he could stop something just with willpower.
The first thing he stopped was his own heart.
Next, he stopped his thoughts.
If you don’t feel and don’t think, you can stop anything.
But one day, the mentor died.
It was the work of a professor from the Gift Academy.
-You hate your ability.
-Hate? Different. I feel neither hate nor love.
-Then why didn’t you stop me when your mentor died?
-… that’s.
-In fact, you were hoping for it too. You didn’t want to use your ability like this.
He was a good professor.
If it hadn’t been for that meeting, he would have likely taken actions that would eventually be called great evil much later.
At the end of the mentor’s training plan was ‘mass murder’.
So he understood.
He was fed up with killing to get stronger.
That day, the reason he didn’t stop the professor from killing his mentor was surely because he didn’t want to turn evil.
[Releasing [Stop] on the death of the Cersi Barony’s head.]
[Releasing [Stop] on the death of Grand Bishop Johannes.]
[Releasing [Stop] on the death of the King of the Kingdom of Florence.]
So he acted in reverse.
He extended the lifespans of many.
He tried to save as many lives as the number of people he killed.
The powerful who had their death deferred gave money.
Money enabled more salvation.
But he knew too.
That those he saved used the fact that their death had been deferred and displayed greedy actions without fear of their rivals.
And his cowardice of turning a blind eye while needing their money.
Perhaps it was the timing he had been waiting for so long.
The moment to unilaterally end this wrong contract has finally arrived.
Sssssss
From afar, the [Stops] that had been maintained in various places of the world were being released.
That many [Stops] had generated enough capacity.
Because of the [Stops] he had held for a longer, stronger period, he was recognized for his ability’s growth.
He had become stronger.
To a level that surpassed the previous bounty.
[Time Stop]
Forever More’s stoppage stopped the world.
To be precise, it was limited to the area surrounding Gift Island.
However, it was sufficient to stop Oknodie from dying.
The stoppages that, from afar, didn’t even hit and even if they did, for some reason didn’t properly affect it.
He manifested it directly by placing his hand on the head of the girl who was permanently petrified and unprotected.
“Die as you are.”
If life can be stopped, can it still revive?
That’s impossible.
This time, Oknodie would end.
“What a pity!”
“?!”
That kind of belief froze coldly upon touching Oknodie’s abdomen.
“Do you know? Generally, ability users of the same type have a certain immune effect from their abilities!”
A fire-type ability user rarely gets burned by another fire-type ability user.
Being able to move in response to the time stop means having the same stop-type ability.
[Seal Stop]
Oknodie opened one of the features that had been sealed away for a long time in his piggy bank.
The name of that feature was [Stop].
It was the exact same name as the function used by Forever More.
“You… what did you stop?”
“The desire to eat food that I could but haven’t eaten!”
“The desire… to eat food? How on earth is that desire equal to my accumulation of [Stops] built up by taking countless lives?”
“Don’t be mistaken. The accomplishment of a functionality depends on how tough it was to achieve that. Do you know how hard it is for Koreans to refrain from eating kimchi?”
“Kimchi… what is that? How impressive could it be that by holding back on that alone, it matches my lifetime’s worth of [Stops]?”
“Starting today, it’s the dish I will collect. Since I’ve answered your last words, you can rest easy!”
The moment Oknodie’s well-trained stoppage from refraining from eating kimchi tried to completely stop Forever More’s life.
“This isn’t a little off, is it?”
“Oknodie?”
“From your memory, I know as well. I have to release Forever More’s stoppage at least once to eliminate the evil people who, reliant on [Stop], have decayed.”
“Then don’t interfere if you know!”
“Still, you released it yourself. Since you’re trying to fight me.”
“How do you know someone might forget and not release it? If you want to clean everything up for sure, I have to die once. If possible, while revival is possible now!”
Oknodie hated that ‘for sure’.
“Then. Is it true that nothing should be uncertain?”
“Of course!”
“Then… what about Mob?”
“Why is Mob suddenly coming up?”
“Even though he’s my apprentice, he’s slow. I trusted him, but he caused trouble while riding the faith build. Since I can’t trust him, does he not count on this absurd ‘verification’ list?”
This means that, if Mob can’t give certainty, he could be treated the same way.
“Well, Mob is, um, a newbie so he doesn’t know…”
“No, never mind. You don’t have to say it. They say you inherit both good and bad traits from the original, and that has indeed happened. Now I want to ‘verify’ too.”
“Verify what?”
“Whether Mob’s safety is in your fight with me.”
The brazen declaration of the shabby Doppelganger Queen, who had also been beaten by Sadi Chocolate, surprised Oknodie.
And then he realized suddenly.
That Oknodie was also moving in the ‘stopped time.’
The piggy bank function.
Oknodie had also hidden his skills.
