In the frozen world, the three faced off against one another in a tense standoff.
Guy's sword flashed brilliantly, deflected by Chloe's blade.
The slashing strike Chloe launched in a fluid follow-up was repelled by an ice wall that materialized before
The shattered ice wall exploded outward, sending a hail of icy shards raining down on Guy and Chloe. The two effortlessly deflected every last fragment with the weapons in their hands.
This was a world governed by absolute power, where even the most advanced feints and psychological warfare were rendered meaningless.
Yet all three continued to demonstrate their might, refusing to yield a single step.
They were locked in a perfect, exquisite balance.
Now then — what to do?
Guy contemplated the situation.
Even in this frozen world, Chloe existed without issue. Every last particle of light had been halted, rendering normal eyesight meaningless — and yet she was perfectly fine.
In this stopped world, one had to discharge energy into space and read the reactions to perceive what was happening around them. Hero or demon, anyone bound by the laws of the world would be rendered incapable of action.
But Chloe seemed to transcend those very rules.
In other words — *(So she's a spiritual life-form too, huh?)* At minimum, she must have reached the stage of half-human, half-god — one who, while still mortal, had touched the realm of the divine.
But in this case, that was actually a stroke of luck. Guy would have been less than thrilled about fighting Velzard while simultaneously protecting Chloe in a stopped world.
After all, in a frozen world, all defensive capability dropped to zero.
To put it simply, the intrinsic energy that held matter together was severed from every relationship. All molecular motion, all connection between particles — everything ceased.
Because everything was frozen, even the slightest external force would cause catastrophic collapse. A steel block, the hardest substance in existence — a gentle breeze's worth of impact would be enough to destroy it.
Naturally, the finest armaments were no exception.
Anything below Legendary grade was completely useless.
Protecting a target in such a state was simply too high a difficulty, even for Guy.
Fortunately, Chloe seemed unaffected even in the stopped world. Were she an enemy, that would be concerning, but in this case it was a welcome development.
Setting aside his worries about Chloe for the moment, the real question was what to do about the situation at hand.
Stop Velzard's rampage. Defeat Velda. That was the ultimate objective.
His fight with Chloe was an act — it fell outside Guy's primary goals. But the curse's effect meant Chloe could not simply ignore Guy and disengage. It was a remarkably troublesome predicament.
Even so, Guy was confident he could hold his own against both of them simultaneously.
After all, his ability — Ultimate Skill "Prideful King"
— was the most powerful ability in existence.
Its true essence lay in the perfect replication of any ability he had once observed.
This was one of the reasons Guy had eagerly awaited the awakening of ultimate skills in the other Demon Lords. To reach the pinnacle of existence, he needed to observe a wide variety of ultimate skills and make them his own.
From Guy's perspective, it was not impossible to analyze and neutralize the abilities of both Chloe and Velzard.
But to do that — *(First, I need to get them to actually use their abilities.* *Velzard's "Patience King" I already know about, but what does "Envy King" do?* *And Chloe — Rimuru's been raving about her, but so far she's only shown off her swordsmanship...)* Right. First priority was getting a look at their abilities so he could analyze them.
Guy still believed in his own strength.
With a resigned sigh, he faced the two without letting his guard down.
Oh my, how troublesome.
Velzard was feeling deeply uncomfortable about the fact that Chloe existed in the stopped world as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Her plan had been to stop time, dispatch Chloe in one stroke, and then enjoy a nice one-on-one duel with Guy.
Instead, this creature she had dismissed as a mere inferior human could somehow operate within the stopped world — a domain where only the supreme transcendent beings could exist. For Velzard, this was an utterly unexpected development.
To make matters worse, Chloe was holding her own against both her and Guy on equal footing — an incredibly unpleasant situation.
*(A awakened hero or not, she's beyond what I expected.)* Velzard stopped looking down on Chloe and recognized her as a genuine threat.
Truth be told, Guy was already strong. Velzard fully understood that even going all out against him, victory was far from guaranteed.
Guy possessed a genius-level powers of observation — merely catching a glimpse of an ability was enough for him to grasp its true nature. All of Velzard's cards had effectively been laid bare, and had she possessed only her Ultimate Skill "Patience King," victory would have been impossible.
But — Having just now acquired the Ultimate Skill "Envy King," she finally had a shot at winning.
Which meant she should delay dealing with the troublesome Chloe. Revealing her hand too carelessly could jeopardize her chances of victory.
She would finish Chloe off later — but being interfered with would be equally annoying.
With that reasoning, she unleashed her ability toward Chloe.
"Envy King" had to be used as a finishing blow without Guy learning of its existence. So for now, she used "Patience King" instead.
The ability of "Patience King" was absolute defense. Its essence was "fixation."
It synergized extremely well with her own innate stopping ability.
It was this power that had solidified the moisture in the atmosphere and conjured the wall of ice. She could have solidified not just water molecules but any mixture of molecules, but she had chosen to prioritize aesthetics — hence the wall of ice.
Therefore — "You are in my way. Stay put like a good girl — Atmospheric Prison!"
Velzard solidified the atmosphere around Chloe, instantaneously forming an indestructible prison.
Since Chloe could exist in the stopped world, she no longer needed to breathe — that much was obvious. The attack wouldn't kill her, but trapping her inside would serve the purpose just fine.
All Velzard wanted was to prevent Chloe from interfering in her fight with Guy.
But — *KEEEEEEEEEEN!* A crystal-clear tone rang out as the atmospheric prison was sliced open.
The slash carried enough force to vibrate the frozen atmosphere itself, producing sound in a world where sound should have been impossible.
It had already transcended the realm of mere swordsmanship.
This time, Velzard was genuinely shocked.
*(Yes — Hero Chloe, you too stand on the same dimension as us. You're the real deal.)* Chloe was not someone who relied on abilities to exist — she was a genuine powerhouse backed by experience. Velzard also realized that, like herself, Chloe had not yet revealed her full hand.
Velzard glared at Chloe with undisguised hatred.
*(Then, just like with Guy, I'll face you with everything I've got!)* An enemy to be defeated — one who was her equal.
Having acknowledged this fact, Velzard finally got serious.
Chloe sensed Velzard's attack and hesitated for just an instant.
*Would it be better to withdraw from this fight and face the winner instead?* But unfortunately, that option was not available to her. She could not disobey the command to fight Guy, and her body responded automatically.
Her own ability — Ultimate Skill "Hope King" — Absolute Severance.
Against Velzard's Absolute Fixation and Chloe's Absolute Severance, the two canceled each other out, resulting in what appeared to be a clash resolved through swordsmanship alone.
In this particular exchange, it looked as though Chloe's power had edged ahead, but in terms of raw ability they were evenly matched.
For Chloe, this was actually an undesirable outcome — it revealed one of her hidden cards. Rimuru had drilled into her: always keep a trump card in reserve!
Abilities were certainly useful, but they were best deployed at the decisive moment. He had sternly warned her that showing her hand too many times would invite countermeasures.
After all, even in the stopped world — a domain where she had absolute confidence — Rimuru had adapted with startling ease.
Had that been a real battle, she might have lost her composure entirely.
And because of that experience, she was no longer surprised that beings of Guy and Velzard's caliber could exist in the stopped world as a matter of course.
Velzard in particular possessed an astronomical quantity of Magicules — far exceeding Chloe's own — allowing her to maintain the time stop for extended periods.
Chloe could only sustain her stopped world for a matter of seconds. Velzard, meanwhile, had been maintaining it without difficulty for several minutes already.
*(She's clearly on a higher level than me...)* Chloe recognized the gap in their abilities with perfect clarity.
That was precisely why she had to bide her time and wait for the right moment.
If she could buy enough time, she was confident Rimuru would defeat Velda.
But a small疑问 nagged at her.
*(That's strange. Why did Velzard try to imprison me?* *I can't disobey the command to fight Guy. If she wanted Guy defeated, the logical move would be for us to team up...* *Could it be that, despite her connection to Velda, no one told her about me? Is that even possible?* *It doesn't seem like Velzard would ignore Velda's words. So... Velda simply didn't inform her about me? Could that really be...?)* Judging by Velzard's behavior, Velda's actions seemed incredibly unnatural.
*(— Right now, I need to focus on the fight!)* Chloe abandoned all extraneous thought.
She conceived of herself as a single blade and surrendered to her honed instincts.
Facing two opponents of such overwhelming superiority — Guy and Velzard — thinking too much would be a death sentence.
With her Ultimate Skill "Spacetime King" and its "Memory Replication" sealed, she had to rely on pure combat ability.
Time stop was meaningless as well. In a stopped world, she could not halt time any further.
Stacking one frozen world atop another had no effect — the stopped time merely extended by a negligible amount.
With her trump card sealed, there was no room for holding back any longer.
Chloe resolved to stand her ground with everything she had.
The moment all three had steeled their resolve to fight — A crimson meteorite pierced through Guy's stronghold, the "White Ice Palace."
Moving at an impossible speed even within the frozen world, it effortlessly demolished the castle and appeared before the three.
The figure stood there unperturbed, having shattered the fortress that Velzard's Fixation concept had heavily reinforced.
Azure hair rippled as she stood draped in crimson fighting spirit.
The beautiful scarlet ruler manifested within the stopped world.
"Scorching Dragon"
"It's been a while, Big Sister. By the way, it looks like the one who killed my partner has also been bothering you."
"Oh my, Velgrynd. I'm glad to see you're doing well.
Rudra was such a pity. But in the end, he was only human. No need to dwell on it forever.
You seem worried about me, but I'm perfectly fine. Velda is undoubtedly my brother's reincarnation, after all —"
Their gazes crossed.
Velgrynd's eyes, darkened by the mention of Rudra being belittled, burned with fury, and the fighting spirit erupting from her intensified.
"Guy, I'll handle Big Sister. And as for you, Chloe — Demon Lord Rimuru was worried about you, so try not to die, would you? That Demon Lord would probably go on a rampage if you were killed. Guy could probably keep him in check, though.
And Big Sister — to be trapped by the will of an impostor like that... how pathetic. I'll snap you out of it!"
Velzard's aura also suffused with rage.
The two dragon sisters' auras swelled simultaneously as they lunged at each other.
The two collided.
The shockwave of destruction that erupted from the impact shattered a corner of the "White Ice Palace" into dust.
Two beautiful dragons now stood where the palace had been.
White and scarlet.
Their vivid colors painted the frozen world with brilliant hues.
And the true nature of the crimson dragon's ability was — "Acceleration" —!!
The stopping ability and the acceleration ability clashed, neutralizing each other's properties.
With Velzard's ability canceled out, the stopped time resumed its flow.
The frozen world began to move once more.
In the center of the northernmost continent, the battle between the strongest species had officially begun.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — I had hidden in sub-space after departing Leon's castle and continued moving from there.
To deceive Velda's eyes, the barrier remained in place — the goal was to make it appear that fighting was still ongoing inside. Well, if it got found out, it got found out. No real issue.
As long as no one detected my presence, that was all that mattered.
Leon and the others would be fine for a while, so I resumed my surveillance of other locations.
The capital of the Ingracia Kingdom was in quite a state, but it wasn't critical enough to warrant my direct intervention.
Still, a problem was a problem, so I ordered
"Leave it to me, Rimuru-sama!"
Diablo bowed courteously and set the plan into motion.
In truth, he was simply dispatching
Diablo himself seemed to have no intention of leaving my side. Well, that was fine by me.
As I was about to continue observing,
"The world's movement has stopped. Someone has activated a 'Stopped World' —"
"This scale... not seconds but minutes of 'Stopped World.' Most likely —"
"Velda or Velzard?"
"Velda has no reason to stop time under the current circumstances. Most likely, Velzard —"
Mm, that tracks.
It wouldn't be surprising if Guy possessed a time-stopping ability as well, but he had no reason to use it.
Chloe couldn't maintain it this long. Or rather, there was no point — if the opponent could also move in the stopped world, using it was simply a waste of energy. Unless it conferred some clear advantage, prolonged time stop was pointless.
Speaking of which — "So you can move in this world too, of course, Diablo."
"Of course, Rimuru-sama. Benimaru can't do it yet, but
H-huh...
Even I had only just recently learned to do that myself.
Without my knowledge, my subordinates had been undergoing remarkable growth of their own.
"What shall we do? Should we go support Lady Chloe?"
I considered. Even traveling there, teleportation was dangerous in the Stopped World.
Pinpointing locations was nearly impossible when light itself was frozen — monitoring magic was useless too.
Teleporting without precise coordinates was practically suicide.
Naturally, communication from Moss had also gone silent.
He might still be able to function, but he clearly couldn't move freely enough to maintain contact.
That meant flying there directly would be fastest, but it would still take roughly an hour.
Just as I was weighing my options — "Oh, there's movement. Velgrynd appears to have joined the battle."
Ciel reported the situation after observing it.
And moments later, the stopped time resumed flowing.
It seemed Velgrynd had neutralized the Stopped World.
"Rimuru-sama, it does appear that it was Lady Velzard's ability all along.
We've just received word from Moss."
"What's the situation?"
"Lady Velgrynd has entered combat with Lady Velzard.
Full-scale battle in dragon form.
This is... even a dangerous situation for me."
Full-power combat, huh.
Naturally that would be incredibly dangerous. Best to stay well away from that one.
As for Guy and Chloe, they could probably withdraw from the combat zone while maintaining their act without too much trouble.
"Right. Then strengthen our surveillance."
"Understood."
"I'll begin establishing a monitoring system that functions even within the 'Stopped World.'"
Oh, she can do that...
Well, Ciel could handle anything, I suppose.
At that moment, the monitoring magic that was displaying scenes from various locations revealed something astonishing.
Luminous was focused on recovery, but at this rate, defeat was inevitable.
I shot to my feet in alarm — "There's no cause for concern. Measures have already been taken."
Ciel's calm voice brought me back to myself.
Right, of course.
My most trusted friend was providing support from behind the scenes.
Looking more closely, I could see she had been quietly doing something all along.
"But are you really sure it's fine?"
"It should be... (probably) —"
My most trusted friend.
And apparently, Ciel trusted this person immensely. "Probably" was the first time I'd ever heard her use such a qualifier.
A vague sense of unease lingering, I decided to hold off on going to rescue them.
Until Velda was captured, I had to remain hidden.
Besides, if the Stopped World wasn't active, I could teleport to the rescue even in the worst-case scenario.
I'd trust in them and wait.
"If it comes to the worst, Diablo — you go in for the rescue."
"Leave it to me. Though I suspect it won't be necessary."
I certainly hope not.
Worried as I was, I continued watching the scenes unfold before me.