Sudden Visit

Hearing the loud knocking, Lucas's entire body stiffened up.

Why was someone knocking on his door? This didn't happen yesterday!

The first thought that Lucas had was that Alfred had come to 'check' on him under the disguise of Roy, one of his classmates.

However, if it truly was Alfred, then he was completely unprepared, he didn't even have time to set up a single formation, let alone one that could let him escape from Alfred.

It was at this moment that Lucas noticed that his alarm clock seemed to have been awfully quiet right now...

Typically, his alarm was set to ring for three hours before stopping, unless he stopped it himself.

So, why was it that the alarm wasn't ringing right now?

Looking over with doubt on his face, Lucas noticed the reason for his alarm clock stopping.

09:43am

He had been so absorbed in his thoughts, thinking of a way to escape, that he never noticed that three hours had passed since he woke up.

Under such circumstances, someone was bound to come check on him to see why he skipped class.

The knocking continued while Lucas thought about what to do.

Responding was out of the question.

In the off-chance that the one outside the door is Alfred, responding would be the same as inviting the wolf into his house.

If Alfred got into his house without him preparing the Formations ahead of time, the only result for Lucas would be another round of torture.

After all, he had already confirmed that Alfred had some method to bypass the Gigantic Detection Formation that spread across the entire school.

Similarly, not responding was also a bad choice.

If it truly was Alfred outside the door, there was nothing stopping him from entering his dorm to 'check' on him.

All cadets had special locks on their doors that prevented intruders from coming in, even instructors would be incapable of getting past those doors without special permission from the higher-ups.

Unfortunately for Lucas, when he was under the effects of [Thought Manipulation], Alfred had silently influenced his actions, which lead to his door being unlocked for the past three days.

This was done by Alfred in case of any 'accidents' that would cause him to look for Lucas inside his own dorm.

Lucas, who thought that no one would come to his dorm, based on the fact that there were no visitors for the past two days of his regression, felt no need to lock his doors in advance, and would instead do it only after exiting his room.

However, he forgot to include one very important variable in his calculations.

This variable was 'Cause and Effect.'

Although its true that no one visited him in his past regressions, this was under the condition that Lucas left for the first class of the day, the Advanced Combat Training class.

But now, Lucas hadn't left his room at all since waking up, thus resulting in a different set of events then the previous two regressions.

In simpler words, he had been careless.

Unknowingly, under the effects of regression, his actions became more bold and daring, as if he had no regard at all for his own life.

This caused him to become careless and leave flaws in his own plans, just like yesterday, when he completely disregarded the possibility of Alfred being the assassin.

Knowing this, however, didn't change his current situation at all!

Just as Lucas was brainstorming ideas he could use, he heard the sound of the front door being opened, and footsteps sounded inside the academy dorm.

No person with good intentions would ever walk into someone's dorm without even announcing themselves.

In the first place, from start to finish, the person knocking on the door never stated their name.

Flustered, Lucas rushed into the bathroom, which was connected with his bedroom, and locked the door shut.

Luckily for Lucas, all the locks inside the dorm functioned the same way as the ones outside, they all required special permission from the higher-ups in order to access any of them.

However, just as he was starting to feel safe, Lucas heard the sound of the bathroom door being unlocked.

With this sound, the last layer of calmness that Lucas had was removed.

He felt shocked by the possibility of Alfred having the help of the Higher-ups in his assassination attempt.

However, the emotion that Lucas felt the most at the moment, was none other than fear.

His body trembled at the mere thought of experiencing another round of torture like yesterday.

And, just as he had guessed, when the bathroom door opened, the person who appeared in front of Lucas was...Alfred.

Although he was using the face of Roy, he couldn't fool Lucas with such a disguise anymore.

After being tortured by him, Lucas only needed one look at his face to understand if it was truly Roy, or Alfred in disguise.

He still had that same mocking smile on his face, as if everything was within his grasp.

However, the thing that terrified Lucas the most were his green eyes, he just couldn't understand how someone can have such calm and indifferent eyes when torturing someone.

"What's with that face, if someone saw you, they would say l was bullying you."

Alfred looked at Lucas's face and couldn't help but mock him.

With just one look, Alfred was sure that his cover was blown, as that was the face of someone who knew what was about to happen to him.

Of course, knowing didn't change anything.

Thinking like that, Alfred started approaching Lucas, he needed to find out how Lucas got information on him, and the best way to do that was through torture.

"No, stop it, don't get close!"

Slowly backing away to a wall, Lucas tried to tell Alfred to stop, but naturally, he wouldn't listen.

"Please, l will tell you everything, just don't torture me!"

Lucas's cries for help continued as Alfred got closer to him, unknowingly, a [Fireball] had appeared in his hand.

Seeing the approaching [Fireball], Lucas closed his eyes, hoping that if he did so, he would feel at least a little less pain.

"PLEASE, JUST STOP!"

With one less desperate plea, Lucas got ready to experience the same pain he felt yesterday.

...Five seconds passed.

...Then ten.

But...the pain never came.

Slowly opening his eyes, Lucas saw the [Fireball] that was about to hit him, he also saw the expectant look on Alfred's face as he waited for Lucas to scream in pain.

But...

Neither of them were moving, it was as if time itself had stopped at that moment.

Wait, could it be that 'Time' really has stopped?

Lucas thought of the Hourglass inside his Thought Space, along with the words he had just shouted at Alfred.

Although it was ridiculous, he had no time to come up with a theory for this phenomenon, as he had no clue when this [Time Stop] would end.

Lucas carefully walked past Alfred, afraid that if he touched him, time would start flowing again for some inexplicable reason.

Getting out of the bathroom, Lucas started running towards his front door, fully knowing that Alfred wouldn't be able to kill him in front other people.

Unfortunately, his luck ended here.

Just as Lucas opened the door, his [Time Stop] ran out.

How did he know this?

Well...

The Aura coated hand that was currently piercing his heart was proof enough that his [Time Stop], had indeed, run out.

Lucas looked at the Elf who pierced his chest in a daze.

it was Aubrey, the Head of Security, and the one in charge of managing the gigantic detection formation enveloping the academy grounds.

Feeling his death coming, Lucas collapsed to the ground.

The last thing he heard was the conversation between the two elves, unfortunately, he could not understand anything as the personal language of each race was strictly guarded.

...

Opening his eyes, he once again saw the Library inside his Thought Space.

Lucas, however, didn't get up.

He just lay there, on the cold floor of the library, and thought about the events that happened prior to his death.

Although he didn't understand why, whenever he entered this space, his thoughts would calm down, and Lucas would be able to think clearly, unaffected by his fear of Alfred, or the fear that death brought him.

Although, in truth, there wasn't much to think about.

He was too arrogant.

Even if he didn't have any evidence that Alfred was the killer, simply being outside would make it impossible for Alfred to kill him.

This would give enough time for Lucas to formulate a plan.

Unfortunately, instead of doing that, he holed up in his room, completely ignoring the possibility of Alfred coming to his dorm, with the Head of Security to boot.

Coming to this conclusion, Lucas slowly got up, laying around doing nothing won't improve his situation, what he needed to do was make a plan based on the new ability he had acquired.

[Time Stop]

Lucas wasn't unfamiliar with the spell.

As a matter of fact, everyone on planet Xanus knew that [Time Stop] was the signature 9th class spell that Drako used.

Every cadet at Hope Academy, and other academies for that matter, was systematically taught about the different Abilities that Drako and Lucifer possessed.

So, despite this being the first time that Lucas was experiencing [Time Stop], he wasn't completely unaware of its existence.

The only problem being...he wasn't the one who cast the spell, it was the Hourglass inside his Thought Space.

Using his Innate Ability, Lucas was able to look through his memories, and find out the exact duration of the Time Stop.

It was One Minute.

A very short amount of time, but if used wisely, could prove to be the difference maker in his fight with Alfred.

Additionally, there were still questions as to whether this [Time Stop] was the same as Drako's.

For example, when Drako cast [Time Stop], she wasn't capable of using any other spells.

Additionally, if she canceled the spell, she would have to cast it again from start in order to stop Time for the second time.

What if Lucas could still use Aura or Spells during the One Minute that the Hourglass provided him?

What if he could cancel his [Time Stop] at will and then start it again, as long as the time spent was less then One minute?

All of these were questions that needed answering, and in order to answer one of them, Lucas needed to learn Aura or Mana.

During his eighteen years of life, Lucas had tried a lot of different [Aura Circulation Methods] including the one his family made, the famous [Dark Star Aura Art].

He had even tried the different [Mana Circulation Methods] that the academy offered.

But it was all useless.

No matter how much he practiced, he simply could not feel Aura or Mana, similar to Nina Gyzer, except, of course, he didn't have an overpowered Innate Ability like hers.

He was simply a cripple who couldn't use Aura and Mana.

But now, after all these years, he saw light at the end of the tunnel.

At its core, all aura and mana circulation methods require one to guide the energy of the universe into their physical bodies, and, depending on the method used, refine it into Aura or Mana.

The reason for the extra 'refinement' process, was that no race in the universe, not even the mighty angels and dragons, could handle the energy of the universe inside their bodies without exploding.

Every race, without exception, has tried to create a method that allowed one to use the energy from its source, and similarly, without exception, all of them failed miserably.

And so, after thousands of failed attempts, the concept of Aura and Mana was formed.

By refining the energy of the universe into Aura or Mana, their bodies would become capable of utilizing the power of the universe, letting them break free from the shackles of mortality that were binding them, and become truly immortal.

At least that's what everyone thought, as the only two beings in the universe to reach the legendary 9th class and achieve said immortality, were Drako and Lucifer.

However, what if everyone in the universe was actually wrong?

It was a very bold statement, stepping on the blood, effort and sacrifice of all the races in the universe that had contributed to the founding of the Aura and Mana system.

What if the energy that people thought was refined by their bodies, was actually refined through their Soul?

If this was the case, it wasn't the physical body that was breaking free from the shackles of mortality and becoming stronger in the process, it was the Soul!

Now, if this theory was true, what if something started absorbing all the Aura and Mana that someone refined, and stole it directly from inside their Soul?

Of course, it would result in that person being incapable of using Aura and Mana!

With those hopes, Lucas arrived in front of the Hourglass.

If his theory was correct, every time time he started practicing a circulation method, the Hourglass would suck up all the energy that his soul had refined.

As for the reason?

Lucas guessed that the Hourglass needed energy in order to repair itself, thus resulting in the situation where he couldn't use Aura and Mana.

In that case, what would happen if he tried the circulation method while he was inside his own Thought Space?

Thinking like this, Lucas sat down cross-legged in front of the Hourglass, and started circulating the Flinth families signature skill, the [Dark Star Aura Art].

The moment of truth was about to arrive.