Dimaria has stopped the time around her, so everyone except her stops moving now. She walks toward Ben with a big smirk on her face because now she is in full control. In this stopped time, she is the one who decides everything.
"Your high and mighty attitudes are nowhere to be seen now, huh? You thought just because you killed Jacob and that new guy mean you can face the whole Alvarez alone? Hah, I don't know the Strongest in Ishgar is such a fool. The level of magic in Ishgar and Alakitasia is very different. We have a great leader who has guided us, so our magic development is much better," says Dimaria while smirking.
There is no response from Ben because he is frozen in time. Dimaria smirks and raises her sword quite high before slashing it down at Ben very strongly. The sword cuts Ben, but Dimaria's smirk disappears because there is no sensation of touching something. It's like she is just cutting the air.
"That looks so real, isn't it?" asks Ben who appears slowly from thin air with a smirk.
Dimaria widens her eyes as she sees Ben's body appear slowly in the monochrome world. His monochrome self is still there though, with a wide cut across his body. Now Dimaria knows why she didn't feel anything when slashing Ben. It's because he was never there, it's just an illusion.
Ben was never trapped in this stopped time because he has prepared a counter for this since Zeref used it on him once. He could just attack Dimaria before, but he decided to play around and made that illusion using his Light Magic. It was his illusion that get stopped by Dimaria's spell because even light freezes when time stops.
"As I thought. There is no way someone like him will get caught by that," says August.
"You know what he did?" asks Wall Eehto.
"Not really, but I knew he won't get defeated by that," says August.
"Stop talking, Dimaria can't handle him alone. Ajeel, Wall, Neinhart, go help her," says Irene.
"You want the 4 of us to attack him together?" asks Neinhart.
"Yeah, if you are smart enough, you would've understood that he could erase this whole city earlier if he wanted even with all of us here," says Irene firmly.
"Tch, fine, I don't want to get nagged by you," says Neinhart before he leaves with Ajeel and Wall.
The other Spriggans stay in their positions to keep observing the battle. Ben is looking back at them while grinning, ignoring Dimaria who is still surprised by what has just happened.
"DIMARIA! DISPEL THIS THING!" shouts Ajeel from a very far location.
Dimaria can't see Ajeel because there are many buildings between them. But the other Spriggans who stay in the castle can see Wall & Neinhart just entered Dimaria's time stop area. They also get frozen in time and can't do anything now.
Although she doesn't know what happens, Dimaria dispels her Age Seal, so now everyone can move again. Ben's illusion disappears when time flows again. The frozen soldiers don't know what happened, but they know the situation is bad for them now.
Ajeel, Wall, and Neinhart finally arrive and they stand beside the retreated Dimaria. The 4 of them are looking at Ben before ordering their soldiers to get away. These soldiers will just disturb them in this fight, after all.
"So it's 4 now? Why don't all of you just attack me together? Sigh, this is why the baddies in movies or games always lose to the Main Characters. If they just attack the MC from the beginning, they won't lose in the end," says Ben disappointedly.
"What are you talking about?" asks Ajeel.
"Ah, sorry, people from an underdeveloped Empire like you won't understand it. I know your Empire is good at magic, but honestly, your technologies suck. If not for your robotic race people, you will look very underdeveloped. Even in magical development, Ishgar is catching up to you since I got this position. Also, your overproud Empire will be nothing with Zeref's death," says Ben while grinning.
Ben points his finger that he shapes like a pistol toward the castle. Then suddenly, a small Light Bullet gets shot from his fingertip. It flies very fast toward the castle and pierces it. No one can stop it even though they can see a glimpse of it because it's very fast.
An explosion happens inside the castle and all the Spriggans know where it comes from. It comes from the Throne room where their Emperor stays now. They all look at the castle with widened eyes before they try to look if their Emperor is fine.
"Don't worry, I didn't shoot his head because it won't be fun if he dies this fast," says Ben while smirking.
They suddenly get telepathy from Zeref who informs them that he is fine. Ben's Light Bullet explodes a few meters on his left, so he is fine even if the explosion was strong. Besides, he could protect himself using his Magic because he is not that weak.
"Now you know that I can just attack your Emperor anytime. So do your best to prevent me from doing that. If you guys are too boring, then I will just take his head and go home," says Ben while grinning.
"Weaknesses found!" says Wall with a robotic voice.
Ben looks at Wall whose eyes are covered by spinning light circles. Then his body glows and then a huge amount of electricity comes out of his body. He shoots it at Ben who just stands there while looking at the incoming attack calmly.
The electric attack hits him and creates a big impact. Ben can feel the electrical currents are targetting a few points of his body like his eyes, brain, heart, or manhood. He knows Wall is trying to fry these body parts using electricity, but it makes him laugh.
"Fufufu, HAHAHA, what an interesting ability," says Ben excitedly while his body gets attacked by the electric currents.
The 4 Spriggans are surprised to see Ben acts very nonchalant while Wall's electric attack is still active. It's like the electricity doesn't affect him at all.
"So you could find weaknesses, huh? I guess from your perspective, these spots are my weaknesses, right? That was quite an interesting judgment because these spots are basic weaknesses of humans, don't you agree?" asks Ben while grinning.
Wall's electricity suddenly gets pulsed out of Ben's body. Of course, Wall is surprised by this, but he is more surprised by what he sees. The weaknesses that he saw before have gone and the spots actually change. They keep changing for a while before they disappear from Ben's body completely.
"H-how? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?" asks Wall with shaky eyes.
"Of course, it is, Robocop. Your ability allows you to find the weakest parts of your enemies. So if I manipulated my own weaknesses using my magic, you would see them change," says Ben while grinning.
"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! NO ONE CAN CONTROL THEIR WEAKNESSES!" shouts Wall.
"Why not? People can train to remove their weaknesses. A Mage with full control of his physical and magical power will be able to do this too. If they have full control of their mind too," says Ben.
"What are you talking about?" asks Neinhart.
"Well, I guess you won't understand. You just need to know that I want to kick your asses now, so come here, lads!" says Ben while taunting them.
They get back to their senses and remember they are in the middle of a fight. So they get ready again to fight Ben who is very interested in their magic. There aren't many Mages of their calibers, so as a magic maniac, Ben is very eager to see their magic.
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You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Voting for this book is highly appreciate. Cover image is the MC, artist's ig: @fatmaqn_
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 429. Real Dragon Slayers (Fairy Tail: Sun Eater)
2. Chapter 440. Invading The Plaza (Transcended as Lord Buggy)
3. Pictures of both stories (ex: bounty poster & magazine cover) by fatmaqn_
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)