One-way traffic

The person who could so easily torture and kill himself.

"Where is it? Where is it?! Where is it?!"

In his delirious state, Regulus kept asking questions.

"Damn it... No, stop hiding! You bastard, you must be too scared to face my power to hide, that's why you're hiding!!"

"Then so be it."

—?!

In that instant, he felt every hair on his body stand on end.

It felt like someone had pierced your spine with a needle—the coldness and the instantaneous feeling of suffocation relentlessly filled your entire being.

Regulus froze, not daring to turn around.

But the sound definitely came from behind me.

"Alright, I'm not exactly a demon. Since you're so confident, I'll give you one last chance."

He spoke these words, using that devilish voice to seduce his people.

"Use all your strength. If you can touch me even once, I'll let you live for another half a minute."

“Ah, ahhhh—”

"There's no time limit. Come on, if you manage to touch my head, maybe with your abilities you can finish me off?"

"Aaaaaah! Aaaaaaahh ...

It was already a complete lament.

Regulus seemed to vaguely feel a dampness coming from below, but he didn't care, because time was precious, and even wasting a second would reduce his chances of survival.

He quickly crawled forward, tumbling and scrambling, until he reached the ruins of a house.

There were about a dozen broken stones there, which seemed to be the result of the collapse of the house's previous structure.

Regulus gazed at the stones and immediately revealed an expression of extreme joy.

"Ha! Yes, I've got it! I've got it!!"

He quickly grabbed the stones, his eyes bloodshot, and turned his head away menacingly.

then.

Ignoring the size ratio between himself and the stones, he used all his strength to kick the stones back and forth with his left and right feet.

"Die! Die! Die, die, die, die!!!"

Countless stones hurtled forward at extreme speed, but they were all moving in a perfectly straight line, seemingly without any curves.

He kicked all the stones at his fastest speed.

That should be enough to kill that guy.

Each stone possessed the power to easily pierce through the city; Regulus had absolute confidence, no—

Perhaps, given the current situation, that shouldn't be called confidence.

Shouldn't it be called a stroke of luck?

Boom——! !

Countless rocks bombarded the opponent. Although these were just ordinary rocks, Regulus could transform them into powerful weapons capable of killing anyone at will by enhancing them with his own abilities.

We will definitely win.

If they can't kill him even after all that... No! That's impossible!

Regulus's eyes twitched; he believed this from the bottom of his heart.

The dust in front of him dissipated under his gaze.

"…ah…"

Upon seeing the result before him, Regulus couldn't help but stand there, stunned.

Not a hair was damaged.

A human with white hair, red eyes, and dressed in black and white clothing simply stood there with his hands in his pockets.

Not even a hair on its head was harmed.

The opponent used some unknown means to neutralize all the things I threw.

This is definitely not something that can be accomplished simply by having great strength.

Because Regulus was very clear about his abilities, he was even more certain that no one in the world should be able to easily break through them!

Even Reinhard, known as the Dragon Sword Saint, had to draw his own sword to neutralize his power.

But—why?

"Why won't you just fall down?!"

Tears streamed down Regulus's face; his fear had been pushed to its limit.

Today's teenagers are unable to withstand such a direct impact, both physically and mentally.

Even if he has maintained this appearance for hundreds of years, it will still be the same.

Accelerator casually pulled out his phone, almost as a symbolic gesture, to check the time on the screen.

Two full minutes have passed.

"Ah... Ahhhhh—"

"It seems that this is the limit of what you can do. What a pity."

"Don't fucking joke with me, you bastard!!!"

He had even forgotten his own abilities; it was unclear whether Regulus was driven to the extreme by fear or simply blinded by it.

Instead of running away, they directly approached Accelerator.

He ran at breakneck speed, shouting as he raised his right hand, turning it into a claw shape.

You could even see tears streaming from his eyes and falling behind him.

It was a truly appalling scene.

"...That's disgusting."

Even Accelerator couldn't help but spit.

He closed his eyes, not even looking at Regulus lunging at him, and slowly raised his right hand.

A streak of purplish-black light transformed into six deep black generators.

Six generators that control the concept of "spacetime" float behind the first one, allowing him to manipulate all spacetime.

The first person was also happy to be manipulated in this way.

When he opened his eyes again, cold, emotionless words came out of his mouth.

"—ZeroZone."

click -

Time has stopped.

The moment the first person uttered that word, everything around them—no, even time in the entire universe—came to a standstill.

Whether they are people far away or anyone nearby, they have all lost the ability to move freely. Only one person can move freely in this world.

wrong.

Even if time in the whole world stood still, there was still someone who regained their freedom through their own efforts.

"Haaah!!"

Regulus.

He took a deep breath, his eyes narrowed to pinpoints, and his posture as if he were about to charge forward instantly collapsed, causing him to kneel on the ground.

"Gurgle—Aaaaaah!! Cough...cough cough! Guwaaaah!!"

"Has my heart stopped beating...?"

Accelerator stared at Regulus, who was making such a ridiculous scene and rolling around on the ground.

"Your ability is to stop other people's or your own time to achieve so-called 'the strongest,' isn't it?"

correct.

The true power of Regulus Kornias is the ability to stop time.

To be precise, it should mean separating the object of action from the overall spacetime of the world, thus placing it outside the scope of the current world.

Theoretically speaking, Regulus can stop time in everything, whether it is his own, someone else's, or anything else he can reach.

If you could stop your own time, you could remain forever young and unaffected by any external attacks.

If you could stop the time of other things, you could fix their form forever. Even a light touch could make them fly away at a constant speed without limit, or keep their time frozen forever.

This is why Subaru Natsuki said that even Reinhard couldn't solve his problem.

Whether it's magic or physical force, no external force can harm me in the slightest. On the contrary, if I kick something casually, I can easily cause huge damage.

Theoretically speaking, he could even throw people off Earth by touching them, or even slowly move them toward the moon.

Once Accelerator understood the other party's capabilities, the first thing he thought of was something else entirely.

That is.

The bishop of lust before him was, in some ways, almost identical to himself.

Both possess extraordinary abilities.

Both can rely on this ability to make themselves invulnerable to weapons, and both can manipulate other objects at will.

Similarly, they are all people who carry the title of "strongest".

Regulus's near-invincible status even led him to lack basic martial arts skills; his immense power made him rely solely on these abilities and he knew nothing of physical strength.

This is exactly the same as his situation in his early years.

From any perspective, Regulus bears a striking resemblance to Accelerator from the very beginning, both believing themselves to be the strongest and possessing overwhelming power.

However, he could never become Accelerator.

Why? The reason is actually quite simple.

They only know themselves and care nothing for anything outside of themselves. They even want to use this power to do evil, turning right and wrong upside down.

Someone of this caliber doesn't deserve to be called the strongest at all.

Even the word "strong" has absolutely no connection to him.

Regulus is not powerful at all.

Without this ability, he is nothing.

…But...

Even though Accelerator had lost his power in the past and fallen from his pedestal as the strongest, he never gave up.

Simply knowing what you are strongest in the present moment will never lead you to the right path.

and.

Regulus rolled around on the ground, but gradually, he could no longer hold on.

And at the moment when he could no longer hold on.

His ability to continue acting within the stopped time dissipated.

"Is it possible to impose the power of frozen time on oneself only by transferring one's heart into another person?"

He can indeed stop his own time.

However, as a price, he had to stop his own heart.

Unable to bear the pain of his heart being forcibly stopped, Regulus had no choice but to forcibly deactivate his powers. Originally, he could have relied on his chosen "wife" to transfer the heart function, which is why he was determined to marry Emilia.

But now, he can't do anything anymore.