Gray's mind couldn't help but wonder why the Horned ones were at the shore when the war should have supposedly ended.
"Ruby... Explain..."
After saying such, Gray took a step towards her waiting for a reply.
But the moment he took the step - *VOOM!*
A mysterious force slammed against him, sending his figure blasting away towards the water.
Or at least it was supposed to.
Gray's body was suspended in the air, he had paused himself to cancel the momentum.
Despite that...
*Drip* *Drip*
Blood could be seen pouring down his stomach as a small hole had been engraved in it.
"Hm...? It appears I failed to completely pierce through?" The voice spoke up.
Turning his head to the source, Gray could see The Duke's father with his hand stretched out.
"Dear~ What did I tell you about going for the head?" The Duke's mother added.
"I tried, that bastard somehow dodged it."
The wound in Gray's stomach would have been not only bigger but also in his head if it weren't for the fact that he had both paused and avoided the force.
Somehow he had failed to avoid it completely.
His figure dropped to the sand as the wound began to heal.
"What?! Has a cat gotten your tongue?! What are you all waiting for? The man who slayed our king is standing right there!!" The duke shouted. "Behead him!!"
"No, wait!" Ruby shouted, stretching out her arm.
Despite having done so, her shout was drowned out by the roar which echoed throughout the docks.
An ear-piercing roar was let out by the horned ones as they raised their weapons.
They proceeded charge at Gray who was being attended by the Delta and the tribes lady as they
A multitude of abilities were fired off at Gray, at that moment, time seemed to slow down.
The water from the ocean, launched balls of water, tridents and spears at him at him.
The sand beneath his leg tied itself around his leg and hardened itself thus preventing him from moving. The same happened to the other two beside him.
The sand beneath his leg slowly began to sink them down as spikes extended at them.
At the same time, from ahead of them, countless lights flashed as a swarm of abilities drew closer to them.
It ranged from elemental abilities to even abilities which they couldn't see.
Whilst all of this happened in splits of a second, Gray couldn't help but sigh.
[Pause Level 3: Pause Field.]
*ZWOOM!* *SWOOSH!* *FWOOM!*
Silence.
Silence permeated through the air once more as they stopped their charge.
"Huh...?" A muffled confused sound was let out by one of the horned ones.
All of the abilities within a five-meter radius from Gray, had come to a stop.
In other words, they were literally suspended in the air.
With his head hung down, Gray sighed once more.
"Well this is a problem..." He muttered whilst looking at the sand beneath him.
He had paused it as it had tied itself around him, making it so that he wouldn't be able to break free unless he unpaused it.
But if he unpaused it, then the other spikes of sand which came out of it would strike not only him but Delta and the tribes girl who were paused beside him.
"This is truly a problem..." Gray repeated, his expression still yet somehow releasing an ominous and sinister aura.
The mark on Gray's forehead, began to glow even brighter while the puzzle slowly unravelled itself.
'I wonder what I got hit with... I couldn't see it...' He thought to himself.
He looked glanced around hastily but found nothing. An invisible attack which had pierced him. Fortunately for him, the attack didn't see to be able to attack through the Paused Field.
[Entering Mark Of The King 1st Stage's Complete Activation.]
"Ruby, this is the last time I'll ask. You have three seconds before I take matters into my own hands." Said Gray.
That was their second attempt at taking at taking his life.
"He's truly a monster...!"
"How is he doing that...?!"
"Is there any fucking way to beat him?"
Fear began to cloud the soldier's mind's as they struggled to comprehend how his ability was even physically possible.
It was just one man... But this one man alone made them feel as if they were facing an army.
The nobles who had launched their attacks at him were also surprised, their abilities had been rendered completely useless.
"Everyone Stop!!" The shout echoed throughout the shore.
The source of the sound was Ruby, she had successfully captured everyone's attention.
"He is not the enemy we are supposed to be facing...! I want you all to calm down for a moment and listen... He has come from his world to declare peace with ours, so we can put an end to this war." Said Ruby.
Gray glanced at Ruby with a confused look but she glanced back with a worried look as she gestured him to play along.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence.
The one to break the silence, was the Queen dowager who spoke up.
"Peace? Princess... Have you grown soft? They've killed our king... You expect us to end this with peace!?" What followed after was an uproar.
"THE QUEEN IS RIGHT!!"
"DON'T YOU FEEL ANGER TOWARDS THEM AS HIS DAUGHTER!?"
"WHAT ABOUT THE HATRED TO THOSE WHO KILLED OUR PEOPLE!?"
As she heard her people Riot, veins bulged out of Ruby's head. Until eventually, her expression grew cold.
"Soft? Princess...? That's Queen to you... Regardless of whether the throning has occurred or not, I still carry royal blood in me, and I'm my father's daughter."
Ruby looked down at the Queen Dowager who, held an amused expression, with a look of disgust.
"Know your place."
"Oh my~ I didn't know you had this side to you, Ruby." She replied.
The riot had seized once more, they were surprised by Ruby's sudden change.
"And as for all of you... Every single one of you are apart of my Kingdom. There is nothing that I want more than to keep my people safe. If death can be avoided, then I'll do everything in my power to avoid it."
"Revenge? We've killed millions of theirs, millions... Innocent or not. Many of you know just how much destruction we've already caused upon them."
"With this peace treaty we'll be able to avoid the other kingdoms overpowering us since we'll have access to their Labyrinths. We'll grow stronger."
Ruby, leapt off the top of the ship before crashing into the sandy shore ahead of it.
"But if you all truly still desire revenge and are against this, take him out yourself." Said Ruby as she pointed at Gray.
The horned ones who heard this began to look at one another with doubt. Not only did the air around her change but everything she said was right.
The reason there was even revenge in the first place was because they were the ones to invade their planet.
Most nobles didn't really care either way since the Deaths were mainly centred around the commoners, they didn't lose much if not anything.
But still what surprised them the most during the speech was the change in the air around her. It had become just like her father's, the air of a ruler.
Suddenly Charlotte appeared before her out of thin air, a distortion could be seen in the air behind her. Charlotte was the first to react to it.
She had been teleported as a result of Ria's ability.
[Spatial Manipulation: Teleport.]
Charlotte who stood ahead of Ruby, got down to one knee before bowing her head.
"My queen... I have awaited your return." Said Charlotte with a proud smile.
Following that, came all the other nobles, including the Duke and Charlotte's father as they too bowed down in front of her.
"My Queen, we have awaited your return." They repeated, proudly.
Thereafter, one by one, both the commoners and nobles kneeled down in front of Ruby. This included the Queen Dowager who couldn't help but smile.
'Looks like it all worked out as planned... I had complete faith that you would be able to pull it off... Ruby.' The Queen Dowager herself as she got on her knee and bowed her head.
The whole time her aim was to get Ruby to mature whilst also solving any doubt and lack of trust the Kingdom might have.
She was holding the Kingdom in place whilst waiting for Ruby, but she couldn't just hand it over until she saw that Ruby actually deserved it.
Now that she saw just how much she had matured, she could finally leave it in her hands.
'Although she was quite rude... As her step mother, I'll allow it...' She thought to herself.
Shortly after, all the horned ones could be seen bowed before their new Queen in the shore.
Ruby's cheeks flushed red as she hadn't expected such a sight to appear before her.
She glanced at Gray who still had his field active for help, but all he did was nod.
Things had gone better than he expected, he was genuinely ready to start time stop blitzing around in a rush to get back at them for their attacks.
He was fine with either result but still... It would have been a lie if he said he wasn't impressed by the way Ruby handled it. There was a lot more to her than he expected.
"Y-Yeah... A-As long as you all understand then that's fine..." She said as she scratched her cheeks, unsure of what to say at a time like this.
