>BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!<
Kahn felt his body get torn into a million pieces.
>BOOOOOMMMM!!!<
It happened again.
>BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!<
And again!
The Shadow Demon was at the edge of insanity, but every time he was about to lose his mind—as well as every semblance of life—everything got reversed… and he was good as new.
It was torture!
It was horrific!
The very concept of going through unimaginable pain over and over and over again drove Kahn to the point where he would have begged for death.
His very atoms were dismembered and he felt even greater agony than anything he had experienced so far—greater than even Jared's final Spell.
"GUARRGHHHHHH!!!" Kahn screamed.
"UWAHHHHHHH!!!" Kahn cried.
He prayed for it to stop, but it didn't.
Over and over again, in repeat—an endless cycle of violence.
Neron Kaelid hadn't even moved a single spot from his location.
All he kept doing was sending highly dense orbs of Mana to Kahn—like Mana Bombs.
Each blast decimated him and the area around.
Of course, with every reset, the area around Kahn was also restored. This occurred for times beyond count.
It was a miracle that no time seemed to pass at all.
'How long has it been? How many times have I neared death? A million? Two million? I don't know…'
Why did time seem to be stuck in the same position? He seemed to have been suffering for an eternity, yet the moon still hung in the sky and his torturer didn't seem the slightest bit exhausted.
'W—why—?!'
>BOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!<
Once again, Kahn was blown to smithereens… and then the process repeated itself.
***********
"I wonder how long he has spent there…?" Neron mumbled as he smiled at the foe before him.
Kahn—the mighty Shadow Demon—was standing still in a purple dome. No, it was more similar to a sphere instead.
"Time loops are scary things, after all…"
Neron removed his gaze from Kahn, already certain that the Demon was not going to be a threat.
His eyes went to the boy who floated in a cocoon of dancing light.
Jared Leonard was unconscious, but his injuries were healing rapidly. It was fast enough to be called a miracle—even by the standard of Magic.
'I could have simply reversed all your injuries, but…'
That wouldn't have been the best.
Thanks to the battle Jared had with Kahn, his body had been forced to adapt to more power. In essence, the boy grew considerably in the span of some minutes. If Neron reset everything, Jared would be returned to a state before all that.
'… his efforts would have been for nothing, then.'
And so, while it seemed somewhat cruel to heal him with a slower method, Neron was certain it would be what Jared desired.
"Alright, I should also take care of everything around here… it's quite the mess…"
With that, Neron raised his index finger again, and a massive azure surge of energy burst forth.
He pumped more power into it, and then the orb expanded, soaring high into the sky. Once it reached the required height, the orb exploded, enveloping the entire Campus of Ainzlark.
"This should reverse the effects of their invasion…"
The damaged properties would be restored, and any lost infrastructure would get fixed. It was going to be as though nothing ever happened.
'What about the kids…?'
Neron was conflicted. The ones who fought back would have certainly improved a great deal and learned from this experience. To reset them to a state before now would be detrimental.
However… considering there could be injured students among them, Neron wasn't sure if he should leave them in that state.
"Well, as long as they can be fixed… then I have nothing to worry about."
Ultimately, he decided to ignore the students and only focus on the non-living structures around. Of course, Neron didn't completely abandon them.
"You guys, go. Heal those who are injured, and if any enemy is still present, protect the kids. I don't sense anyone around, though…"
With that, a few hundred glimmers of light surged from the Lecturer's body and vanished into the dark night. One could hear them mumbling many things, but their voices were so tiny that only a very perceptive individual could make out the contents.
"It's unfortunate that some people died… and it seems there's only one person to blame…" Neron eyed the Demon before him.
He could do many things with his Original Magic, but reversing death itself was an area he hadn't yet breached.
Neron's Original Magic, [All The Time In The World], had many functions. One was the reversal of the physical state of something—even down to the energy expended. Another was merging both past, present, and future events and tieing them to form a loop.
—A Time Loop.
Other applications of his Magic existed—such as ensuring all things invading his immediate area were instantly paused, or even placing his body under a loop so he never aged.
Even in the extremely unlikely event that he received damage, his body would replay the loop and he would be completely restored.
These abilities came at a price, though—Mana.
Interfering with something as grand as Time was something that required an immense amount of Mana. However, this was also another reason why the power to do something like that fell into the hands of Neron.
The amount of Mana he had was stupendously bountiful.
"It seems I used up a total of twenty thousand cores in this whole venture…"
That would take some minutes to restore.
Now that he was done with his chores—taking care of the Academy premises and ensuring the safety of the students, the only thing left for him to do was deciding the fate of the Demon before him.
Neron stared at the monster who remained in stasis.
"Hoo, how bothersome… what should I do with you?"
There were several options—one would be to capture him alive and extract information concerning his objectives and intentions.
However, Neron was aware of the existence of a mole in Ainzlark—no, not just the Academy, but also the Eastern Kingdom as a whole.
If he spared this Demon, there was a good chance that the enemy would be allowed to prevail yet again. Besides, the Lecturer had already figured out what he wanted for the most part.
"I suppose I'll just kill him."
With his index finger raised, and a bright crimson sphere now circling atop his fingertip, Neron stole his last glance at the pitiful creature, before—
>BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!<
