The figure above Souta was sleeping with its hands folded in front of its chest.
"Just what kind of monster?" Gremina narrowed his eyes.
The monster was a humanoid. Its skin tone was dark and it had a horn protruding on the center of its forehead. There's also a pair of gray-colored horns above its pointed ears.
It had a long deep-red hair that was tied in a ponytail behind its back. It was wearing a long black coat and black pants of the same color. It has black nails and crimson fur covered both of its wrists.
"It doesn't matter anymore. I'll kill him quickly."
Gremina stepped forward as he tightly held the dagger in his hand. It was strange but his hands were trembling.
With the power of his future self and a boost of one thousand percent, he was a hundred times stronger than before. He guess that he could fight someone at Seven Shackles Realm if he wanted in his current state. Unfortunately, this power could only be used against the future of his opponents.
He slightly bent his knees and charged a huge amount of mana on his dagger. This was his advantage. He could freely attack his opponent's future self first as they were unconscious.
It would use this chance to kill this monster. If not, then heavy injuries would be enough for him.
"Die!!"
Gremina roared as he pounced at the sleeping figure. The energy twisted violently as the entire area shook along with it.
BOOM!!
The energy exploded and a ripple burst from the center of the impact. Waves of energy swept out one after another.
The force behind the attack caused an impact on the surface. The Fone Kingdom felt a strong earthquake in its entire territory. It feels as if it's going to sink at any second.
The power of a Six Shackles Realm boosted by one thousand percent was indeed terrifying.
It wasn't a simple boost in stats. His energy and physical damage had also increased by one thousand percent. Even his resistance had been boosted to the limit.
Also, his affinity, combat arts, and spells were included in the boost.
He could literally one-shot people above his power level.
Gremina was satisfied with his power. Using this secret ability of his, he could even defeat creatures above him.
The only problem was the backlash using this power. Advancing time in a strange way caused him his lifespan and energy. He would be weakened for a whole month and he wouldn't be able to use this ability again for a whole year.
The aftershocks of his attack could've killed Souta, who was only at the beginning of fourth stage, but Souta had already fused with his future just like how Gremina borrowed the power from the future.
But there was one thing he didn't expect...
He saw his dagger stop near Souta's neck.
"How?!"
He was shocked when he saw it. It was different from what he imagined. His most powerful attack didn't even land on the body of the monster in front of him.
Souta slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of pure red eyes. If one will look closely, one will find that there were four pupils inside the human eyes.
"Hmm...?"
His eyes landed on Gremina.
Gremina shivered when Souta looked at him. He didn't know why but he felt like he was standing in front of an apex predator.
His body was shivering uncontrollably. He couldn't even attack nor run even if he wanted to. It was as if someone was grabbing his entire body, preventing him from moving.
"W-What...?! T-This is not an ordinary fifth stage?!!!"
He said with great effort. Beads of sweat were forming on his body. He loses his confidence instantly.
He hasn't encountered something like this in his entire life. The monster in front of him was extremely dangerous.
"Yamata no Orochi's servant dared to kill me? Do you know me, puny human?"
Souta's voice echoed. It sounded like different creatures were speaking at the same time. It was eerie and creepy, but it contained enormous power that made Gremina fall to his knees.
"Y-You! H-How did you know... my m-master's name...?"
Gremina said with great effort as blood slowly poured out of his nose and eyes. It felt like his organs were being drilled inside out.
"I'm a Serpent Bearer! You should know your place, human!"
Souta's voice directly resounded in Gremina's head. He gritted his teeth as he felt that his brain was going to explode at any moment.
Suddenly, Souta looked at the ceiling and narrowed his eyes.
"The Imperium is looking at us. It's observing us. Apparently, your ability summon a creature you shouldn't have summoned."
"W-What do you mean?"
"You shouldn't have used this ability on me. After this event, you will lose this ability. The future is unknown yet you tried to open it. Even the Ieshi Clan could only see a path of it yet you... Because the things that they are afraid of will come to us."
"I can't understand..." Gremina held his head with both of his hands.
"It's fine. Imperium is the focal point of our universe. It's the one holding both the future and past along with the present. It is singular. A parallel line. An ever expanding space."
Souta slowly raised his hand and pointed his finger at Gremina.
"N-No, I... I don't want to die... Please..." Gremina knew what was going to happen next.
"You overstep your boundary."
Souta said coldly as an enormous amount of best feram exploded out of his body.
"At the very least, let me refine your body."
Various tentacles-like flesh burst out. The flesh was covered in blood as it rushed towards Gremina.
"N-No!!!!"
Gremina looked at it in horror as the tentacles swarmed around him. The tentacles mass carpeted the several dozens of meters as it skewered everything in sight.
It was full of blood and flesh, continuously writhing and wriggling.
It was a terrifying sight.
All of it happened in just a second. Everything happened too fast.
The pressure disappeared along with the mass of flesh and blood like a bubble that pop-out of thin air. The only thing that was left was a red marble on Gremina's previous spot. It was glistening with unbound power.
"As far as I know time ability isn't effective against gods. Time couldn't affect a body that transcends mortality."
Souta walked forward and picked out the red marble.
"Saya."
'You... Are you really, Souta?' Saya asked carefully.
The Souta right now was different from the Souta that she knows. Although he tried to hide it, Saya could feel the unbound savageness hidden in his heart.
It was filled with malice and hostility against everyone.
"I... Yeah, I'm Souta. I don't have enough time so advise myself to give this to Isabella."
Souta said as he placed the red marble inside his pocket.
Saya didn't say anything. She just kept silent observing his attitude. It feels different so she didn't know how to approach Souta.
Souta looked at the sword hanging on his waist. After a while, he opened his mouth. "I... I've missed you. Let me give you some advice... Don't protect me anymore. I don't want him to end up the same as me."
'Same as you?' Saya asked carefully.
"I've become an enemy of the whole world. I've established a great empire and most of the gods are hunting me." Souta paused for a moment before he added, "Tragedy will happen in the near future... No matter what happens, don't protect him. I don't want him to lose his Saya. Just kept on guiding him like you always do."
His tone was filled with bitterness.
Shortly after, he sighed as he slowly raised his hand.
"I'll disappear soon so before I vanish, I will clean up this entire kingdom."
Souta made a grabbing motion. A cold energy surge upwards, sweeping every corner of the kingdom. It was terrifying as every member of the Red Matter Association was frozen in ice in the blink of an eye.
In the blink of an eye, a powerful lineup of Red Matter Association in the Fone Kingdom died without them knowing the cause.
[Great Frost Aura]!
"I've cleaned up everything. Don't forget my words... Lynn... Protect... You can't tell Souta about it or else his body will..."
Souta couldn't even finish his sentence before he fell on the ground.
The whole underground base was shaking nonstop. Debris of rocks was falling one after another.
"Hmm? What the hell happened here?!"
Souta returned to his senses. His eyes were filled with confusion as he didn't have any idea what transpired here. Even the quests were completed without him knowing anything.
'Saya, are you here?!' He asked.
'Oh, yeah, I'm here.' Saya snapped out of her thoughts.
'What happened here?' Souta asked.
'...I don't know who did this but someone helped us...' Saya said.
Souta moved his body to the side as a meter-size boulder fell on his previous position.
Bang!
"I want to know what happened but I'll ask the details later," Souta said before he left.
