The magic-dampening field shattered under her pressure in a second. But too late.
"Konrad," Lilith screamed, her voice scattering the fog.
"Liliske?" that blacksmith groaned, hands flying to his ears. "The hell are you here? We're in the middle of a bout. And we were winning, too—"
"Except your leader, idiot," she fumed, tracing strange mana signatures.
But—they were all gone. Everything evaporated.
She stomped like a kid throwing tantrums. She was angry and powerless.
The illusion sirens blared only then, her breach finally noticed.
"Cheating with magic, boy?" a deep voice demanded. Duke Schwertburg. "No matter how desperate, kid, this is no way to win against me."
"He's long gone," the demoness pointed out, shaking with rage.
"He ran?" the hulking figure hollered.
Less than half his size, her single glare still silenced him. No magic necessary.
"Your stupid Demon Lord was much bolder than I thought."
'By the time I felt it, he was gone,' Gabrielle's apologetic voice echoed. 'Both of them. I stopped time one moment too late. How could this happen?'
Lilith wondered about the same. How could she let it happen?
Her favorite plaything disappeared before her eyes. And from a magic-proofed arena, too.
As the master of space, she could bend it into any shape she wanted.
Teleportation? Creation? Destroying worlds? No problem.
And yet, she had no clue how Maou Midori pulled off this heist.
'Is he dead?' Gabby asked.
Lily needed all her control not to choke that pesky angel via telepathy.
She didn't even respond, but her thoughts were clear.
'Konrad is alive,' Lucifer chimed in, his voice weak, distant. 'And still on that plane somewhere.'
She was well aware.
'I can't feel him,' the elder sister noted, thoughts of genuine confusion and dread lacing her message. 'One moment he was there, and now it feels like he never even existed.'
Which was her strongest clue, albeit a strange one.
"He is still here," the demoness confirmed, the people around eyeing her with suspicion. "In this space, at least. But he's at another time. Or you could say, he's somehow outside of it."
"What are you jabberin'?" Welf demanded as that other big brute tried to rein in the chaos.
"You're not making sense," Vargas joined in, no longer leading the enemy team.
Those things were all irrelevant by now.
She ignored them, her mind working hard on a solution that did make sense. For her. And she wasn't on the same level as these puny humans. She couldn't care, nor hope to explain.
"All you need to know is that the enemy is already here," she claimed, her voice grim.
Or was. And will be.
"This Maou Midori wanted a way out of this world," Lilith said. "To travel through space without constraints, but he failed. And in a sense, he found something much better."
'You're still on about that he time-travelled?' Gabrielle asked, sounding outraged and hopeful.
'We have proof that he did,' Lily stated, matter-of-fact. 'And while it was a freak accident, why couldn't he do something similar? This time on purpose.'
***
"How do you like it?" a voice asked, from nowhere and everywhere at once.
Konrad wasn't even sure if it talked to him, but given that he was the only one there—
Like, he was the only one in existence.
"Good observation," the stranger claimed, sounding cheerful. And old. "You're right."
He wasn't even surprised by the fact that he read his mind.
Every damn person had done it these days.
"Your body hadn't moved, but you're in another time now. Want to know why?"
He had many more urgent questions, but his mind was a mess, so—
"Why?" Might as well get that out of the way.
"Ah, no guesses? I can't give you a straight answer, that would be boring."
This was strange. The voice wasn't inside his head as when he used telepathy.
But nobody spoke them, either. There were no echoes, nothing for the voice to bounce off of.
He was alone in the entire world, and yet—
"The world has ended. Or it hadn't even born yet," Konrad mumbled.
"It's the second one. But no wonder they call you Prodigy," the voice congratulated. "Too bad you're a fraud. But it's not your fault. Angels, huh? That's why I'm going to destroy them soon."
"Maou—no, the Green Mage," he yelled once he realised.
So Lily tried to warn him about the final boss.
Did that mean he—
"Yes, that used to be a name people liked to call me," the disembodied voice cackled. "And no, I'm not here to kill you. Well, it would be more accurate to say—I'm not even here."
A freaking riddler. The worst type of villain in all the cliches he ever watched in his—
Hold on—his previous life.
He remembered everything. Not only the part unlocked by the spirits.
His family, his dreams. Even the things he had forgotten already back in that life.
His name. It was—
"And let's stop there for now," the voice snapped, and it was all gone. "Too distracting."
It wasn't like he had forgotten what he remembered. It was much more terrifying.
As if there was nothing to remember in the first place.
Riddler? More like a torturer.
"Believe it or not," the Mage scoffed, "I'm not doing this on purpose. Time isn't something that lends itself to manipulation. All I've learned was by accident, and my time here is running out."
"What does that even mean?" Konrad asked, his head about to explode.
"I could tell you one day. Or not. It will depend," he jabbered. "But know that I'm not your enemy. People who want to play gods—you should not trust them. And, oh, it's happening?"
"What?"
The voice disappeared as it came. No warnings and no trace.
His ears popped. Nothing changed, at least that he could see. But he felt it.
Time passed. Eons even. Then a flash—blink, and you'd miss it—and it was all grey again.
"Sorry 'bout that," the voice returned. But it was different. "You had to witness the creation and destruction of this universe 'cause we talked too long. But hope it didn't bore you too much."
"That was it?" Konrad muttered in utter disbelief. But deep down, he knew the answer.
Nothing—for what felt like an eternity—then everything and more, and it was all over.
"That's how it goes. Crazy, right?" the mage said. "So, did we have a nice chat in the future? Oh, sorry—for you, that was the past. It gets confusing the more cycles I have to go through."
And there he said something outrageous that broke his brain again.
"Anyway. Let's get you out of here," the voice offered. "You're a potential ally, or a danger. So no, I won't send you back, and won't let you go. But there is a place I have more control over."
The greyness expanded. What felt like a solid wall of nothing turned into an endless void.
Konrad had no idea if this was better or not. He had no say in any of this.
But now, he could at least move. Turn around. See.
"K-konrad? You stuck-up noble bastard," Zoltan groaned. "What the hell are you doing here?"
And yes, he could still hear, too.