As Konrad dropped his Isekai Microwaves, trying to reinforce his mental shields instead—
Time seemed to have stopped.
And while that wasn't anything new by now, his body had frozen with it.
He half-expected Gabrielle's frilly blue dress to appear in his vision, but what he saw was—
Red.
A red cape and red hair, and—no.
It wasn't his favorite ginger, either.
"I'll have to give it to you, kid," the stranger noted. "You have some potential."
It was the same voice that stole Paula's place in his mind.
So, whoever this guy was, he had the same ability as the archangel and also broke his mental barrier?! Talk about terrifying. And the worst part was that he wasn't even a sexy woman.
"Hah," the man scoffed. "And here I thought that the issue was the demonic possession."
Fuck. So he did read his thoughts, too, with no problem.
"I kind of have to," he pointed out. "Because if you have noticed, you can't even move your eyes."
"Can't I?" Konrad replied, but damn—
It took him everything to open his lips and shape those sounds.
Gabrielle's Time Bubbles were rough, too, but nowhere near this brutal.
"Oh? So you can still talk?" the stranger frowned. "Color me intrigued."
"I'd go with purple and black," a familiar voice said.
And the appearance of his actual favorite ginger didn't even register at first, but—
That earth-shattering punch Lily gave that man definitely did.
The Anomaly immediately shattered, too, and time resumed, or—
Well, it would have if the actual archangel hadn't taken over.
But now, Konrad found himself in her Time Bubble instead, and—
Okay, breathing and moving had already become much, much easier.
It still took him a moment in that unnatural pause to realise what happened.
On the ground there lay this stranger in a red cape, with Liliske kneeling on his back.
"Fuck, that was bad," he groaned, but couldn't move an inch, no matter what. "So you are that famous Flaming Sorceress or whatever?! Get off me this instant."
And for someone pinned to the ground, he sure talked like he owned the place.
"So you know me?" Lily scoffed. "Good. Then I don't have to waste my time on introductions before killing you, bastard. How dare you lay a hand on my Konrad?! What gives you the right?!"
"Um, actually," Gabrielle noted, clearing her throat. "He's responsible for security here."
"In the castle?" Konrad groaned, rubbing his temples.
Paula was still silent, and his head hurt like crazy. That guy did something, but—
"In the entire capital, kid," the stranger scoffed. "And duel or not, you attacked civilians, admit it."
"As if my Konny boy would do that," the demoness yelled, pushing his face in the dirt.
"Well, uh," Konrad muttered, and now it was getting embarrassing. "Two people attacked me during my duel with Zoltan, and I cast a more-or-less harmless spell on them."
"You did?" the angel scowled. "Who were they? I missed that."
"What?!" Lily raged even louder. "I left for a few minutes, and this is how you took care of him?!"
"He's a big boy, you know," Gabrielle protested. "And I had to sort out some diplomatic matters."
"While he was fighting, life and death right in front of you?!"
"Okay, it wasn't actually that bad," Konrad tried to ease the tension, but—
There was still this strange guy in red, who seemed like a serious threat.
Well, at least until he got beat down by his wife.
Note to self: never mess with Lily, ever.
"What do you mean, attacked?" the stranger groaned, face still in the dirt. "I would have noticed something like that. Do you have their names? The spell they have used?"
Uh. Greyhair and Shiftyeyes. He couldn't say that, though, could he?
And about their spells—
"I was too focused on my duel, you know," Konrad snapped. "All I know is they made my head hurt, trying to probe my mind, and—they kept chipping away at my outer barrier."
Would Paula know more than that?
Why was she still silent?
"He's telling the truth," Gabrielle noted, meaning she must have been reading his mind.
"Take over this guy," Lily gritted out. "I'm going to find them, too, and take them out."
"Let's not be hasty," Konrad protested, holding up a hand. "We don't even know who this guy is."
"Oh? He's the Crimson Mage," the Silver one coughed, shuffling closer.
When did he even enter their Time Bubble?!
And wait—
"The Crimson Mage?!"
That name did ring a bell.
When Konrad was a kid, Father Alastair had told him about Kasserlane's three Mages.
The Green Mage who lived near Aset, the Silver Mage of the Royal Court, and—
He used to call this one the Red Mage, but whatever.
"I thought you lived in the south-west, though," he muttered.
"Well, duh, the king summoned me with all the high-ranking nobles," the Crimson Mage grumbled. "Silver, please tell this Witch to get off me. She's not listening to my mind spells."
"It's insulting that you'd even think they would work on me," the Witch in question noted.
"Now, now, Lady Lilith," the old Mage tried to disarm the situation. "Let my colleague go. He will apologise for his mistake, and once Lady Gabrielle lets time continue, I'll—"
"Apologise for what?" the redheaded wizard protested. "He still attacked those people."
"Whom I will arrest," the Silver Mage finished, his gentle smile hardening.
"Wasn't it your job to keep their duel clean?!" Lily scoffed, pushing the Crimson Mage's head even harder into the dirt. "And I even had to miss it because of that stupid Lucifer."
Oh. Right. So she left to fight in Zoltan's stead, but—
"Wait, should you have come back?" Konrad muttered, noticing his former master spread out on the ground out of their bubble. His body was still whole, but it smoked.
Were his lightning bolts overkill?
"Stella and Meow Midori are still there, you know," she claimed, waving him off. And that might have been her captive's only chance to take a deep breath. "Plus the other two puppets."
"What is even going on?" the Crimson Mage groaned, and—
Yeah. Konrad would have liked to know, too.
"None of your business," the demoness snapped, pushing his head down again.
"Okay, let him go," Gabrielle sighed. "Konrad won his duel. The king should acknowledge it, and we can all go home and back to the usual grind, I guess."
She didn't sound too enthusiastic about it.
"And those who tried to interrupt can expect heavy punishment," the Silver Mage added, too.
"I want their heads," Lily snapped back. "But first, interrogate them to find out who told them to do it. Torture preferred. And then give me their heads, too."
"That's a bit too much," Konrad protested, caressing her back. "But yeah, do question them."
And that fiery demoness even arched her spine like a cat to push against his hand—
While still pinning that Crimson guy to the ground.
"I'd rather not behead anyone without a trial," the old Mage noted. "But the questioning, you can leave to us. Once you let go of my young and inexperienced colleague, that is."
Inexperienced, he said? Ugh. Konrad was helpless against him, and—
It seemed like Lily didn't want to do that, either.
And one question also remained.
"Before she does that," he said. "Tell me what you have done to Paula."