"Hasn't she arrived yet? Did I misjudge? Did that girl with the surname Nanao just mess with him?" Alistair sat on the rooftop, checking his watch, which glowed with a green luminescence. The time was right, yet she hadn't come... Wait, she's here!
Alistair watched the figure of the alluring girl, still dressed in a T-shirt and long pants, his eyes blazing with a certain heat. She didn't look up, so she naturally didn't see Alistair. Since the main target had arrived, Alistair knew he shouldn't stay on the rooftop.
As Nanao entered the room, Alistair jumped off the roof and entered the equipment room on the other side.
The building was large, mainly divided into two parts: the Baseball Club's rest area and the equipment room. However, the equipment room contained not only baseball gear but also many other kinds of equipment, as this area was often used for physical education classes, so the presence of other gear wasn't surprising.
The two areas were not sealed off; they were connected by a door. As for the key, Alistair wasn't worried.
[The Not-Omnipotent Key]: Can open most normal doors that use a physical key. But that is all. (Item Class)
This was one of the items Alistair had acquired during his vacation draw. Even now, it could open most doors, as electronic locks were still far from widespread. So, this item was quite useful; it could open the doors in most places, though it was quite limited in what else it could do—Alistair had tried it on many things, and it really only worked on doors.
Fortunately, the equipment room only had a double door, which was easily opened with the [Not-Omnipotent Key].
Clunk~
Alistair's movements were gentle, creating little noise.
Inside the equipment room, aside from a few storage lockers, the rest of the equipment was haphazardly thrown onto the floor, wrapped in bags. Because the room only had one small, shaded window, the interior was almost completely dark. Only a pane of glass on the connecting door to the rest area let in a soft yellow glow, adding a sliver of brightness to the darkness.
Alistair closed the door, blocking the remaining sunlight from the outside and making the room even darker. This didn't bother Alistair's vision; his night vision had automatically activated as soon as the light began to fade. Unless he deliberately switched it off, the night posed no problem for him.
Alistair carefully maneuvered around the scattered sports equipment and approached the connecting door. Through the large glass pane on the door, he watched the developments on the other side.
"Hmm, is he going straight to the aphrodisiac?" Alistair murmured with interest, looking at the two people sitting opposite each other across a table.
From Alistair's angle, he could clearly see Coach Tōgō take a small spray bottle from his pocket, grasp it, and prepare to use it. Alistair then pulled out the pocket watch he had used to check the time earlier. The upper right corner of the watch had a button, and Alistair placed his index finger on it, ready to press.
Pssst! Pssst! Pssst!
Coach Tōgō quickly raised his hand and sprayed the irritated Nanao several times. At first, she was just stunned, then she looked drowsy, swaying slightly, but then she straightened up, though her eyes were vacant. Coach Tōgō was not satisfied with this. After spraying the bottle directly at her face more than a dozen times, he finally put the bottle down.
"Holy shit, that's potent! Where did he buy that? To sell such a good thing... I must properly interrogate him later. This kind of thing shouldn't fall into the hands of those delinquents. I should use... destroy them myself."
Seeing Nanao readily submitting after a few sprays from Coach Tōgō, Alistair exclaimed that the effect was explosive. He thought about stocking up from the supplier—no, wait—he meant he needed to bring the supplier to justice. Then, seeing Nanao start to remove her clothes, he immediately pressed the button on the pocket watch.
DOOM!
An invisible wave spread out from the pocket watch, and everything—like a film paused—instantly froze. This included Coach Tōgō and Nanao, who was just about to undress.
[Sakuya Izayoi's Personal Pocket Watch]: A pocket watch carried personally by Sakuya Izayoi for many years, imbued with her ability. It can stop time for five seconds, has a five-second recovery period after each use, and grants the holder immunity to general interference from time-based abilities (acceleration, stopping, deceleration). (Item Class)
Alistair had acquired this item earlier that afternoon. He had only used one of his three daily draws that morning. After fusing the second Mystical Object from that mysterious room, Alistair used his remaining two draws. Taking advantage of his good luck, he quickly drew, and it paid off. Although it wasn't the Za Warudo he longed for, it was close, just without the golden, muscular figure behind him.
But this was enough for now. Five seconds was enough time to do many things.
Alistair took out the key, opened the connecting door, walked up to the two, first pushed Nanao's hand down, and then smacked the observing Coach Tōgō toward the doorway.
And just then, the five seconds ended.
Time resumed its flow!
BAM!
"Ah!"
Coach Tōgō, who flew and hit the door, screamed from the sudden pain. Then, he looked at Alistair, who was standing not far away, completely bewildered. The sudden change hadn't registered yet. By the time he sorted out his memories, Alistair was already standing in front of him.
"Good evening, Coach Tōgō. It looks like I caught you trying to commit an indecent act against a female student, didn't I?"
Alistair squatted in front of him and said with a grin, his tone calm, as if he didn't care how outrageous the coach's actions were.
Slap!
Alistair's hand clamped onto Coach Tōgō's left hand, which he was trying to use to launch a surprise attack, holding it firmly and giving him no chance to move.
"Quite resourceful, aren't you? Trying a sneak attack. I'm a student, Coach Tōgō; assaulting a student can get you fired."
Alistair curved his mouth into a smirk and spoke carelessly, simultaneously increasing the pressure on the coach's hand slightly.
"Hmph!"
Coach Tōgō suddenly pulled out a spray bottle from somewhere with his other hand, quickly lifted it, and sprayed Alistair's face. Alistair, who hadn't taken the attack seriously, got hit square in the face and sneezed repeatedly. Coach Tōgō seized the chance to break free from Alistair's grip, scrambled to the side, rubbed his wrist, and sneered at Alistair.
"I don't know how you appeared, but that's a paralytic agent, and it's been boosted! I intentionally added three doses. The original concentration could paralyze a large wild animal. With an eightfold increase... Damn it! Why haven't you fallen yet?!"
Coach Tōgō introduced his proud creation with a pained expression, intending to deal with Alistair later, but he saw Alistair standing by the door completely unharmed, merely rubbing his nose. The coach's jaw dropped in astonishment.
The drugs he created were extremely potent. A single spray of his paralytic mist could keep a large wild animal paralyzed for twelve hours, let alone being sprayed so many times.
Furthermore, he had used the floral liquid from the small tree he acquired from that woman to enhance it. That liquid only yields two drops a month, and he had used three drops to enhance this secret weapon, meaning an eightfold increase in effect. Yet, how was this guy completely unaffected?
Did the effect wear off?
Coach Tōgō looked suspiciously at the spray bottle in his hand, a thought of escape surfacing in his mind. He warily looked up at Alistair and noticed a pocket watch in Alistair's left hand. No wonder Alistair didn't react when he sprayed. But what was that for?
DOOM!
The invisible wave spread out again, and the surrounding environment instantly froze once more.
"Heh, you fool. I have the Horse Talisman! But I guess I still need to cripple you. There are too many weird things here; I can't risk you having something else."
Alistair quickly strode toward Coach Tōgō, got behind him, focused his Ki energy, and tapped along his spine, from top to bottom, as if knocking on a door.
Then, time resumed. Coach Tōgō, whose body suddenly lost sensation, immediately fell forward onto the floor. Only his head could move; everything below his neck was paralyzed.
"Bastard! What did you do?! What's going on?"
Coach Tōgō was utterly confused, spitting out blood from hitting his chin. He wondered how Alistair, who was just standing by the door, was suddenly behind him and had done this. He figured his spine was likely broken.
As a creator of drug abilities, he knew a bit about various medical and nutritional knowledge; otherwise, it would be hard to convincingly explain his ability. In his current state, he knew immediately that his spine was probably completely ruined. And this unusual sensation confirmed that Alistair definitely had a special ability, possibly one related to acceleration. But how could Alistair handle that kind of speed without any repercussions?
Abilities related to time or space had never existed in this world, so Coach Tōgō guessed that Alistair had an abnormal speed without suffering any physical burden. Extreme speed usually imposes immense stress on the body, but Alistair looked completely fine, which defied logic.
"Ugh!"
As Coach Tōgō was wildly guessing, Alistair suddenly sat down on the ground and spat out a large mouthful of blood, his face turning pale. After a moment, the Horse Talisman's healing power slowly took effect, restoring Alistair's complexion.
This thing absorbs transcendent energy?
Alistair looked at the pocket watch in his hand and suddenly realized what was happening. A simple pocket watch, even if imbued with a little ability, shouldn't be so casual and invincible. Five seconds of time stop every five seconds sounded completely Broken. So it consumes transcendent energy!
Alistair's recent usage had caused his fusion progress to drop instead of rise. His fusion with the ring was an essential sublimation, but Alistair couldn't produce transcendent energy himself yet. So, his own "rank" dropped, serving as fuel for the pocket watch's time stop. What a scam!
Alistair put away the pocket watch and sighed. He thought he had become virtually invincible, but it was just a false alarm. Still, it was a good addition to his arsenal, a backup plan for dealing with anything ultra-scale. But for now... Alistair looked at the immobile Coach Tōgō on the floor and formed a new plan.
Alistair stood up, walked to Coach Tōgō, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him up.
He had initially intended to keep this guy alive so he could listen, but now he would become the subject of one of Alistair's experiments. But before that, he still had some value.
"Tell me, where did you get these drugs and sprays?"
Alistair threw him onto the floor again, only this time, he was leaning against a locker, facing Alistair.
"I made them. What? You want some? I make all kinds of drugs myself. If you need it, I can make it for you, just let me go. I can't resist you anyway, can I? Besides, I can make many kinds of drugs. Many people buy from me. Takaaki Anjō, who you know, is one of my clients." Coach Tōgō pleaded for mercy. As a delinquent, especially a Japanese one, knowing how to assess the situation was basic survival. Things like dignity and shame were long gone.
"The drugs Takaaki Anjō used were from you too?"
Alistair raised an eyebrow. Seeing Coach Tōgō nod, Alistair's smile vanished, replaced by an expressionless look.
If this is the case, aren't a lot of people being forcibly "conquered" just like Kasumi Haruno was? Kasumi Haruno had Alistair's help, but others didn't. Alistair didn't care about others, but he doubted Coach Tōgō's clients weren't delinquents.
It was well known that eighty percent of delinquents were enthusiasts of public shared private cars, one and a half percent used them privately, and the remaining half percent were delinquents playing at pure love. As an old hand who had seen countless videos, although he didn't remember the specifics, he clearly recalled the general categories.
"Since that's the case, why don't you go outside and get some air? It might help calm you down."
Alistair suddenly smiled, lifted him, and walked toward the door. He also took some mesh netting, unraveled it into long ropes, and tied him up. After dragging him outside, he found a nearby lamppost, easily climbed up with one end of the rope, and hung Coach Tōgō on it. On the way down, he didn't forget to dislocate his jaw and absorb the black energy from his body.
Huuu...
Feeling his fusion progress rise again, Alistair let out a sigh of relief. Then, he suddenly felt something, extended his palm, and grabbed. An invisible, moist gas appeared, then swirled and condensed, forming a water-like sphere that rested in Alistair's palm like jelly.
Although he received no prompt, Alistair vaguely sensed that this "jelly" had a paralyzing effect and could instantly knock someone out.
Did I acquire Coach Tōgō's ability? Or did I copy it?
Alistair pondered. He then casually tossed the jelly onto the face of the hanging Coach Tōgō, causing him to instantly lose consciousness.
I can study these things later. Today's spoils of war still need to be enjoyed.
Alistair strode toward the rest area. A "delicious snack" was waiting for Alistair there...