It Stopped

When Kronos opened his eyes the next morning, it was already nine. If he had not still had the fight on his mind, he might have slept right through it.

The main reason was that he had become too absorbed in his research the night before. Determined to finish the final formula that day, he had worked until three in the morning.

Fortunately, as a Beyonder, one poor night's sleep would not leave him in bad shape. Otherwise, today's fight might have gone very badly.

Kronos was mentally prepared, though. He probably would not win this fight, since his opponent clearly outclassed him in every respect. But being outmatched was part of fighting too. There was no need to win every time, was there?

Kronos hurriedly washed up, ate breakfast, and put on the ordinary work clothes he had specifically asked the servants to prepare yesterday.

Finally, he made sure to bring the Vampire Mask, the Vampire's Heart, and the formula he had completed yesterday. After the fight, he planned to visit Backlund University and look over the formula with Professor Portland.

Since he was not appearing as Marquis Argyle's son, he naturally could not ride in the Argel Family's carriage. After leaving home and changing his face, Kronos set off on foot toward Duke Negan's villa.

The two homes were not far apart. Almost everyone who could live in Empress Borough was a noble, but there were still distinctions between nobles. Great nobles such as dukes, marquises, and earls naturally occupied the better locations in Empress Borough.

After walking for a little over ten minutes, Kronos arrived at the entrance to Duke Negan's villa. At a villa this large, there was no need to knock. There was a gatehouse at the entrance; he only had to speak to the person inside.

"Hello. A gentleman named Philip asked me yesterday to come here and see him today. Could you let him know I'm here?" Kronos was still very polite.

The man in the gatehouse did not hesitate. "Wait here a moment. I'll go in and ask."

Before long, the man returned with Philip.

Kronos hurried forward. "Mr. Philip, you asked me to come yesterday. You said you could give me a job."

Philip had known who it was as soon as he heard that someone had come looking for him. But seeing this unfamiliar face bowing and scraping before him took an enormous effort of will to keep from laughing.

"You're here. All right, come with me." Philip put on a very aloof air.

Neither of them knew, however, that while they were enthusiastically putting on their act, several people inside the villa had already fixed their gazes on Kronos.

Philip led Kronos across the reception room on the villa's ground floor, intending to go straight to the backyard, where most of the bodyguards spent their time.

But as the two headed toward the backyard, a voice called out to Philip.

"Philip, is this a friend of yours?" Duke Negan descended the stairs with a cane in his hand.

Had it been anyone else, it would have been fine. But since it was Duke Negan, the two had no choice but to stop and turn around.

"Father."

"Duke Negan."

After they had paid their respects, Philip said, "I met him outside yesterday. He's very skilled at fighting, so I thought I'd recruit him as a bodyguard and asked him to come today."

"Then what are you going to do now?" Duke Negan's somewhat stern expression actually softened.

Seeing his father's expression soften, Philip became less nervous. "I wanted one of your bodyguards to test him, Father."

"All right. Off you go." With that, Duke Negan turned and went back upstairs.

He left behind two bewildered people who had no idea what he had meant by that.

In truth, both of them had greatly underestimated the security at Duke Negan's home. The moment Kronos entered, someone had detected that he was a Beyonder carrying two Beyonder items.

It was only because Philip had brought him in that Duke Negan had come out to sound him out. Otherwise, he would have been detained immediately.

After probing them, Duke Negan realized that Philip and this Beyonder clearly shared a secret. This was not simply a matter of hiring a bodyguard. He decided to wait and see; with so many people watching them, nothing could go wrong anyway.

Since nothing had gone wrong, Kronos continued following Philip toward the back.

The villa's backyard was divided into many areas, one of which was where the bodyguards lived and spent their time. That was where the two went.

Philip stood to one side and looked around for quite a while before finding his target.

"You there, you there, come over." Philip did not know his name either, so he simply pointed and called out.

The bodyguard was naturally obedient and quickly ran over.

"I remember you're quite capable. Help me test his strength." Without saying much else, Philip gave his orders directly.

"Yes." The bodyguard was a reserved man too and did not waste a single word.

Then he turned briskly toward Kronos and assumed an attacking stance.

Kronos was delighted to get straight to the point. He took off the crossbody bag he was carrying, then carefully found somewhere to set it down.

Afterward, he assumed an attacking stance of his own to face his opponent.

This bodyguard did not believe in waiting for the opponent to strike first. He believed that offense was the best defense, and immediately threw a heavy punch that whistled through the air.

Kronos had been curious about just how strong a Barbarian could be, so he did not dodge. Instead, he crossed his arms and met his opponent's fist head-on where they crossed.

That single blow nearly knocked a curse out of Kronos. He staggered back more than ten steps, almost scrambling on all fours toward the end, and only just managed not to fall.

Seeing Kronos in such a sorry state, Philip could not hold back at all and burst out laughing.

Upstairs, Duke Negan watched Philip laugh and said to his secretary, Lockhart, "No need to keep watching. I think I know who that is."

"Yes, Your Excellency." With that, the secretary withdrew.

Duke Negan had indeed guessed correctly. Kronos was the only person Philip treated as a friend. The heirs of other families were more like competitors to Philip. Only someone from the Argel Family, which stayed out of politics, could fit the bill.

And it was perfectly normal for Marquis Argyle's heir to carry a few Beyonder items.

Most importantly, Duke Negan knew that a Mystery Pryer's Sequence 8 was Melee Scholar. He did not know the higher Sequences, but knowing a Sequence 8 was nothing unusual.

Outside, Kronos had already exchanged several more blows with his opponent. Every time he had no choice but to meet an attack head-on, he cursed inwardly. No wonder they call you a Barbarian. You certainly live up to the name.

By Kronos's estimate, a Barbarian's physical capabilities were twice those of a Pugilist. Although the subsequent Sequences did not provide particularly pronounced physical enhancements, this was still far too outrageous.

The bodyguard's fighting skills were also polished. He had learned the Giants' fighting techniques from the Feysac Empire, which complemented his physical capabilities perfectly.

But there was at least some good news: his potion digestion was progressing. It was very, very slow, but the potion was being digested.

By now, Kronos had long since deactivated both his Eyes of Mystery Prying and the Eye of Time. Against an enemy whose sheer strength overcame every trick, those things were useless. All he wanted now was to hold out a little longer, until his potion was fully digested.

But some things seemed to happen the moment he thought about them. Just as that thought crossed Kronos's mind, his potion digestion stopped.

There was only the tiniest sliver left. It might have been complete in another second, but it simply stopped.

"Stop, stop, stop! I surrender!" Kronos stepped back and shouted.

The bodyguard stopped, and Philip came over.

"What's wrong? Is it finished?" Although both Kronos and Philip knew the Acting Method, they could not let the bodyguard find out.

"No. There's just a sliver left, but it stopped. Do you have any Sequence 7 Beyonders here who aren't good at fighting? Find me one, and I'll try again." Kronos was reluctant to give up.

"I don't have the authority to give orders to Sequence 7 Beyonders. You know they're already mid-Sequence." Philip looked troubled.

"Go find one. Say it's on my orders." Just then, Duke Negan walked over.

"Father." Philip hurriedly paid his respects.

Just as Kronos was about to do the same, he suddenly realized something and deactivated the Vampire Mask's ability.

"Duke Negan." Only then did he pay his respects.

"Hahaha, I knew it was you. How many times have I told you? Call me Uncle Negan," Duke Negan said with a laugh.

"All right, Uncle Negan. Thank you."

"It's nothing. I might as well help where I can. It's no trouble."

Before long, a middle-aged man of around fifty was invited over.

He was a little old, so Kronos gave Philip a questioning look.

Philip explained, "The Beyonders in our household were all hired for their combat abilities, so there aren't many who aren't good at fighting. Mr. Alred is a Sequence 7 Keeper of Knowledge and the family tutor. He's a fairly good match for what you need."

A Keeper of Knowledge did indeed suit Kronos's requirements, so he had no further objections.

The fight between the two was unremarkable. The Reader Pathway really offered almost no means of fighting before Sequence 6, and Kronos felt he could defeat him at any moment.

But even after fighting for quite some time, he felt nothing at all. Even when he activated his Eyes of Mystery Prying, doing his best to observe his surroundings and analyze every movement his opponent made, he still felt no sign of potion digestion.

By then, Kronos understood. Just as sparring with Gner had accomplished nothing back then, ordinary fighting could no longer help him digest the potion.

He could only find another way to act out the role, or slowly wear it down with time.

It seemed a visit to the Black Skull Gang was unavoidable.