Chapter 176: The Shock of Time Stop! Two Demonic Cultivators!
The chaos of the breached station was a symphony of screams. The hissing of steam, the roar of Kabane, and the clanging of failing defenses filled the air.
"They… are my friends."
Mumei, standing amidst the pandemonium, finally nodded, her expression complex as she stared at the calm newcomers.
"The Armored Train is about to start!" Someone shrieked from the platform, their voice cracking with panic.
Although Horobi was deeply suspicious of these strangers who had appeared from thin air, this was clearly not the time for questions. The horde of Kabane was getting closer, their glowing hearts pulsing in the gloom.
"Get out of the way," Horobi said coldly, her hand gripping her sword.
She didn't have time to waste. If she and Mumei didn't get onto that Armored Train, even as Kabaneri, they would eventually be overwhelmed and die.
Ren just shook his head slightly, seeing that everyone was in a hurry. He looked at the chaos—the running, the screaming, the dying—with a detached gaze.
He thought to himself, Time, stop!
Void!
His domain, a power far beyond the scope of this world, unfolded silently.
In an instant.
All sound in the world disappeared.
The frantic, guttural roars of the Kabane—gone.
The high-pitched, steaming whistle of the Armored Train—gone.
The terrified, desperate shouts of the fleeing people—gone.
All of it vanished in less than a heartbeat.
Horobi and Mumei both flinched, a phantom ringing echoing in their ears.
After that phantom sound, there was a world so quiet, so unnervingly still, that you could hear a pin drop.
They looked around, their eyes widening in disbelief.
Everything... everything... had come to a standstill.
A Kabane, lunging for a samurai, was frozen mid-air, its claws inches from the man's face. The blood spraying from another's wound hung in the air like a macabre, red sculpture. Even the steam billowing from the train was a static, white cloud.
What was happening?
They weren't the only two who were shocked.
Even Vivi and the others looked horrified by the sudden, absolute cessation of reality.
Vivi gasped, "Huh? Why... why isn't anyone moving?"
Seitenshi was startled for a moment, her wings frozen, before she visibly relaxed. She looked at Ren with complete trust. "It should be Ren-san's ability."
In her eyes, Ren was simply omnipotent.
"Time Stop."
Saiki Kusuo looked at Ren, his green-lensed glasses reflecting the frozen scene. He still didn't speak, but his voice echoed directly in everyone's minds via telepathy: "Are you also a Psychic?"
Although he didn't speak, everyone heard his voice.
Ren nodded. "More or less."
The Chat Group, however, erupted into chaos because of this scene being broadcast by Vivi.
[Momonga: "Time... Stop? I didn't see that wrong, did I? He actually stopped time?!"]
[March 7th: "Ren admitted it, so it must be true. Wow!"]
[Tushan Honghong: "Ren Onii-chan is too amazing!"]
[White Blood Cell: "If all germs and viruses were held still... they would be very easy to kill."]
[Platelet: "Although I don't quite understand... it… it sounds very powerful!"]
[Momonga: "Big Boss is too awesome!!!"]
[Silver Wolf: "Ren, you can even do something like this now? You're breaking the game!"]
[Ren: "Yes, it's an ability I gained from Mikoto Suoh's world. It's quite good."]
[Mikoto Suoh: "..."]
[Kiana: "I thought the King authority of the Golden King that this young lady obtained, and the S-rank King of the Void's ability to control the void, were already amazing enough... but I didn't expect you to be able to control time!"]
[Nami: "You all became Kings?"]
[Rory Mercury: "Not me. I obtained an A-rank ability, Ice Control. I think it's called an 'Out-of-Authority User.'"]
[Ren: "I have the King authority of the Colorless King, and the S-rank 'King of Chronos' ability to manipulate time."]
[Aqua: "One King of Time, one King of Space... why don't you two just get together?"]
[Silver Wolf: "Time and space… can a King of Time and Space be born from that?"]
[Ren: "..."]
[Kiana: "..."]
[Kiana: "Hmph! This young lady doesn't want to!"]
[Bronya: "Speaking of which, it's so easy to obtain S-rank and A-rank abilities? This… is truly enviable."]
[Nami: "Indeed!"]
[Aqua: "What is it? Could it be a blessing from a god? (Like me!)"]
[Mikoto Suoh: "The Dresden Slate. It's the source of the Kings' power in my world."]
[Tendo Kisara: "I want to know if I would gain an ability if I went."]
[Mikoto Suoh: "I don't know."]
[Ren: "Those with points can try."]
Although he personally thought the chances were slim. The power of the Dresden Slate was ultimately limited.
It had already bestowed two S-rank abilities and one A-rank ability on the group members, and it still needed to maintain the power of the original Out-of-Authority Users and Kings. It's hard to say if it could still bear such a burden.
It was, after all, just a slate with a special, finite energy.
Before Ren left, he had sensed that the energy within it was not much left, and it was probably only enough to maintain the Kings and clans in Mikoto Suoh's world.
[Silver Wolf: "If that slate is the source of power, doesn't that mean the power gained can only be used in that world?"]
[Mikoto Suoh: "Not at all."]
[Mikoto Suoh: "I found that the upgraded King power seems to have detached from the Dresden Slate and become my own power."]
[Mikoto Suoh: "Before, when I went to Reinhardt's world, my abilities were not restricted in any way."]
[Reinhardt: "My Divine Protection is the same. It is part of me, no matter the world."]
[Ren: "Currently, it seems the Chat Group's ability enhancement can change an ability into one's own essence."]
[Silver Wolf: "Emmm, that's really amazing. I think if more Doom Companions come, you'll become an existence beyond the Aeons."]
[Silver Wolf: "How do you get selected every time?"]
[Ren: "I don't know."]
[Emilia: "Perhaps because Ren-kun is the administrator."]
[Mumei: "..."]
Goodness, they chatted so much they almost forgot about Mumei and Horobi, who were standing right there, frozen in shock.
Ren closed the Chat Group.
Mumei and Horobi were staring at him, their expressions a mixture of awe and terror.
"Time... Stop..."
This was the phrase they both heard. Combining it with the current, impossible situation, it meant this man had stopped time itself. Everything had frozen.
But… could such a thing really be done by a human?
Horobi's doubt fell silent when she noticed Seitenshi's glowing halo and pure white, angelic wings, which were the only things moving with a gentle, ethereal light.
They might not be human.
Horobi turned to look at Mumei. The man who stopped time had said they were Mumei's friends.
Facing Ren and his companions, Horobi dared not speak. She tried to get some information from Mumei with a glance.
To her disappointment, Mumei also seemed to be in a deep state of shock.
"How do we complete the mission?" Saiki Kusuo's telepathic voice cut through the silence.
Saiki Kusuo had already reached up and removed the pink, antenna-like ability inhibitors from his head.
If he was facing an Apocalypse Battlefield full of monsters, and time was stopped, he felt there was no need to suppress his own power.
Ren saw the action and reminded him, "You have points to go to the Apocalypse Battlefield. There, you don't have to worry about releasing your power and destroying the world. Master your power as soon as possible."
Saiki Kusuo's heart stirred. Yare yare. A place to go all out? He checked the Chat Group's functions in his mind and indeed found an existence called the Apocalypse Battlefield.
A place where he didn't have to worry about destroying the world.
His eyes, hidden behind his glasses, gleamed.
His power was constantly, passively increasing. He couldn't train his power; he could only suppress it.
If there was such a place where he could unleash his psychic abilities to his heart's content, he might be able to finally, perfectly master them.
"Thank you," Saiki Kusuo said softly, a rare note of sincerity in his telepathic voice.
Ren nodded and said, "Kabane exist all over the world. Let's deal with the demonic cultivators first."
"Where are the demonic cultivators?"
Mikasa tilted her head in confusion. Despite wearing a valiant combat suit and equipped with strange-looking omni-directional mobility gear, her pretty face, tilted head, and expressionless demeanor gave her a distinct impression of a 'three-no' girl.
"I've already found the demonic cultivators."
Ren already knew the specific situation of this world. The moment he stopped time, his Dominator ability had scanned the entire station.
Everyone's surface thoughts had been instantly read by him.
Finding the two hidden, anomalous minds among the thousands of terrified ones was incredibly easy.
Because the thoughts in the demonic cultivators' minds were not of fear, but of anticipation and malice.
Snap!
Ren snapped his fingers.
Under the astonished gaze of the group, three frozen figures were pulled through space, appearing instantly before them.
Two men and one woman.
The woman was a young girl who looked like a young lady of noble birth, her face pale with terror.
One of the men was a young man with black hair and blue attire, dressed like a samurai, a faint, cold smile on his face.
The other man had long pink hair and was a rather refined-looking handsome man, his arms spread wide in a frozen, maniacal laugh.
"Are they the demonic cultivators?" Vivi asked in surprise, hiding slightly behind Mikasa.
"This person, Yomogawa Ayame, is not a demonic cultivator."
Ren pointed to the young girl. "She's Yomogawa Ayame, the eldest daughter of the Yomogawa family that runs Aragane Station."
"The samurai beside her is Kurusu Konochi, a young samurai serving the Yomogawa family and Ayame's personal bodyguard."
"However," Ren's voice turned cold, "the current Kurusu Konochi is actually a Transmigrator. A soul from another world possessing his body."
Through the Dominator scan of his memories, Ren had already understood the meaning of this Transmigrator.
It was someone who reincarnated in another world after death, but only their soul transmigrated. It was equivalent to this Kurusu Konochi being possessed by a foreign entity. The possessor was a practitioner of demonic magic.
"The other pink-haired man," Ren continued, "is also a similar Transmigrator, and also a practitioner of demonic cultivation."
Two Transmigrators in one world. How truly-peculiar.
Seeing the pink-haired man, Mumei and Horobi cried out in alarm, their shock breaking.
"Brother!" Mumei shouted.
"Young Master!" Horobi yelled.
"You know him?" Seitenshi asked, looking at the two in confusion.
Mumei anxiously said, "He is my brother, Biba Amatori!"
Horobi even moved to stand in front of the frozen Biba, guarding him against Ren and the others. "What do you want to do to the Young Master?"
Ren glanced at the frozen man. Biba Amatori.
In this world's history, he conducted crazy experiments, all to take revenge on his father. Ren was not fond of this person in the slightest.
Ren said coldly, "Kill him."
"What?! I won't allow it!" Horobi glared, drawing her sword, her Kabaneri strength on full display.
But before the sword was even halfway out of its sheath, it seemed to decay, flaking away into iron slag and dust in an instant.
Horobi herself was seized by an invisible force, lifted into mid-air, and completely imprisoned, unable to move a muscle.
She could only stare, wide-eyed in terror, unable to even speak.
"Do I need your permission to kill someone?" Ren found it amusing.
Just a pawn, he thought. Why be so loyal?
[Inorin Note:
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