Julius Novachrono. The Current Wizard king and head of the magic knights had prided himself for so long of his near prophetic insight into past and future events through his use of time magic.
Now here he was before a foe who could deceive this sight. Ever since he entered that room, he watched all the events around him unfold in a calm and tame manner, all ending with the stranger leaving the room as his presence was all because of a misunderstanding.
Imagine the horror of witnessing the bloody death of his most loyal ally and the realisation that for the past half hour he had just sat there without intervening when the tension had escalated.
Unbeknownst to his knights, their Wizard king was reading from a script that their enemy had altered without him noticing.
Their battles so far has been him trying and failing repeatedly to confine their adversary with stasis fields to no avail as constant flashes of false present and future scenarios assaulted his mind resulting in him basically being impaired on the battle field.
His most trusted ability which he had relied upon all as long as he could remember now became a disability at their most dire hour and his reliance on it- a fatal addiction. This Loss of control felt like a prison had been erected all around him with the walls crafted from fabricated instances and the pained screams of his dead allies and people as they fell due his inability to provide meaningful support.
Even now, across all the scenes, the hollow figure of Father Klein, looking at him with a relaxed gaze was plastered like a stain that refused to be washed off by the flow of time, present in every moment, in every place and in every mind.
"Stop you're killing the people!!"
For long, Julius had known that the Anti-bird which followed the Black birds was more than it seemed, seeing it in a human form was of no surprise to him.
But it's words dug into his already frightened heart. Mimosa soon came beside her with a confirmation of Secrè's words.
"Marx was sliced by Jack's magic but he wasn't hit. That man is redirecting all the damage upon the kingdom at random."
Just as Jack sent out a slash to Father Klein before turning around to confirm what he heard.
"Huh.. What did ya say?"
Father Klein's body fell apart before reconstituting itself, followed with the scream of Rill as his upper body fell off his torso.
Words could not describe the horror they felt in their hearts as they recalled how many cheers they gave as the captains fired thousands of hits at this opponents within a few odd minutes.
All the men, women and possibly children now lying dead because of their actions sent a cold shiver down their spines. It could have been any one of them and now Rill, the youngest of the magic knight captains payed the price.
Even the formerly aloof Dorothy, stared in utter agony and disbelief at this realisation. All their eyes locked onto Father Klein, unsure of how to subdue this foe without harming anyone of them.
The Most brutal aspect of this fearsome ability is the psychological torture as you try to find the most optimal means of one upping your opponent without inflicting any harm or else, you or any one of your allies and family could meet a gruesome end at the hands of your own power.
Another difficulty was that they couldn't sense the usual burst of mana that accompanied each spell, whatever Klein was doing was outside the realm of classical magic.
Father Klein picked up a piece of rubble from the ground,
"What do you see when you look at this world?
Is it dead or is it alive, perhaps there exists a state which allows it to be trapped somewhere in-between?
Dead.
Every world operates on a set of rigid functions and premises, this holds true even for one as benign as this."
The Pebble left his hand and fell, as the distance between it and the ground lessened so did it's momentum till it's speed was barely perceptible.
"I have groomed myself to perceive the flaws within every reality, those invisible cracks and faults in the workings of the universe, those little intervals where the world fails, breaks down and loses all meaning. Those little failings we were groomed to ignore. Tending to these aberrations is where all my power lies."
Seeing the stone decelerate wasn't anything spectacular to the magic knights who could level mountains at their leisure. It was the explanation of his abilities, they had a rough grasp of what his words meant but the intention behind revealing this information was still unknown.
Captain Fuegoloen of the crimson lion kings, declared boldly,
"It doesn't matter whatever poultry trick you use, anyone who threatens our home is an enemy that will be destroyed. Magic knights do not lose hope!!!"
The Corp was rallied up by these words, all of them responding with a vibrant,
"Sir!!!"
Julius Novachrono smiled at the undying spirit of this iconic captain, glad that someone would always stand up for the Kingdom even when he wasn't present. He too found himself inspired by these words.
"Then let's trap him, he might only be able to redirect damage not confinement."
Langris of the golden dawn proposed this idea as he came forward to assist in the effort.
"Good. That should work
Wind spirit Fusion: Spirit Dive."
Yuno agreed with this idea, so did all the members of the corp. They all surrounded Father Klein, a burning fire in each of their eyes. Ready to avenge all the countless now dead because of this assailant.
Julius Novachrono summoned his grimoire, only his chrono stasis was powerful enough to get the job done.
Dorothy Unsworth set up glamour world around them. Only the key attackers were allowed to be a part of this fight, the rest were given tasks to go across the Kingdom helping anyone hit by Father Klein's power. This role was even more critical for Mimosa and all the healing mages present.
"Don't let him get away!!"
The Magic Knights swarmed Father Klein who simply gave a sigh, as a barrage of magic came together- Wind, Spatial, Dorothy's dream magic, Fire magic and finally, Julius' Time magic, all with the sole purpose of entrapping him.
"Compound Magic: Quintessential pact of restriction"
As all their combined might poured into this single spell, the Glamour world ejected all of them as it would now subside as a prison for Father Klein.
Secrè stood at arms ready to assist but her own sealing Magic was insufficient to properly serve their goals, her promise to Prince Lumiere still burned strong in her heart.
"Is it over?"
The Magic Knights watched Father Klein with bated breath, now wrapped in probably the most powerful confinement magic ever created on the fly, suspended in the multi coloured bubble engraved with countless runes on the surface, completely unresponsive.
"Yeah. We did it!!"
What followed were cheers of relief as the magic knights celebrated their victory. Every one of them grinning with pride.
"Huh.. I thought this guy wouldn't be taken down so easily, yet here we are"
"Just be thankful no one else was hurt. Now it is time to mourn our losses."
Fuegoloen scolded Jack for his insensitive remark. Though everyone had relaxed into the fact that Father Klein was now at their mercy, Julius still looked on with uneasiness.
"Lord Julius. The Enemy is now subdued."
Fuegoloen said this to Julius who still looked like the battle had not ended. Julius decided to ease in with them.
Mere seconds away from responding to Fuegoloen's statement, Julius saw another terrifying scene unfold.
The Spell surrounding Klein bubbled as a sickening static flowed out from Klein corrupting the integrity of their magic.
Before anyone could react, the bubble expanded and within a few seconds enveloped the entire kingdom.
Everyone save Julius was locked into a perfect state of inactivity, their bodies forever frozen into their last movement and in the center of it all was Julius and Klein.
"Distorted Time Magic: Eons of Unending Solitude"