Chapter 155: Doomed Duel ; (*SPOILER*) ; Grimoire of Truth

"You!" Gramont yells as he lowers himself to feel his regrown leg, "What have you done to me?!"

"What do you mean? I just made you undying," I nonchalantly state.

"Undying?" he repeats disbelievingly.

Shrugging my shoulders, I say in a casual tone,

"If you don't believe me, I can prove it."

Before he can respond to my words, I dash toward him and swing my battleaxe at his neck with all I've got.

Gramont's reaction is fast as he attempts to block the strike, but the difference in our speed and strength prevents him from doing so.

And thus, my battleaxe cleanly cuts his head off, which results in his body to limply fall to the ground.

Now that I think about it, I have yet to test the limits of the immortality ability.

Hopefully it's not similar to the immortality granted to Codes, with it affecting the way souls dissipate or something.

Fortunately, that doesn't seem to the case, as before my eyes, Gramont's head began regrowing.

What's interesting is the way they regrow. It seems like the core functionality of the ability depends on its source.

In other words, depending on who I looted immortality from, it could've been different from the way it is right now.

Nevertheless, it's quite the sight to see a flame appear before it gradually 'changes' to a normal head.

After a few seconds, Gramont's head has fully regenerated, leaving a dazed man staring at the ground.

"Gramont," I call out.

As a response to the call, Gramont raises his head and looks me in the eyes, waiting for me to continue with what I have to say.

"Don't break so easily," I complain, "You're supposed to be a marshal, no?"

Hearing this, Gramont's face contorts as he grabs the sword lying beside him and gets back on his feet before he scoffs,

"You monster."

"Monster? How rude."

"What else could you be?!"

This man sure complains a lot. Well, I can't blame him all that much, as I'm pretty sure that this is the first time he's had his head cut off.

Anyway, I need to get him to put his heart into this battle, or else I won't be able to look into Gandalfr all that much.

"Come on, Gramont," I taunt while raising my arms, "You're not going to give just like this, right?"

As I look at his face, I see no change in expression as he shifts his body to a more proper position for battle.

From the looks of it, he's going to be on the defensive.

That's a wise choice when your foe is stronger than you, however, it's meaningless if the difference in strength is too much.

Knowing that this opportunity is like no other, I clench my battleaxe before dashing toward Gramont once again.

Unlike last time, Gramont is prepared for the assault.

This results in him parrying the blow and counterattacking me.

Seeing the sword 'slowly' approach my face, I tilt my head a little to dodge it before throwing a punch at Gramont's chest.

Gramont seemed to have realized I dodged his attack, but before he could do anything about it, he found himself being launched from where he was into the wall.

Leaving him aside for a moment, I begin to think of what I've understood about Gandalfr so far.

Basically, it's similar to Insight in a sense, but the way the two function is completely different.

Insight gives the information and instructions on how to use something. Gandalfr, however, guides the body through the process.

Now, if we are to speak about the usefulness of the abilities, Gandalfr easily tops Insight.

The reason for that is because the feeling of 'guidance' after using it remains, allowing me to repeat it until I get the feeling right.

Anyway, according to what's displayed on the system, this is one of the three functions of Gandalfr - Mastery.

As for the other two, I believe that I have already figured out one of them.

During this short while, I've noticed that my speed and perception are both better when I'm using Gandalfr compared to the norm.

In other words, Enhancement boosts my parameters for the time I have Gandalfr activated.

As these thoughts swirl through my mind, I notice that Gramont has gotten back on his feet.

Looking at the man, I find his clothes soaked in his own blood, while his face is a mess.

Shaking my head, I'm about to approach him as a sudden wave of pain spreads across my whole body.

{Code Essence Rejuvenation: 5%}

Huh? What the hell is going on?

{Unsealed: Time-Stop.}

…

You've got to be kidding me. Time-Stop?!

Forgetting everything else, I intone,

"Codification."

As soon as the list appears, I examine it for anything related to Time-Stop, only to find it listed under a new section in the Essence category.

--

????:-

Time-Stop I [XX] -|- ???? -|- ???? -|- ????

--

Seriously? This thing has twenty tiers? Twenty fucking tiers?!

Shaking my head, I focus on it, resulting in a new 'window' to open up, with the description written in it.

--

Time-Stop:-

{The ability to temporarily stop time of a Platform. | Time Limit - 3 seconds. | Cooldown - 30 minutes.}

--

Seeing the description of the ability, an overwhelming sense of power rushes through my veins as I begin thinking of how ridiculous of an ability this is.

While this is happening, I suddenly realize that Gramont is right in front of me, swinging his sword at me.

With my mind preoccupied by thoughts regarding Time-Stop, I subconsciously activate it.

This results in the world to shift colors as space-itself seems to warp before finally leaving me in a silent room with Gramont stuck in the position he was in.

I don't waste a single moment in moving behind Gramont as the three seconds pass, resulting in a confused Gramont slashing the air.

Chuckling, I tap his back and say in a low voice,

"You are already dead."

Surprised, Gramont turns his head, revealing a shocked look on his face as he says,

"What? How are-"

Before he can respond, I use my battleaxe to cleave his whole arm along with a part of his torso off.

Once again, Gramont only groans as a response to the pain, but that's not enough.

I throw the battleaxe on the ground and raise both of my arms.

The next moment, my fingers begin to change form and color from what they were to monster-like claws.

Seeing this, Gramont mutters in a heavy tone while holding his now-regenerating arm,

"I knew it. You really are a mons-"

Before he can finish his rude remark, I pierce his face using the fingers on my right hand, while using the other hand to pierce his guts and clutch it.

Soon, I begin pulling out chunks of flesh one after another nonstop.

This ultimately results in Gramont's groans to change to yells as blood begins to flow out of his mouth.

Having had enough, I decide to put an end to this.

Focusing my mind on the surroundings, I begin accessing the database and look for a perfectly ordinary sword.

Then, I create a dozen of them and telekinetically hold them in the air.

"You better start begging already," I say.

---

"It's here," a much more obedient and less prideful Gramont says in a desolate tone as he leads me his workplace.

How strange, I remember looking at every book here, but none of them were out of the ordinary.

"Are you sure it's here?" I dubiously ask.

"Of course," he responds as he walks toward a bookshelf and begins looking around.

After a few moments, Gramont grabs a completely ordinary-looking book.

It's green and has no words written on it. The thing is, the 'Grimoire' is covered in dust.

Using my senses, I examine the book, but I find nothing out of the norm.

As such, I look Gramont in the eyes and say in a threatening tone,

"Are you trying to play tricks on me?"

His eyes widening, Gramont strongly shakes his head and says,

"No way! I wouldn't dare! This is truly the Grimoire of Truth!"

The thing is, I already know that this is the object of interest, as during this whole time, I've yet to suspect Gramont of lying.

However, that doesn't mean I won't be suspicious of others calling a normal book a 'Grimoire'.

"Hand it over," I say.

I take the book from his hand and open it, or at least, try to.

However, a wave of energy suddenly appears from within the book and melts the skin on my hands.

"You-your Highness!" Gramont calls out as a look of fear spreads across his face.

"Don't worry, I won't punish you," I say, relieving the horrified man.

Perhaps, I went a little overboard by inserting those swords into him? Whatever. That happened to be the only thing that could satisfy my urge of killing him without actually doing so.

Anyway, I ignore the pain in my hands as I continue examining the Grimoire with intrigue.

Simply put, this thing seems to be sealed by some spell. I could make use of my Destruction to destroy the spell, but that would risk the content inside the Grimoire, so I can't do that.

And so, I'm left with one option - find a way to unseal it.

The moment this thought appears in my mind, a bright light escapes from the Grimoire as everything around my surroundings begin changing to a forest that I find familiar.

Looking around, I discover that there is a small cottage that I also find familiar…

Hold on, isn't this the cottage that I saw when I accessed Matilda's memories?

There was a half-elf that lived in the cottage, right, Tiffania Westwood.

It seems like I need to pay a visit to Matilda...

~~~~~

Complete Title:- Doomed Duel ; Time-Stop ; Grimoire of Truth