Volume 4—Chapter 119: The Authority Over Time
In the sky above Tsukuru City, violent winds swirled without end.
At the centre of it all, a lone figure stood on a flying broom, sword in hand, facing the massive dragon Nidhogg.
The witch Amelia… not exactly a witch. She was just copying her sister’s attire.
Her real strength was her sword mastery.
When it came to the sword, almost no one could beat Amelia. With that skill alone, she had managed to force Nidhogg into a standstill.
No matter how the dragon tried to push forward, her blade was always there to stop it. Every advance was cut short before it could reach the city below.
If not for Amelia, Nidhogg would have already ravaged the city.
Nidhogg let out another roar.
A portal split open beside Amelia.
A claw shot through.
She turned her wrist and met it with her blade.
Steel and scale clashed.
The impact shook the air around her broom, but Amelia held her ground. She pushed the claw aside and cut across its knuckles, forcing it back through the portal before it could strike again.
Another portal opened above her.
Then another below.
Two claws came at once.
Amelia kicked off her broom, spun in midair, and slashed twice.
Both claws withdrew.
Before she could settle, Nidhogg opened its jaws.
Dark wind burst from its mouth, carrying thick poison miasma toward the city.
Amelia clicked her tongue.
“Not happening.”
Her sword flared.
A golden arc tore through the air and split the toxic wave in half, sending it around the city instead of through it.
But the dragon used that moment to move.
Its massive head pushed farther out of the spiral, casting a deeper shadow over Tsukuru.
“So that’s what you wanted.”
Amelia pulled hard on the broom handle and shot forward.
She flew straight toward its face.
Nidhogg snapped at her.
At the last second, Amelia dropped low, slipped past its fangs, and drove her sword into the scale near its eye.
The dragon thrashed.
The sky shook.
Amelia ripped the blade free and leapt back onto her broom before the violent motion could throw her away.
A low growl rumbled from Nidhogg.
Then dozens of portals bloomed around its head.
Sky serpents poured out.
Amelia stared at the swarm rushing her from every side.
“…Now you’re just being annoying.”
Her grip tightened.
One clean swing.
A ring of golden light burst from her sword and tore through the serpents around her, cutting a path through the sky.
She took the opening at once and charged again, keeping the dragon locked where it was, far above the city.
As the fight grew more and more annoying, Amelia finally gave up trying to keep pace with Nidhogg’s endless tricks.
None of it was truly dangerous to her.
It was just wasting time.
Amelia let out a slow breath.
“Fine,” she muttered. “You asked for it.”
Her grip on the sword tightened.
Then the flow around her changed.
To Amelia, everything slowed.
This was her last trick.
Her authority over Time.
The dragon’s claw, once fast enough to tear through the sky without warning, now crept toward her in slow motion.
The sky serpents that had flooded around her now hung in the air like they were trapped in still water.
Even the poison miasma spreading from Nidhogg’s breath lost its rush.
Amelia moved once.
A single step through the air with her broom.
Then another.
She passed between the frozen claws, slipped through the swarm of serpents, and rose straight toward Nidhogg’s face.
To everyone else, it happened in an instant.
To Amelia, the battlefield had become quiet.
Her sword rose.
“One strike.”
The blade flashed with golden light.
Then time resumed.
Every serpent around her split apart at once.
Every claw reaching from the portals snapped back in pieces.
And a deep line carved across Nidhogg’s face, the force of the slash driving its massive head away from the city.
Well… if Amelia wanted to, she could stop time outright.
That option was always there.
But Nidhogg was not like the other creatures flooding the battlefield.
It was one of those rare beings with no true variant across other worlds, a singular existence tied too deeply to the World Tree itself. Because of that, using the Primordial Authority of Time on it was barely effective. Time could slow it, bend around it, even delay its movement, but never fully bind it the way it would in ordinary life.
There was another option.
A far more direct one.
If Amelia truly wished, she could erase Nidhogg’s existence by reverting its personal time, reducing its age back to zero.
Simply returning it to the point before it ever was.
That would end this battle in an instant.
But the cost of that choice was far too great.
Nidhogg’s role was not simple destruction.
It chewed at the World Tree.
A terrifying purpose, yet still a necessary one.
Without that endless gnawing, the Tree would continue to grow without limit. Branches would spread into places they should never reach. More worlds would bud unchecked.
And among them, more rotten worlds.
More corrupt worlds like this one.
One broken reality would become many.
A sickness is spreading through every branch.
Amelia clicked her tongue in frustration.
“What option do I have left?” she muttered.
The smart option was obvious.
Leave this world.
Let Nidhogg destroy it.
This world was already corrupt anyway.
From a cold, logical view, saving it made no sense.
Amelia’s expression darkened.
“If only four of the six Authority holders weren’t in this world,” she said bitterly.
That was the problem.
This was no longer just a rotten world hanging from the Tree.
Nidhogg pressed forward again, portals tearing open around its head as claws and sky serpents poured into the sky.
Amelia raised her sword, ready to attack.
Then she felt it.
Her eyes widened.
Someone had just used the power of Time in this world.
Her authority.
But what caught Amelia’s attention most was not the power itself.
It was the direction.
She turned sharply, sensing where the ripple had come from.
Her gaze fixed beyond the battle, far from Tsukuru.
“That’s where Sister is right now.”
For a brief second, Nidhogg vanished from her thoughts.
Nothing else mattered.
Without another glance at the dragon, Amelia pulled hard on the broom and shot across the sky, leaving the battlefield behind as she flew straight toward Emilia’s location.
Author's Note
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