While Emily struggled to tain her panion remained pletely calm.

  If there was ohing he had learned otlefield, it was that losing your posure was the same as signing your owh warrant.

  Even with the chaos around them and the cries of pain from the knights defending the carriage, his mind stayed cold and focused.

  He khat Emily wasn’t used to situations like this. For her, someone who had never been exposed to real danger, much less the brutality of battle, all of this was a terrifying experience.

  However, for Non, the lines between life ah in bat were no longer unfamiliar.

  He observed the chaos through the window, eyes narrowed and his mind calg every detail he could perceive.

  The knights fought fiercely against a group that seemed te to be mere bandits.

  Still, there was no way to tell if they were hired meraries or just on thugs looking for riches. At a gnce, he could t at least twenty enemies, all armed and well-anized.

  The knights were managing to hold the line, but at a visible cost: some of them already y on the ground, injured or dead.

  Non took a deep breath to steady his body, aware that his ability to reverse time in his current state wasn’t at its best.

  Without his wand and not yet fully healed, he could barely go back 22 seds, which would be useless in an attack of this scale. There was no point in going bad watg the battle unfold the exact same way, with enemies surrounding them and pushing forward relentlessly.

  This could be a ptack, so the only option was to face the situation head-on.

  “Stop the carriage!” Non shouted, his tone slig through the air with authority.

  The driver, an older man with more scars than hair on his head, took a sed to react.

  The horses, traio endure bat situations, neighed and moved restlessly, but after a fe ands and pulls on the reins, the carriage finally came to a jolting stop.

  Emily was thrown off ban her seat, gripping the edge as the wood creaked from the sudden halt.

  “Non, what are you doing?” Emily asked, her voice trembling, but he barely looked at her.

  “Stay here,” he said quietly, firmly. His to no room fument.

  Emily pressed her lips together, uo respond. Her body trembled with fear and frustration, but Non ignored her, fog entirely on what was happening outside.

  The knights were still fighting bravely, holding a formation that, though faltering under stant attacks, was still managing to keep the bandits at bay.

  Non took a deep breath and, before Emily could stop him, opehe carriage door and stepped out.

  Outside, the situation was even worse than it had seemed from ihe sound of g metal, cries of pain, and the smell of fresh blood filled the air.

  The knights who had been wounded y on the ground, and though most were still standing and fighting valiantly, Non quickly realized that, if things tinued like this, they wouldn’t st much longer.

  They needed a ge of strategy.

  In the distance, he saw the leader of the knights, an imposing man whose armor shoe the battle, fighting multiple e once, dominating with strength and skill.

  But something caught Non’s eye. A spark of light formed at the edge of the forest. A sense of immediate danger washed over him, his instincts warning him a sed before the spell was cast.

  A bolt of energy shot toward the leader of the knights.

  “Watch out!” Non shouted, but it was too te.

  The bolt struck the leader squarely in the chest, throwing him off his horse and causing him to hit the ground heavily.

  The knights’ formation crumbled instantly, and the eook advantage of the chaos to advah renewed ferocity.

  Non frowned, feeling his mind speed up.

  Something was off about this attack, something that didn’t add up.

  Why would a group of mere bandits have a mage capable of casting such powerful spells?

  It was clear that someone was behind this.

  “Alright,” he muttered to himself, clearing his mind.

  Time seemed to freeze as he activated his magic.

  Everything around him slowed: the movement of the swords, the surprised expressions of the knights, the dust rising from the impact of the bolt.

  Non rewound time by three seds, just before the bolt had been unched.

  Now ba that moment, he saw clearly. The leader was fighting, unaware of what was happening around him.

  “Get off the horse!!” Non shouted with all the strength in his lungs.

  The shout echoed across the battlefield, catg everyone’s attention.

  The bandits turned, fused, and the knight leader himself frowned.

  Under normal circumstances, he would have ignored su order, especially ing from a noble, but the princess had made it clear to all the knights before the mission:

  Non Rook’s orders are absolute.

  Although the decisio him exposed, the leader mao throw himself to the side of the horse at the st sed, surprising both himself and his enemies.

  And just then, the bolt passed through the spot where he had been a sed before, cutting across the field like a deadly beam.

  Non wasted no time. He quickly pinpoihe dire from which the spell had been cast.

  In that instant, he activated another of his abilities, slowing time around him.

  One sed.

  Everything moved as if in a dream, and he rushed forward, pig up the he knight leader had dropped.

  Three seds.

  Non’s body felt heavy, his muscles tense from the strain, but he ighe pain.

  He had to act before his magic faded.

  With the n hand, he headed toward the edge of the forest.

  Seven seds.

  There, just a few meters away, he saw two hooded figures. One of the mages reparing another spell, focused on his target.

  Non frowned, aiming precisely. With a final effort, he hurled the h all the strength his arm could muster.

  Twelve seds.

  Time resumed its normal course, and the nce shot forward with such force that Non himself stumbled forward, falling to the ground.

  The nce flew with a deadly whistle, pierg both mages in an instant and embedding itself iree behind them. They both colpsed without a sound, dead before they even knew what had happened.

  The pain in his right wrist intensified, making him groan. But there was no time to worry about that.

  Non struggled to his feet, surveying the battlefield. The knights, now free from the threat of the bolt, maroup and repel the bandits’ attack.

  But then he saw it.

  In the distance, a sed wave of enemies roag.

  “This has got to be a joke,” Non muttered, sweat c his brow.

  Taking advantage of the fact that he wasn’t in anyone’s line of sight, Non picked up the nce again, this time with his injured hand.

  Something about the attack he had just made puzzled him.

  The force of the nce had been much greater than he had expected. He had never experienced anything like it before.

  Could it be that his time ability lifying the force of his attacks?

  Or perhaps… had his strength increased that much?

  Taking advantage of the fact that more than twelve seds had passed, he decided tain, but this time without slowing time.

  Non focused all his strength on the nd threw it with all his might. But to his dismay, the projectile didn’t fly with the same speed or power as before.

  The nce flew normally, falling to the ground without making any signifit impact.

  “Damn it!” he muttered through gritted teeth.

  That move had been a plete waste of time, and to make matters worse, he had now revealed his position.

  Seeing the opportunity, several bandits began approag him with swords and axes in hand.

  Some knights tried to go protect him, but they were busy fighting in other areas of the battlefield.

  Non swallowed hard.

  He had thrown the nce like an idiot, and now he was unarmed, fag several e once.

  Non’s heart raced.

  He knew he had to think fast, or he wouldn’t get out of this alive.