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Years of training had taught Esdeath to sense danger the moment it arrived.
But that was all it did.
Her body and reflexes couldn't keep up with Rosen's speed.
When the man who had vanished reappeared, he was already standing behind her. His hand was on her shoulder.
"Give up?" Rosen's voice drifted softly.
Esdeath's heart tightened. Her face went blank with shock. How could this seemingly frail man move so fast? What was he?
But it wasn't over.
The next instant, under Esdeath's control, an endless chill poured out into the air. A near-limit low temperature swallowed the surrounding area in an instant.
"One zero seven."
From outside it looked like a huge hemispherical dome had dropped over a section of the land. Inside that dome, the temperature was far colder than one could imagine. Plants, even sound itself, seemed to stop transmitting. The world she saw was a sheet of icy blue. It felt like the whole place belonged only to Esdeath.
"So this is Mokapottomo," she said, satisfied with the scene she'd created. "A power that can even freeze time. No wonder it's extraordinary."
Thinking back to the anime's events, she couldn't fathom what sort of situation would have driven someone to develop such a skill just to trap a man. Wouldn't it be more efficient to use it to kill?
"You are strong, but if I've frozen time, there's no way you can move." Esdeath's eyes searched that time-stilled world for Rosen's voice.
At that moment a prickling, almost hair-raising sense of danger rose up inside her. The ice sword that had formed in her hand shot back toward where Rosen had been, but passed through nothing but air.
At the same time, his other hand had silently crept up to her throat.
Feeling the touch at her neck, Esdeath froze.
"Normally I could just twist your neck and snap it right now," Rosen said calmly as he withdrew his arm with a faint laugh. "But because members of the same group can't hurt each other, even if I used force it wouldn't do anything."
"So that makes this the second round. I should get the win, right?"
"If you don't want to admit it, we can keep going — third, fourth — until you do."
Esdeath didn't answer. She stared at Rosen in disbelief and asked, "You can move in a world where time is stopped? Why?"
She was incredulous. In the original story she had frozen the entire night raid like this. If Najenda hadn't used the humanoid Imperial Armament Susanoo, they would all have been finished there. Susanoo had been able to act because it, too, was a top-tier Imperial Armament that could ignore time-freezing.
"Simple," Rosen said. "Mokapottomo isn't true time stop. Its mechanism is that extreme cold restricts molecular motion at the microscopic level. It creates the illusion of time being frozen."
Before she'd come across here, the internet had a lot of theories about Esdeath's power — especially the belligerent idea that she could pause the world. Even though the original never spelled it out, many thought it wasn't real time stop but rather molecular motion suppressed by cold. If it were true time stop, that would be magic. But in the Akame world, Imperial Armaments didn't derive from magic.
["I don't want to eat monsters:" Ohhh, I don't fully get it, but wow, Rosen is crazy strong!]
["Old Mage:" I didn't totally follow either, but yeah — sounds like her power isn't literal time stop.]
[ Spirit of time:" That tracks. Explains a lot.]
["Shut-in- Angel:" So Esdeath's power isn't time stop? I should've come earlier!]
["Blizzard of Hell:" Could Kabari beat Esdeath?]
["Shut-in- Angel:" Don't underestimate me! I'm a top graduate of Heaven! Rosen suppressed the newbie with speed — I could do the same!]
["Shepherd:" Then please show us.]
["Shut-in- Angel:" Next time for sure!]
...
Back in the tent…
Esdeath didn't understand what Rosen meant by "molecular motion." She didn't know why extreme cold would limit activity. Her icy face showed a trace of confusion and blankness.
"You'll understand if you read more books," Rosen said, patting her shoulder. "I'll find some third-year prep materials for you."
Esdeath's expression cleared into a guileless sort of clarity. For the first time, she realized the value of studying. Her trump card was explained in books?
"I lost." She met Rosen's eyes and let her tension go.
The world Mokapottomo had created collapsed, and a swarm of soldiers rushed forward. Seeing Esdeath and Rosen, they turned murderous eyes toward Rosen. To them, he was an assassin who had tried to kill General Esdeath.
"Hold it!" Esdeath commanded. "Rosen is my comrade. We were just sparring."
She paused for a second. "As for the result…"
Rosen cut in with a smile, interrupting the surprised look on her face. "We called it a draw. General Esdeath is indeed formidable."
"And it seems General Esdeath has something to announce." He gave the woman a look and, at the same time, spoke into the group channel.
[Shepherd: "General Esdeath, it's your turn to perform. Don't forget your promise."]
After that message was sent, Esdeath looked at Rosen for a long moment, then took a deep breath.
"To everyone!" she shouted.
In the next instant, every soldier snapped to rigid attention. Their weapons were planted into the snow a few inches, their backs straight, and a killing intent radiated from them. This was the army Esdeath had forged — the most disciplined, loyal, and powerful force in the Empire's history. Nominally the imperial army, in many ways they were Esdeath's personal guard.
She swept her gaze across them and announced, "From now on, your orders are to kill Minister Earnest!"
"..."
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