Taufik exhaled slowly.
"…Heh"
A faint grin returned to his face.
"Just woke up and already giving orders, huh?"
His grip tightened.
"Fine," His eyes burned with focus. "Then let's do it your way"
"…Word Magic: Time Stop"
*Swoosh*
For a moment, time slowed.
Then... It stopped.
The wind froze mid-current.
Clouds halted in their violent churn.
Lightning hung motionless across the sky like fractured veins of light.
Even the shockwave… stopped.
Everything became still.
Absolute.
And then the cost came.
Taufik's mana drained instantly, ripped from his body at a terrifying rate.
One second… The flow of mana collapsed.
Two seconds… There was nothing left.
And then...
It began consuming his life force.
His breath hitched slightly as something deeper was pulled from within him. A single strand of his hair turned white... then more followed.
*Sigh*
"…I still can't recklessly stop time, huh?" His voice echoed faintly within a world that had lost all color.
Black.
