Gabriel Cosmo's expression, which had been soaked in excitement from the success of gambling, suddenly became heavy.

"Is that really true? That's way too early than expected!"

"Something happened."

Rudger said that while glancing at the chips in front of Gabriel.

"Your bad habit persists. Didn't I tell you to stop cheating at gambling?"

"No, that's..."

Gabriel became restless at Rudger's remark.

The dealer who overheard their conversation cautiously spoke up.

"Excuse me, sir. I don't mean to overstep, but this casino absolutely does not cheat. Your words are excessive."

The dealer's expression even carried a hint of pride in his work.

If it had been a rigged game from the start, we wouldn't have lost money either.

It's understandable that he would react somewhat sensitively to Rudger's words.

"I'm not talking about your side cheating."

"Pardon?"

"Rather, it's this side."

As Rudger pointed to Gabriel, the dealer's expression became peculiar.

"No, wait a moment. That's impossible. We can detect magicians' use of magic here. We check everything directly, so there's no way that could be possible..."

The dealer speaking stopped and tightly closed his mouth.

At that moment, he had a strange thought when he saw Gabriel's anxious, helpless expression.

Seeing that figure nervously sweating, suspicion began to spring forth where there had been none.

"Sir? Surely not, right?"

"Uh, huh? Oh my! What are you saying! Cheating! I won fair and square! Everyone saw it! Besides, with magic detection, you should know whether I used magic or not!"

Gabriel's rather aggressive shouting only confirmed the suspicion.

The dealer's expression hardened, and the guards who had been watching from around began to gradually surround the table.

Spectators who realized the situation was turning strange stepped back.

Gabriel glared at Rudger.

"Are you really doing this? I almost won everything!"

"Won everything? I don't understand why you need money in the first place."

"Obviously for research!"

"If it's money for research, wouldn't I have been consistently giving you enough until now? Shouldn't it be enough money that would be hard to spend even if you wanted to?"

"Th-that's..."

Seeing Gabriel averting his gaze and stammering, Rudger let out a small sigh.

"That's why I told you. It's just a habit. Gambling is something you should quit quickly."

"Ugh! Shut up! Don't act like an elder and give advice when you're younger than me! If it weren't for you, I would have won everything and left safely!"

Meanwhile, guards with menacing looks gathered and surrounded Rudger and Gabriel.

Rudger gave a look that seemed to ask why they were looking at him, but because of his acquaintance with Gabriel, he couldn't avoid being a suspect.

"Guards these days have no fear. Don't they know we're magicians?"

No sooner had Rudger finished speaking than the guards took out equipment from their waists.

In one hand, a steel rod for restraint.

In the other hand, a small shield.

Just as he was about to ask what they could possibly do with such things, blue magical energy flowed from the rod, extending its length by more than three times.

Now it was closer to a spear than a rod.

The shield was the same, forming a bluish magical barrier around it.

"...Do guards these days also carry artifacts?"

"Since it's a wealthy casino, this much is expected. Did you forget? This is Isla Machina. An island where magicians commonly walk the streets."

When incidents happen in Isla Machina, there's a very high probability that magicians are involved.

When magicians cause incidents, the damage and aftermath are on a completely different level from ordinary criminals.

If something goes wrong, there could be mass casualties.

To prevent such accidents, they need a way to subdue magicians themselves.

The items the guards were using now were such things.

Anti-magician exclusive artifacts.

Magician Hunter (Magier Jäger).

"Looks quite painful."

"If you get hit, 'painful' doesn't even begin to describe it. These are items made with cutting-edge magical engineering."

"Have you been hit?"

"I've seen a lot of people who got hit. They were all bawling their eyes out."

"That's quite reassuring."

As the two were casually conversing, one guard who had been waiting for an opportunity from behind rushed in.

"You handle it, [Faust]."

"I told you not to call me by that weird name!"

Despite complaining, Gabriel prepared to move.

Just as the guard's baton was about to hit the back of Gabriel's head.

"Got...!"

Whoosh!

The baton swung by the triumphant guard sliced through empty air.

Before the guard could express his bewilderment at Gabriel disappearing like a mirage right in front of him.

-Thud.

"Huh?"

The guard, whose leg suddenly caught on a chair placed in front of him, couldn't maintain his balance and fell forward.

Gabriel, who appeared behind the fallen guard, was whistling.

"Damn it! Jimmy! What are you doing?"

"That idiot. How could he miss that?"

Other guards complained, but a few with keen eyes had their expressions hardened by the movement Gabriel had shown.

"What was that just now? Did that magician suddenly disappear?"

"The chair that Jimmy's foot caught. There wasn't a chair there originally."

"What kind of magic is that? He casts without an incantation?"

The guards exchanged glances.

If one doesn't work, they planned to rush in all at once.

"This is your business, so handle it yourself."

"...If you hadn't come, I would have successfully won the money and left."

Grumbling, Gabriel still flicked his finger toward the guards.

"Come on. I can handle you all with just one hand."

"Everyone attack at once!"

The guards moved simultaneously.

They moved like one body, without entangling or crossing each other, as if they were accustomed to joint attacks.

It seemed like even Gabriel couldn't easily escape from this encirclement.

The guards who were inwardly certain of this questioned when Gabriel disappeared from his spot once again.

His disappearance was almost instantaneous.

His reappearance was the same.

As if he had leapt through space, Gabriel disappeared and reappeared.

All sorts of chairs and miscellaneous objects came crashing down around the guards who had rushed in together.

"Aaaah!"

"W-what is this!"

The guards couldn't come to their senses in this incomprehensible situation.

The same was true for the people watching the scene from around.

"W-what did he just do?"

"What kind of magic did that young man use?"

Only Rudger could maintain his composure because he knew Gabriel's magic.

'Indeed. No matter how many times I see it, it's truly strange magic.'

It's like the scene of time itself being cut and compressed.

Unlike others, moving alone in a completely different timeline, should I say.

'Well, that's not wrong. Gabriel Cosmo. That's exactly what the magic that man uses is.'

Gabriel Cosmo, a man who mastered the unique lineage of magic, [Time Magic], which is passed down to only one person. Check latest chapters at N0velFire.ɴet

The effect of the magic he uses is extremely simple.

—It's stopping time for the entire world except himself.

The so-called time stop.

The moment he uses his magic, everything in the world stops.

Living things, non-living things.

Insects crawling on the floor, birds flying in the sky, people conversing, falling objects.

Everything.

The only one who can move in the frozen world is the magic user, Gabriel Cosmo, and him alone.

'To others, it would look like he's performing an impossible miracle.'

In fact, considering the fraudulent nature of time magic, it wouldn't be inappropriate to call it a miracle.

Not just anything, but stopping time?

Such magic was unheard of in the history of the magician world.

'The reason he could keep winning at betting games was because he changed the dice in a short time. The same goes for blackjack or poker.'

If you stop time for just a few seconds and check the opponent's cards, you can never lose at gambling.

It might seem strange to use such an amazing ability just to make money at gambling.

But such fraudulent magic was bound to come with enormous penalties.

"Haah. Sssip. Haah."

Even though others can't see it, just looking at him catching his breath shows that.

Since even the air stops in stopped time, he can't stay still in one place.

Naturally, Gabriel must move endlessly, and since he has to suck in oxygen that has stopped in the air, he's placed in an environment that's more difficult than normal breathing.

'At least this is closer to a miracle that deceives the world rather than real time stoppage, so he doesn't become blind from not being able to receive photons.'

Even small movements consume considerable physical energy.

In addition, this time-stopping magic had more than one penalty.

First: living beings cannot be directly touched.

When time is stopped, the magic user Gabriel must not contact living beings.

The moment the moving Gabriel makes contact with a stopped creature, the law of deceiving the world breaks, and a time collapse phenomenon occurs.

If there's any consolation, it's that if it's not direct contact, he can make indirect contact.

Since non-living things can be touched freely, he could use them like just now, placing objects above people's heads and releasing the stoppage to attack.

But since the air stops and breathing becomes unstable, even carrying and moving something like a chair consumes considerable physical energy.

That's why he was gasping for breath.

Second: no magic can be used during time stoppage.

It's impossible to have a one-sided battle where he activates magic alone in stopped time and wins when he releases time.

All Gabriel could do in stopped time was to move diligently by himself.

Despite being a magician, he had to move directly with his two legs and move objects directly with his two arms.

Third: it is impossible to reverse time or make it flow faster.

Only 'stoppage' is possible.

Being able to only stop despite being time magic was the limitation and disadvantage of the magic he used.

And in stopped time, the user's physical time continues to flow.

If he were to live with time stopped for several years, others wouldn't age, but he alone would.

That's why Gabriel Cosmo preferred to end the use of time magic very briefly.

Otherwise, he would age at a rate twice as fast as others.

In some ways, the time magic Gabriel used seemed incredibly implausible, but in reality, it wasn't very helpful.

'Still, well, it's enough to handle the guards of a place like this.'

The moment Rudger thought that.

-Bang!

The entrance of the casino far away exploded, and hazy smoke rose.

Guards rushing out stood in front of the entrance, glaring at the dust cloud.

"Who is it!"

What appeared as the dust settled was a pale-skinned man wearing a black trench coat and a fedora.

He seemed to be about 2 meters tall, and his protruding eyeballs moved independently, creating a grotesque impression.

The direction of those moving eyeballs was aimed at Rudger standing beyond the guards.

"Found, you."

-Snicker.

The sight of him smiling, revealing his teeth, was creepily disgusting.

"What's that? Do you know each other?"

"It's a face I'm seeing for the first time."

"Seems like he knows you though?"

The pale-skinned man raised his leather-gloved hand and pointed at Rudger.

Looking closely, there was red blood on the leather gloves.

That means he had already killed someone.

"Kill him. Kill anyone who interferes, too."

No sooner had that order fallen than shadows rushed in from behind.

They were pale-skinned humans wearing only rags.

"W-what are those!"

"Everyone, block them!"

"These guys! Who do they think they are!"

The pale-skinned humans and the guards collided.

The guards didn't give in easily. As if they weren't using expensive artifacts for nothing, they formed formations to block or deflect the pale people with their batons.

But the pale-skinned humans were even more than that.

They showed movements transcending humans.

They would run on all fours like beasts, demonstrate unbelievable leaps, and even exert tremendous brute force.

It was clear that if the guards hadn't been wearing artifacts, a one-sided massacre would have occurred.

"What are those things? Why are they looking for you?"

"They must be mistaking me for someone else."

"Sigh, I don't know. This isn't my business, so you handle it."

No sooner had Gabriel said that than he disappeared from his spot as if he had collapsed.

In an alley outside the casino, Gabriel, who had fled to a safe place, let out a sigh of relief.

"Now that I've come this far, they won't be able to follow."

As Gabriel muttered that, Rudger spoke from behind him.

"Is this the safe route?"

"Aaah! You startled me!"

"Why the reaction?"

"How did you follow me?!"

"I followed your shadow."

Rudger had attached a part of the Aether Nocturnus shadow to Gabriel before he disappeared.

As soon as Gabriel fled, he calculated his coordinates and immediately followed through the shadow.

Of course, with Rene too.

Gabriel's face was struck with shock as he realized what Rudger had done.

"Y-you're insane. Don't tell me you used spatial movement? Are you a monster?"

"I don't want to hear that from someone who stops time."

"Wait. Then what about inside the casino?"

Rudger muttered, looking towards the direction of the casino where explosions were occurring far away.

"Well, I'm sure they'll handle it well."

"Those bizarre guys seemed to be after you, are you sure it's okay?"

"That's the question. I haven't done any work here."

"I? I!"

"That's why I said 'here.'"

Gabriel stared at Rudger intently, then said with a sigh.

"Those guys just now. It seems they're a newly emerged force in Isla Machina recently."

"Those guys...?"

Gabriel's expression hardened.

"I don't know why they're targeting you, but the situation has turned bad. If they're after you, you absolutely won't be able to escape as long as you're on this island."

That was something that might have a profound impact on future events.