The Absolute Speed of a Certain Comic'

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"Wow! Bishou Sama really knows how to have fun!"

As Bishou's voice trailed off, lewd laughter and teasing remarks echoed from all sides. The surrounding soldiers were visibly excited, their eyes glued to the scene.

Stella, however, clenched her teeth, her eyes filled with a desperate struggle.

Just as Bishou had stated, battles between Blazers were heavily reliant on compatibility. Smiling, as a Reflection Warlock, could absorb and reflect all attacks, rendering Stella's formidable power completely useless.

'What could she do? Was stripping truly her only option?'

But Saikyou Nene Sensei was present. If Sensei intervened, she could buy herself more time. Theoretically, surrender wasn't her only choice.

Yet, she didn't know how much longer Shizuku's water barrier would take to set up. She needed to stall for as long as possible...

Bang!

A gunshot suddenly pierced the air.

A bullet, fired from an assault rifle, whizzed past Bishou's cheek in the blink of an eye.

The smile instantly vanished from Bishou's face.

Simultaneously, the lewd laughter ceased, and everyone abruptly turned their heads toward a tall, slender soldier.

"Ruen, have you gone mad? How dare you shoot at Bishou Sama!?"

The surrounding soldiers, their eyes hidden behind masks, stared at him in disbelief.

"The shot was intentional, but I missed."

A youthful voice, surprisingly cold, emerged from beneath Ruen's mask.

"That voice... You're not Ruen! Damn it, when did they switch you?"

The surrounding soldiers gasped, contributing to the rising temperature, and raised their assault rifles, aiming at him.

"Who are you?"

"Just a passing Blazer. Remember that."

The man removed his gas mask, revealing a handsome face that stunned everyone present.

Wow, that line was incredibly suave!

"Ryoji?"

Stella, startled, stood up from the ground, her eyes widening in surprise.

So, this was what Saikyou Nene Sensei meant by "having other plans" – he had infiltrated the terrorists!

"...Another Student Knight, huh? You're all quite reckless."

The smile completely disappeared from Bishou's face, his expression darkening. The tattoo on his left cheek writhed like a squirming worm.

"Had you remained hidden, you could have used me as leverage to stalemate the situation. But to reveal yourself now… what were you thinking?"

He had nearly been struck by the bullet!

If the bullet had deviated slightly further, it might have hit him, and he would have been a goner. The near-death experience left him profoundly uneasy.

"My father is the advocate of pure love, one cut for each Minotaur/NTR."

Ryoji appeared to completely ignore the guns pointed at him, merely offering Bishou a cold smirk.

"Don't attempt to use your limited brainpower to guess my intentions. If you stoop to my level, that's your mistake. How do you know I can't take you hostage right now?"

"What?"

Bishou blinked in astonishment.

"I'll inform you kindly, my special ability is Absolute Speed, meaning I'm undeniably faster than you."

Ryoji, holding his assault rifle, pointed the muzzle directly at Bishou on the other side.

"In other words, the speed at which I pull the trigger and the speed of the bullet leaving the chamber are absolutely faster than yours, and faster than these soldiers around me… in other words, if you rashly give the order, I don't know if I'll die, but I will for sure say that you will definitely be dead."

This was a lie.

Ryoji could only target one objective at a time.

Meaning, that if he focused on being faster than Bishou, he couldn't be faster than the surrounding soldiers.

Of course, if Bishou's speed exceeded that of the soldiers, then Ryoji, being faster than him, would also be faster than the soldiers.

"If you don't believe me, you can verify it online. Just ten days ago, I defeated the former world's third. There should be a video online, it seems to have spread quite widely."

To further emphasize his point, Ryoji casually mentioned his accomplishments.

Smiling immediately gestured to his lackey, who quickly moved, and, shortly after, his complexion changed, his voice trembling as he spoke.

"Is… is this truly true?!"

He found a video on the internet uploaded by Kusakabe Kagami. Although the quality wasn't high, from an Ikemen perspective, it perfectly matched the young man standing before them.

There are websites specifically dedicated to collecting Blazer intelligence, and accessing these sites usually yields the desired information.

At that moment, everyone in the room was completely deceived by him.

Stella glanced around the surroundings.

Everyone's attention was focused on Ryoji, no one paying attention to the hostages.

Saikyou Nene appeared to subtly give a thumbs-up, signaling that Junior Brother was impressive.

Stella silently stepped back, ensuring she didn't alert anyone, leaving the situation in Ryoji's hands. However, she remained on standby, prepared to support him if needed.

"Hah… So you defeated the former world's third, but I possess a reflective ability—"

"I've read books, and with your elementary school level of intelligence, you can't deceive me."

As Bishou's expression began to harden, Ryoji spoke again.

"Reflection isn't an ability that can be constantly activated. It doesn't automatically activate when facing an enemy. It's an active ability, and it only functions when deliberately activated—"

Most special abilities, like a battle axe, are active system abilities.

A reflection ability cannot be utilized like Accelerator's power, where he instinctively reflects anything that attacks him by establishing a reflective layer. That's not how reflection works – it must be deliberately activated to be effective.

Ryoji had spent his time lying in bed reading, and he knew the characteristics of special abilities almost as well as the back of his hand. Smiling clearly couldn't fool him.

"And how do you know that my speed isn't faster than your ability activation speed?"

Ryoji's final words caused Bishou to lose his composure.

Faster than his ability activation speed?

Was that even possible?

If such a potent ability existed, wouldn't the user be invincible?

Most Blazers require initial activation of their abilities before attacking. If an enemy's speed surpassed the ability activation speed, wouldn't all attacks fail to land?

If he could genuinely achieve that – shoot the bullet at an absolute speed before activating his ability – then he would be finished!

In reality, Ryoji's claim held some validity –

But not entirely.

The activation speed of abilities does exist, but its rate varies depending on one's neural reaction speed.

Neural reaction speed differs from person to person.

For an average individual, it's around 0.3 seconds. A trained sprinter can reduce it to 0.15 seconds, but even with intense training, humans can't react in under 0.1 seconds.

In other words, if Ryoji could execute an unavoidable attack within 0.1 seconds, he could likely kill anyone with a single hit – Lightning Flint, his move, was based on this principle.

However, speed isn't a concept that exists in isolation; it's always linked to distance. Any discussion of speed without considering distance is misleading.

For instance, if the distance between Ryoji and his enemy exceeds 1,000 meters, even if he increased his speed to the speed of sound, it would still take him two to three seconds to reach the enemy. If that much time had elapsed, the enemy would have already reacted.

Typically, Ryoji utilizes his intuition to determine the optimal distance for employing Lightning Flint. For example, during his fight with Shinguuji Kurono, he employed Lightning Flint at a distance of less than five meters, surpassing her neural reaction speed.

So, naturally, some might inquire, "Couldn't he simply continue increasing his speed to five or ten times the speed of sound, or even directly reach the speed of light?"

In that scenario, no enemy would ever escape his blade, and he would truly be invincible, correct?

To that, Ryoji could only respond –

It's conceivable, but not entirely feasible.

His Absolute Speed is undeniably faster than "the opponent," but this "opponent" is a concept; it must be something physically present around him. He cannot designate a distant target to exceed in speed.

Fortunately, the target isn't restricted to people; it could be sound, light, etc.

Out of curiosity, Ryoji once attempted to set "light" as the target to surpass.

But at that moment, his intuition delivered such an intense and unprecedented warning of death that he instinctively canceled the setting and never tried it again.

In fact, it was proven that Ryoji's Absolute Speed could be utilized with light as the target.

But to attain that corresponding Absolute Speed, he would have to accept the corresponding consequences.

If he were to exceed light's speed, he would be instantly vaporized into plasma, leaving not even a drop of blood or a single cell.

(End of Chapter)