The clerics were already packing up and heading home on foot, grumbling about the distance. Sekai had zero interest in personally escorting every single one of them back.
Swordmaster Leafa stood nearby, freshly cleaned and wearing a simple robe. She fixed Sekai with a sharp, suspicious stare.
"How did you gather every cleric in the kingdom that fast?" she demanded. "No ordinary man could do that."
Princess Clau stepped between them. "Leafa, stop. Without him we never would have beaten Dark Shoggoth. He saved all of us."
Leafa's lip curled. "He's just a pervert who somehow strips girls naked."
Clau's party exchanged awkward glances and reluctantly admitted that part was true… but they still insisted he was a true Brave. Niña chimed in that they had already saved the tower earlier, which only made Leafa's eyes widen further.
Sekai started looking a little too smug. Fury immediately shot him a warning look that clearly said don't let it go to your head.
Leafa finally sighed. "If the princess supports you, I'll let it slide. But if you offend her again, I will kill you."
While Clau and Leafa discussed the cracked Great Seal; whether someone sabotaged it or if the Forces of Darkness really were returning, Sekai quietly pressed the pause button. In the frozen moment he opened both women's robes just enough to get a good look and a quick feel, then fixed everything and resumed time. Leafa left still frowning, her instincts telling her something was off about the weak-looking guy who kept pulling off impossible feats.
The timer in Sekai's vision had dropped to roughly one hour.
He was about to freeze time again so he could load Niña and Fury into the cart and head for the castle when a red-faced Clau caught his sleeve.
"Um… royalty isn't supposed to show… those parts… to anyone of the opposite gender except the person they plan to marry," she stammered. "So since you saw me… would you… maybe…?"
Sekai's brain short-circuited. He seen Princess Alicia's panties too! He slammed the pause button, turned, and sprinted away before the conversation could go any further.
Later, in the royal audience chamber, King Woz II accepted their report about rescuing Clau and destroying Dark Shoggoth. He rewarded them with a generous amount of money. The timer still ticked with thirty-five minutes remaining.
Princess Alicia thanked Sekai for saving her sister. The second she finished speaking he froze time, yanked her panties down, and started ranting under his breath.
"Why the hell didn't I get a Stage Clear after killing that thing?!"
He put everything back in place and resumed time just as dark clouds began rolling in from the south.
At first everyone assumed it was another fireworks display. Then the clouds swallowed an entire section of the capital, blotting out the sun completely. Inside the unnatural shadow, civilians screamed as shadowy demon-like creatures — darklings — tore them apart.
A horned woman in a tight dominatrix outfit stepped to the edge of the darkness, whip in hand, and laughed at the horrified crowd.
"Once you step into the dark, you die. And soon the darkness will cover everything." She gestured grandly. "Behold my master!"
A mountain-sized demon rose behind her. The King of Darkness.
Sekai felt his stomach drop. No amount of frozen time would let him kill something that big.
King Woz II tried to reassure everyone that the King of Darkness couldn't leave the Realm of Darkness… but the demon's voice boomed across the city anyway.
"You will all pay for killing Dark Shoggoth."
The timer in Sekai's vision flashed red and instantly dropped to ten minutes.
The King of Darkness raised one massive hand and cast Meteor Shower. Burning rocks began raining from the sky. "So less than 10 minutes left, and it's red? This must be... an escape event!"
Sekai didn't hesitate. He slammed the pause button, summoned Gankichi, and the two of them worked nonstop, carrying every last person out of the city while time stood still. Sekai took a few "necessary" breaks along the way to appreciate the scenery (and the women), but he got the job done.
When he finally resumed time, the entire population stood safely outside the walls. They watched in stunned silence as meteors reduced the capital to rubble.
The King of Darkness, still thinking everyone had been crushed, declared his revenge complete and withdrew into the expanding Realm of Darkness.
King Woz II stared at the smoking ruins of his castle in despair. Princess Alicia gently pointed out that every single citizen was alive and they could rebuild.
The sky suddenly lit up with fireworks. The words STAGE CLEAR floated across Sekai's vision. The timer reset to a full 240 hours, it is now ten whole days. The timer began counting down again.
Alicia looked at him with open admiration. "You pulled off another miracle…"
Sekai froze time one more time, slid her panties down just because he could, then put them back and smiled like nothing had happened.