Chapter 3

“Huh? Whose voice is that? Are you trolling me Krie? I didn’t know you can change your voice like that. You sound like a kid.”

Kei heard a girl’s voice coming from somewhere when suddenly a book came flying for his head.

Tak!

“What the hell is that for?” Kei stood up and complained about the pain.

Krie stood up and looked at him seriously. “Shut up and look at that.” She then pointed at the glowing necklace hanging on Kei’s neck.

Kei looked down and saw the necklace. He took it off and held it in front of his face.

[Oy! Can you hear me? You wake me up and then proceed to ignore me? Pretty rude if you ask me.] A girl's voice was shouting and it came from the necklace, or rather from inside the gem.

“Huh? Little girl, who are you and why are you talking in my necklace? Did you stick a device to my necklace so you can speak? Maybe those spy gadgets, wait everyone should be frozen right now.” Kei grew curious and bombarded her with questions.

[Shut up and let me talk, I’ll answer you one by one. I’m the spirit of this necklace and I was tasked to find you and help you grow. You took too long to wake me up, I should’ve woken up years ago.]

“…” Kei was clueless and didn’t understand anything. “Can you explain a little more in detail?”

[Sure, since I’m a very patient and kind spirit. I am a spirit residing in this necklace and I was tasked by the Thirteenth King of the Mortal Realm to help you grow strong enough to survive.]

Kei looked at Krie, clearly asking for help. She shook her head to show that she didn’t know anything.

Kei just nodded and asked another thing. “Can you return the time to normal then?”

The spirit answered Kei and explained carefully. “Unfortunately, not, I don’t have the ability to do that. I’m just a spirit residing in this necklace, the one who activated the time freeze is not me but you. But since I reside here, I know when it’ll end. In about 5 to 7 years the time will return to normal, before then you should be strong enough to solo and demon beast and on par with a devil in strength.”

“You mean, I caused this?” Kei looked around him and grew more perplexed.

[Yes, do you want to know why it hurts to gather magic around you? Well even if you don’t want to know I’ll tell you because I’m a generous lady.]

Kei looked at the necklace with doubt and disgust.

[Don’t you dare look at me like that. I might be a spirit now but I was royalty before I turned to this. Anyways, the reason for that is because your magic circuit is badly damaged.]

Kei was frightened about what the spirit said and asked Krie. “Huh? What do you mean? Krie, is she telling the truth?”

Krie shook his head. “I don’t know, I have to diagnose your body to know. Turn around and remove your shirt.”

Krie moved closer to him and touched his bareback with her right hand. A green light appeared and green lines like veins appeared on Kei’s back. They stayed like that for 5 minutes. Before it ended, Kei’s face was dripping with sweat and his crumpled face showed his pain.”

AHHH!!

Krie’s face grew serious and she removed her hand. “It is as the spirit said, your magic circuit is badly damaged, recovery is nigh impossible. You can’t use your magic circuit anymore.”

[I have solutions for that, but first, you must train your body till you’re better or at least on par with a devil or that angel over there.]

Krie frowned and she told the necklace. “Don’t call me ‘that angel’, my name is Krie.”

[Hohh, Ok. I’ll tell you my name, this gracious princess’ name is Remy. Remember that. What about you, boy?]

“My name’s Kei, I don’t know my mom and dad so I also don’t have a surname.” Kei responded properly as if he practiced for a hundred times.

[Alright, I’ll try to remember your names. Anyways I’ll be overseeing your training starting now. It’s 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats and a 10KM run every morning.]

“Wait, wait. I’ll die if I do that and I sure as hell don’t want to become bald.” Kei can almost see the sadistic smile of a girl emanating from the necklace, his hairs stood on its end and his legs were shaking.

[Don’t worry, I read it from One Punch Boy. It’s definitely effective. After that will be combat training with Krie in the afternoon, and then in the evening, you will study under the Great Me.]

Kei could see the light coming from the heaven coming to take him. “God, please save me. Mom, Dad, I know I’ve never met you but thanks for giving me life. I’ll be going now.”

Night came and went. Kei woke up and prepared himself. But no amount of preparation would ready him for the hell training he would undergo.

“Mom, Dad. I really wish you bought a condom that one night.”

…

5 years went by in the blink of an eye, well for the trainer, but for Kei, it felt like 5000 years.

The sun is still high in the sky, shining down on the frozen world, with almost little to no change. Except for the destroyed backyard of Kei’s apartment.

Kei was sprawled on the ground like a flattened cockroach, gasping for air. His body was full of cuts and dried blood covered most parts of his body. Not just his body but the ground he’s lying on is full of blood, dried and fresh alike.

Kei’s training increased from 100 of each workout to 500 of each and 50km per morning. To finish this within 6 hours required him to take almost little to no rest while upping his speed.

[The time freeze will end in a week. Prepare to say goodbye to Krie.]

“Goodbye? Won’t she still stay here to defend Earth?”

[No, how many years has passed since the time freeze happened? The freeze only happened here on Earth, the Heaven and Hell Realms are unaffected. She needs to go back to report exactly what happened here. Don’t worry I already told her what she needs to say.]

“Huh? When did you two speak without me knowing?”

[You’re almost always dead-asleep after training.]

“… and who’s the reason why I’m always dead-asleep?”

[…]

Kei stood up and went to wash his face. He went to Krie who was asleep on his bed and stood beside her.

“This fvcking bird, if only she was a little gentle, she’d be the most beautiful and cutest girl I’d know.”

Krie’s beauty is enough to make a country fall. Her fair skin and attractive eyes are enough to make every man alive to turn around for her. Add her rosy lips and her body that has the right curves in the right places, and the world will fall before her beauty.

[Ahem, that’s because you haven’t seen me yet.]

“Yeah, for sure, yep. Like a necklace would be beautiful.”

[You!!]

Krie suddenly turned around and moved in her sleep. She opened her eyes and saw Kei standing beside her.

“Why are you being so noisy? I just finished training you, go rest.” She rubbed her eyes and wanted to get more sleep.

“The Time Freeze would end in a week, Remy told me to say farewell.”

“Hmm, k k.” She softly said as she went back to dreamland.

“THIS DAMN BIRD!! I was gonna ask her to fly around the world with me and let her enjoy the Earth. Well, I also want to see the Earth, but…”

Krie suddenly stood up and held Kei by his collar. “I’m in. Let’s go tour the world.”

Kei was taken aback and could almost see stars for her eyes and a tail wagging behind her.

…

Kei and Krie are sitting on top of a building in Norway. Their feet dangling by the side of the building. Below them are frozen humans that look like ants. In the sky above them is the famed Aurora Borealis. The aurora is full of holes as if someone shot the sky with rockets out of rage.

“The sky is really beautiful. I’m sure it would be 10 times prettier if the holes disappear.” Krie raised her right hand as if to touch the stars in the sky.

‘Yeah, it is beautiful, but how the hell am I supposed to appreciate the aurora if a damn angel who’s the prettiest is beside me?’ Kei nodded and just stealthily looked at Krie.

Krie then stood up and put her right arm forward. A ring materialized in front of her, it was embedded with a red gem and it’s lined with platinum.

She then gave it to Kei. “As thanks for accompanying me this whole time and entertaining me. This is my gift for you, remember me when you look at it, ok?” Krie then smiled sweetly and hugged Kei. They then flew back towards South Korea.

[Hoh, she gave you that huh.]

‘Why did she give me a ring? Got to check it later with Remy for any tracking device or magic. She probably wants to find me after returning from Heaven to torture me again.’

Remy can read Kei’s thoughts due to her magic.

[This fucking blockhead. You must be a masochist to think of torture the first thing you receive a ring.]

‘You mean she’s proposing to me? Isn’t it the wrong way around?’ Kei, no matter how many books he read, has zero experience in any kind of love, be it familial, romantic, or friendly.

…

5 minutes before the time freeze ends.

“Kei, we’ve tried to fix everything back to its normal state before the time freeze began. All the broken stuff is fixed with magic.”

Kei nodded and thanked her.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. You might be asleep for at least a month or up to a year, due to your magic circuit breaking. I just thought I need to tell you.”

[You’ll be asleep for exactly 100 days. Your body did not yet receive the repercussions of using this necklace. Don’t worry, this is the reason why you trained your body.]

Kei looked at the both of them with his eyes wide open. Veins bulged in his forehead and his eyes became red. “You should tell me this kind of stuff earlier!!”

“Well, you’ve spent 11 years here, sleeping for another 100 days shouldn’t be that big of a deal.” Krie laughed cheerfully and turned around. Her wings unfurled and prepared to fly.

“Oy, wait!!” Kei reached out his hands and called for her.

She turned around with a smile and hugged Kei tightly.

Kei stood there, frozen, like the world around him. The shock turned him to stone.

Krie’s cheeks turned red and she smiled. “Goodbye.” With those words she turned around and flew away, as if dictated by magic, the world moved as soon as Krie was out of sight.

“She… Did she put some kind of magic on me?”

[Sigh! I pity Krie… stop standing there and prepare to sleep for 30 days. Don’t worry, no one can touch a single hair on you with this Great Me protecting you.]

Kei just nodded and went back to his room. He looked outside his windows to see everyone running away from the now gone cockroach without looking back.

“The time has really started moving again, huh?”

Thud!

A moment later, Kei’s face crumpled with pain and veins appeared in his whole body. He then fell towards the floor and his body started shaking uncontrollably. His shout drowned out the sounds of everyone and everything around him.

[Rest well, when you’ve woken up, the world as you know it would be different.]

A light surrounded Kei’s body and carried it to his bed. The light then turned into a barrier covering the sleeping hero idiot, because it's not just princesses who sleep, right?

--End--