I can't understand Envy's character — it's as if she is everything and nothing at the same time.
"And stop taking my appearance."
"Okay."
She passed her hand in front of her head, and it turned into Mary's.
"Take one that's not someone I know."
"You could at least make an effort."
She passed her hand in front of her face again, and it took the shape of a fairly pretty person.
"Is that good enough for you now?"
"Fine. Now tell me one thing: who do you work for?"
"I can't say. She's watching our conversation right now. But what I can say is that you know her."
"How could I possibly know your master?"
"Remember the thesis contest? You met her there, and you even thought you were going to die. She was accompanied by Lo… the maid."
"Why did you stop talking?"
"Because I felt her threat. She would have made me suffer if I had said it."
"But I didn't feel anything."
"That's normal. Otherwise, you'd already be dead. You barely felt her aura back at the contest, and even then, you nearly collapsed."
Wait, is she talking about that terrifying shadow?
"Indeed, she is. As soon as he can, he places himself in the shadow of our goddess to serve her every wish."
"And why are you so worried about her?"
"Because she doesn't want your identity to be revealed. But you could try guessing it."
She threw a book at me, which froze in place the moment it left her hand.
"Oh right, I forgot we're inside a time-stopped zone."
"How are you able to move in it?"
"I can see your question forming. To help you understand how this zone works, watch this."
She took a book from the library and threw it to the floor, but it also stopped in midair the moment it left her hand.
"It's like everything is paused. They can't move unless something interferes with them. Normally, we shouldn't be able to move either, but I'm strong enough to resist it. And you… you have your time anomaly, which makes you feel the effects differently."
So that was the strange feeling I sensed when I entered the room.
"But how is this possible? Is it a preservation spell or some kind of time magic?"
"You're wrong. The source of this barrier is here."
She tapped on a wall and pulled out a small green stone.
(Author: This is the Time Stone from the MCU. Note that the Infinity Stones will be the only reference to that universe.)
"This is the Time Stone. It was lost when Atlantis sank. When it went down, we tried to recreate it with ordinary earth, but it disintegrated, becoming sand."
"The sand of time?"
"Exactly. The same sand that gave you the curse, the same sand that powers a time-turner. But compared to imitations, this stone is a thousand times more powerful. Another interesting thing—teleportation circles work like energy stones that influence space. The great explosion that sank Atlantis happened because of a loss of control over a stone of unlimited power."
She made a purple stone appear, and it sent chills down my spine because of the absurd amount of power it radiated.
"A weak person could be destroyed just by holding this stone, in much the same way you were turned into gold by Greed."
Author: "This story is messed up, so we'll go back to the book in the next chapter."