Non Rook was a child when he saw his world burn, reduced to ashes along with his family, his home, and everything he knew.

  The attack was brutal, sudden, like a wind of destru that left nothing in its wake. He lost everything he ever loved. The faces of his parents, the screams of panid the fmes ing everything were etched in his memory—indelible images that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  He suffered all of this… because of a dragon.

  After the attack, he was taken in by knights and brought to an orphanage. Despite being surrounded by other children who had also lost something, No alone.

  The loneliness didn't e from a ck of pany, but from a deeper sensation: the feeling of being disected from everything.

  While the other children ughed or adapted, he observed in sileh a distant gaze, trapped in memories of whehing was fine.

  But it wasn't until he ehe academy that things began to ge.

  Through rigorous exams, where others failed, he excelled.

  It wasn't just his intellige his determination that set him apart.

  He was determio find something more, something that would give him purpose amidst everything he had lost.

  And it was there, at the academy, where his life took an ued turn.

  Magic fasated him, but not just any kind of magic: it was time magic that captured his attention.

  Time magic wasn't popur. In fact, many sidered it useless.

  Rewinding the world's time by just 5 seds?

  That, plus the time it took to prepare that magic… seemed more like a bad joke, a trick with no real utility in times of war.

  After all, magic was a tool used to win battles, protect cities, a enemies.

  What good was rewinding time by 5 seds only to return to the same starting point?

  Using time magic required enormous preparation, both in terms of materials and the mihe mage had to possess, coupled with the physical strain it caused afterward.

  In many ways, it was absurd magibsp;

  Everyone saw it as a silly exercise, something that wasn't even worth teag ih.

  However, Non didn't view time magic like the others.

  Where everyone saw limitations, he saw potential, despite everyoelling him that this magic was worthless.

  For Non, those 5 seds could be something more. And if he could take that magic further… he could even ge his past.

  That's why, despite the popurity he was gaining from his grades, he chose to pursue that path. While his cssmates and even teachers ridiculed him from the moment they learned he had started practig it, Non immersed himself even deeper into studying that magic. Ign invitations, outings, and gatherings with his peers… he sacrificed everything to i every sed in learning more about that magibsp;

  Non practiced both publicly aly, spending hours perfeg his trol, experimenting with variations and teiques that no one else bothered to try.

  Over the years, aside from earning the niame "The King of Déjà Vu," he began to notiething curious.

  The magic, whiitially only allowed him to rewind time by 5 seds, began to expand.

  The time it took to cast the magic to rewind time was initially 3 seds if the intation was done perfectly, but if you added the preparation time… it exceeded 40 seds.

  In short, the magic was still useless.

  But… gradually, the rewind seds increased.

  First, it was 5.1 seds. Something Non didn't believe at first, but when it increased to 5.2… 5.3… 5.4… his excitement grew.

  Then one day, by mere act, while Non was about to plete the spell to rewind time again, a nearby window opened ainguished several dles that were essential for casting the spell. But, to Non's surprise, time still rewound, and he saw with his own eyes how that se repeated, realizing that it was no longer necessary to use the preparations, thus saving all the time that made this spell seemingly worthless.

  And sihat act, Non noticed he could willfully use magic that slowed time around him while he moved normally, creating an effect where he appeared to move faster to external eyes, but it caused him tremendous physical exhaustion.

  This great progress excited Non, making him feel as if he had ehe realm of gods. However, he decided to keep this adva a secret and to practice much more privately.

  Ae being forced to study ical disciplines, primarily to prepare him for the iable war raging beyond the academy walls, he opped perfeg his mastery of time magibsp;

  He learned fire magic, but only enough to remain unnoticed.

  In his heart, he still trusted in his magic, even if no one else did.

  Years of practid dedication granted him something that very few could even imagine.

  He no longer needed a wand to cast that spell.

  His e with time magic had bee so deep that he could manipute the flow of time with just his will.

  Of course, there were limits, and this created various variations. Without the wand, he couldn't rewind as far back as before, but still, he had reached a level of trol that no one else could even dream of.

  Then came the day.

  The day the war caught up with him. The academy was not just a pce of learning; it was also a recruiting ground for future warriors.

  The kingdom was at war, and the need fes at the front was desperate.

  All the students khat eventually, it would be their turn to fight. And wheime came, no one was surprised when Non was assigo a unit of mages. But what no one expected was his decision to fight as a knight.

  When Non announced he would go to the front with a sword instead of a staff, his cssmates looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

  "A mage on the front lines…?" they murmured among themselves.

  It was madness.

  In battle, mages belonged in the rear, where they could cast their spells from a distance, protected by infantry and cavalry.

  Knights, seasoned in bat, were the ones who handled close bat, and there was no pce for a mage with warrior fantasies amidst the chaos of an enemy charge.

  However, no oopped him.

  The sileh which his panio him go spoke volumes.

  Non, for his part, walked toward the front with the sword in hand and the weight of uainty on his shoulders.

  He felt fear growing in his chest, a palpable fear that threateo cloud his se times.

  The echo of enemy horse hooves resonated in the distance, and he khat every passing sed brought him closer to the edge of death.

  Despite everything, there was something in him that remaieadfast, a certainty that set him apart from the others.

  He had time.

  'Few seds make the differeween life ah…' Non thought as he tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword.

  He was no longer like the rest. While others had only a moment to react, he possessed something more valuable.

  36.8 extra seds, but without the wand, that amount was halved.

  Though he wasn't close to his goal, for now, it was enough.

  Just as the first sword came crashing down toward him, Non acted.

  He rewound time by only 2 seds, just enough to see the attace more.

  Now he kly how his enemy would move, how they would twist their wrist at the end of the strike. And with that knowledge, he dodged with precision, leaning to the side just before the bde reached him.

  The seds became his advantage.

  Where other warriors had only one ce, he gave himself several.

  He rewound 2 or 3 seds, just enough to adapt and anticipate his enemies' movements.

  He did it punctually, like a perfectly tuned meism.

  He didn't abuse his power. He khat if he rewound too much, he would have to wait the same time to use his magic again.

  That's why each rewind was measured with great precision.

  The enemy knights soon began to grow frustrated.

  To them, it seemed that Non had superhumaion capabilities, as he anticipated every strike or thrust.

  With time magic slowing everything around him, Non moved taking advantage of the world's slow pace, dodging attacks that would have been impossible for anyone else to avoid.

  Enemies watched him advand retreat as if he were pying with them, and that fusion weakehem.

  At first, the knights from his own army looked at him with disdain.

  They believed that what he was doing was a selfish act, that his presen the front lines was nothing more than a whim of someone who didn't uand the gravity of battle.

  However, they soon began to realize that Non wasn't just surviving; he was helping others.

  His alerts, his shouts warning of enemy movements before they occurred, were saving lives.

  At first, they had ignored him, but as more time passed… they began to admire him.

  The battle, which had initially seemed like an immi sughter, began to ge.

  Little by little, the enemy knights, who had initially charged with strength and fidearted to retreat. The shouts of their leaders, trying taheir ranks, were drowned out by the chaos and fusion.

  With every step they took backward, Non's front and his panions advanced, unstoppable.

  The enemy, bewildered by the fierce resistand precise coordination of the knights, began to fall one by one.

  Desperate cries for retreat started to spread among the enemy ranks.

  First, a handful of soldiers, then dozens, and finally the cavalry, which had been their most imposing force, turned on their heels and fled. The bahat had once waved proudly now fell, trampled by their own men in a panibsp;

  The battlefield, which minutes before had been a whirlwind of chaos ah, filled with a strange calm. And it was then that the voices of Non's army began to rise.

  "Victory!" shouted one of the knights, raising his sword to the sky.

  Soon, others followed suit.

  The victory cry resonated across the field, and within seds, it transformed into a deafening roar.

  Exhausted soldiers, covered i and blood, shouted with joy, raising their ons in a sign of triumph.

  The massacre they had inflicted on the enemy was evident, and the fear they had initially felt when fag a much rger army faded, repced by the euphoria of victory.

  Amidst the cheers and hugs, Non lowered his sword, breathing heavily.

  Fatigue was slowly catg up with him, the strain of using his magic over and inning to weigh on his muscles.

  Still, he remained upright, watg as the few remaining enemies fled into the horizon.

  Suddenly, he felt a presence beside him.

  A knight, with a face dirty from dirt and blood, looked at him with a mix of curiosity and admiration.

  Throughout the battle, Non had been an enigma. He had surprised everyoh his physical prowess and the precision with which he fought.

  No one, not even the most veteran knights, had expected such a thing from a mage.

  "Hey, you…" said the knight, an incredulous smile on his face. "What's your name?"

  Non, still rec from the exertion, looked up at him.

  "My name…," he said, his voice firm but calm. "Is Non. Non Rook."