William cast a Spell with Time Magic that significantly slowed down the movements of the Cultivator. Since his Cultivation was much lower than William's usual opponents, he accidentally used too much strength, which slowed the man's movements to a snails pace.
His hands moved at a speed one hundred times slower than before, which to a normal person would look as if he wasn't moving at all.
What William had done was essentially reduce the speed of a car on the highway to that of a man walking on the street. The effects made it more than obvious to the other thieves that something had happened to the man.
-Developed a new Magic Spell: +1 PP
-New Spell: Time Halt
"Old Thomas, what's wrong?" the Nascent Soul Cultivator asked, but he didn't receive a response. Instead, Thomas slowly moved his eyes to look in the direction of the man who spoke, his mouth opening simultaneously.
Though his mouth was open, no words came out for a long time, "Help...me..."
It was at this moment that William and Carl burst forth from the shadows simultaneously. William expanded the range of his Time Spell to cover the entire area, slowing down everyone except for Carl, who he made sure to avoid.
Everyone's movements were slowed to a hundred or even a thousand times slower than normal, all except for the Nascent Soul Cultivator that only lost about ninety percent of his normal speed. That being said, it was more than enough for Carl and William to thin out the numbers.
Carl released all of his Magical Beasts at the same time, simultaneously ordering the hidden Desert Beetle to burst forth from underground and encase the weakest thieves in stone.
He controlled the other Magical Beasts to use various restricting Spells, while William paused, then retrieved a Starmetal Longsword from his Space Ring, one that he forged at a hotel in the Hillvire Empire. Rather than a European-style medieval longsword, this one more resembled that of a Japanese katana, albeit longer and with a more delicate curve.
This style of blade was called a tachi, but William still considered it a longsword since it was in the same category. He rushed towards the nearest thief, the knowledge from his Weapons Master Talent kicking in as he held the longsword in a firm grip and positioned it behind him.
When he saw the Cultivator's Space Ring activate but nothing happened, William immediately knew what had happened. Taking advantage of the confusion, William performed a upwards diagonal strike with the longsword, creating a deep cut on the Cultivator's body.
"Y-You..." the man said as he jumped backwards to avoid another strike. Both arms were in front of him as he raised a wall of Earth anticipating the next strike. "Who... are you?"
William suddenly increased his speed to the maximum, his previous location just an afterimage that faded away. In his new position just behind the Cultivator, William leaned in and whispered in his ear.
"Me? I'm someone you guys shouldn't have messed with." he finished as the longsword sliced off both of the man's arms in one clean blow. Simultaneously, the man's body was frozen in place with Ice, covering his entire body until it reached his nostrils.
William looked at Carl, who was busy restraining the other Cultivators. "That should be all of them, well done."
Carl looked at the disabled Nascent Soul Cultivator with wide eyes, then smiled while giving a thumbs-up. This wasn't the first time he had been surprised by William's actions, and it surely wouldn't be the last. He opted to stop asking questions and just accept that his friend was unbeatable.
"What should we do with them? How are we going to get them up?" Carl asked.
William looked at one of the lower-level thieves that he had restricted in the very beginning, who was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm. "You, is there a faster way to get out of here?"
He didn't want to reveal his Space Element to the thieves, in case they said something later. If not for the threat of a greater enemy coming in through a portal, he wouldn't have even risked using the reverse Domain.
"Ha! You think I'll submit to you?" the thief smirked.
"Ohhh it seems you don't value your life. No problem, I'll ask someone else after I kill you." William said as he wiped the remaining droplets of blood off his longsword.
He walked toward the thief slowly, the Starmetal Longsword reflecting the ambient light of the torches as it flashed through the air and cut off the Cultivator's feet, then followed up by slicing off the legs up to his knees.