Chapter 201: Chapter 201 - Stop And Go
Everett’s eyes were completely bloodshot as his rapier moved in a continuous zigzag pattern of silver light. Each individual strike carries enough high-voltage electrical current to completely fry the internal organs of any person it comes into contact with.
Kurt dropped his center of gravity into a low brawler’s stance. His superior close-quarters combat prowess and unique skill kept him in a state of hyper-focus as he parried and weaved through the lightning strikes.
BZZT—CLANG! WHOOSH! CLANG!
"Die! Die! Die!!!" Everett doubled his speed as his silver aura flared.
Finding an opportunity, he swung his left hand forward and discharged a massive bolt of lightning point blank at Kurt’s face. Unbeknownst to him, however, Kurt’s right brass knuckled fist was already enroute toward his ribs.
WHAM!!!
"NGH–AURGH!"
Driven by psychotic pride, Everett drove the tip of his rapier cleanly through Kurt’s right thigh while he was staggering back, drawing a deep gash of blood and releasing a backlash of lighting that forced both men to recoil away from each other.
As he skidded backward across the ruined stone, Kurt stabilized his stance and looked down at the bleeding gash on his leg. His smile widened when he realised that his wound began to close faster than usual thanks to him pouring mana onto it which allowed his adaptation to work faster.
"Wow. Is that the best an S-rank can do?! Come on, Ev! I thought you were going to kill me!"
"Shut it! Do not call me that!"
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK! BOOM!!!
Losing all rational thought, Everett vaulted into the air. By using a destructive discharge of wind and lightning, his body shot straight up toward the clouds, ascending higher and higher until he hovered nearly hundreds of feet above the open pit.
The sky began to darken as a massive blanket of unnatural thunderclouds rapidly condensed around his airborne figure.
["HE IS TAKING IT TO THE HEAVENS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT LOOKS LIKE EVERETT HERST HAS BEEN PUSHED OVER THE TIPPING POINT! OPTING NOT TO PLAY HIS OPPONENTS GAMES AND TO END THIS BATTLE IN ON GO!"]
Up in the sky, Everett raised his rapier high above his head. The thunderclouds roared as dozens of silver lightning coiled around his blade like serpents, preparing to rain down an apocalypse that would completely flatten the entire arena into a crater of molten glass.
"LOOK DOWN UPON YOU GRAVE, YOU MISERABLE TRASH! CAUSE THIS IS THE END FOR YOU! GO TO HELL!"
Down on the floor, Kurt stood perfectly still as he looked up at Everett with a wild smile. He quickly pocketed brass knuckle switchblades and drew the dark blade from its scabbard.
"Sorry my sweet little knives. Looks like you won’t be able to stab the lighting boy today. I’m going to need Silent Night for this one since it’s the perfect time to test out my true abilities. Step one: Mana Coating."
VREEEEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a sudden flash of movement, Kurt enveloped his entire blade in blue mana. But before any of them could make the next move...
Before the thunderclouds had ever rolled over the coliseum, and before Kurt had stepped into the ring to dismantle the parasites that dared to think of taking Diana from him, we need to go back to about an hour ago.
"I need to know what exactly my natural elemental affinity is... and how the hell do I actually use it?"
Emelie and Ayako stopped eating their popcorn and exchanged a brief glance before turning their attention back to him.
"Give us your hands," Emelie said.
Kurt extended his hands to them both. Emelie took his left, and Ayako firmly wrapped around his right.
Almost instantly, both girls’ eyes glowed brighter. They began scanning his mana veins, pushing their respective mana deep into his being to read the blueprint of his soul.
Suddenly, Ayako’s eyes widened. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she stared up at Kurt with absolute shock. Emelie, however, merely let out an unsurprised sigh.
"Ms. Emelie... you do not look surprised. Are you truly not sensing the anomaly within him?"
"I am. And I’m guessing we’re sensing the same thing. Haaaa, I had a sneaking suspicion this was the case ever since he fought with Principal Valentine ... I guess this just confirms it."
"Alright, clear the mystery then." Kurt looked between them. "What is it? Do I get to throw fireballs easier than others or what?"
Emelie looked him dead in the eye with a serious expression. "Kurt... you have a natural affinity over the element of Time."
"Rossana-sama. Such an affinity is a mythical, forbidden lineage. Fire, water, wind, earth, even light and dark to an extent – those are elements of the material world. But Time? It is a cosmic constant. No amount of brutal training could ever master it, let alone simply learn it. You either are born with it or are entirely blind to it. The same goes for the element over Space."
"Meaning..."
"Meaning... we have no way of teaching you how to use it." Emelie answered sympathetically. "There are no textbooks for time magic in Eldoria, Kurt. I’m sorry. And before you ask, no I don’t know anyone who also possesses the Time affinity. You’re the first person I know who does..."
"I see... Well, don’t sweat it, girls. At least I’ve got a starting point. I’ll figure something out."
......
CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Back in the present, the sky above the coliseum was screaming with volatile lightning that reached its crescendo.
"DIE, KURT ROSSANA!!!" Everett thrusted his silver rapier downward, and the massive cloud of silver lightning violently discharged, raining down a cataclysmic electrical fury directly toward the center of the ring.
The warning signals tingling and pulsing inside Kurt were firing at a suicidal frequency.
Every single instinct screamed at him to run. But he ignored them all. He kept his feet firmly planted, letting the silver light race straight for him, which would destroy his body to the brink of total annihilation.
Right as the attack was about to hit, the roaring sounds of people screaming and cheering, vanished.
The blinding silver glare of lightning lost its momentum and the entire world violently around Kurt began to bleach into a monochrome shade of gray. And the massive bolts of lightning, which had been traveling at the speed of light, suddenly slowed down, quite literally freezing in mid-air.
"I’m really becoming a pro at this," Kurt muttered to himself while looking up at the distant unhinged face of Everett hovering in the sky.
"I hate that this near-death situation is the only way I can force myself into my element. Now how the hell do I actually control it? And what can I properly do with it...?
"Hmm. Time. Let’s think about it. How does the concept actually work? There’s pausing, rewinding, fast-forwarding, and slowing down... Probably a hell of a lot more things that I’m missing."
He pointed his sword at the airborne Everett, took a deep breath, and yelled with all his might: "Rewind!"
Nothing happened.
"Go, go, gadget time powers!"
Again, nothing happened.
"What an utterly embarrassing display of magical execution, Suicide-Man."
A proper and highly sophisticated English voice suddenly drifted up from beneath him.
Kurt slowly lowered his blade and looked down. Standing perfectly comfortable amidst the shattered cobblestones, completely unaffected by the frozen world, was a tiny white cat.
"Well, look who decided to show up. Hey, Kitty."
"A wonderful afternoon to you as well, Kurt. Though, if I may ask a rather pressing question... Why on earth are you standing directly in front of a lethal elemental discharge? As I’m sure you know, it may look frozen, but it is still technically moving."
"No can do. You see, I’m currently in the middle of trying to figure out how to use my mythical time powers."
Kitty let out an exhausted sigh and leapt perfectly on top of Kurt’s torn shoulder, "You are already using it. Just look around you."
"Yeah, but I want to use it without having to be on the verge of death every single time."
"A fair point. Hmmm... Ordinarily, only another true time magician could ever teach a fledgling one the proper ways of mastering their abilities. And although I may not be one myself, I do understand the gist... sort of. I suppose I shall help you get a proper feel for the flow."
Kurt suspiciously side-eyed the cat on his shoulder. "Hey... just who are you anyway, Kitty?"
Kitty didn’t answer. He remained perfectly still, as he closed his eyes and entered a state of intense concentration.
Suddenly, the white cat snapped his eyes open. "Alright. Moments before disaster captured. It was rather tricky to get the alignment right since I had to use your own mana signature, but I managed it."
"Hmm? You did what?"
"... Kurt, listen to me very carefully."
’Don’t ignore me.’
"This gray world that you are currently seeing... it is part of your personal Domain. This is your world, your private reality, in which only your will controls the flow of time. Inside this specific space, you are, for all intents and purposes, a god."
Kitty then pointed his tiny paw toward the frozen stands.
"As for how far this domain has expanded... Since you are still an unrefined novice to this concept, it only extends as far as your eyes can see. Or, well, in your specific case... just an eye.
"Which means this coliseum is the limit of your world. For now, you have found a way to enter this space through raw near-death adrenaline. That is a barbaric, entirely unsustainable method.
"Furthermore, as you should well know, staying inside this reality consumes a continuous amount of mana. Stay too long inside and your body will fail."
"Right," Kurt nodded. "Got it. So how do I actually make things... happen in this world?"
"Focus. Instead of shouting those ridiculous incantations all willy-nilly... you must say those words while infusing mana directly into your vocal cords. You must make this world obey the sound of your voice."
"... How?"
"Picture it like you always have. You are remarkably adept at mana manipulation. Picture the specific "action of time" you wish to execute. Infuse that mental image directly into your words and speak it into existence."
Kurt slowly lowered his gaze onto his blade. The translucent blue mana that had been shifting and swirling around the steel stood completely still.
He closed his eye and thought deeply about the concept of time.
"......."
"..."
"......"
"Uhm, Kurt. No pressure or anything, but do you mind hurrying up. Please don’t forget that you are standing in front of–"
VREEEEM.
Suddenly the mana dispersed into thousands of bright, sparkling glitters of blue light that danced around his steel like stardust.
’He... he actually did it,’ Kitty thought in surprise.
’Oh, Bula... The man you have chosen is an absolute freak of nature.’
Kurt snapped his eye open. He smiled and pointed the stardust-coated black blade directly at the frozen figure of Everett Herst up in the sky.
"Alright. I’m ready, Kitty."
"Splendid," Kitty murmured as his form began to lightly blur. One more thing before you go off. It is ok to fail on your first attempt. Just make sure... that you do not fail more than once."
Kurt turned his head slightly to look at his shoulder. "Ok to fail? What do you mean by–"
He stopped. His shoulder was entirely empty. Kitty had completely vanished into thin air without a single trace.
"... Classic."
Then, with an explosive burst upward, Kurt jumped away to remove himself from the direct impact path of the creeping up lightning bolt.
’This is my world. My reality. Ok, Ev. Time to turn the clock back on.’
Kurt opened his mouth, and in a resonant voice that could be heard throughout the whole coliseum, he commanded:
"RESUME!"
The world didn’t revert its color back to normal, however, the time did actually snap back to reality, signaling that Kurt was still keeping his personal domain active.
CRACK-BOOMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The massive rain of silver lightning instantly resumed its downward trajectory, slamming on the exact empty spot where Kurt had been standing a second ago.
Comments