Immediately after giving the signal, Tom rushed toward Mooglie and Matour at his fastest speed. However, just as he approached them, Matour wielded his spear and slashed it towards Tom, creating a five-meter wind blade that shot towards him at lightning speed.
Having previously battled Matour and being familiar with his wind sword attack, Tom was not caught off guard and easily dodged the wind blade by moving to the left.
However, just as he moved to the left, Mooglie appeared in front of him and delivered a powerful blow.
Tom barely had time to block the strike by crossing his arms before being propelled backward faster than he had come.
Boom!
Tom came crashing with so much force that he destroyed a significant portion of a tree trunk, which exploded into a shower of wood and caused dust to fill the air.
"Arg..."
Tom moaned in pain as he got up. Fortunately, he had used Etherium to cover his back and head from the impact. Nonetheless, even with that protection, he was sure he had just broken one or two ribs.
Luckily, it wouldn't stop him from continuing the fight.
Tom emerged from the dust and was surprised by the welcoming committee rushing toward him.
Just a few meters away, three wind blades were approaching him at top speed, with Mooglie following closely behind.
"Well, the least we can say is that they aren't holding back," thought Tom with a chuckle.
He had told them to come at him with all their strength, but seeing them fight with such fervor made him wonder if they were currently trying to kill him.
However, Tom wasn't complaining; in fact, it was quite the opposite.
Meanwhile, the wind blades were closing in on him and were just a few dozen meters away.
When the wind slashes were within 5 meters of him, a light smile appeared on Tom's face as he thought:
"I guess I should also go all out."
"Temporal stasis."
Whoosh.
Just after Tom muttered those words, it was as if the world around him came to a sudden halt. No, it wasn't like the world came to a sudden halt; it truly did come to a halt.
Everything around Tom stopped moving—the blades of grass, the dust in the air, and, of course, the wind blades that were just inches from his face.
This time, unlike when he only slowed down objects, he completely stopped them, of course doing that required more effort.
That's why he could only stop things completely for approximately 5 seconds.
With his astralum still activated, Tom swiftly maneuvered away from the wind blades and focused his attention on Mooglie, preparing to receive an incoming strike.
However, to his surprise, no attack came. In fact, when he paused time around him, Mooglie froze, wide-eyed and bewildered. It wasn't just Mooglie; Matour was caught in the same state of shock.
While Tom had been training to better control his astralum, the two wisemonkies had been training individually and occasionally sparring with each other. So none of them were present when Tom successfully stopped time around things for the first time, which explained their astonishment and awe.
Seeing their reactions, Tom's smile grew wider as he closed in on Mooglie before the wisemonkey could regain his composure.
They were in the midst of a battle, and if his opponents chose to be distracted, he wouldn't complain but would take advantage of the opportunity.
Mooglie finally snapped out of it when he saw Tom approaching and thus decided to intercept him. However, as he drew closer, Tom flung a handful of sand into Mooglie's face, blinding him.
With his opponent blinded, Tom easily closed the gap and delivered a powerful blow to Mooglie's abdomen, sending him flying.
Next, Tom wasted no time and headed straight for Matour, who was about to launch another wind blade attack.
However despite his speed, Tom knew he wouldn't make it in time to interrupt Matour's technique activation. So, he quickly picked up stones from the ground, infused them with his Etherium to make them more resilient, and launched them at Matour while continuing to sprint towards him.
Thanks to Tom's current strength and the Etherium reinforcement, the stones flew as fast as bullets.
Seeing the barrage of stones hurtling toward him, Matour had no choice but to parry them with his spear.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The sound of the stones striking the spear was similar to bullets hitting metal, though it was just the collision of stones against a simple piece of wood.
Immediately after he deflected Tom's stone barrage, Tom appeared in front of Matour and attempted to deliver a punch to his abdomen, just as he had done with Mooglie.
However, unlike Mooglie, Matour, thanks to his astralum of wind, managed to evade Tom's punch by conjuring a shield of wind between them, pushing Tom back a few meters.
Tom stumbled back and barely had time to regain his balance when he saw Matour lunging toward him, the pointed tip of his spear aimed at Tom's head.
He attempted to move backward, but at that moment, he noticed Mooglie behind him charging at him with a raised fist.
Seeing the pincer attack from his two subordinates, Tom felt a sense of distress. However, despite his unease, a wild grin grew on his face.
'What to do to get outta of this—'
Just as he pondered his options, a sudden idea struck him, causing his grin to widen even further.
'I don't know if that will work, but it should in theory.'
While he contemplated his options, his two opponents closed in on him, with Matour getting closer more rapidly thanks to his astralum, which enhanced his speed.
Despite Matour rapidly closing the distance, Tom made no attempt to dodge the spear. Instead, he remained still in his position.
Just as Matour found himself merely a meter away from Tom, he finally took action.
"Temporal stasis."
Just like the last time, as soon as he activated his astralum, everything around him ceased moving, at least in terms of inanimate objects. However, Matour, being a living being, remained unaffected by the technique, as Tom still couldn't stop the time of living creatures.
But freezing Matour was never his intention in the first place. His goal was to halt Matour's spear!
Immediately after activating his time astralum, just like all the inanimate objects within its radius, Matour's spear froze in place. This abrupt halt caused Matour to lose his momentum and balance as his spear, which he was still holding in his arms, suddenly stopped while he was in motion.
And as if that wasn't enough, right after that, Tom deactivated his astralum, further destabilizing Matour and weakening his grip on the spear.
In that moment, Tom seized Matour's lance with his left hand and, at the same time, delivered a powerful blow with his right hand that sent Matour hurtling like a cannonball.
Immediately after striking, Tom twisted the newly acquired spear, turned it rapidly 180 degrees, and raised it just under Mooglie's throat, who had intended to attack from behind.
"I win."