[PvP Bonus: Defeat 'Celsius']
Tempo immediately recognized that name and the appearance of the young man who stood at the end of the mansion's driveway. 'It's that kid I knocked out in one punch. So other players are allowed to interrupt your Domain run? The tutorial didn't mention that...' It was unmistakably him. He had the same hunched posture, long hair, and pale skin. However, this time, he'd grown even stronger. While Ky was too busy feeling sorry for himself, Celsius was grinding. After just a week, he'd reached level ten.
"Finally, I've found you! That punk kid who landed a lucky shot on me last week!" The ice manipulator's calm, coolness had disappeared. The way he spoke was crazed, and his facial mannerisms were sporadic and almost inhuman. "My archnemsis... Tempo! That has a ring to it!"
'Archnemisis?' Tempo was dumbfounded, to say the least. In all honestly, he forgot the guy even existed until he saw him standing before him. "I don't think we're archnemises, my guy. We fought one time." Tempo's words only compelled Celsius to cackle to himself. "And that's how it all starts. Besides, you named yourself Tempo after me, right? Tempo sounds like temperature! It fits perfectly with Celsius!"
Tempo's shoulders dropped and his eyebrows furrowed. "Hold up. Do you think I named myself Tempo because of you? Are you... stupid or something?"
"There's no shame in it! Archnemises are often fans of one another." Tempo's shoulders somehow drooped even lower than before and his already blank expression became even more unamused. "Alright, man. Let's make this quick. I have skill points I want to spend."
"Oh, no. I'll enjoy this! Go ahead, come at me!" Celsius was clearly baiting Tempo, a bait that the time manipulator wouldn't bite. 'He's overly confident. He must have some crazy tech up his sleeve or something. I could probably just freeze time and beat him, but now I'm curious.' Ky drew his gun and aimed it right at Celsius, though the chilling, pale-skinned beta tester remained unmoved. 'He definitely has something up his sleeve. I don't wanna kill the kid. I'll just reverse the damage if that happens.'
BANG!
Ky fired his G19, calling out Celsius's bluff, though the bullet was deflected by a thick layer of ice that covered Celsius's body at the last moment. The ice manipulator let out a cocky cackle as his hands stayed at his hips. "Pretty sick, right?" The layer of ice disappeared and his pale skin was once again visible.
'That was pretty sick...' Ky felt a little jealous. Of course, he could effectively do the same thing by reversing time the moment a bullet hits him, but the effect looked pretty cool to see in real-time.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Ky emptied his magazine into the ice manipulator, each one activating the thick icy layer with the strength of steel around him. Ky reversed time, going back to the moment after he fired the first shot to conserve his ammunition. The ice manipulator let out a cocky cackle as his hands stayed at his hips. "Pretty sick, right?" The layer of ice disappeared and his pale skin was once again visible.
'Interesting...' Ky was pondering hard on the ins and outs of his opponent's skillset. As a time manipulator and a Technique build, his brain was his most powerful weapon. 'That must be passive considering a human wouldn't be able to react that fast... Well, he is a gamer, right? Still, the likelihood of him activating it by himself is low.' Ky raised his gun again and shot at the ice manipulator.
BANG!
However, Ky intentionally missed and Celsius's armor made of ice did not activate. Again, he reversed time to the moment Celsius revealed his new ability, not wanting his so-called nemesis to know that he'd been theory-crafting this entire time. The ice manipulator let out a cocky cackle as his hands stayed at his hips. "Pretty sick, right?" The layer of ice disappeared and his pale skin was once again visible.
'It's definitely a passive. It's just like my Second Chance ability except his doesn't seem to be on a cooldown... But there has to be a downside. There has to be a reason why he doesn't keep the ice skin active at all times.'
As Tempo found himself in deep thought, Celsius was growing impatient. For Tempo, the battle had already entered multiple phases as he messed with time, but for Celsius, Tempo simply fired one bullet before standing in place.
"Alright, my turn!" Celsius pointed his palm at Tempo, compelling the time warper to use his Time Slow ability and recognize what was coming next. Like a machine gun, Celsius started shooting ice bullets from his hand, but unfortunately for the pale beta tester, Tempo outran them with ease.
With his sword trailing behind him, Tempo rushed toward Celsius and slashed diagonally toward his torso, however, the ice barrier still formed and blocked Tempo's attack. With just a few seconds of slowed time left, Tempo took a few steps back before time resumed. "So, you're a speedster!" Celsius deduced. From his point of view, time was not slown and Tempo simply sped up his own movement. "Too bad for you, my Ice Skin is instant!"
"Yeah, you figured me out." Tempo spoke with an annoyed cadence. 'This guy's getting on my nerves. I think I've had enough testing. I'll end this now.'
Snap!
With the snap of his finger, Ky froze the world around him. Leisurely, he walked over to his unfortunate nemesis and raised his blade high above his head. Using the blunt side of the sword, Ky slammed it down onto Celsius's head before resuming time.
Snap!
Time resumed and the ice manipulator immediately fell face-first into the pavement. Since time had been frozen, Celsius's special armor couldn't activate to block Tempo's attack. Once again, Tempo stood triumphantly over Celsius's body. 'What a waste of time. I do wonder how I'd beat the ice armor if I couldn't pause time though. Oh well.'
[Objective Complete]
[Reward - Four Skill Points + Two Chaos Points]
'I see... Since he was here to stop me after I chose the Chaos route, he played the role of the hero this time. Maybe next time, kid.'
Ky placed his sword in its scabbard, placed his hands in his pockets, and began walking toward the exit. A door suddenly appeared before him and when he stepped through it, he found himself standing outside of the physical Domain in the real world, surrounded by onlookers who were still investigating the thing.
[Domain Complete!]
[Reward - Five Skill Points + Two Chaos Points + Keeper of Time Cloak (Uncommon)]
[Level Up!]
[ATK - 3] -> [ATK - 4]
[AGL - 3] -> [AGL - 4]
[TNQ - 7] -> [TNQ - 10]
[DEF - 1] -> [DEF - 2]
[VIT - 2] -> [VIT - 2]
They began surrounding Ky, trying to get answers from him, but the time manipulator simply froze time and disappeared before their eyes. Eventually, Ky was walking back home, holding the sword in his hand, inspecting it. 'I can't believe I get to keep this sword... Sick.' After marveling at the blade for long enough, he opened the Hero x Villain app on his phone to check his status.
'So I have four Chaos Points, one Law Point, and ten Skill Points. Let's see what the Chaos tree has to offer now that I'm Chaos Level 2.' Ky began scrolling through the skill tree with his thumb until he reached the Level 2 section. 'Mind Erase... Interesting.'
[Ability - Mind Erase - Tempo can touch a person to forcefully erase the last ten seconds of their memory. Skill duration can be upgraded.]
[Cooldown - One minute]
[Cost - Four Chaos Points]
'I don't see why not.'
[Abiltiy Unlocked!]
'Now for the Neutral Skill Tree.'
Ky swiped his thumb and began browsing his options. He was Level 5 by this point, so there were plenty of options to choose from. 'Temporal Cloak?'
[Ability - Temporal Cloak - Tempo gains the ability to envelop a small non-living object in a Temporal Cloak, allowing him to control time around the specific object. Can be upgraded to larger items and living organisms.]
[Cooldown - Five Seconds]
[Cost - 10 Skill Points]
'God damn, that's expensive. But it seems busted, so... Worth!'
[Abiltiy Unlocked!]
Ky spotted a small stone lying on the ground. 'That'll do.' He picked it up and looked toward a nearby tree. He then enveloped it in a Temporal Cloak, opting to speed time around the object before throwing it toward the tree. The moment the rock left Ky's fingertips, it began moving at a speed comparable to a bullet, leaving a gash in the tree's trunk upon impact. 'Holy shit...'
Seeing the damage dealt by a simple stone and a level 5 ability had Ky pondering about the other beta testers. 'If Celsius is already level 10, then other players must be equal to that or even higher. And worst of all... They probably aren't idiots.'