Chapter 65: Capturing The Time and The Move
Five minutes later.
In front of the Elden Ring exhibition booth.
That elder draped in a gray cloak still sat there, the hourglass in his hands just flipped over, golden sand flowing at an extremely slow pace.
After all, he'd just sent away a major nuisance, and after the time reset, everything was under his control.
The elder even had the leisure to adjust his sitting posture, making himself look more like a profound Tarnished mentor.
In his view, that mage should currently be questioning his life in some corner of the convention, with no possibility of returning this quickly.
Just as the elder was preparing to close his eyes and rest, that familiar figure charged out from the crowd again with overwhelming momentum.
Kazama Chiba at this moment gripped the Sealing Staff, magical power surging throughout his body, looking completely desperate and ready to fight to the death.
The elder raised an eyebrow, seemingly somewhat surprised by this young man's persistence.
Though he knew the other party would definitely come, he hadn't expected it this quickly.
Young people just don't learn their lessons.
The same trick can't be used twice on a Saint, but it can be used infinite times on an idiot.
He didn't even shift his butt, just gave his hidden companion a look.
"Hmmm—"
The Move card appeared out of nowhere once again, using the same old trick to crash toward Chiba's chest.
The next second, that figure instantly vanished into thin air.
The corner of the elder's mouth had already curved up halfway.
However, less than half a second after that figure disappeared—
The Move card that teleported back froze in shock.
Something was wrong! The person just teleported felt light as a feather, had no weight at all, didn't even have magical power—it was like grabbing a mass of air.
Could it have been fake?!
Just as these two high-tier cards were distracted by shock for a split second—
Behind The Time card, a pair of hands reached out without warning.
The real Kazama Chiba had used the Shadow Khan's stealth ability to circle directly behind this time controller's rear.
He specifically waited until The Move card used its ability before speaking:
"Say... you two had a lot of fun playing with me just now, didn't you?"
"Now it's my turn."
Then the Sealing Staff in Chiba's hand smashed down hard on the back of the elder's head.
"Die for me!"
Though it was a spiritual seal, this physical critical hit was enough to cause a concussion.
"Return to your original form, Clow Card!"
As the incantation was chanted, a golden magic circle instantly opened beneath The Time card's feet.
"No—!"
The elder let out an unwilling roar of fury, but his body had already begun irreversibly dissolving, transforming into a Clow Card that drifted into Chiba's hand.
"One down."
Chiba backhanded the card into his pocket, raising his head to look at that magic book still frozen mid-air.
Seeing its companion instantly killed, The Move card completely lost it, immediately realizing it had been played.
That fury from being fooled instantly overwhelmed its reason.
Then The Move card charged at Chiba again.
This time, it saw very clearly.
Has substance, has magic, has breathing—definitely not an illusion!
"Brainless."
Chiba stood in place without even the slightest intention of dodging.
Bang!
The book crashed into Chiba once again.
But this time, still nothing happened.
Instead, accompanied by a crisp sound of shattering glass, that Chiba struck by The Move card shattered like broken glass, crashing into fragments all over the ground.
Each fragment reflected The Move card's bewildered expression.
This was a physical clone created by The Mirror card.
Though it had substance, it was essentially just a magical mirror image, not truly a living entity, so naturally couldn't trigger the teleportation judgment.
Two consecutive wasted abilities left The Move card completely stunned.
It hovered among the flying glass shards, looking left and right.
Which one was real?
Or was there no real one here at all?
"When truth becomes false, false becomes truth. If you can't even find the real body, what can you do?"
A mocking voice came from the side.
The real Kazama Chiba slowly emerged from behind that rain of flying mirror fragments.
The Move card whipped around.
This time it saw clearly.
That magical fluctuation, that annoying aura—definitely the real body, no mistake!
But it no longer had the will to attack, turning to flee immediately.
Though The Move card was brainless, it knew that in a one-on-one fight it couldn't beat this cunning human. It had to retreat first, find an opportunity, and unite with other Clow Cards.
But Chiba wouldn't give The Move card that chance. He pulled out the freshly captured Time card.
Though Kerberos said this card consumed a lot of mana—
At a time like this, was there any better finishing move than that technique?
Then Chiba took a deep breath, struck that pose ingrained in his DNA, and shouted out that line he'd wanted to shout for so long:
"ZA WARUDO (The World)!"
"Time—stop!"
"Hmmm—"
The world turned gray and white.
The originally clamorous convention hall had its mute button pressed at this moment.
Waving arms stopped mid-air, passersby's footsteps froze on the ground, dust floating in the air stood completely still.
That Move card sprinting at full speed to escape was like a paused video frame, frozen mid-air, unable to teleport even a fraction.
In this time gap where only he reigned supreme—
Only Kazama Chiba could still move.
"Cough... this consumption is no joke."
This feeling was painful.
With every step, he felt like his body was being drained by a pump, limbs weak and sore, brain buzzing.
But Chiba felt more exhilarated than ever before.
This was power.
This was dominance.
Absolutely, incredibly amazing!
That intoxicating feeling of grasping absolute power made Chiba want to laugh out loud.
Even his spirit entered an extremely "high" euphoric state—he almost imitated a certain blonde vampire and stuck his fingers in his ears.
But Kazama Chiba still suppressed the urge to show off, walking toward The Move card frozen in mid-air and swinging the Sealing Staff.
"Return to your original form, Clow Card!"
As the final incantation fell, that book that had given Chiba so much grief twisted and transformed into a card depicting wings, obediently falling into his palm.
"Huff..."
Just stopping time for less than a minute, Chiba felt like his body had been completely drained.
Controlling time's consumption was truly terrifying.
Then he snapped his fingers, stopping the time stop.
"Time... resume flowing."
Gray and white receded, color returned.
Clamorous sounds flooded his eardrums again.
Chiba gripped those two trophies in his hand. Though he now felt as weak as if he'd just run a kilometer, looking at this perfect pair of spoils, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Heh, this time... it really is a huge harvest."
patreon.com/Twilightsky588 - 100 advanced chapters