To Leo, the world became a gallery of frozen statues.
He stepped calmly past a suspended raindrop, its surface reflecting the dull gray of the Mondstadt sky.
The Abyss Mages were pathetic in slow motion—monsters born of pure abyssal energy, now reduced to still-life portraits of malice.
One was mid-cackle, its wand pointed toward a merchant's cart, a jagged shard of ice frozen just inches from the wood.
He didn't rush. The Kabuto armor felt absolute, its weight grounded in a way the "Rising Hopper" suit wasn't.
He walked up to the first Mage, a Cryo specialist, and casually flicked its mask. He moved to the second, a Hydro Mage, and untied the ancient, rune-etched belt cinching its fuzzy robe, letting the fabric hang mid-air.
Finally, he stood before the lead Mage. He didn't use a weapon.
He simply tapped the side of his belt, his fingers dancing over the three buttons in a practiced sequence.
[ONE. TWO. THREE.]
A surge of tachyon particles pulsed through the suit's internal conduits, centering at his right foot. Electric blue sparks began to dance along the crimson armor.
[RIDER KICK!]
Leo didn't lunge; he simply pivoted, his body coiling like a spring. He leveled a high-roundhouse kick toward the lead Mage's head.
The energy was primed, a localized supernova of tachyon force waiting to be released.
He clicked the Zecter's horn back into place.
[CLOCK OVER.]
To Amber and the guards, the world simply shattered.
One moment Leo was standing by the bridge; the next, a thunderous boom echoed across Cider Lake.
The three Abyss Mages didn't even have time to scream. Their elemental shields didn't crack—they disintegrated into raw, useless particles.
The lead Mage was launched across the water like a skipped stone, exploding into purple mist before it even hit the far shore. The other two collapsed instantly, their wands clattering onto the cobblestones, their connection to the Abyss severed by the sheer force of the strike.
Leo stood in the center of the clearing, one hand still pointing toward the sky, the crimson horn of his helmet gleaming as the sun broke through the clouds.
"Wh... what just happened?" Lawrence stammered, nearly dropping his spear.
"He didn't even move! The air just... exploded!"
Amber rushed forward, her eyes wide as saucers.
She circled Leo, poking at the sleek red chest plate.
"Leo! That wasn't a Vision! You don't have a glass orb anywhere on you! That was... that was like stopping time!
Are you sure you aren't an Archon in disguise? Or some kind of ancient ruin machine that looks like a person?"
Leo let out a breath, the HUD in his helmet flickering as the Clock Up cooldown began. "Just a man following the path," he said, though his inner monologue was doing backflips.
[ I actually pulled it off. If I'd missed that timing, I would've kicked a hole through the bridge.]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[COMBAT EVALUATION: S-RANK]
[RP EARNED: +350]
[CURRENT RP: 450]
[WARNING: TEMPORAL FRICTION DETECTED]
[KABUTO DATA IS STABILIZING, BUT THE 'ZECT' PROTOCOLS ARE DRAWING ATTENTION.]
From the shadows of the city gates, a tall figure with a fur-lined eye patch and a calculating smirk watched the crimson warrior. Kaeya leaned against the stone wall, his fingers playing with a coin.
"A man who walks the path of heaven, hm?" Kaeya whispered to himself.
"How very poetic. I wonder how that 'heavenly' path handles a game of shadows."
Amber grabbed Leo's arm, her excitement overriding her confusion.
"Come on! Jean definitely needs to see this. And Lisa! She's going to want to study every inch of that suit!"
Leo felt a chill that had nothing to do with the Cryo Mages. Being "studied" by Lisa sounded significantly more dangerous than fighting a Hilichurl chieftain.
As they crossed the bridge into the city, the Zecter on his belt gave a small, mechanical chirp, almost like a warning.