19 A Battle of Brains - Time Manipulation vs Intangiability: Which is more OP? Part II

Spectre's body continued sinking into the ground; his face determined. Unbeknownst to Tempo, Spectre's ability to control his body at a molecular level was far beyond what he'd ever imagined. 'I never thought I'd have to use this technique. It hurts like hell, but I'm not letting this guy beat me!' Spectre thought as his bones could be felt cracking as he sent them across the stage and behind Tempo. In just a fraction of a second, Spectre disappeared and reappeared in full behind the time warper.

Tempo's brow raised his mask; eyes turning toward where Spectre would appear from. 'What!?' Spectre reemerged from the floor with a winding kick; one that was nearly blocked by Tempo, however, it simply phased through his forearm before connecting with his midsection. Tempo grunted, his mind racing. 'How is he still turning his entire body intangible, I thought-' Before his thoughts could finish, Tempo found himself on the other end of a barrage of fists. These attacks were quick, each punch was heard cutting through the air around Tempo with each near miss. 

Between each whiffed attack, Tempo would throw a strike of his own at Spectre, he too generating such force, that he sliced the air around his fist. Like Spectre, each attack whiffed, only in Tempo's case, they'd go through Spectre's intangible body. 

Every once in a while, Spectre would land a punch, though Tempo had his time reversal ability ready, reversing time by just a mere second to buy himself enough time to react and dodge. This was when his time reversal ability was at its best when used in short, quick bursts to abuse the short cooldown timer.

The crowd had stopped cheering by this point, not because they were no longer enjoying themselves; no, far from it. The crowd was enamored, watching the two beta testers' display of agility and incredible martial artistry. The crowd was none the wiser to Tempo's technique, reversing time by a single second to then react to a punch and avoid it. In their eyes, along with the other beta testers watching, Tempo was reacting to each punch, dodging with his own natural skill. 

"Unbelievable…" A patron in the crowd whispered. "He's going toe to toe with Spectre!" And that he was. Tempo was an unknown; fighting someone of celebrity status, the underdog of this battle in the eyes of everyone watching. However, in the eyes of the two fighters, they'd met their match. 

The timer was still ticking downward, and Tempo's white eyes would occasionally be seen darting to it for less than a second; just before locking back onto Spectre. Meanwhile, the two were still sending flurries of punches and kicks, still cutting the air around them. Every once in a while, Spectre would slip through the ground, appearing behind Tempo with a balled fist or reeled back foot prior to attacking Tempo with a surprise attack. These ones were the hardest to react to and generated the most power due to Spectre's built momentum from slingshotting himself out of the ground. Even after reversing time, it was as if Spectre would react to Tempo's reaction, adjusting his attack mid-strike to still connect with the time warper.

Tempo checked the time once more, and the white eyes that shone through his mask expanded. It was finally time for his Time Stop ability to recharge. However, Tempo wouldn't use his ability the moment the cooldown finished, he wanted to use it at a moment when he'd gather the most information. 

Tempo and Spectre continued their lightning-quick boxing match, moving as if they were reading each other's minds. Wanting to land another one of his special attacks, despite them causing Spectre great pain, he dipped into the ground once more and this was when Ky froze time.

Snap!

Tempo snapped his fingers, seeing that only a small portion of Spectre's body had gone through the ground. Tempo quickly scanned the area around him, spotting Spectre's hand coming out of the ground behind him and upon seeing it, the time warper's glowing eyes doubled in size. 'That's it! That's how he's still hiding in the ground.' Spectre's hand, the one gearing itself for a sneak attack, was broken and dismembered. 'I don't understand how, but he's sending the broken parts of his body elsewhere to allow himself to pass through as if he was still one hundred percent intangible. Like this, he can still emulate his old strategy.'

Tempo's assessment was right on the nose. Spectre could not turn his broken bones intangible, however, he could transfer those broken bones wherever he wanted in his body. Prior to Tempo breaking his hand, Spectre was able to fully sink into the ground, and essentially teleport to any part of the stage as if the stage itself was an extension of his own body. If Spectre wanted to, he could send his body across the entire planet within seconds.

However, since he could only turn ninety-nine percent of his body intangible, he couldn't sink his entire body into the ground all at once, part of him always needed to be on the surface. This is where his technique came in, one so painful, that he avoided it as much as he could. Spectre could transfer his broken bones to any part of his body that was considered tangible, therefore, the moment a part of his body stuck out of the ground, in this case, it was his hand, he could transfer the broken bones to it. As the rest of his body followed this broken hand from the ground, the broken bones would transfer themselves down his body via the rest of his arm. This same technique was applied to his kicks as well.

Tempo, through frozen time, looked at Spectre's face; seeing how much pain the intangible beta tester was in upon using this technique.

Snap!

Time resumed, and Spectre appeared from the ground with an uppercut, however, despite Tempo having all the time in the world to dodge it, he allowed himself to be hit. As for why, Tempo once again used an analogy in his mind. 'Just like in Overlook or any other hero shooter, when a hero has their ultimate, you have to play the game around it. Spectre is likely waiting for me to use my Time Stop– which in this case– is my ultimate. If he doesn't know I used my ult, he'll keep playing cautiously as if I still have it.'

Tempo was truly viewing the battlefield as a game of chess, still playing the long game even after all of this time had passed. 'I just have one more theory to test– then it's checkmate.' Tempo and Spectre once again found themselves exchanging whiffed punches, having the crowd at the edge of their seats. It was safe to say they were getting their money's worth.

Throughout the entire phase of the fight where the two exchanged blows up close, Tempo had been studying Spectre's punches, comparing the sound of his own jabs to the molecule manipulator's. The sounds of air displacement around their fists were very similar, meaning the power had to be similar as well. However, Spectre's punches only generated sound the moment before they'd strike Tempo, which told the time manipulator two things. Firstly, Spectre's fist was only tangible the moment before making physical contact, which Ky already figured. Secondly, however, and most importantly; Spectre's punches generated nearly the exact same amount of force as Tempo's meaning the force had to come from somewhere.

'Force multiplied by time. Mass times velocity. These are the principles of throwing a punch. Of course, force multiplied by time determines the speed of the punch; which is mostly determined by technique. However, when it comes to mass times velocity– raw power– one has to increase their effective mass.' To put it simply, Spectre needed to increase the mass behind his punch in order to be effective. In order to do so, parts of his body needed to become tangible, not just his fist, generating more mass behind the punch.

A diagram appeared in Tempo's mind, showing the human body whilst throwing a punch. When throwing a punch with their right hand, the model of the diagram could be seen with a line going through their arm before crossing through their chest and going through their left leg. That line represents where the power for the punch comes from. It also represents the part of Spectre's body that was tangible during a punch. 'All I have to do is attack that line the moment his fist becomes tangible.'

Spectre, standing in a textbook boxing stance, threw a powerful right hook at Tempo, which nearly landed before Tempo reversed time. He needed to time his attack perfectly with Spectre's, landing his punch at the exact same time. And so, with his fist balled tightly, Tempo leaned into Spectre's fist, and at the same exact time, he landed a punch on Spectre's liver. 

"Oh my god! It's been nearly three minutes and Tempo has finally landed a punch on the intangible hero!" the crowd erupted as Spectre fell to the ground with an agonizing scream, his entire body becoming tangible for a brief moment due to his focus being ruptured and his liver feeling as if it were about to explode.

Tempo then slowed time, simulating super speed as he knelt down, removed Spectre's half mask, and touched a single tooth in his mouth whilst activating his Temporal Cloak ability on his entire skeletal system since it was finally tangible. "Checkmate. Good game." 

Spectre still had some fight left in him. The liver punch only stunned him for a moment. He could've kept fighting. However, Tempo's ability would stop that from ever happening. "No…" Spectre spoke without moving his jaw, as it was frozen by Tempo's Temporal Cloak.

"Yes. I have full control over your entire skeletal system. It's over, I'm afraid. I'll let you go after the match is over." Tempo began dragging Spectre's body across the stage before rolling him onto the grass surrounding it. The moment Spectre's body hit the ground, the announcer and the crowd began counting down from ten.

"10."

"9."

"8."

"7."

"6."

"5." 

"4."

"3." 

"2."

"1."

"Tempo wins!" 

[PvP Bonus: 2 Skill Points + 1 Law Point]

The crowd erupted and Tempo dismissed his Temporal Cloak, allowing Spectre to freely move his body again. Tempo hopped down from the stage and knelt down beside him. "Are you alright? Sorry about that."

Spectre stared at the sky above him before his eyes moved over toward Tempo's face. "Yeah, I'm fine… You know, I've never lost a fight until now."

"I bet." Tempo helped Spectre back on his feet. By then, Spectre was able to become intangible again, but there was no point in doing so. The match was over.

"That's two points for Team New York!" the announcer proclaimed.

Both fighters turned to the jumbotron, which showed the score zero to two. "Looks like you guys have a lead." Spectre almost sounded sarcastic as he spoke.

"It's not looking good with the number one hero of Los Angeles down." Tempo said in jest, though that smile under his mask faded when Spectre chuckled and revealed something to the time warper.

"I might be ranked number one, but I'm not the strongest. You're ranked ninth and you beat me, right? Don't underestimate my teammates."

Tempo was shaken. He'd wrongly assumed this was the best Team LA had to offer. 'There's guys even stronger than him on that team?'

"Anyway, we should hang out sometime. I'll visit you." Spectre invitingly raised his hand in front of him.

"Yeah, for sure." Ky accepted the invitation and the two clasped hands, the crowd cheering on their comradery.

"Catch you on the flip, Tempo."

With that said, both fighters went back to their respective sides of the battlefield, just before round three would commence. Tempo's team surrounded him, congratulating him for a job well done. Even Mania had something to say. "Good round." he said in a deadpan voice. Everyone, including Tempo, was shocked to hear his voice; though he quickly went back to standing in place with his arms crossed like a statue.

"Will the next contestants please take the stage!"

Celsius smiled devilishly as he placed a single foot on the stage, looking backward directly at Tempo. "Watch closely Tempo. Don't forget who your real rival is." With new tricks up his sleeve, the ice manipulator walked to center stage, excited to show Ky just how much more powerful he'd grown since their last meeting. 

Tempo smiled beneath his mask, watching his archnemeses walk the stage confidently. "I'll be watching closely–" Tempo yelled so Celsius could hear him. Ky enjoyed having a rival in Spectre, and he was ready to accept Celsius as one as well. "Archnemesis!"