Chapter 27 - Rescue - Part Two

I kneeled there in the snow as Maxwell muttered on.

“...and now the proof that none will reach the excellence I shall achieve…” His droning seemed to be even boring the audience, who wanted nothing more than to see me die. Amidst the audience I saw two familiar faces.

They were slowly moving their way down the bleachers, step by step. But it was them nonetheless, it was Grace and Tetsuo. But why were the two of them here? Were they coming to save me?

They must be. Maxwell didn’t seem to be too aware of the impending attack. His head rather seemed to be in the clouds, dreaming of the glory and victory he would achieve. With an eternity of riches, and luxury.

Elowyn however was not among the two of them, I wondered why? Did she not show up for some reason? Was she hurt?

I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about others anyways, I felt the stress of my plan’s success weigh me down. Ryu suggested that I steal back my shield and wrap it underneath my chains. That way, I could block it and have access to Maxwell’s power.

The problem being I had no idea what his power was.

“Now, for the moment you all have paid dearly to come see!” Maxwell grinned as he looked over at me. He gripped his spear tighter than ever. “Time for the execution of Razan Hamada, he may not be the first of many to die by my hand, but he will certainly not be the last!”

I could see his spear begin to glow, lightning crackled around his spear, before a large magical explosion shot out. Maxwell, shocked, was thrown back into the nearby snow.

As the smoke and snow that surrounded the area cleared, there stood Elowyn. Her robes fluttered in the wind, as did her hair. Before she could act further however, Maxwell, determined to get the kill in, rushed forward with a speed I could not even comprehend.

He struck me, right where I wanted. At the same time, Elowyn used magic to dissolve the chains then and there, revealing he struck a now glowing shield.

He had fallen right into my trap.

However, I needed to wait before using it. Magical energy was important, and I would lose it faster if I did it now. I needed to know exactly what his power was.

“What? A shield? How did you do it? Why it must be that Ryu’s doing!” Maxwell grunted through his gritted teeth. His expression is a mixture of pure rage and utter despair. He knew his plan had been foiled.

“Razan! He can go super fast! Not to mention he can see the–hngk!” Grace managed to get out as much as she could before she choked, blood spilled from her mouth as Maxwell. Who had managed to get to her with incredible speed, before piercing the spear through her chest.

“Elowyn!” I shouted, I didn’t delay, I pushed the power of the shield deep within myself. Unlike the last time however, I felt like my body was entirely on fire. As if my individual nerves were being triggered one by one.

As if my body was now being forcefully made to operate at speeds that shouldn’t not just be humanly possible, but with speeds impossible for that of physics in general.

Still, I wondered if not only was my body capable of doing this? But even being able to survive?

“Hngh! Agh!” I cried out. I swear I could hear my nerves even beginning to pop. Finally however, after what felt like hours of excruciating pain. It began to subside, the pain and agony replaced by an overwhelming rush.

“Hm? Just what are you doing over there?” Maxwell, who had already released his spear from Elowyn, began to move forward towards me. As if to finish the job.

Tetsuo, at this point had taken the opportunity to absorb the snow around him, allowing it to coat him to create a second Golem form made entirely out of the surrounding ground. With this new form, he jumped forward and punched Maxwell from behind.

“Sensei, we’re here. We got your back.” However I knew how it would turn out. I could see the overwhelming speed he could move. “Grace, can you get Elowyn some help before she dies?” I asked her, I felt calm. I wondered how I could, when I realized why I was calm.

Mixed in my calm, was an increasing anger. An anger that could not simply be expressed by visible displays of aggression, but rather a calm, but stern approach. I could not scream, I could not shout.

I couldn’t even cry.

I just felt nothing but a raw desire to kill the man who stood before me.

Kill?

I wanted to kill someone?

A part of me suggested not doing anything, just beating him up. Then I remembered.

He wouldn’t show me mercy had I been on my knees still.

“Tetsuo, back off from him, will you? I will handle this.” Everybody could definitely hear the hatred bubbling from my tone. Even Tetsuo looked surprised. The sensei who was the goodiest of goody two-shoes.

The same sensei who never expressed anything worse than disappointment despite his actions throughout the brief time we knew each other.

Yet I was that same person, any goodwill, any desire for peace. Gone.

I charged, it felt like time slowed down, Maxwell reacted accordingly. “Well, would you look at that? I’m impressed-” I punched him in the face.

Maxwell at that point, no doubt realized I was not playing around. I walked towards him, sword ready to kill him. To end his life.

All I saw on his face was sheer terror.

I lunged again, this time with my sword, however it seemed this one he was able to block. It was only a small reprieve for him. He gathered some more distance before thrusting his spear right towards me.

I jumped aside.

“How are you standing up to me? I’m brilliant, my powers are without peer!” Maxwell’s shouts of hatred and panic were music to my ears.

“They’re not without peer, you’ve just been coasting by, thinking you’re incredible. Because you’ve never gotten the opportunity to pick on someone your own size.” I commented, before walking his way once more.

“You may have tried to kill me, and that I can tolerate. It’s the nature of this game after all, however what I cannot tolerate is when you hurt my friends.” My tone was scathing. I felt more and more angry the further the fight dragged on.

“So you can move as fast as me, I still have more abilities I have not touched on yet.” All the fear in his eyes vanished at that very moment. He still had options. Now that he mentioned it, there was another ability Elowyn was going to mention.

Even then if he is a competitor like I am, he should have a third ability on top of what he’s about to pull, and who knows what that would be.

Still, I had his powers, if he could do it. So could I.

“Who knows how you managed to catch up to my overall speed,” Maxwell began “But it ends here, for you will not be able to land a single hit on me. That is my prediction. Hint hint.” He went back to his cocky grin. Acting as if he had already won.

“Prediction, so you can see the future?” I asked. However with a nod, he charged.

I swung, attempting to intervene. However, as promised, he saw right through my attack and sunk his spear right into me. I felt something push through my stomach.

“I told you, I would see through your attack.” Maxwell began to laugh, he barely dodged another swing I sent his way. He pulled the spear out of me, making a terrible noise as it did.

I felt cold. However this cold soon vanished, even with this wound I refused to back down. I just had to figure out how to implement this ability into my arsenal. Then I could defeat him. I looked around me, everyone was still frozen.

“You must have figured it out, we could fight for ages and to them. Not even a second will have passed.” Maxwell boasted. “Still, I find it disappointing you talked this much, and now you just don’t have an answer to my precognition.”

“Maybe I do,” I smirked, boasting. This seems to change Maxwell’s expression. He seemed far more alarmed now. “Why you!” He charged forward, calling my bluff.

I really was bluffing but I needed to take another hit, it was a risk but I needed to figure out just how his precognition worked.

So, I swung, intentionally leaving my chest exposed. Naturally he should strike my chest. I watched his face, I noticed his eyes bulge just slightly, as if he were hyperfocusing on something.

So I did the same thing, focusing on how I should see his next attack, lo and behold I saw something. It was a vision of him striking my chest, leaving his side exposed.

“Gotcha.” I smirked as he thrust his spear forward, I dodged to the side, and used my sword. I cleaved right into his side.

“Aaaaaagh!” He screamed, it was a horrible scream. One of agony, an agony he was not used to.

I won. Or so I thought, because at that moment I felt my energy beginning to fade. However, Maxwell seemed to also be pretty exhausted. We were both bleeding from pretty deep wounds, but it was clear mine were more severe.

Then I remembered, there was still one last ability he hadn’t used.

“I guess you win, huh? You still got that last card of yours hidden away.” I spoke. Taking heavy breaths after every word.

“Too bad for you, it’s time for my speed to break beyond its very limits…speed increases beyond!” He shouted. I could feel the environment itself begin to shift. He was altering the environment with just time itself.

Suddenly, a giant hole in the space between us opened. It felt odd, like the object itself had extradimensional properties. Was this his third ability? Or was this simply a side effect of abusing his speed?

Inside the space looked to be something out of a dream, a surge of colors looping around. Suddenly, I felt a push from behind and I fell in. I didn’t know what I was grabbing. But I managed to grab a hold of something and pull them in.

It seemed me and Maxwell both ended up in the timestream.

To be continued.