Chapter 3 : Present

Shadow spikes burst from the ground in a line heading straight for Edgar. They moved at a speed that would have been difficult to evade, but for Edgar, who could manipulate time, avoiding them was easy.

As time slowed down, the shadow spikes moved at a sluggish pace and Edgar stepped out of the way with ease

When time returned to normal, the spikes struck the tree behind him. Without hesitation, Edgar charged towards the shadow manipulator, his wrist guards buzzing with electrical energy. He focused both the ground and his opponent as he ran.

The disparity in their abilities was significant. Cresent's shadow manipulation was specifically designed for combat, while Edgar's time manipulation was better suited for supporting others. On his own, Edgar was at a disadvantage, but he still chose to fight the powerful shadow manipulator. Cresent, who loved battle, accepted the challenge without hesitation.

Cresent's shadow manipulation abilities changed the tree's shadow into a spear and launched it towards Edgar's shadow. As the world around him slowed down, Edgar began to question whether he had made the right decision in challenging Cresent.

Regardless of his doubts, Edgar knew that his upgraded wrist guards would give him a way to attack. He reassured himself with this thought.

He stopped running and leapt into the air as time returned to normal. Aiming his right wrist guard at Cresent's head, he fired a blast of electrical energy at him with the speed of a bullet. But, Cresent was able to deflect it with an invisible force, which was actually his shadows swatting away the shadow of the blast.

The blast hit a nearby tree, bringing it down instantly. The lower half of the trunk was unharmed, but the wood was charred and smoke rose from it.

Edgar sneered as he realized he had no plan to defeat Cresent. All he had done so far was dodge his opponent's attacks and miss with his own. Edgar had been slowing time multiple times, but it was taking a toll on him, while Cresent was barely affected. With a frustrated grin, he began to regret his decision to fight.

Cresent used his shadows to boost himself backwards, as another blast of energy flew towards him. He landed under a canopy of trees. To the casual observer, he appeared harmless, but if one looked closely, one would see the abnormal lengths of shadows that had merged with his own.

What Edgar feared most was when Cresent's shadows sprouted out from the ground, becoming tangible enough to use as lethal weapons that could damage objects without touching their shadow. Edgar stepped out of the way of another line of shadow spikes and groaned in frustration.

Cresent's ability to manipulate shadows proved to be a formidable challenge for Edgar.

However, what he didn't know was that each attack consumed a significant amount of Cresent's charge and stamina, even more so when his shadows became tangible. Cresent planned to use this to his advantage, keeping Edgar unaware of his own limitations and thereby eroding his confidence.

Cresent unleashed tentacles of shadows from the ground, which stretched upwards before striking down towards Edgar at high speeds. Each missed attack left holes in the ground. Edgar barely dodged the last one as it scraped his ankle before it retracted back to Cresent. Taking advantage of Edgar's vulnerability in midair, Cresent launched another attack on him.

The tentacles froze in midair just an inch away from Edgar's neck. "Ah shit, I panicked," Edgar commented as he landed on the ground. There was no wind blowing in his face anymore, no rustling of trees and no flowing of air. Everything in the world had stopped. Edgar had just frozen time.

He had done it before. During his previous escape from jail, Edgar utilized his ability to halt time just before Lincoln's clones could attack him. However, his former allies were not affected by the frozen time. Dawson, who had the power to control sound waves, had then broken into his cell and created a way out. This was their contingency plan in case they were unable to defeat Lincoln and were captured instead.

Despite their best efforts, however, their limited abilities were no match for Lincoln's complete set of powers. The team had gained their powers from a meteor fragment called Mod Cytron which had been replaced with Lincoln's DNA. Lincoln's ability was the most powerful of them all, and as such, it was clear that only one being in the universe could possess the power to manipulate energy at any given time, and currently, it was Lincoln who held that power.

Edgar, knowing that he couldn't maintain his freeze on time for long, quickly made his way towards Cresent, armed with an energy blade formed by his wrist guard. As he closed in, he prepared to strike and behead his opponent as soon as he was within range.

But, unfortunately, Edgar never made it to Cresent.

It was as if he were being held in place by an invisible force, his body paralyzed, unable to move a muscle. He hung suspended in midair, gasping in shock, "How...?" He realized that Cresent's shadows were holding him in place. But since time was frozen, it's supposed to be impossible for Cresent to give the command for his shadows to do anything. Could it be that his ability was more complex than he had initially thought?

As soon as Edgar released his time freeze, everything went black.