CHAPTER 154

Chapter 154

When they arrived, Su Bei and Elvis were already on the arena. Both had calm expressions, suggesting their fight wasn’t due to a falling out.

Noticing this, the four others felt somewhat relieved.

On the stage, Elvis looked at Su Bei seriously: “Though it’s a deal, I won’t go easy in this fight.”

Su Bei replied with a grin: “Just what I wanted.”

They hadn’t set a special terrain, as both their Abilities were, in a sense, ground-based, and special terrain offered no advantage. To avoid monotony, the arena had several wooden stakes of varying heights.

The tallest stake reached ten meters, the shortest half a meter, scattered across the arena. With the right path, one could move from the shortest to the tallest stake.

After a bit of consideration, Su Bei didn’t use his Ability, opting for close-quarters combat. Confident in his fighting skills, he wasn’t worried about exposing flaws by striking first. He held off on his Ability because he was unsure of Elvis' capabilities and wanted to probe first to avoid wasting Mental Energy.

As expected, Su Bei’s combat skills outclassed his opponent’s significantly. In mere seconds, he landed a left hook on Elvis.

Instantly, a red mark bloomed on Elvis' face, and the crowd below gasped. But to Su Bei’s surprise, Elvis, far from angry, asked calmly: “Is that all you’ve got?”

The next moment, the swelling on his face faded rapidly, returning to normal in an instant.

It was [Time Hourglass] at work.

“That’s my line,” Su Bei continued attacking. If Elvis could only use his Ability to heal wounds, he’d be a mere indestructible punching bag to others.

But unexpectedly, after Su Bei spoke, he noticed Elvis' speed surge dramatically. Previously easy to hit, Elvis was now untouchable, even landing several blows on Su Bei.

No, it wasn’t Elvis speeding up—it was Su Bei slowing down! Seeing the crowd below moving noticeably faster, Su Bei realized the issue.

But another question arose: why was Elvis' strength also boosted? Those punches felt unnaturally powerful, each equaling four normal punches.

Typically, unless an Ability user specialized in strength or speed enhancement, their power and speed should scale proportionally.

Elvis' speed hadn’t increased, nor had he used his Ability to boost it—so how was his strength so high?

With this doubt, Su Bei exchanged a few more moves with Elvis, closely observing his attack patterns, and faintly noticed a clue.

Each time Elvis attacked, the limb about to strike—hand or leg—blurred, as if leaving afterimages.

Connecting this to his Ability, Su Bei understood. Elvis was accelerating the time flow of the attacking limb, allowing multiple strikes in a split second, stacking force for amplified impact.

This guy had some skill, using his Ability with cleverness and proficiency.

Su Bei immediately manipulated his Gears to attack alongside him, adjusting the small pointer above his head to the far left, maximizing his luck.

The better approach would be to adjust Elvis' Gear to worsen his luck, ensuring victory. But Elvis' earlier display made Su Bei hesitate.

If Elvis could reverse wounds to a pre-injured state via time reversal, could he also revert his state to before Su Bei’s interference?

After adjusting his luck, Su Bei’s situation improved significantly. Though still slow, he dodged Elvis' attacks with uncanny precision.

Elvis sensed something amiss: “Is this your Ability?”

Su Bei didn’t answer, pondering solutions. Relying on luck wasn’t sustainable; luck was fickle, and even with his Ability, good fortune wouldn’t last long.

Seeing normal attacks couldn’t harm him, Elvis resorted to guaranteed hits.

Just as Su Bei dodged a frontal attack, Elvis vanished, reappearing behind to land a punch. This was unavoidable, forcing Su Bei to take it.

Teleportation?

His eyes widened, his face showing rare confusion.

Not just him—Lan Subing and the others below were equally puzzled. Lan Subing frowned, recalling the moment: “Was that a teleportation skill? But isn’t he time-based?”

When Su Bei’s speed slowed, the four quickly deduced it was likely a time-based Ability slowing his time flow, reducing his speed.

They’d been worried for their friend, but Su Bei inexplicably countered it, moving like a drunken boxer despite his slowness, evading every hit.

The crowd nearby had discussed whether this was their country’s signature kung fu.

But then Elvis found a counter, his sudden “teleportation” catching Su Bei off guard. If used well, no amount of dodging would help Su Bei.

Dodging a full attack always had a recovery period; no matter how fast, predicting a teleportation point mid-air and changing direction was impossible. If Elvis mastered this, Su Bei wouldn’t last long.

Good thing arena rules banned non-Ability weapons, or Su Bei might not have lasted until he devised a plan.

“It’s not teleportation,” Jiang Tianming analyzed calmly. “His Ability is [Time Hourglass], so it must relate to time. If Su Bei’s slowness was due to slowed time flow, then Elvis' ‘teleportation’ is likely…”

“Fixed-point regression,” Si Zhaohua finished.

Elvis was rewinding his own time to return to a previous position, creating a teleportation effect.

Hearing their analysis, Ai Baozhu sighed: “This Ability is too strong. No wonder he’s their year’s strongest. Time-based Abilities are not to be underestimated.”

Jiang Tianming’s gaze returned to the arena: “Let’s see how Su Bei handles it.”

On the arena, Su Bei devised a plan. His current slowness and Elvis' teleportation made winning impossible. Dragging it out might drain Elvis' Mental Energy, but Su Bei would collapse first. Ability users’ physiques were tough, but a punch’s force, exceeding ten normal punches, left him dizzy in moments. Getting knocked out would be humiliating.

He swiftly jumped onto a low stake, hopping upward, using each leap to negate the slow-speed debuff.

In mid-air, time couldn’t affect him—only his body was impacted. Continuous jumping minimized the effect.

Seeing this, Elvis raised a brow, following slowly. Unhurried, he tracked Su Bei’s position, trailing a stake or two behind. It was just stamina loss; if Su Bei kept this up, he’d lose eventually.

Su Bei knew this wasn’t sustainable. As the disadvantaged, constant jumping drained him, while Elvis followed leisurely like a cat toying with a mouse, ready to strike when Su Bei tired.

He needed a solution fast.

He had two options: either find a way to one-shot Elvis or use his Ability to create a fate Elvis couldn’t undo with time regression.

The former was impossible, but the latter—Su Bei had a good idea, using his newly mastered skill.

Checking Elvis' Destiny Compass, the small pointer leaned left, the large one at “Combat.” Su Bei’s large pointer was there too, meaning their fates were linked, letting Su Bei influence Elvis' fate with minimal Mental Energy.

Their fates aligned in a straight line. Shifting his pointer slightly would move Elvis' too.

Near “Combat” was a point Su Bei called “Weakness.”

Without hesitation, he moved his large pointer to “Weakness,” then leaped to the tallest ten-meter stake. The height was dizzying to look down from.

He’d only adjusted his own pointer; Elvis' moved with it. Even if Elvis rewound time, his pointer would still shift to “Weakness.”

Elvis, conserving stamina with Mental Energy, was on a two-meter stake, needing time to catch up.

Seizing the moment, Su Bei urged his Mental Energy, pulling his small pointer to the far left again. He then let his Mental Energy surge chaotically across the arena, rapidly depleting it. His face paled, his body weakening.

Yet Su Bei wasn’t worried, his lips curving slightly. Fate, when followed, caused no issues; defying it forced compliance.

By moving his pointer to “Weakness” and making himself weak, fate wouldn’t act further against him.

But Elvis hadn’t weakened himself, and his pointer, linked to Su Bei’s, had shifted to “Weakness.”

Thus, he’d soon weaken, in a way not of his choosing.

Noticing Su Bei stopped atop the highest stake, Elvis sensed something off. Since Su Bei’s relentless jumping began, he knew Su Bei had strong combat awareness.

Such a person wouldn’t overlook that stopping at the peak meant Elvis could approach, forcing Su Bei to the ground. Once grounded, evading Elvis with endless jumps would be tough.

His pause must mean a plan.

But what? Elvis couldn’t guess. Yet he knew he had to advance, or a stalemate would leave no victor.

With no choice, he jumped upward, aiming to reach Su Bei’s stake quickly to limit his scheming.

Su Bei naturally used Gears to interfere. Even with fate at play, he had to act, or who knew the outcome?

To dodge the Gears, Elvis weaved side to side, advancing. His Ability slowed the Gears’ speed to a crawl, making them easy to evade.

But unexpectedly, perhaps from rushing, as he stepped onto the second-tallest stake nearest Su Bei, Elvis slipped and plummeted.

Falling from ten meters, even with quick reflexes and adjusted posture, he landed hard, though not gravely injured.

Seeing this, Su Bei laughed, sitting cross-legged atop the highest stake, propping his chin with one hand, looking down at Elvis with a grin: “I’d advise you not to come up again. You’ll have another accident.”

As he spoke, he readjusted his large pointer.

Elvis didn’t buy it. His earlier fall was from haste; moving slowly should prevent issues.

Taking the same route, he climbed deliberately, nearing Su Bei. Su Bei kept harassing him with Gears, but learning from before, Elvis only shielded vital areas, ignoring the rest, resolute in advancing.

With his Ability, even if he was scarred by Gears, he’d heal instantly.

But just as he neared Su Bei, disaster struck again. His vision darkened, his body weak and powerless, toppling backward uncontrollably. Hitting the ground, his vision blackened again. After a moment, he sat up, looking up at Su Bei in confusion: “This is your Ability too?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Su Bei shrugged.

But the next second, Elvis teleported to his last fallen position, clearly unwilling to give up, aiming to catch Su Bei off guard.

Too bad—when Elvis hit the ground, Su Bei had already reset the pointer. This attempt was doomed to fail.

Elvis' sudden appearance startled Su Bei, who instinctively swayed. The mirror-like button on Alpha Ability Academy’s uniform collar reflected sunlight into Elvis' eyes.

Blinded, he instinctively raised a hand to block the light.

Su Bei wouldn’t miss this chance. He’d said before: you can’t leave everything to fate. Failing to seize fate’s opportunities rendered even destined outcomes useless.

With a gentle push to Elvis' shoulder, he toppled straight down.

The third time.

The crowd fell silent. Anyone could see three consecutive failures at the cusp of success weren’t accidents.

If they were, the goddess of fate must adore this blond kid.

Wait—his Ability was fate-related.

Never mind, then.

“Damn, that’s too strong!”

“Definitely not an accident—must be the blond’s Ability!”

“Even Elvis can’t handle him? Is he the strongest exchange student?”

“Terrifying!”

“If I recall, the exchange student’s Ability is Destiny-based, right? Destiny vs. Time—a magical showdown.”

“Those three falls hurt just watching…”

“This is the first time I’ve seen Elvis humiliated, right?”

Jiang Tianming’s group, hearing the endless chatter, couldn’t help smiling. When Su Bei played them for fools, they weren’t thrilled, but seeing him outwit others was delightful.

“I still don’t get his Ability. Isn’t it just maxed-out luck?” Ai Baozhu, usually blessed with fortune, felt a rare envy. “If I had that, I wouldn’t need to move in the arena—enemies would just collapse.”

Jiang Tianming, half-comforting, half-stating fact, said: “You’re already lucky enough.”

“Who do you think will win?” Noticing the stalemate, Lan Subing asked while thinking.

The other three didn’t know. From the three incidents, Elvis seemed unable to harm Su Bei. But Su Bei couldn’t harm Elvis either, or he wouldn’t have retreated to the high ground.

This time, Elvis didn’t rush to the stakes. After a moment’s thought, he asked: “Will I keep falling like before?”

He meant falling via inexplicable mishaps.

Su Bei answered honestly: “Until my Mental Energy runs out.”

Each adjustment was minor, in the upper half-circle, costing little Mental Energy.

Plus, as a high-level Mental Energy user, Su Bei recovered quickly. Unless Elvis relentlessly teleported to attack, Su Bei could fight while recovering, lasting a long time.

During this, Elvis also burned Mental Energy. Their combat prowess differed starkly; if Elvis stopped controlling Su Bei’s time flow, Su Bei could easily subdue him.

But if Elvis timed his Ability use—only activating when nearing Su Bei or when Su Bei attacked—he’d use minimal Mental Energy. This demanded precise Ability control and prediction. A sudden Su Bei assault catching Elvis off guard could lead to instant failure.

As Alpha Ability Academy’s undisputed first-year strongest, despite weaker combat skills, Su Bei knew Elvis trained heavily in Ability and Mental Energy control.

Undoubtedly, that was his focus. His precise control over Su Bei’s Gears and targeted Ability use on attacking limbs showed mastery rare for their age. At first glance, he seemed superior.

But the issue was, in this Mental Energy standoff, Su Bei sat comfortably atop the pillar, watching, while Elvis repeatedly plummeted from ten meters.

Ten meters wasn’t trivial. Even for enhanced Ability users, a fall shook their organs, though it wasn’t fatal.

The advantage was clear.

Honestly, even if Su Bei lost, no one could call him weak. No one else could push Elvis into such a predicament, or he wouldn’t be the year’s strongest.

On the third floor of the Special Track building, a man and woman watched from a window. The flaxen-haired girl looked grave: “Even Elvis can’t handle him. This year’s Endless Ability Academy is strong…”

The red-haired boy beside her grinned: “Why worry? We’re graduating soon.”

True—they’d graduate, and Su Bei wouldn’t be their rival. Still, the girl glared: “Can’t you have some school pride? I’m counting on Elvis to lead this year to a world championship.”

“His Ability isn’t fully developed. In two years, at the competition, it won’t be this close,” the red-haired boy said, arm around her, assessing the arena. “It’s heading for a draw.”

As he predicted, Elvis, ever rational in combat, assessed if he could break this stalemate. His precise Mental Energy and Ability control relied on that rationality.

Confirming he couldn’t harm Su Bei, nor could Su Bei harm him, he extended a hand for a handshake, pursing his lips: “A draw?”

Knowing the outcome, there was no need to waste time. Skipping lunch left him slightly hypoglycemic, contributing to his earlier blackout fall.

This suited Su Bei. Smiling, he leaped from the stake to Elvis, high-fiving his hand, seizing the chance to pose: “Next time, you won’t get a draw.”

Elvis, uncharacteristically, laughed in exasperation: “That’s my line to you!”