#493Chapter 493 This is the confrontation between time-stop users!AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 493: This is the confrontation between Time Stop users!
Summoned units, familiar units, and vehicle units are all within the fusion scope of Devil's Concerto.
The existence of a Stand unit is unique, but broadly speaking, it also belongs to a summoned unit, so it naturally meets the fusion conditions.
When The World acts separately from Cheng Tian's main body, any damage The World takes will be perfectly reflected onto the main body. Dio Brando died that way back then.
However, Cheng Tian chose to do the opposite. Through the fusion of Devil's Concerto, he is now both the user and the Stand, and the shared damage judgment, which was originally a weakness, has also disappeared!
Having completed the fusion, Cheng Tian's body floated in the air. The Stand's irresponsible, spirit-like floating ability appeared on Cheng Tian at this moment without any weakening.
And the Mental Crystal, which should have existed by relying on Cheng Tian's main body, still floated by his side.
Cheng Tian's main body's weakest abilities, Strength and Agility, achieved a qualitative leap through fusion with The World!
"150 seconds left… two and a half minutes! I'll take you down!"
Cheng Tian, wearing the brass knuckles etched with the four controller button symbols, fiercely jabbed his right index finger through the air at Izayoi Sakuya!
The fusion with The World made Cheng Tian's 'JoJo' vibe increasingly strong.
In response to Cheng Tian's provocation, Izayoi not only remained silent but also bent her entire body slightly, and the mechanical sound of clock hands stopping once again rang out.
"Muda Muda! I said it's useless, and it is useless!"
Cheng Tian, who was one with The World, laughed wildly as he instinctively began to resist the time stop from the opponent.
A giant, stopped pocket watch phantom expanded outwards from the Head Maid, instantly filling the entire King of Fighters '97 MUGEN instance—
Sakuya's World!
The original clamor in the arena was instantly silenced, like a paused video. Everyone's expressions were frozen in this moment, and on the stage, only Izayoi Sakuya herself and Cheng Tian, fused with The World, were able to move.
But to Cheng Tian's surprise, the Head Maid, whose Spell Card slot was already almost empty and would likely not be able to cast Sakuya's World a second time, immediately retreated, further increasing the distance between her and Cheng Tian!
...Damn it! She found my weakness!
Seeing the Head Maid make this choice, Cheng Tian immediately realized that his biggest weakness had been exposed.
That is, the enormous MP consumption required to resist time stop!
If Cheng Tian himself were to cast Za Warudo, the MP consumption per second would be as high as 300 points. Even with a full mana bar, it would only last for 4 seconds before reaching its usage limit, and during that time, it would only leave Cheng Tian with 50 MP to use.
4 seconds, 50 MP, not enough to kill anyone, unless he used a mana-restoring item during the time stop and was dealing with a humanoid unit, then it might be possible to kill someone.
If it was purely to resist someone else's time stop, the 300 MP per second consumption would decrease to 100 MP, but this also meant that Cheng Tian himself had a resistance limit. At most, Cheng Tian's resistance time would only be 12 seconds.
As a T0.5-level powerhouse, between T1 and T0 among many time users, the only thing limiting Sakuya's time stop duration was the Hisouten template given by the rules. However, if she was willing to pay an additional price, her exclusive Za Warudo's duration could be extended.
Not by much, but still not comparable to Cheng Tian's current level.
The Head Maid saw that Cheng Tian's resistance to time stop had a limit. If she continued to stall, he would run out of mana and be forced into a time stop.
If he stopped early to save mana, Cheng Tian would be unable to restrict the Head Maid from doing anything during the time stop, including turning him into a sieve!
"One second passed... two seconds..."
The Head Maid, counting down in her mind, continuously launched small groups of throwing knives to stall Cheng Tian, who was anxious to charge in for close-quarters combat and exuded an aura of urgency.
At this moment, Cheng Tian could only unleash both fists, using a barrage of punches to block the throwing knives coming from the other side, instead of using a barrier to block or having throwing knives collide.
Because once he used any skill that consumed MP, it would further shorten his duration of resistance against Sakuya's World!
Cheng Tian, who didn't even have a full mana bar, could barely resist for 7 seconds with the high-speed self-mana regeneration he had just acquired. This was almost identical to the Head Maid's estimation, however—
"Eight seconds passed... What's going on!? Why can he still move!?"
Sakuya, who had calculated Cheng Tian's resistance time and was ready to counterattack starting from the eighth second of Sakuya's World, had an expression of unconcealed astonishment.
And Cheng Tian's seemingly flustered expression had already turned into an evil grin with the corners of his mouth turned up.
Izayoi Sakuya was trying to wear down Cheng Tian by depleting his mana, but Cheng Tian, upon discovering this, also decided to turn her plan against her, wasn't he?
Cheng Tian's mana bar was indeed almost empty at this moment... but in its place, his Innocent Soul reserves were rapidly decreasing at a rate of 50 per second!
Innocent Souls, besides being used as magic filling for projectiles, could also replace MP as a spell casting cost. 1 soul corresponded to 2 MP, and with the collection of two Sin Souls not long ago, Cheng Tian's Innocent Soul storage limit had reached 399.
Perhaps some might ask, where did this kid get so many Innocent Souls?
Well, while he was accumulating his Holy Radiance and Demonic Nightmare bars during the monkey show last night, he also maxed out his Innocent Souls—by exploiting the Torch Soul farming bug!
Under normal circumstances, besides killing monsters and defeating evil people, all acts of destroying torches and candelabras also had a chance to drop Innocent Souls!
Although the drop rate was drastically reduced because they weren't the truly sealed magic torches containing Innocent Souls like in Castlevania, Cheng Tian had money, and he simply piled them up by sheer volume.
His frantic destruction of torches and candelabras in the laboratory led to all the candles, wooden sticks, gauze, and medical alcohol in the pharmacies around Hammond's lab being completely emptied!
In other words, Cheng Tian could last another 7 seconds in the time stop!
And how much longer could you, Izayoi Sakuya, maintain the time stop?
Because she used Sakuya's World beyond the duration it should normally last according to her current template, the Head Maid was experiencing for the first time in her life the high burden maintaining a time stop placed on her body. The feeling of her entire body being squeezed by space during movement, and the pain of her brain feeling like it was boiling, twisted the Head Maid's features into an unprecedented expression.
But Izayoi Sakuya, with her stubbornness flaring up, still did not give up!
Just a little longer! Just a little longer!
The exclusive second hand of the time stop had already moved to the 13-second mark.
And this also meant that Cheng Tian's pre-stored Innocent Souls were about to be completely exhausted.
The Head Maid, sensing that the strength of Cheng Tian's resistance to the time stop was about to disappear, her expression had already turned ferocious.
It wasn't due to any negative emotions towards Cheng Tian, but simply from pain, and at the same time, a sense of liberation.
But at that very instant, she saw Cheng Tian raise his left hand, turning the back of his hand towards her. On the back of his hand was a peculiar symbol formed by two short swords.
"Use! Command Seal! Replenish Bazett's mana!"
As one of the symbols disappeared, a blue light flashed across Bazett, who was in a time-stopped state. Her mana bar, which was already full, did not change, but the necklace accessory 'Heart of the Main Brain' hanging on her chest resonated with Cheng Tian's brain, which had also been strengthened by the Main Brain in his cranial cavity.
In an instant, the power of the Command Seal that had already acted on Bazett also acted on Cheng Tian's empty mana bar. (Chapter 359)
Instantly refilled!
The Head Maid, having reached her limit, the divine light in her eyes instantly scattered.
"Za! Warudo!"
Accompanied by Cheng Tian's roar, the silver time stop clock that filled the entire instance was instantly replaced by an orange-gold color.
When the clamor once again filled Izayoi's ears, Cheng Tian's fist, which was also The World's, was already pressed against her forehead.
"I... lost."
Izayoi Sakuya, her eyes returning to clarity, dropped the silver throwing knives she held in her hand, producing a crisp sound.
Ch. 493 / 855