Time was considered the most difficult element and only Space could hold a candle to it. Alaric trying to comprehend something from the orb given his situation was no more than asking for death to come for him.
But he was confident. He had experienced the strength of space and time first hand during the day he awoke his soul. At that moment, in order to stop death, a barrier of space and time was formed around him making it impossible for death to touch him.
He knew that he was far from that level of strength in his current state but he had just been given a chance to probe the strength of time itself by the orb in his Origin source.
The situation was very similar to that day when death's scythe could not reach him definitely because time happened to have been stopped for the weapon.
Space had been used to lock the scythe in place such that it could not even break the barrier. Alaric knew that that was not his real strength but that situation enabled him to peer into the mysteries of Time and Space. And the moment he tried to probe the orb, his senses were stopped.
Being stopped was not the correct description. Time was slowed for his senses such that he could not feel the orb. It became too slow that it even stopped for his senses. He could tell that the only way to go further was by increasing his comprehension and strength.
When Alaric retracted his senses for the last time, it took him the longest and then it clicked to him as everything fell into place. Why it was that it appeared the more times he tried to probe the orb, the stronger the resistance was and the time it took to reach the stopping point or so he called it?
One could think that he was a fool to attempt trying to comprehend something in his situation but Alaric had found out that there were two concepts as to why his senses seemed to have been stopped. The first being perceptual and the second being physical.
Perceptual was whereby time stopped but it was only for himself. This was the easiest and it was then enhanced by his great thinking speed with the split minds in thorough action. When he comprehended the concept, it appeared that he could have almost a whole minute extra for him to comprehend further.
This was the moment the spear was very close to his brows as he made this discovery. When time slowed down for himself, he found that he had another added minute before the attack finally reached him.
He did not want to waste his chance as he fell into deep thoughts as he thought about what was actually happening when his senses were stopped. He tried it once more and took in every detail. Maybe it was not that time had stopped at all.
What if time had been lengthened infinitely? What if he felt that time slowed and stopped but it was just that the time lengthened such that he could not even tell? When he thought in that direction, things seemed to fall into place and he somehow saw an orange strand the seemed to shoot from the orb.
Alaric was caught offguard but when he touched it, it was as though his mind was hit by tons of bricks but a smile plastered his lips.
To the outside world, if the seven were not so focused in their attacks, they would have realized that the reasons Alaric's hair was blowing was not because of the wind pressure of their attacks but because of the new comprehension.
Time was difficult such that even those who were born with it as their elements still took years for them to comprehend something. Being powerful did not necessarily mean that you could use Time element in the first place.
So, when Alaric comprehended a small bit and the orange strand appeared, he was presenented with an enlightenment. And when the spear pierced between his brows, it was stopped. Not for a long period of time but for a split second.
And that moment was enough as Alaric flashed and appeared almost ten meters away from them. His smile turning into a grin. How beautiful...
The group all glared at the kid but their momentum all came crumbling to dust when they saw the kid's expression. They had just received a backlash and the kid was not in the slightest harmed. They could not explain what had happened.
The spearman infact was sure that his spear was enough to kill the kid but he had failed. He was sure that his spear was still moving but it appeared that it was not reaching the kid. Then, all of a sudden when he managed, the kid appeared meters away. There was no logic to that matter at all!
But what they saw when the kid opened his eyes left them in a trance. Alaric's eyes appeared to have changed and a deep orange glow shone deep in the depth of his eyes between the greens of his pupils. It should be a beautiful sight but it sent them shivers.
Time element had high standards. Whether in terms of energy, constitution and also in comprehension. When Alaric opened his eyes, he could feel the exhaustion in his body.
It just hit him that he could not use the time element as comfortably as he thought. Just the small action of slowing the spear for the split second did a great deal in draining his meridians and when he used it to speed up the time it required for his retreat he felt his meridians completely wrung dry.
He could only chuckle at himself. His energy reserves were to shallow yet he tried to use them forcefully to fuel the unfathomable time element. He shook his head realizing he could not use any element to attack anymore. Not that they would have any huge effect.
Just from that exchange, one could realize just why time element was feared. Though with enough strength one could shatter a barrier created by a lower plane cultivator, one should not underestimate the advantage a one second could give to a person.
Though the spear finally shattered the time barrier, Alaric had long since retreated buying himself some time. And for Aalric to slow down the spear, he used almost all the energy in his meridians. He could confidently say that if he could attack using time, he would hurt them despite their higher cultivation.
The orange glow in his eyes faded and the others realized that he appeared slightly pale. They knew that they had found their chance.
"He can't use the skill again. He is exhausted. Let's avenge our brothers!" Diego roared and when they heard the words that were in the tip of their tongues, they did not hesitate as they charged.
Alaric's smile did not disappear even when he saw them all charge towards him. He could only sigh as he felt bad for he was only able to use time element twice and he did not have a chance to try space element.
He scanned his spatial ring looking for a weapon and the only one he could find was a pair of axe. Of all weapons, the axe appeared to have some sort of resonance with him. It was the very first weapon that he chose for his very first mission.
He shook his hands and an axe appeared on each of his hand. He had no techniques other than the split mind technique. Still, he felt that he did not have enough foundation with the axe to allow him to learn their techniques.
Diego did not charge and he was left behind together with the spearman. With their conclusion, their presence was no longer required.
'Three in the fourth stage and two in the fifth stage.' Alaric examined. This group was going to learn not to underestimate him. He was in the sixth stage yet they dared send a bunch that was lower than him. It seemed he had to crush them completely and teach them a lesson before he sent them to the afterlife.
The group of five charged but when they were five meters away, they came to a stop. Why was the battle so frustrating? They had just charged at the enemy but the question was,
"Who were they attacking exactly?"
The kid was no longer in front of them. They all turned back to back as they formed a small circle covering for each other's blind spots. The enemy was nowhere to be seen and they could not even sense him.
There was a silence that lasted not less than five seconds. They all held their breaths all wondering where the next attack was going to come from but they were going to soon realize their mistakes.
The first mistake being engaging a body cultivator in close combat and the other one was approaching him with no weapon. It was consider to be the most foolish thing to do in existence.
Diego and the spearman were in alert mode wondering where the kid was going to attack from but their pupils constricted in the next instant...