Nicholas stared absent-mindedly at the purple tracksuit set in front of him. A sigh escaped him. "Uh, Nick? Is something wrong?" Elena asked.
Nicholas smiled lightly and shook his head. "Nah. It's all good. Just can't really get excited about this match."
Elena raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's no good." She furrowed her brow. "You won't be able to fight at your best." Nicholas shrugged.
He didn't mind not being exceptional, since he found school affairs tedious and hence didn't want the chance at school rep.
School representatives were the most decorated and privileged students. They formed the student council of the school. They had utmost authority among the student body.
He would either beat Argent effortlessly or surrender after some time. The goal was for Argent to become a candidate for 'exceptional'. 'Exceptionals' were the prime school rep candidates.
Either that or fall in front of Nicholas like the weakling he was. He donned his tracksuit and sighed again. "Let's get this over with."
***
Nicholas immediately stopped and banked right. Right of the bat, things are going of the rails. Nicholas clicked his tongue.
Like him, Harry had an ability that could bypass Slipslide. That disassembled Nicholas' greatest advantage instantly.
He had planned to deal with Harry first and deal with Excavre's daughter later. However, with his ability to bypass Slipslide, Nicholas made a split-second decision.
Klara was the weak link. If he took her down, it would become a two-on-one. Elena herself wasn't weak. Nicholas was confident that he could beat Klara before Harry could beat Elena.
Well, can he even do it? Elena's true skills weren't from her ability to reduce the mobility of her opponents, but her ability to use Slipslide to increase her own mobility in combat.
Focusing his thoughts on his opponent, Nicholas dashed forward, but Klara was ready for him. "Grow." Unusually thick ivy vines sprouted from the ground all around him.
"You should have done your research. Game over." Nicholas looked unperturbed by the mass of vines that had sprouted out of the concrete.
"I admit. I should have done my research. You two are far more troublesome than expected. However, the outcome will be the same."
Nicholas had decided. They would fall here. With a flick of her finger, the vines shot downwards, stopping a few inches away from Nicholas' body.
"You should have done your research." Nicholas chided mockingly. "If you had, you would know I'm special, even among mutants. Your weak powers don't hold a candle to a supreme ability like mine."
More and more vines shot at him from every angle, including the ground, but they all stopped before reaching him. "..." Klara dashed back, but Nicholas didn't chase after her.
Despite all his talk, the vines were an actual problem. They had surrounded him. Even though they couldn't reach him and therefore posed no threat, they were still in the way.
"Tsk." Nicholas sighed and sidestepped to the right. Without warning, several vines suddenly shot forward, hitting the ground where Nicholas was standing a second before.
With that little exchange, Klara had figured out a few things. It wasn't a force-type ability Nicholas wielded, otherwise as he moved, the vines would have moved backwards as well.
It was a restrictive-type ability. He had essentially locked the vines in place, which was why he was still trapped even though they couldn't touch him.
He had to cancel his ability in order to create an escape route. She also realised that the action being taken before restriction is continued when he undoes it,
meaning his ability was to put something in stasis. "You look like you've figured something out." "Your ability is a restrictive-type suspension ability.
You can somehow lock something in place for a period of time, like a zone of stasis." From just that bout we had? Nicholas grinned. She really is Excavre's daughter.
"Is that right?" He asked, still grinning. Klara's eyes narrowed at Nicholas' lax attitude despite her deductions. Was there something more? Or was he simply putting on an act?
She was going to find out. "I also know how to beat you." Nicholas chuckled. "Already?" Klara's eyes narrowed. Nicholas wasn't acting. He genuinely thought he was still safe.
"Your funeral." Klara snapped her fingers, and the ground came apart, vines coming from every direction, headed right for Nicholas. "That's clever, but..."
Something else was happening now. Instead of stopping short of Nicholas, the vines wilted when they got close to him. "Alright. Now, figure that out." The smile hadn't left Nicholas' face.
***
"Nicholas! He can turn off abilities on contact!" Klara frowned. That wasn't exactly right. From what she could gather, it seemed more like Harry had an ability that prioritised efficiency.
He always seemed to have an advantage that helped him win the battle. She shook her head. An ability like that would be too broken.
"Got the time to daydream, do ya?" Nicholas asked, darting forward, intending to overpower her before the fight became unfair. "Yeah, I do."
Nicholas shifted his gaze to his left side and saw Harry descending with his legs outstretched in a drop-kick.
The distance was realistically too close to avoid, practically point-blank range. "You capitalized on my intention to remove you first to bait me into a pincer attack?" Nicholas was impressed.
"For a hastily formed duo you work together quite well." Klara was annoyed now. In this situation, one would be panicking, or at least worried, but Nicholas was just as calm as ever.
"Well, I'm not in the mood to lose." At a speed so fast Harry couldn't track his trajectory, Nicholas flitted backwards. "There's that too, Excavre." He was mocking Klara.
"Give me what you know so far." Harry asked. "He either has multiple abilities, or a really annoying ability with several applications."
"How so?" "He can use his ability to stop the movement of objects." "Understoo-" "I'm not done. He can also decompose them." Harry frowned. "Wait, what?"
Those two abilities had no correlation to each other. Was it possible to have more than one ability? There was also that speed even Harry couldn't track,
and there was something else that bothered him. Unlike most people in Ex. Vox, Harry couldn't actually see Nicholas.
What he was seeing was everything else except Nicholas. The part of Harry's view that Nicholas existed in was a human shaped blank space. Who is this guy?
"Now that I have your attention let's begin the final bout." Nicholas announced. "Be sure to put on your best performance, both of you."
Harry sighed. Klara took a deep breath. "Alright. We need a plan, a good one." Klara nodded. "What do you suggest?"
"We have to knock him out of bounds. That's the only way we can win." Klara nodded again. "Understood. Tell me what I have to do."