Vines sprouted from the ground, and Nicholas evaded them effortlessly. "You've already tried that." He said, flitting about at high speeds.
"Harry, can you track his movements?" Klara asked. "We wouldn't be having so much trouble if that was the case." Harry could barely follow Nicholas' movements.
He realized that his kinetic vision itself was higher than that of others, because he could tell. Nicholas' speed was so great that he couldn't tell he had moved with his geometric vision.
However, Harry wasn't panicking. He had already started devising a plan, but he wanted to know something first. How many abilities can he use at once?
This was why he was having Klara sic so many vines on Nicholas. Since Nicholas was currently using super speed, it would be a good time to find the answer to his question.
He darted about, weaving in between the spaces in the vines placed by Klara as she gradually restricted Nicholas' movement options.
"What's this?" Nicholas grinned. "You don't think I'll try to decompose you?" Harry was now convinced that he was right. Nicholas had called a bluff. He was actually out of options now.
"I'm glad I was able to trick you." What? The vines around Harry and Nicholas began to wither. At blinding speed, Nicholas closed the distance between him and Harry.
"Did you know that a vine can wither in the span of two to five days?" Nicholas said. "That amount of time has very little change on a human being, much less a mutant, and even less so for me, or you."
His fist met Harry's gut. It felt as though he was getting hit by a fist-sized truck. He was thrown across the field but saved from going out of bounds by Klara's vines.
Is this guy insinuating that he can manipulate time on objects and people? Harry sighed. That was absurd. There was no way mutants could be that powerful.
"Are you okay?" Klara had rushed over to him. "No, not really. If what I'm thinking is right, we're in big trouble." Klara frowned. "What do you mean?"
"It seems like Nicholas can mess with the timestream in a localized area around himself, with the added perk of being able to apply whatever effect he's applying to the area to himself at his own discretion."
Klara was dumbfounded. "That can't be right. That would be too powerful for a mutant ability." "My thoughts exactly, but here we are." Klara sighed. "How do we beat him?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't know how. We would be able to win if we could force him into close-quarters combat, but his time powers have as much of an effect on me as on you. This is unprecedented."
"Had a nice regrouping?" Nicholas asked. He seemed to be in no hurry to defeat them. Klara growled, but Harry thought something else. "Hey, how is his breathing?"
Klara observed Nicholas for a while. "Heavy. He's being worn down." She said, the realisation dawning on her. "Whatever his ability is, he probably can't use it for very long."
Harry nodded. "So, we just have to outlast him." Klara nodded, wiping the beads of sweat off her brow. "One last push." Harry nodded, sprinting forward.
"Come at me." Nicholas challenged, grinning. Harry launched himself forward, twisting into an axe-kick. Nicholas easily sidestepped him and connected his heel to Harry's midsection.
Harry could feel his body forcefully slowing down when he got closer to Nicholas. He had reduced his area of effect to conserve stamina.
Nicholas was actually intelligent, but Harry had already figured out how to beat him. "Klara, get ready!" He shouted, and Klara nodded.
Once more, a writhing mass of vines shot forward at Nicholas, who promptly began to decompose them. "Now!" Harry ordered.
A slab of concrete twice the size of Nicholas flew toward him. "Shit." Rocks would take a very long time to weather, and Nicholas knew this.
His best option was to evade it. He quickly darted to his left, where Harry was waiting. He barely evaded Harry's attack, darting away just in the nick of time.
This was all part of Harry's plan, however. The moment Nicholas evaded his attack, another concrete slab hurtled through the air at him.
Unfortunately for Nicholas, the rate at which time was being sped up couldn't weather the stone, and only increased its movement speed the closer it got to him.
In other words, Nicholas didn't have enough time to dodge the slab; and he was too tired to slow time down to a halt.
He settled for slowing the slab down enough to prevent too much damage from the impact. He was thrown back from the impact of the slab, and without wasting a second, Harry chased him down.
Grabbing him by the collar, Harry flung him with all his might, and Nicholas ended out of bounds. For a split second, the entire arena was quiet. Then raucous applause and shouts tore through the arena.
Everyone was enthralled with the match. It was thrilling enough that no one was even mad about Avarice losing to Collector.
Nicholas calmly sat up. "Whew." He had pretended to be running out of stamina and acted accordingly. He had fulfilled his master's request. "That was fun."
During that fight, Nicholas was reminded again of the sheer power of Nora Pythas. She really was the only one who could handle him in a fight he took seriously.
He glanced at Harry and wondered. Why didn't he turn off my powers? The answer eluded him, and he knew he wouldn't find out any time soon.
Despite being his enemy, Nicholas was still impressed by Harry's calculations and decision making. If he had different abilities, he would be on par with Nora and Nicholas himself.
"Sorry, Excavre. It's going to be a while before you can break their spirits. However, I suppose you are already aware of this, right, sir?"
***
"As promised, you get to keep the tracksuit." Eva said after Harry and Klara dropped into the chairs in their changing room. "You did good, though you cut it pretty close there Argent."
Harry shrugged tiredly. "He's like you. Of course I had a hard time." Klara frowned. "What do you mean?" Eva shrugged. "He is my little brother after all. Though I'm surprised you can tell."
"My eyes are special." Harry said. "So you aren't going to apologize for mind-controlling me?" Eva went silent. "..."
"Well, I'll take that to mean I was right. Sit, teach. Let's have a nice, long conversation about boundaries and ethics."