"...Errrrrghhhhfff..."
With a great exertion of effort, Tachyon peeled his right eye open.
It was still early morning. The dawn was only beginning to break.
Not even half a day had passed since he first slept on that mat.
But, to him, more than a year had passed in middle of his sleep.
"-No, not even a year. Two years?" Tachyon muttered as he lifted himself up. "Let me see..."
On his right wrist, there was a new accessory.
Van Cleef & Arpels: Midnight Planétarium Watch.
A watch that simultaneously told him the time and the precise location of the following planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Tachyon himself was still not quite sure as to how he still had this item, as he obtained it in middle of his prolonged dream. But, that aside...
"A year... no, a year and... almost half..." Tachyon muttered while clutching his head with his other hand. He felt like he had gone to Narnia.
Certainly, he did not allow a single moment of that year and a half's dream journey go to waste. His goal was to become the Perfect Guardian, the Philosopher King, and he took steps to precisely achieve that feat.
For his Mental Knowledge, he took extensive steps to gain knowledge of Philosophies of Teleological Nicomachean Ethics and Utilitarianism, Deontological Kantian Ethics, Eastern thoughts such as Confucianism and Legalism and Mohism, etc., and Biblical thoughts in forms of Sapiential Books, as he initially planned, but his adventure down this rabbit hole led him further into the realms of Political Science and Physics, including the thoughts of Montaigne, Laplace, Newton Machiavelli, Descartes, Locke, Hobbes, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Leibniz, etc.
He examined such illustrious figures at their strongest moments and at their weakest moments; at their births, and at their deaths. And then, he came to a significant realization.
An epiphany, of sorts.
...
"...Not now," Tachyon decided. "Later, when the time is right... I'll open that particular chamber in my Mind Palace."
Then,
Onward to the Somatic Knowledge he gained.
He performed a 'window shopping' of sorts of all kinds of martial arts, both Eastern and Western, some little HEMA mixed in. In the end, he determined to mainly augment his Fencing skills to the nth level.
In this case, a physical demonstration would have much more impact.
But not here; Shokka was still sleeping.
"Hmm..."
After some deliberation, Tachyon concluded that the wall located right next to their dorm room door was the most convenient option.
The sky outside was of gorgeous vermilion.
Standing against the surface of the wall in question, Tachyon prepared himself.
"타키온 사베르... (Tachyon Sabre...)"
A sword formed of brilliant neon blue light materialized in his grasp.
Épée Garde - Piercing Stance.
It was a type of stance that prioritized speed above power.
In this stance, Tachyon roared:
"타키온 테크닠 - 에페 가르드 - 쎕 에트왈! (Tachyon Technique - Épée Garde - Sept Étoiles!)"
In an instant blaze of blue light, the wall was overcome with an overwhelming attack; seven unnaturally clear holes were now present in the said wall, with smoke rising from within those crevices.
Three seconds later, a very tired Kamijou Touma poked his head out from his balcony above.
"-Can we not?"
"-Sorry."
After flashing Touma a sheepish grin, Tachyon went back to observing his handiwork.
Very fine, very fine indeed. The holes were formed with machine accuracy with extreme prejudice.
But...
The smoke did not cease to flow out from those holes.
In fact, the air around him was becoming more and more opaque, as if a pot was getting burned on top of a stove for too long.
Slowly stepping back, Tachyon reconsidered his surroundings. Did he puncture a gas pipe or something?
"What's with all this smoke?" He muttered.
It merely took seconds for him to be unable to see a foot in front of him. Panicking, he fumbled around his back, attempting to grab onto the balcony railing for support.
He couldn't feel one.
...
...How long had he been asleep, exactly?
...
He fell asleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep in a sleep...
...
So far, a formless cloud of... just grey. That's all he saw.
Then he saw a throne. A red throne.
Then he saw a figure stand behind that throne. A figure, who stood with his right foot forward, left foot behind his right leg, his right hand behind his back. He had his left hand and wrist draped over the top rail of the throne.
His white hair was something that could only be described as a spiked-up undercut. His red robe had collars larger than his own head, decorated with circles encircling bizarre runes. Affixed on his back was a emaciated ring with twelve spikes.
Every single one of his senses immediately screamed at him to run away.
That's how he knew: he positively had to approach this figure.
Then, a powerful mental pressure began to bore down on him from all sides. It was comparable to a pressure one felt while going up on an elevator, except on a much more psychological scale.
OBEY.
OBEY.
OBEY.
OBEY.
OBEY.
OBEY.
OBEY.
OBEY.
OBEY.
"...So," Tachyon muttered, "that is what they call 'Charisma'."
But, that pressure suddenly became the least of his problems.
The figure was near enough within his eyesight for Tachyon to be able to observe his every feature.
But, walk as Tachyon might, he was nowhere closer to that figure than he was before.
Wha-?
He attempted to tilt his head down, to examine his legs, to see if he really was moving them.
But, he could not move his head.
He attempted to dart his eyes to the side in surprise.
But, he could not move his eyes.
He attempted to sharply inhale in his moment of panic.
But, he could not even breathe.
All sound in his ear stopped; he could not even hear his own heartbeat.
What felt like an eternity passed.
Then,
The figure spoke.
...
"...Interesting."
The gleam in his yellow eyes was pronounced as ever, being surrounded by the cloud of gray.
"So, you activated... rather, your mind activated on its own, as you may call it, Tachyon Transvision System. Even when the very Time itself is frozen, you are able to observe. Truly, I must never drop my guard around you."
"...!?"
"But, it is indeed very boring to converse like this, so I'll condescend to your level."
The figure moved. Having shifted his position in front of his throne, he began to pace back and forth.
And, at the very moment when that figure began to move, Time was restored to Tachyon. He, in turn, could move.
Tachyon let out a slow exhale he had no idea he was holding.
This is no mere man.
One false move meant... who knows what.
Think logically.
Were it not for Tachyon's unique ability, he wouldn't have noticed this as fast as he did just now.
A classic move by a classic villain who had some form of control over time would be akin to a following: that villain would stop the Flow of Time, make a movement, and restore it. Hence, to an outsider viewing the move, it was as if the villain had teleported; as if that villain had made no visible shift in physical position at all.
But here, it was the other way around. The Flow of Time appeared to be restored when and only when the villain in question was performing shifting of movement in physical positions.
Which meant-
"-You truly are dangerous," said he, as he saw the realization dawn on Tachyon's face.
-it really was the other way around. Time moved only when that figure moved. Time astilled only when that figure astilled.
"...Super. Hot." Tachyon muttered.
"Ah, so you also played that game."
Of course he did. He, too, took his namesake from an outside source.
Silence fell as the two figures continued their scrutiny.
"...COT," Tachyon continued.
"Very good," the figure smiled.
The Council of Time.
Which meant...
"...Khronos," Tachyon concluded. "At last." Tachyon smiled.
The figure's smile broadened; two rows of impossibly white teeth glinted in the midst of the still ever-present gray fog.
Yes, Khronos.
"I suppose, there must be a reason why you chose this time to appear?" Tachyon asked.
"In consideration of your ability and mine's, and in consideration of the knowledge you have gained in your dream thus far... I have come to offer a preposition," Khronos replied. "I'm sure that you have already surmised as to why the Time Manipulation you and I are capable of far exceeds the scope of any Time-related Powers displayed elsewhere, across all phases, across all worlds, across all timelines, across all media, across all spans of countless imaginations."
"And yet... we still are mere inks on dried pulps of wood," Tachyon smiled.
Those two had never met.
Those two were the exceptions, even among those who had some form of power in regards to Time Manipulation.
A Timeline can be explained as follows:
Cause A occurs. Effect B follows.
A Certain Unfortunate Highschooler walks to a store, buys a carton of eggs on sale, and continues on to his home. In middle of the way, he bumps into A Certain Tsundere Middleschooler and drops his carton of eggs, which breaks into bits.
Cause A, Effect B.
Now, A Certain Time Traveler decides to prevent that event from occurring. Using his ability, he travels back in time and location to that point in order to catch the carton of eggs right after it falls out from the hands of the said Unfortunate Highschooler, preserving its integrity.
The Timeline has now been altered.
The Timeline before the tamperment, where the eggs break, can be called the Pure Timeline.
The Timeline after the tamperment, where the eggs are safe and sound, can be called the Altered Timeline.
That Altered Timeline can be altered further with further actions by the Time Traveler already on stage, or by interference of other Time Travelers, or etc.
And then there's the Ultimate Timeline.
The Ultimate Timeline is the end-result of all that was said and done in terms of Time Tamperment/Alteration/Manipulation. It is akin to the final record of all the Time Tampering done to the Timeline after all has been said and done. It just is.
Even if the very stage, the very World in which that particular event takes place were to be utterly destroyed and erased, even if that very Timeline itself was forcefully destroyed and erased, The Ultimate Timeline will, without skipping a beat, duly record that destruction event itself.
This is where the time traveling abilities one might see in books, comics, anime, manga, movies, etc., will end. No one goes beyond this.
But...
Theoretically...
One final hidden move Tachyon came up with after eons of his adventures was 'Tachyon Ultimate Transmigration.' Before this unimaginably prolonged dream of his, that move was still a theory at best, and he did not dare to experiment upon that move in fear of tampering Time beyond his control. But in that Dreamworld, he had no fear of tampering anything. So experiment he did.
He still wasn't quite sure how, but Tachyon Ultimate Transmigration was a Time Traveling move that allowed him to skip past all the alterations done to a timeline and delve directly into the final end result. Even if the World he was in, the Timeline he was in, ended at that moment, this move would allow him to go back prior to that destruction event. A serious tampering as that was not something a normal Time Traveling move could undo.
And, as for this man, called Khronos...
Even the Ultimate Timeline itself ground to a halt if Khronos made no physical movement.
...or so Tachyon suspected, since even with his own ability he found himself helplessly frozen in place at that moment before.
How exactly did this guy's power work, anyhow?
Apparently, Time flowed only when he moved.
But what exactly constitutes 'moving'? After all, one's atoms constantly vibrated in place at hundreds of miles per second. That couldn't possibly count.
To recap, Time only began to flow again when Khronos decided to perform conscious physical shifts of movement in physical space. Perhaps, to be more precise, it was necessary for Khronos to 'move' (as in, an action of moving toward an object in his perspective) with his mental acknowledgement of moving in perspective of outward objects. One example could be him walking toward someone else with an intent to move toward him, or him moving away from someone else with an intent to move away from him. Another example could be a strong gust of wind, forcing him to 'move' (the direction not being important here, since no matter the direction he faced, he was always pointed toward (or away from) 'something'). He is being moved, not out of his own will, but by an external force (of course, there can be no wind at all while he is still in the first place, but...). But when he does move in a direction, pointing toward (or away) the first thing in his way in the direction in question, he makes an automatic realization that he is moving toward (or away from) that 'something', hence letting the Time flow on.
When Tachyon dodges, he is quicker than the projectile he is dodging. When Khronos dodges, everything else is slower than he is. Fundamentally, this was a power opposite of his.
All this thought and much more ran through Tachyon's mind in a fraction of a second.
But despite that,
"Took you long enough," Khronos sneered.
"Don't act unimpressed," Tachyon quipped back. "I can certainly see that the End of all things are quite near, seeing that you have decided to appear. You're quite late to the party, you know."
"It appears that it will not be necessary for me to waste any time in attempting to introduce myself."
"Oh yes, no need. I'll do that for you."
Usually, the final boss of the entire ordeal appeared at the end.
Usually, it was the final boss himself who went on an overdrawn exposition as to who they were and what their game was.
But, Tachyon was anything but usual.
"Your name is Khronos. Nowadays, you are known as Aion. Prior to that, you called yourself Saturnus. Before that, you are Mithras. Before that, you are Zervan. But that's nothing new; your origin is from the womb of Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth, for you are Tammuz, and before that, you are Nimrod!"
Despite no change coming upon Khronos' face, the atmosphere around them reacted violently to the secrets of secrets uttered by Tachyon. The pressure he felt around his body worsened by magnitudes, though even that did nothing to take wind out of his sail.
"And to think that I haven't even uttered a tenth of your various names! Goat of Capricorn, for one. Originally, I expected you to appear around Christmas, or, as I should call it, Saturnalia, or Kronia, the day when 'every pomp of the devil is frequented'... as Tertullian puts it. You've got a red outfit and everything, just like Santa Claus! But I suppose that that wicked day is now reserved for your physical appearance."
"Are you done?" Khronos snapped.
"Not quite. I only went through your numerous aliases... one would think you to be an edgy fourteen-year old chuunibyou, with all these 'bad boi' nicknames," Tachyon snickered.
That was one rare lunge in which Tachyon succeeded in connecting. That slight twitch around Khronos' left temple that occurred at that quip did not escape his notice.
Ridicule.
Jests and insults and verbal assaults were all effective in their own ways, but they were leagues behind ridicule. Ridicule dealt heavy blows upon the mind in manner of which could not be matched up by neither failure, fear, nor approaching death.
"Next up are your hobbies," Tachyon grinned. "Devouring infants, leading people astray, and receiving human sacrifices. Your interests: the number 6, as evidenced by S representing 060, T representing 400, U representing 006, and R representing 200. Six-hundred-and-sixty-six, the Number of the Beast, just like the English Gematria value of Santa Claus. 6, the number of the man, material, and life. 66.6 degree tilt of the Earth. Carbon, the Element of Life, the Sixth Element, with 6 Protons, 6 Neutrons, and 6 Electrons. 6 directions of this World: Front, Left, Back, Right, Up, and Down. 6 sides and 6 points of Water. Saturn, the 6th Planet, the furthest planet from the Sun still visible to the naked eye; the embodiment of Time, Decay, and Death, the Source of All Sin. The Black Cube of which you represent. Men were created on the 6th Day. The Star of David, or that Seal of Solomon you wear on that left hand of yours, or, to be more exact, the Star of Remphan-"
"ARE YOU DONE!?" Khronos roared. The grey fog began to billow, if that was possible.
See, Philosophy and Martial Arts were not the only areas of knowledge Tachyon dabbled in so far in this overdrawn dream of his. Tachyon's preexisting knowledge of the Occult, accurate but unsystematic as it was, had been significantly amped up during his quests for Wisdom.
"I wouldn't yell so much if I were you; it does no good to your blood pressure-"
"SHUT UP!"
Tachyon wished to continue his jests, but seeing the shade in Khronos' face changing from red to purple, he decided to change the course of the conversation.
"Well, then, that's enough about you... I'm sure you have burning curiosities regarding yours truly, so ask away! Ask away..."
Tachyon's offer fell on deaf ears, it appeared. Khronos continued on his pacing, his yellow eyes ever-fixed on Tachyon's face.
Finally, after seemingly calming down, Khronos replied:
"That is enough." His lips became thinner as he spoke. "You know enough about me. It is time for me to offer my preposition-"
"Oh, not now!" Tachyon smiled. "I had not the chance to brag about myself!"
"That won't be necessary-"
"Oh, I do insist."
"..."
A moment passed while Tachyon sustained his eager look of expectation.
"...If I were to have a question..." Khronos replied, "it would be as to how your Tachyon Transvision System works. But regardless-"
"'Tachyon Transvision System', mmm, yes," Tachyon savored the phrase. "Not a bad name. I think I'll use it, thank you. Yes, how does it work? Good question... But it will require some exposition." Tachyon grinned.
Rolling his eyes, Khronos continued his pacing.