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Chapter 428: Will You Turn Into a Duck or a Frog?
Cheng Tian's world was directly copied from Dio, who had already grown to a considerable extent. This meant that, theoretically, the maximum duration of time stop in his world could be up to 9 seconds.
But theory is theory, and reality is reality. Due to the limitations of his own MP, Cheng Tian can currently only maintain time stop for a maximum of 4 seconds, and this would consume a full 1200 MP, corresponding to 300 MP per second.
For Cheng Tian, whose bare MP upper limit is only 1250, every additional second of time stop would mean he wouldn't have enough surplus energy to cast other offensive skills, and there's a high probability that he would fall into another crisis after time stop ends, with his MP depleted.
So, at least for now, Cheng Tian prefers to use it as an auxiliary ability, and at most, he would only use it for 3 seconds at a time.
This is similar to Cheng Tian's view on savings: he can spend freely in his daily life, but he must also ensure that he has enough reserves to draw upon whenever needed.
This time, facing Vega, Cheng Tian only activated time stop for two seconds, and only managed to do one thing during that period: using The World's characteristic of "being able to pick up souls and use souls," he transformed the soul fragments dropped by the defeated personal guard and Bison into the blue Shock Orb granted by his title, and threw it with extreme precision between Vega and Satsuki.
As the three touched, the blue Shock Orb exploded on the spot.
Since Vega was a boss template, there was no MP burn. Instead, he suffered a 10-second magic sealing status.
It's unclear whether the blue Shock Orb's priority was higher than imagined, or if some other factor was at play, but even a unit like Vega, clearly a Street Fighter big boss, couldn't prevent this 10-second magic sealing from decaying.
For martial artists, the blue Shock Orb would at most prevent them from firing projectiles or breathing fire, and some super special moves that were already charging would be disallowed or forcibly interrupted.
But for Vega, who primarily uses the "Psycho Power fighting style," things were clearly much more serious!
His powerful psycho power, which could originally switch between calm and stormy seas like a manually controlled ocean, now directly became stagnant water, completely unable to be mobilized.
Even more terrifying, with his psycho power completely unable to be activated, his body also lost its ability to float. Facing the orange-gold figure that flashed out from who knows where, Vega could only barely adjust his posture, relying on muscle instinct to forcibly use his air-to-ground move with crossed arms and stomping feet—
Psycho Crusher!
And the answer to the Shadaloo Grand Master was a heavy punch from The World.
Even temporarily losing control over his psycho power, Vega's combat prowess as a martial artist and his physical strength were still top-notch. The clash between his feet and the punch directly generated a small shockwave, and he even used this repulsive force to further distance himself from The World.
But Cheng Tian was clearly prepared to finish him off here in one go!
With the sound of the wall cracking behind him, Vega sensed a terrifying crisis.
Just as the time stop ended and before the blue orb exploded, the Command Seal on Cheng Tian's left hand glowed brightly.
"Come on! Bazett!"
Cheng Tian, who was only a wall away from Vega, used reverse summoning for Bazett for the first time in the instance.
As one Command Seal dimmed, a reverse summoning magic circle instantly appeared on the ground with a flash of light, and the corresponding summon appeared. Bazett, who was originally fighting on the periphery, instantly appeared beside Cheng Tian. After a very brief mental communication, she unhesitatingly punched through the wall and charged towards Vega.
At the same time, The World also exploded with force from his feet under Cheng Tian's control, charging forward.
Classic! Thrice recreated! It's the passionate march of Ora and Muda!
However, compared to the previous two who successively fell under the pincer attack of Bazett and The World's Fist Curtain , namely M. Bison and Balrog, Vega's overall combat prowess was simply too high. He had often used his high-end dolls to gang up on himself in the past, to train his ability to fight multiple opponents in a chaotic battle.
So, even with his psycho power unable to be mobilized, Vega still almost perfectly blocked all powerful punches aimed at his vital and weak points.
As for other punches that only landed on his solid muscles, Vega felt pain but accurately judged that he could still withstand them for now.
Besides being a psychic who could use psycho power to invade and brainwash others, he was also an excellent martial artist; otherwise, how could he easily keep the Four Heavenly Kings in check?
Moreover, with his keen perception, he naturally noticed that the subsequent punches, despite coming from delicate female arms, delivered a power even more outrageous than Bison's, and were also accompanied by an additional flame scorching effect and an effect that weakened psycho power.
Almost every hit could deduct about 30 of his MP!
But still, the same point: he could withstand it. His long blue bar gave Vega enough confidence.
As long as he could get through it! As long as he could get through these last few seconds!
The fading of the magic sealing effect within his body was the strongest driving force supporting Vega to continue. At that point, whether it was a desperate counter-kill or a tactical retreat, it would be entirely up to Vega.
And in that instant, he would let everyone here witness the true terror of the Shadaloo Grand Master!
However, with all his attention forced to focus on the pincer attack from The World and Bazett, and thus completely unable to spare any energy to observe his surroundings, Vega failed to notice that a total of four floating crystal spheres were neatly lined up, spaced apart from each other. Then, they rapidly transformed in mid-air, each turning into a crystal-clear… staff?
The brightly glowing staff heads were clearly targeting the besieged Vega for spell casting. After a 1-second casting delay, the four staff heads made of conceptual crystals, plus the staff Cheng Tian held in his own hand, simultaneously fired a total of five pentagram-shaped magic missiles, successively heading towards Vega, who was pinned in place by the fist curtain—
The Bloodline Gentleman's Cane's solidified skill, "Polymorph" * 5!
Powerful psycho power also granted Cheng Tian precise control over time, numbers, distance, and other aspects. The first pentagram missile with the Polymorph effect precisely struck Vega at the exact moment the magic sealing on him was about to disappear!
With a puff of smoke, this Shadaloo Grand Master, Shadow General, Red-Clothed City Guard, Sai Gou Zai She, Super School Overlord Lu O Guang, and the one who always engages in a love-hate relationship with Akuma in the opening stages, actually transformed on the spot into a… red frog!?