The Zero Countdown

Chapter 9: Adversary

As she had seen from her ability, Truth Foresight, which allows Elora to perceive the ability of any Fantasm within his vicinity right above their head; she noticed ability-holder comes from four different classifications based on their Fantasm Ability effects.

The first one amongst the four is the External Class, they are the individual player who can affect the real-world environment by tampering with the laws of nature and physics, producing a supernatural occurrence that should be considered impossible.

Prime examples Elora mentioned was her boyfriend Ruther, for his capability of rendering anyone he touches back to the underworld affects the world order of life and death. It was then Brina remembered the first Fantasm they encountered in the alley and figured out that beggar falls into the External Class category.

The second was the Internal Class, a type of Fantasm who have the capability of seeing their surroundings in a different perspective that which they can use to their advantage. Their power mostly affects themselves, mostly their vision or mind.

Elora clarified she's in the Internal Class since she can identify any Fantasm and find out their ability without touching them nor telling them she's the same as them.

Her potential of reconnaissance, as well as knowing her enemy before even a fight starts is a considerable advantage on her side when used correctly.

The third type of Fantasm is the Modification Class; they are players who gained the aptitude of either improving their already present latency or boosting the physical manifestation of their body by becoming unconquerable against their own field.

The Void Passage of the man stalking Elora is the prime example of Modification type Fantasm, for he can freely use his ability to get past through walls that which atomically impossible in the realm of quantum physics.

The last type of Fantasm is the Prediction Class; they are the players who have attained the ability of insight into what comes next. They sometimes fall under the category of Internal Class but what differentiates them outside their sub-category is that they can predict the instance of reality ahead of time without altering the occurrences altogether.

Elyon can accurately tell when a living person is going to die, exactly at the count of hundreds of seconds to which he can calculate by converting the given time to years, days, and even down the remaining minutes.

Meanwhile, Brina can predict the absolute outcome of an altered reality, but peeking into the future means gazing at the numerous, potentially infinite possibility that might occur in a specific spectrum of time. She already had seen everything, but she still need to pinpoint the reality she observe to make the world she realized be real.

"There were several Prediction Class Fantasm who probably died yesterday because they had no idea their power works... But now, Elyon and Brina, you two are the only prediction Fantasms who can defeat the real adversary of this game..."

It was then Elora disclosed the reason why she needed the power of Prediction Fantasm at her behest was for them to bring down the enemy they eventually have to face.

"So you are telling us there is someone you fear aside from the power of literally predicting the future and death, and killing someone with just a simple touch?"

Elyon mentioned their abilities. He thought their powers alone are an unstoppable force when combined yet he remembered there's always a bigger fish below the vast ocean of abyss they can never gaze upon.

"Yeah, maybe the remaining Fantasms aside from us are pretty clever and powerful on their own, hence the reason we're holed up in a hotel like a coward. Though, we're talking about the BIG BOSS of this game... The main contender we should fear... I still remember how he proposes giving us the salvation of slow death..."

Even Ruther had chills up his spine thinking about his encounter with the boss they were speaking about. For some reason, Elyon notices Brina scrolling through the endless notes she recently wrote under her blanket.

"I won't run away anymore. Brina and I will use everything we have so we can bring down anything that comes our way." Elyon said, acting all high and mighty when he's the one who's afraid the most.

"Good. What we're dealing with possess the most fearsome Modification Fantasm Ability called Invincibility. Such power can turn himself into an indomitable tank, becoming an immortal entity who can deny even the authority of death."

Elora described the man that got the powerful ability as something they can't defeat alone. However, no man is immortal, and finding out how they can win against him was the reason why they formed a group of four to beat the unavoidable.

"Now I know why you needed Elyon in the first place... You thought you could guess when that invincible man or whatever you call him, will die once Elyon gets to see his remaining time?" Brina spouted a blind guess.

"Precisely correct. No more or else. Going against him is equivalent to suicide. A concise and accurate strategy is all we needed for a counterattack." Elora combs her velvet hair. She even had the time redoing her makeup and making herself presentable and attractive anytime like the lady she is.

"Hm... I think that's not going to work." Brina speculated. She's inherently confident based on her recent research of alternate realities, be it fiction or established on the contradicting mystery of science itself.

"She's right. My Fantasm Ability isn't exactly what you read above my head." Elyon clasps both his hands. He got out of the bed comfortably sat near the couch, worrying how he can explain his power to them in simpler meaning.

"Huh?" Elora double-checked, re-reading the information popping out above his head. "It says you can predict anyone's remaining seconds. If my ideas work, then you should be able to tell when our target will die, and thus, by looking into the future using Brina's insight, we can overcome anything in our way."

"That's the point, he can predict their imminent doom, however, by existing in the same space as the subject at hand, an entanglement occurs and the future will be changed based on his interference which means..." Brina didn't say the answer yet they already knew what she was pertaining to her words.

"Which means Elyon can save anyone from death... And he can also mess it up." Ruther told.

"And the fact the entanglement was his own all along... The blame shall be on his back as well." Elora stated the obvious.

They all fell silent because they realized that if everything went wrong, whether it was their fault or their wrong move, in the end, Elyon holds the blame because he's holding their life on his palms right at that moment, whilst their remaining time ticks indefinitely before meeting their inevitable end.

Guilty that she was actually putting everyone on a stranger she barely knows, Elora just casually chuckled and tell them, "Scrap that idea. The blame will not be yours, we share it as a team. We must uphold our promise that this joint party shall be disbanded when we're the only ones left. This way, we can have a fair two-versus-two fight."

"That's a given. Though I'm curious, what does the Big Boss you guys keep mentioning earlier propose? And why refuse it?" Brina place her smartphone back in her pocket, she found what she was looking for.

"With all honesty, his offer was actually pretty decent. He said he'd overthrow that one who's playing the string behind the Zero Countdown by letting the Fantasms die of old age which means, everyone who participated in this mess will die peacefully under his command... Except, there is a loophole from his seemingly perfect equation."

Dying of old age means the players can live normally without any discrimination, so it should work as long as the rest of them are on the same page, but the very thought itself was a mistake and should not be considered knowing they stand similar.

"Power, just like money, changes people, isn't it?" Brina was correct.

"That's right. No one upholds that very idea when everyone else got an ability they can exploit, laying chaos on their wretched fantasy that imprisoned their meaningless soul." Elora couldn't keep eye contact. She was binge-eating chocolate bars as a means of coping up.

"Who might that man you speak be? Is he that big of a deal?" Elyon could eventually regret underestimating the adversary they all so fear the most.

"I'm glad you asked. Why not visit him one last time and tell him we aren't going to accept his offer?"

And just like Elora decided out of the blue, she yanked Elyon and Brina off the couch and brought them out of their hotel room, her boyfriend tailing acting as her guard, he's ready to take off his metallic gloves just in case he should handle a frontal assault who doesn't know his ability.

It was early in the morning but they walked out of the Silverfolsage Hotel and strode faster towards a specific avenue near the commercial district. Workers and civilians are already strolling around to the place where they belong until the party had arrived at a towering skyscraper far higher than his previous workplace.

Without any prior notice, Elora guided them inside without caring a thing or two of the employees who were eyeing them the moment they came in.

"Hm... You sure we have access to walk freely in the premises?" Elyon believed it was rude for them to just enter a workplace without any authorization. Though it appears they aren't staying much longer and Elora even has the proof of permission from the blank red card she's keeping in her pocket.

"We don't need anyone's consent when we change something that purs our life in the light. Besides, you wanna meet the Big Boss? He's here... The CEO of the Goldenfang a business company that deals on various types of electronics around the metropolis."

It was as if Elyon felt the contingency of time, the roaring of his heart telling him he should back off, and he's going to face the adversary he shall have to overcome.