Max’s stomach turned as the two halves of his body were pulled in opposing directions. He vomited immediately, dropping to his knees and clenching his head between both hands as the crimson storm continued shifting around him.
Such a sudden change in reality was too difficult for even his transformed body to endure. His sense of balance had completely collapsed, while the organs inside him seemed to twist whenever the direction of time changed.
Even the blood flowing through his translucent vessels felt as though it were being forced backward before suddenly rushing forward again, placing so much pressure upon his body that his two hearts struggled to maintain their rhythm.
Max attempted to spread his void magic through the hourglass, but the darkness had barely moved beyond his scales when another backward tick reached his ears. Its movement immediately reversed, forcing every trace of void back along the path it had taken until it returned inside his body.
He tried again, releasing the darkness from both hands and driving it toward the surrounding crimson storm. The void began devouring the time magic closest to him, but before it could create even the smallest opening, the hourglass rotated and dragged the entire moment backward.
Everything the void had consumed was restored, while the darkness was forced back through Max’s arms and returned to his Void Heart.
No matter how many times he attempted to spread his power, the result remained the same. The void could devour the crimson magic, but it was never given enough time to gain an advantage before its own movement was reversed.
Outside the hourglass, Aragon watched from the stopwatch platform with an exhausted smirk upon his face. His connection to the crimson storm allowed him to see everything happening within it, including movements Max himself could no longer perceive.
The entire hourglass was now rotating through the air. Each time it turned, Max was thrown from one chamber to the other through the narrow opening connecting its two halves, only for time to reverse and drag him back again.
From inside, Max experienced each transition as another sudden change in reality, unaware that his body was being tossed repeatedly between the upper and lower chambers.
"Cheeky brat," Aragon called as he wiped the blood beneath his nose with one finger. "Let us see how you enjoy being tossed around until your brain spills out through your ears."
More blood immediately replaced what he had wiped away. Aragon’s chest continued heaving as he controlled the opposing movements of the two stopwatches while simultaneously maintaining the rotating hourglass and the storm raging within it.
Even for him, such an ability was far from easy to control. Every change he forced upon the flow of time consumed an enormous amount of mana and placed increasing pressure upon his body. Unlike Max, Aragon did not possess reserves large enough to continue feeding such a technique indefinitely.
If Max had controlled the same ability with the amount of mana flowing through his two hearts, Aragon understood that he would have already died a thousand times without ever receiving an opportunity to fight back.
However, that thought did not frighten him.
The blood continued dripping from his nose, and his breathing became more strained with every passing second, yet the smirk upon his face only widened as he forced the hourglass to spin faster.
It had become a battle of endurance, but Max was no longer struggling blindly against the time magic. Even through the nausea and disorientation, he continued searching for a way to escape.
Clumsily at first, Max attempted to perform everything in reverse, beginning with the result he wanted and forcing his thoughts to trace each necessary action backward. The process made the pain inside his head even worse, but the System Creator had subjected him to far more unbearable torture in the past.
Those experiences had trained his mind to separate its thoughts, allowing him to concentrate upon several independent actions at the same time without losing control of any of them.
Max took a deep breath and divided his focus. One part of his mind endured the constant rotation, another maintained the flow of mana through his two hearts, while the rest began gathering all five powers around his right fist.
Crystal magic responded first. Translucent fragments spread over his scales and connected around his claw, gradually forming a protective glove. Max stumbled as the hourglass suddenly reversed direction, nearly losing control of the unfinished attack, but he forced his legs apart and managed to steady himself before the crystal layer could disappear.
Aragon watched everything unfold through the crimson storm, and the smile upon his face slowly froze.
"What is he attempting now?"
He poured more mana into the two stopwatches, causing their hands to spin faster in opposite directions. The hourglass accelerated with them, throwing Max between its two chambers while blood flowed more heavily from Aragon’s nose and ran across his lips.
Max felt the time magic intensify, but the increased pressure only made him concentrate harder. Void began spreading over the crystalline glove as icy-purple and golden flames gathered beneath its surface. The powers of the Ice and Fire Dragon bloodlines pushed violently against one another, threatening to explode before the attack could be completed, but multicolored Spirit Sovereign magic flowed between them and prevented either side from overwhelming the other.
The opposing dragon flames remained trapped beneath constant pressure, each trying to devour the space occupied by the other. Void magic compressed them from every direction while the Spirit Sovereign’s power maintained the unstable balance, creating a vacuum within the crystal shell that continued drawing more energy into Max’s fist.
The power gathering around his claw became terrifying. Cracks spread across the protective crystal layer as black, golden, icy-purple and multicolored light escaped through the gaps. Without the crystal bloodline protecting his hand, the conflicting forces would have torn through his scales and flesh, possibly destroying his entire arm before he could release them.
Max clenched his fist and increased the output of both hearts to the limit.
The rotating hourglass began to shake. Cracks appeared across its crimson surface and spread from the inside outward, continuing to widen no matter how many times the backward ticking attempted to restore them.
Aragon’s expression changed completely. The damage passed through his connection to the hourglass and struck his body as magical backlash, forcing him to stagger upon the stopwatch platform. Thin cracks also began appearing across both enormous clocks, interrupting the movement of their hands and causing the crimson light surrounding them to flicker.
"You insane little monster..." Aragon growled as blood poured from his nose, yet excitement returned to his widening grin.
"Go to hell," Max cursed.