In the next instant Hit dropped out of Time-Skip and drove a punch at Vincent.
As expected, Vincent blocked it clean.
"Vados, am I seeing things or did Hit's Time-Skip last longer?" Champa narrowed his eyes, curiosity spiking.
Vados nodded after a moment's thought. "It seems he has emptied his reserve."
"Reserve? What reserve?"
Down on the arena, Hit flickered again and again, attacking from impossible angles.
Vincent suddenly felt the pressure ratchet up.
A grim thought flashed through his mind.
"Did he just use the technique he saved for Jiren on me?"
Hit's silhouette kept appearing at skewed trajectories, each strike sharper than the last. He had brought out his trump card at last.
"These are all the seconds I have banked," Hit said flatly, fists blurring. "Let us see whether you break first or my Time-Skip runs out."
He had extended his Time-Skip from one second to two.
Two seconds of temporal advantage was enough to destroy anyone at his level, and even threaten those above it.
Yet Hit's frown deepened with every exchange. Each attack only fed his doubt.
"Why? Why does he keep reacting before my punch lands?"
He slipped again into Time-Skip and drove his fist forward.
To his disbelief, Vincent moved as if he could see into the frozen instant itself, meeting every strike at the exact point of impact.
Sweat beaded on Hit's brow.
"At this rate I will run out of stored time before he goes down."
Teeth clenched, he made his choice. He released everything at once.
Crack.
A faint violet radiance coated his body as he vanished.
This time the shell of crystallized time around him was thicker, denser, sealing away his ki so completely that even seasoned gods lost track of him.
"What is this?" Vincent's eyes tightened.
Hit's presence vanished from the Byakugan's field. No trace. No breath. Nothing.
For the first time in the fight, Vincent was forced fully onto the back foot.
His danger sense screamed.
"Move!"
He twisted with everything he had.
But Hit had staked it all, pouring his entire reserve into one overwhelming gap in time. There was no avoiding it.
"Not good."
The blow landed squarely between Vincent's shoulder blades.
Bang.
His back caved under the strike. Even with Armament hardening his vitals, the impact tore through him and left his breath ragged.
"This is the one I wanted," Hit murmured, voice low. "Be bound by the prison of time."
The force drilled through Vincent's torso and burst from his chest in a violent shockwave.
"Hah."
Hit let the power detonate.
The assassin's killing strike from Universe Six sent Vincent skidding across the arena, smashing through pillars of stone and carving a deep trench that arrowed straight toward the edge.
"Vincent, hang in there!" Beerus sprang to his feet, panic finally showing. The tide had turned in a heartbeat.
"It appears Hit truly can store time," Whis said, face uncharacteristically grave. "Against Vincent, he has just spent everything at once. That is why Vincent could not answer that exchange."
"If Goku were in there, he would already be out," Whis added.
"What? Even Goku would lose?" Krillin stared at Whis, stunned. In his mind Goku was Universe Seven's ultimate spear. If Goku could not handle it, then who could stop Hit?
Whis's tone softened a fraction. "Even if Hit throws Vincent off the stage, his ace is gone. Goku may not lose to him afterward."
Beerus exhaled, shoulders slumping. "Then it is on Goku…" He could not hide the disappointment. Forcing Universe Six's top assassin to burn his trump card was worthy enough, but he had hoped for more.
On the arena, Vincent finally dug his heels in. Twin furrows ripped open beneath his feet as he slid to a stop with the void yawning just behind him.
"How exciting," one Zeno chirped. Both leaned forward like children at a circus.
"Who do you think will win?" the other asked, glancing at the Grand Minister.
"The battle is not over," the Grand Minister replied with an unreadable smile. "All remains uncertain. However…" He lifted a finger toward Vincent. "Right now the fighter from Universe Seven is confined within a prison of time. He will not break free quickly."
Vincent drew a breath to steady himself. A cold violet sheen fell over him, locking his limbs like chains.
"So this is the time prison…"
He tried to twist, to buck, to move a single finger. Nothing answered.
Hit appeared before him, battered but upright, right hand leveled at Vincent's heart.
"You are strong. But I must defeat you."
A sphere of violet energy gathered in his palm, swelling as its destructive pulse climbed.
The killing blow drifted toward Vincent.
"Farewell," Hit said, certain of the end.
"You are saying goodbye too early."
Vincent's voice was calm. Fire sparked along both his hands, then roared to life.
Flame flowed up his forearms, and his palms fused that fire into a single blazing mass.
He slammed it forward to meet the violet sphere.
"What?"
Shock broke across Hit's face. "You can still move…"
Boom.
The two energies collided, and the world erupted.
A wave of heat rolled across the arena, scorching the stone as the blast hammered outward.
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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