Alex wasn't sure if the timing was right. When he looked up at the sky, it was clearly midnight. He stood in front of the inn, but there was no movement inside. The fight was supposed to begin, yet everything was eerily silent. At the end of this strange wait, a raspy sound behind him sent shivers down his spine. He thought he was waiting for his prey—but he had become the hunted.
He slowly turned around and came face-to-face with the man he had been looking for. The man's entire body was covered in an armor made of black bands. Without giving Alex a chance to even speak, the traveler lunged forward and hurled him to the ground with a brutal strike. Alex only realized the full force of the blow when he smashed through the inn's door and hit the floor. The pain was unbearable, yet he didn't panic. Placing a hand over his body, he regulated his energy flow and healed himself. Thanks to Logan's training, he had gained new abilities—one of which allowed him to reverse the state of his body to a moment just before receiving a blow by altering its sense of time.
Through the dust that rose from the shattered door, the silhouette of the traveler appeared. This time, Alex had no choice but to act—if he didn't, it could be too late. The creature before him hesitated for a moment when it saw that Alex was still standing. But the surprise didn't last. The traveler dashed toward Alex once again.
This time, Alex was ready. He raised his fist toward the incoming threat. He focused all his energy into his hand, bent the flow of time in his favor, and launched his fist forward—accelerating it a thousandfold in a second. When the punch landed, the explosion of kinetic energy lit up the night as if it were day. The shockwave flung both the traveler and the nearby structures backward. The traveler crashed into the vending machine in the lobby, almost getting embedded into it. The machine now looked as though it had been crushed by a wrecking ball.
Alex had landed on the tables, breaking several of them. Controlling his breath, he stood up. He quickly regenerated using his energy flow, but when his eyes met the traveler again, disappointment set in. His enemy was still standing. Despite the damage to his armor, he remained in the middle of the scattered debris, staring at Alex with a menacing glare. This one was definitely different from the others. He was tougher—and far more dangerous.
Alex needed help. He immediately remembered the key in his pocket and ran upstairs. Reaching the middle of the corridor, he pulled the key out and moved toward Kai's room. But just as he was about to insert it into the lock, the traveler leapt onto him. The sudden blow sent Alex flying backward, and the key fell from his hand, clattering and rolling across the floor.
Now they were both struggling on the ground. Alex tried to scream for help, but his voice wasn't loud enough to disturb Kai's deep slumber. He was helpless against the mechanical armor weighing him down. Every hit made him feel even more powerless.
He tried to free his leg and escape, but the traveler seemed to anticipate the move. Slamming his mechanical legs onto Alex's right foot, he broke the bone with a harsh twist. Alex screamed involuntarily from the pain, but mechanical hands reached for his throat and choked the cry.
Death's cold breath was now at the back of Alex's neck. The traveler gripped his throat tightly, cutting off his air. Despite the helplessness wrapping around his entire body, a single solution began to shine in his mind: escape.
He clenched his eyes shut and gathered all his energy. Releasing the flow of time in his mind, he made the choice to leave his consciousness behind. Everything around him suddenly froze—then disappeared.
When he opened his eyes, he was still in the inn—but something was clearly wrong. A massive hole in the ceiling showed that things had gone off track. The shape of the hole matched the silhouette of the man he had just fought. Taking a deep breath, he gathered his energy and restored his leg. As the pain subsided, his eyes caught a glimpse of the calendar at the corner of the corridor. It read the year 1988.
"Did I come back three years?" he thought, eyes widening in shock.
Noise from outside drew his attention. Looking out the window, what he saw only raised more questions. Kai was fighting someone outside the inn. A closer look revealed that the person Kai was fighting... was the same traveler Alex had just battled.
His mind spun with confusion. "Is this the traveler Kai once said he fought and failed to capture?" If that were true, then the one who caused the traveler to arrive there was Alex himself. "But how? It's impossible for the traveler to time travel with me."
Then the answer hit him like lightning: The armor! That strange armor on the traveler must have allowed him to travel through time along with Alex.
As Alex continued watching, he saw Kai land blow after blow on the traveler. The tide of battle had clearly turned in Kai's favor. But the traveler, dodging the continuous attacks, must have realized this was a fight he was bound to lose. Kai delivered a powerful kick, hurling the traveler into the foundation of a newly constructed building, buying him a few seconds. The traveler used this moment to unleash a hook tied to a cable from his armor.
Alex thought the new weapon was aimed at Kai. But a second later, he realized the true target—himself. The weapon was coming straight for the window he stood at. Even though he noticed the hook and tried to run, there was no way to escape the strike—it was faster than a bullet. As he turned toward the stairs, the hook pierced his leg, anchoring him in place. His scream echoed down the hallway as the hook began to reel him in.
With the pain came a terrifying understanding—the one pulling the hook would arrive in seconds. If he didn't act, he'd be taken before Kai even noticed him—and it would all be over. His mind, clouded with panic, knew he had to trigger another time burst. But this time, focusing was harder than ever. It felt as if his mind wasn't entirely his own.
For a fleeting moment, he felt like the hook hadn't only pierced his foot—but his thoughts as well. "How can this be possible?" he thought. It was as if someone else was controlling the time he would go to, his movements—even his feelings. Despite this suffocating pressure, with the last shred of his strength, he triggered the burst.
He could feel the hook tearing through his foot entirely. He felt the warmth of the blood pouring from his wound, the exhaustion of his drained energy, and every cell in his body screaming in pain. He needed to stand and heal—but the cost of a second time jump was too great. He had nothing left.
He looked into the darkness around him—but saw nothing. Everything was silent, as if he were trapped in a threatening void. At last, his body succumbed to its weight and his mind to its haze. He collapsed to the ground... and everything went black.