A blade to the neck. A bullet to the heart. An animal trap. A poison to the food. A flame to their house. A swing of an axe to the head.
Just like that, the time masters were wiped out by the doing of an evil, malicious mutant: Savanti Romero.
But not all of them.
The last time master must do whatever it takes to keep him, his old friends, his student, and the precious time sceptre out of the murderer's reach.
***
The darkness that gripped the old lord's shoulders and was tempted to swallow him was almost hesitant, for the unyielding light that swirled inside the golden rod he held lashed out and subdued the shadows, mercilessly and smoothly.
Another unfolded wave of darkness let out a cry and charged toward him, more deafeningly than a crashing train, a famished earthquake, or a nuclear bomb. With a soft click of the man's hand, he broadcasted tendrils of light strangling the sinister, yet weak black gloom until it evaporated and became one with the raging air.
"Your shadow sceptre is no match for my time sceptre, Savanti Romero," the lord's hiss penetrated to the pitch-black ether around him. The wicked mutant was hiding there like a coward. "Although you can cast shadows and monsters, my weapon has much more possibilities."
Combining meditation with battle, the old man could sense Savanti's fist lunging toward him behind the black abyss where he was hidden. Taking in his enemy's intentions in slow motion, he could make out the mutant's claw coming in behind his shoulder, and powerfully flipped the mutant to the ground, unhindered by his age.
What an ugly sight now that the mutant was out of the shadows. No doubt about it. Yellow skin painted the eight feet tall mutant from the top of his horned head to the bottom of his hooves. Golden emblems decorated his chest and torso attempted to make him look more extravagant, failing with his horrible fanged teeth and red eyes. The man knew that the mutant even hated looking in the mirror himself, and much preferred to stay before as a normal human being. Unfortunately, accidents could never be avoided.
"I will acquire that time sceptre, Lord Simultaneous," the grosteque entity growled. "Soon I will destroy you and every one of your puny friends."
Next, the world didn't make sense as everything whirled in front of Simultaneous- and in a blink of an eye, it was his turn to lay on his back. The air in his elderly lungs struggled to function, and he just realised one of his legs were severely bleeding from claw marks from his demon-like foe. The time master's voice spluttered out with agony as the giant's knee heaved onto his frail back. Savanti wasn't afraid to squeeze him to death, and with satisfaction, like squishing slime or a lemon.
"Hand me the sceptre, Lord Pitiful, before I kill you just like all the others after what you did to mutate me."
Although Lord Simultaneous nearly failed to find remaining air in his lungs, he did not panic. "When you were my student, Savanti, I'd thought you'd grow up to be an honourable time master," he rasped. "But I was wrong. You could never deserve the time sceptre."
Then rolled out a deafening roar that thundered through Simultaneous's ears, pigmented with a dark palette of pure hate, anger, and a lust to kill. The lord closed his eyes. The battlefield felt far, far away now.
But the final blow did not come. Instead, thick rope weaved around his gaunt shoulders, hands and legs, stubbornly adhering him to a steel chair. He knew that being alive wouldn't deserve relief, as the spite in Savanti's gaze still burned as he glowered downwards. "You will stay here," the mutant rumbled, "while I get the time sceptre, I will travel to the past and bend reality with the weapon to perish your pathetic, closest friends from existence: Emperor Hinata, King Ergi, and Principal Myers."
Those were the beings which Lord Simultaneous had time travelled in the past and had bonded with. He grit his teeth, but didn't let his anger show fully for vulnerability.
The evil mutant delightfully went on. "And you can witness the whole scene happen using this glass sphere." A large, round ball which could visibly show you what was happening whenever and wherever, dropped to the ground in front of Lord Simultaneous. "I'll also obtain the shapeshifting sphere stored inside the sceptre, and shapeshift you into a slug when I'm done erasing your friends."
Savanti chuckled, his voice inflamed from a broth of loathing. As the mutant was swivelling around to reach for the time sceptre, he just grasped at thin air- a young girl with a silver headpiece over her hair glared at the him, a navy blue suit lying on top of her skin. The golden sceptre was firm in her gloved hands.
"Let my teacher, Lord Simultaneous, go," she commanded.
Savanti replied with a sickly laugh. "Of course, I forgot about your other student, Renet. A lowly assistant time-master-in-training. I'll make sure to destroy her too."
Lord Simultaneous gasped through his badly-beaten chest. "Renet, go to the past and gather great heroes to defeat him."
Her soft facial features drooped. "What about you, teacher? What will-"
"Just go!"
Renet took a glimpse at her lord once last time before she swiftly assembled a time portal with a swing of the sceptre. She leaped through, shouting, "I'll gather the ninja turtles from twenty-thirteen!"
"No!" He bellowed with stress, "Why the turtles? They-"
His voice was leeched away as Savanti Romero plunged for her foot like a wolf at sheep. The demon-like mutant only cut an inch short before the girl disappeared entirely into the portal, the dimensional hole dissipating into the air in unison.
The mutant picked himself up on both hooves. With a jolt, Lord Simultaneous realised that Savanti had a time gauntlet, a deupgraded version of the time sceptre which could travel through years and track down anybody you knew. Thankfully, it couldn't bend reality, have mystical light powers nor make you levitate. "How disappointing." His voice surprisingly lacked anger. "I'll just go back in time and find a way to kill your friends and their whole entire clan, kingdom, and school instead."
With a whisk, the sinister creature adjusted his gauntlet and dissolved from the battlefield without a sound.
Simultaneous's heart melted from worry, fear, yet hope, as a live image of Renet in twenty-thirteen New York City emerged from the glass sphere.
Be safe, my student, and save the three of my close allies. Despite the fact that she couldn't hear him think, he still prayed for her dearly. Don't let Savanti Romero catch you nor the time sceptre. Make sure you find the turtles, though it was already a mistake to trust them.
And don't forget to keep the shapeshifting sphere safe, as it's the last of its kind.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
