The mayor panicked. "Shit!"

He couldn’t understand how Stanley had just appeared inside the room, out of nowhere. What sort of power was this?

"You! Aren’t you supposed to have enhanced strength?" the mayor shouted at him. "How did you get in here?"

Freddy struggled a bit outside. His breathing was a little haggard. He had only used his powers once, and he was somehow already tired. Had something happened to him?

Sheila looked in at Stanley who had noticed his brother’s corpse with a confused look on her face. "Enhanced strength?" she whispered to herself. "Isn’t his power Future Sight?"

"What are you talking about, sister?" Freddy asked. "Brother Stanley’s power is his enhanced strength. He can make his body stronger by holding his breath."

Sheila looked back. "Does he?" she asked. Holding his breath... had he held his breath the entire time he had carried her down the slope, in the rain?

’No, he definitely talked,’ she thought. ’Now that I think about it, I thought his body was strong for normal reasons, but is that his power too? One without a ritual requirement?’

Adding the future sight, which he had already proved by shooting through the door, Sheila started wondering if what her instinct said were true. That she had found another one in the same town.

Had the man that she had been with for the past 2 hours, the man that she saved all those months ago, and the man that saved her today, actually been a Nova?

She looked inside with wide eyes as she watched Stanley who could possibly be one of the rarest and scariest monsters that the human race could produce.

Stanley wasted no time attacking the mayor once he saw him, even though he saw his brother’s corpse out of the corner of his eyes. His anger had taken over him, but the calm part of his mind stopped him from attacking recklessly.

He jumped at the mayor, only targeting his limbs. The most important task right now was to immobilize the mayor and then force him to open the door.

He thought of striking from the side and saw the mayor dodge his attack. So, he changed the direction at the last second, but the vision changed as the mayor dodged his attack again.

He didn’t have enough time to redo the attack, so it followed through. The mayor dodged the slash and got a little closer to Stanley.

The Mayor was holding a shorter sword, so he needed to get closer to hit Stanley. He swung the sword in his hand as well, which Stanley saw coming. Instead of dodging, he moved his sword back in place, blocking the attack.

He tried to drag the sword along the mayor’s sword and push it into his hand. However, he pushed back and moved away from him, knowing that Stanley was too strong for him to defeat in a head-on battle.

He moved backward, making some space between them, but Stanley followed back. He swung almost carelessly, attacking the mayor no matter where he went.

The mayor was frantic, and jumped back and around as he dodged each attack. As he did, he was also getting back his fighting instincts that had been drilled into his soul over the past 150 years.

"Stop!" he shouted.

Stanley felt something happen this time around as well. Only this time, he saw what happened as well.

When the mayor shouted ’stop’, Stanley really did stop in the middle of his swing. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but it was only a split second.

He saw the next future, but he couldn’t even tell how it happened.

The mayor’s sword seemed to defy common sense as it appeared out of nowhere that even Stanley couldn’t foresee properly. That slight pause had done something to him that made him not see the entirety of the future and how the sword came.

The mayor parried his sword and took the opportunity to kick Stanley in the guts. The kick didn’t hurt Stanley, but it made him falter backward.

Taking the opportunity, the mayor ran away to the end. He reached for one of the drawers and quickly pulled something out even as Stanley arrived next to him.

He let Stanley swing.

Stanley saw the future vision of him swinging the sword and hitting the mayor on the arm. He was surprised, but he didn’t stop.

He let the sword follow through and hit his arm.

The future vision came true, but just as in the future, the sword stopped at the mayor’s arm. A small, almost imperceptible yellow shield flashed on his arm as well.

Stanley’s eyes widened in shock. He had not expected a similar shield as the one on the door had somehow appeared on this man’s body as well.

"You little bitch! You’re finally going down," the mayor shouted and jumped at Stanley with no fear whatsoever.

He swung at Stanley, who dodged the swings easily. Stanley also fought back, but it didn’t matter how much he attacked anymore. He just wasn’t able to get through the shield.

"Stop!" the mayor said again. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The world stopped as everything froze for a second. It was a little longer this time around, and Stanley could feel it more clearly now.

He saw the mayor move his sword slowly. He saw the come close to him in the future at the same speed at which he was moving at the moment.

Stanley thought of blocking, so he tried to move his sword. He moved slightly faster than the mayor for some reason.

When the world returned to normal, Stanley’s sword struck the mayor’s sword, flinging it back out of his hand.

The mayor stood there, shocked for a moment, while Stanley himself felt similarly surprised as well.

"How... how are you doing it?" the mayor asked.

"What am I doing?" Stanley asked. He was confused too as he didn’t know what was happening.

"How are you moving in frozen time?" the mayor asked. "Can you... can you stop time too?"