A Pincer Attack was actually a simple way to fight. The idea first appeared in Tenet: launch attacks from both the forward and backward flows of time, converging on a single point and forcing the enemy to face twice the opponents and twice the blows.
Put simply, Jodio at level 40 and Jodio at level 60 would attack through time at once. One moved forward normally while the other moved backward, both converging on the position Jodio occupied at level 50. Then they would strike the enemy at that intersection together.
The enemy at that moment would be caught between attacks from two directions. Or, more simply, Jodio was calling in backup. More people on his side meant an easier fight.
Luckily, Jodio's External Soul Bone could reverse time. It could return him to a point in his own past that he chose, but he would lose his future memories and abilities. Apart from the Spirit Bone, his body and mind would revert completely to their state at that time. It was a survival ability, rather like resetting space-time in The Unmatched Warriors.
The one advantage was that it could give him déjà vu: the feeling that something had happened before. That feeling could steer events in a more favorable direction. It often saved Jodio's life, and that tiny opening could be enough to turn defeat into victory.
But that was too timid for Jodio. He had developed a new way to use it: Tenet.
During a reverse retreat, he kept his memories. The problem was that he could not do as he pleased; he could only retrace what he had already done, step by step, in reverse. If he had driven down the wrong road, he could backtrack only along the exact route he had taken. He could not turn off midway and find a new road. This approach had two advantages, and together they made Jodio unbeatable against anyone below godhood.
First, he kept his memories, so he was not blind to the future. Second, he could physically interact with things moving forward through time while he moved backward. In other words, if he planned for it, he could set up a Pincer Attack from the start of a battle. Once the fight reached a certain point, he could reverse himself, letting his forward-moving and backward-moving selves strike in alternating attacks at crucial moments to deal even greater damage.
There was also a double time reversal, but Jodio did not dare try that one. It looked riddled with Ubisoft-grade bugs. He had no intention of getting himself killed.
That was Jodio's time Pincer Attack, the secret to his victories. But damn it, divine power seemed to take precedence over everything else. Jodio had no choice but to combine his ninth Spirit Ring's Ouroboros Dream with his External Soul Bone's time reversal.
King Crimson's ninth Spirit Ring, Requiem: Ouroboros Dream, granted the ability to travel directly through time. It could carry him along any timeline he knew. There were two conditions: the timeline had to be known to him, and he could not meet his past self directly or make that self aware of his existence. Otherwise, a time paradox would erase the traveler. Beyond that, there were no restrictions. It was absurdly overpowered.
But as its name suggested, Ouroboros Dream was still only a dream. Traveling back could not change what was destined to happen. It existed to give Jodio a way to avoid defeat: he could keep traveling to earlier points in time to survive. If only Boss Leader or Yoshikage Kira had this ability. It would suit either of them perfectly.
But what if he combined it with time reversal? Then things really could change. Time reversal offered the chance of a new timeline, because its final rewind could genuinely alter events. Time travel, meanwhile, let Jodio avoid the side effects of time reversal. He no longer had to erase his memories or retreat slowly along his old path. He could reach an earlier timeline directly!
That was how the Self-Created Soul Skill Time Reversal was born. He could leap straight into the past and start over until he reached the timeline he wanted. That was Jodio's Emperor-level power!
This method had a few problems, though. First, reaching a past in which he did not exist demanded tremendous power over time and mental strength. Staying within his own timeline was the only way to avoid that problem; otherwise, the consequences were unpredictable. He had already seen one such consequence. The world itself had pushed back against him here, and he had been forced to retreat to age six and level-five Soul Power to avoid being expelled. He was effectively leveling a character from scratch.
Second, divine power seemed to have absolute priority in the world of the Douluo Continent. Somehow, Jodio's passage through time had been detected, and it could easily be destroyed in advance, forcing him to cut his reversal short. An opponent with even a little control over time or gravity could disrupt it more easily still. That was why Jodio could beat up nearly anyone on the Douluo Continent, yet always ran into trouble against Tang the God King.
With no other choice, he had launched his time Pincer Attack in desperation. Tang San could catch up if Jodio stayed within a short span of time, but what if he stretched it to ten thousand years? The bastard could not follow him that far, could he? To enter, Tang San would have to drop his level and start over alongside him. If he refused, all he could do was stare helplessly at the passage through time. And even if the discontinuous leap destroyed that passage, it would not matter: it could not forcibly drag Jodio back.
He did not even have to leap. He could simply wait him out for ten thousand years until the timelines merged. The future Tang San would vanish on his own, and his timeline would be absorbed. Yuhao and the other brothers would suffer for it, though. They would surely lose these memories. Well, he could give them perfect lives and help them become gods. That would still be a great success. If they forgot him, so be it.
Every part of the plan left Tang the God King with no choice but to stare at the passage through time in frustration. The world's power would rapidly swallow and assimilate most attacks, making it difficult to hurt Jodio as he was now. Both strikes so far had been a joke. Tang San had merely fired an energy blast with no tracking ability. Jodio could dodge that easily!
Damn you, Tang San! Once I become a god, I swear I'll turn you into Tang San the girl. First I'll send you to Kars to have your legs groped, then to DIO to be played with like a little snack. After that, Scumbag Boss can slice you up. I'll revive you and send you to Father to serve as his unwilling hymn player, then to Boss Leader for some mysterious little game with his wife. Finally, I'll send you to Tooru and make you touch his stone parts!
Jodio vented by beating on the beast while cursing in his mind. What a joke! The Flame Bull was only big. There was nothing else frightening about it. If its body was on fire, he would simply switch to Silver Chariot and keep hitting it. He really was angry now. Don't mess with me when I'm already pissed off! Keep it up and I'll turn you into cumin beef, braised beef, cold beef salad, beef balls, beef-bone soup, and beef vermicelli soup!
"Whoa! Little Jo, stop! You're going to kill it!" Flender rushed over and blocked Jodio's next attack. Stone Free's strength and Silver Chariot's speed had astonished him, forcing him to pay closer attention to Jodio. Even a Soul Grandmaster would struggle against that kind of power. At the very least, Jodio could fight above his level.
A century-old Spirit Beast was still a century-old Spirit Beast, however weak it might be, and the Flame Bull was well suited to combat. Jodio's first Spirit Skill could actually withstand its power? It was hard to believe.
"This Flame Bull's attributes and age are just right for Hongjun. Little Jo, spare it for him," Flender suggested.
"All right." Jodio gradually calmed down. He withdrew Silver Chariot, returned to the tree, and sat beneath it to rest. The commotion brought Ma Hongjun and Oscar out. Before long, Ma Hongjun was happily absorbing the Spirit Ring. That made a third ring among them.
"Boss! You were amazing! I'm going to be your underling for life!" Oscar said, gazing at Jodio in awe.
"Hmph. You already should be." The childish declaration improved Jodio's mood, and his face resumed its DIO-like pride and confidence.
"Let's see what Ma Hongjun's Spirit Skill is. If it's a defensive one, the three of us could work together," Jodio joked.
"How?" Oscar asked, baffled.
"You carry Ma Hongjun in front. He uses his defensive Spirit Skill to take the hits, and you keep summoning sausages behind him to restore his strength and heal his wounds. I'll stay behind both of you and attack from range. Perfect, right?" Jodio said.
"Boss, that's ruthless." Oscar sucked in a breath, impressed.
"Boss! I'm starting to think you don't have my best interests at heart."
The moment Ma Hongjun finished absorbing the Spirit Ring, he heard that outrageous proposal. Worse, the other two had begun discussing it in earnest. His heart broke. I'm the boss's best brother, aren't I? Oscar, why would you set me up like this? Was this part of your plan all along!?
"What's the Spirit Skill?" Jodio asked, getting straight to the point.
"A defensive skill: Phoenix Scorching Flame Protective Shield. It makes the flames around me expand and absorbs fifty percent of Soul Power impacts. The more it absorbs, the less time it lasts." Ma Hongjun summoned his Phoenix Martial Soul with a roar and demonstrated his first Spirit Skill.
Reddish-purple flames coiled around him, gradually taking the shape of fiery armor. The longer Jodio looked, the more Ma Hongjun resembled that chubby fellow from The Unmatched Warriors. Not bad. Hongjun was bound to have one hell of a future. A speed-and-defense style would make his opponents miserable.
...To be continued.
Currently available information:
Martial Soul: Evil Phoenix (level 11) Holder: Ma Hongjun Spirit Ring: Yellow (210-year-old Flame Bull) Destructive power: B, speed: E+, range: D, stamina: D, precision: E, growth potential: A Martial Soul ability: Summons raging flames and a phantom Phoenix to envelop the user, increasing his attack power and speed. This Martial Soul cannot sustain prolonged combat, however; it is better suited to hit-and-run attacks. Flame Scorching Guard halves the impact he receives and increases the range of his flames. Combined with his high attack power and relatively high speed, it can be quite effective. Note: The six statistics are determined primarily by absolute value and secondarily by comparison with others at the same level. In other words, a Martial Soul with a significant weakness might rate C or D in one area even at level 90. Likewise, an advantage at its current level, especially early on, might still rate only C or D if the absolute value is too low.
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