The Timeless Gambit

Invoker was meditating on a hilltop, calculating every combination of possibilities, every manoeuvre for his upcoming battle with Rubick for the arcana. In public, he never accepted anyone as his intellectual rival, but privately he did admit that Rubick is the one hero who might have some miniscule chance of defeating him. There was still one round remaining before the final battle, but faceless void surely didn't stand a chance against him, and spectre had no chance against rubick. So he thought.

Suddenly, the wind around invoker stopped. He realised something was wrong microseconds before his thoughts also froze at "Shit!".

FV:"I expected to find you here. Keep meditating Mr. beacon of knowledge. Let me know the result of your research when you are done. Now time for Aghanim's brat."

"That's not a way to address a grand magus, Darkterror."

Faceless void looked around, surprised. Rubick, who had silently appeared at the scene looked annoyed.

Rubick:"I think that despite having a famous parent, I have enough reputation to be called by my own name."

FV:"Whatever. Since you are also here. Lets finish this."

Rubick:"Are you sure? Dont you want some 'extra time' to prepare?"(Chuckles)

FV:"For a puny mortal, you seem overly confident of yourself. A mage who depends on stolen spells hardly stands a chance, when the supposedly all knowing Invoker couldn't do so much as say 'fuck me!' before being frozen in time."

Rubick:"Invoker has ego issues. Had he even recognised you as a worthy opponent, you would have been in the centre of a huge crater, buried beneath a flaming meteor. But I don't possess such vanity. I realise you have immense powers compared to me, but I want that arcana and believe it or not, I am going to win it. Chronosphere!"

Faceless Void and Rubick were both caught in the chronosphere, but none of them were frozen.

FV:"You can't do that. You can't freeze me in time. I thought you were smart. See, mortals like you should not fuck around with time warping spells. You may get stuck in a time loop for eternity or get killed by your own future self. I am timeless. You can surrender right now, or after a special mace-to-face session. Your choice."

Rubick(with a smug smile):"Do you think being timeless is an advantage?"

FV:"Well, I will show you how much of an advantage it is. Your time has come."

Another chronosphere overlapping the previous one appears. This time Rubick gets frozen.

FV:"Hah! You mages are all talk. Keep that smug smile for centuries to come, while I go get the arcana."

Even while saying that, void felt a slight tinge of doubt. Even in a frozen state, those clever eyes and smug smile seemed to continue to mock him.

"He is frozen for life", Void said, almost reassuring himself.

. . . .

"Do you think being timeless is an advantage?"

"Impossible!", Void said looking at the frozen Rubick. For a second, he thought Rubick had somehow released himself from the time lock, but he was still frozen. Confused, Void turned around and saw another Rubick from where the voice had come.

FV:"You time-walked into the past before I chronoed you!"

Rubick#2:"Correct. Sometimes not being timeless is an advantage. You don't clone yourself when you time travel. You can't fight us all."

FV:"Us? H-How m-many..Motherf..!"

Before Void could finish his sentence, he was suddenly lifted up by an invisible force.

Rubick#33:"Your time has come Darkterror"

Thousands of fade bolt struck Void at once, sending him back to the timeless world.

. . . .

The chronospheres cast by void slowly disappeared releasing Rubick and Invoker from time lock.

Invoker:(Looking incredulously at thousands of Rubicks):"What the fuck?"

Rubick#6778:"This is not what it looks like" (Other Rubicks nodding)

Invoker:"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUUUUCK!"