As the golden lightning struck from above and the chains of sand bound Merciless from below, something remarkable happened. Time seemed to halt—not because it had truly stopped, but because Merciless himself was just moving so fast to the point it appeared as such.
His initial speed, now vastly enhanced by the concept of physical strength that he absorbed from Zakcry and combined with his own, was so immense that everything around him, including the lightning in the sky and the binding sand, appeared frozen in place.
This was not a mere time stop, but rather an effect of his correspondence, equalizing everything that wasn't concept base to be no slower than his top speed; and given how fast current Merciless is, it can be said that his current top speed transcended the limitations of human understanding.
For Merciless, the idea that nothing could outrun the speed of light was a vestige of his previous, human existence.