Chapter 296 - 290 : Beheaded 2

"If you're out of tricks you better let me now right now." The duplicate smiled at him.

While the opponent was tough, Sato hated its mouth to the bone. The duplicate seemed to always attack Sato with its words whenever possible. Not only did it want to defeat him physically, but it also wanted to do so mentally too.

"sighs. It looks like it's the 3rd personality in charge this time around." Saimon sighed in the viewing hall. 

"This young man would end up being toyed around by it without even realising it."

The third challenge would always remain constant and when one recalled that more than one person could participate in the Main trials, there was a chance of the 2 or more participants reaching the Third challenge at roughly the same time. However, the individuality of the Trials still had to be maintained at that point so not only were there various possible locations for the third challenge to be held, there were also various consciousnesses that took charge of the opponent. 

That's right. The person Sato fought wasn't just an inanimate copy of himself but was a mirror image that was controlled by a replicated conscious of a Caventry expert. This Caventry expert was referred to as the third and it had an overbearing and prideful personality; always looking down at its opponent and had ended up gaining the wrong kind of fame for this.

"It doesn't matter which personality he faces, their strength would all still be roughly at the same level. If he can't handle this one, facing another would make no difference." Lord Worrus cold emotionless voice resounded.

"True." Saimon nodded before focusing his gaze on the fight.

*Thud*

Sato was forced to the ground after he failed to defend against an attack of the duplicate properly. Just as he was about to get back on his feet, the duplicate stomped its foot at him.

*Bang*

Sato rolled to the side and dodged the foot but the loud sound from just that stomp made his heart shake a bit.

After he managed to get back to his feet, Sato retreated but the duplicate didn't plan on letting him go this time around.

'In that case…'

Since Sato couldn't get the upper hand despite using his class skills, he decided to use some of his martial arts skills from the real world.

'Lotus Slash.'

Sato swung his sword down vertically in a steady manner. The attack seemed to be going straight down but there was a weird feeling to it that only martial artists would sense. As expected, the duplicate thought this was only a regular attack and still went on to clash with it.

*Clang*

This time around, Sato wasn't the one who was forced back but the duplicate.

"How?" It exclaimed in surprise. 

Just a while ago, it was suppressing Sato yet it didn't get any advantage from this one attack; on the contrary, it was even forced back.

"Not done yet."

Sato didn't stop at one attack but unleashed a barrage of sword strikes at the clone. Since it was stunned from that last strike, it wasn't able to respond in time and was continuously being forced back. Each time it tried to gain the upper hand, Sato would use a martial arts skill to restrain it and force it back again.

Like this, the duo went from one edge of the area towards the centre. The duplicate had already begun sweating like crazy as it realised that it was in a bad situation.

As the opponent's mentality became frail, more and more openings were made available and Sato slowly gained full control of the tempo of the battle. However, the duplicate was still not to be underestimated as its defense was still tight and it didn't get injured.

'In that case…'

Hoping to end the fight with a critical blow to the individual before him, Sato waited till he found an opportunity just like before. However, to make sure that his attack landed a clear hit this time around, Sato activated [Sprint] and attacked with [Linear Strike] as he thrust his sword past the defense of the duplicate. At this time, sweat poured out profusely from the monster as it discovered that it had messed up.

"It's over." Sato smirked as his sword was just 5 inches away from the duplicate's body. 

At such a distance, dodging was impossible and the same held for blocking. Even the current fastest [Assassin] player would fall to this blade without having any ability to resist.

Just as Sato felt that victory was within his reach, his senses suddenly alerted him of danger but Sato was too slow to react to it, after all, all his attention was placed on this strike and he never expected to get ambushed all of a sudden.

"Indeed. It's over." the duplicate's voice resounded in Sato's ears.

A silver sword suddenly stabbed into Sato's chest, going right through the gap in his chest plate from the side and stabbing into his heart. Red blood spilled from the spot as Sato's attack was interrupted by the massive influx of pain he felt from the injury.

[Critical Hit]

-143 (7/150 Sato's HP)

"How?" Sato faced the duplicate with a pained expression with shock and surprise noticeable in his eyes and tone.

"Hehe. You're not the only one who's got skills. Now die."

Though Sato was stunned, he didn't hesitate to retreat right after he was injured. However, he had still underestimated the attacking speed of the duplicate. 

Like a swift sword cutting through the fallen leaves of a tree, the duplicate's attack reached Sato before he knew it and made a clean cut on Sato's neck. Because the spot the sword aimed at was a vital area and also the power behind the sword was enough to even harm a level 10 Elite together with Sato's HP being low, Sato's head separated from his body and rolled on the floor as the sword made a clean cut on his neck.

"Hehe. Beheaded.." The duplicate licked the remaining blood on its sword.