Chapter 345 Timed Defense

"Copycat, come out," Satoshi muttered under his breath.

A girl with blue skin and a proportionate body appeared before Satoshi. She had big googly eyes and a listless presence encompassed her. The way she posed with her leg in front of the other made her appear more mesmerizing than usual. And since her clothes were the same color as her skin (to top it all off her clothes were skin-tight), her body was really defined. In a snap of a finger, she attracted the eyes of almost the entire audience.

For some odd reason, the audience started cheering for Satoshi, screaming their lungs out as they pumped their fists in the air. Well, the ones cheering were mostly men so Satoshi could more or less tell why they were doing that. He couldn't help but turn away from the audience, dreading to see the reaction of his peers, much less his parents. He didn't want them to misunderstand, but now that he thought about it, that sentiment was already too late for comfort.

"Heh, so you also have a humanoid tamed beast, Satoshi. I can't say I'm impressed. You won't be able to defeat me with such a weak-looking tamed beast. I don't know where you found her, but she's no match for my trio."

"Well, let's see how it'll go. I'm pretty sure I don't even need to show you my true power. You're going down today, Black Fog." Since Black Fog went through the effort of causing a scene where he taunts Satoshi, Satoshi decided to return the favor so they could entertain the spectators a little bit more. This was all so their fight would be even more interesting.

It took another minute or so before Black Fog finally finished his Trinity Beast Integration. While he was thankful that Satoshi didn't interrupt his beast integration, he couldn't bring himself to say it since that would be embarrassing. The audience was watching their every move, after all, and addressing the elephant in the room would just make him look worse.

Seeing that Black Fog was done with his integration, Satoshi extended his hand toward Copycat and in an instant, he was integrated with her. It didn't look like he underwent a beast integration though since Copycat copied  Satoshi's form. That's why right now, Satoshi still looked like the normal Satoshi even after successfully integrating with Copycat.

Black Fog now looked more like a mecha than a normal beast tamer, with his full-armored body having the color of black, diamond, and gold. He's got a full helmet as well, and a myriad of blades and weapons were attacked to his back, ready for deployment at a moment's notice. "I hope you're ready, Satoshi. You shouldn't have let me finish my Trinity Beast Integration. You're going to regret that haughty decision of yours." Black Fog said as he pulled out what seemed like a photon greatsword from behind him.

"Hyah~!"

Satoshi could've sworn that Black Fog had thrusters on his legs since a powerful blast of air erupted from behind him. The moment he charged at Satoshi, he accelerated, and his momentum allowed him to swing the photon greatsword he was holding. It glowed a brilliant color of yellow as he swung, causing Satoshi to flinch due to the brightness. That didn't impede Satoshi's defense, however, since he managed to block it—

— using only his hand!

The moment the photon greatsword connected with Satoshi's hand, a 'clinking' sound was heard, almost as if the greatsword hit something metallic. Black Fog retreated by jumping backward. And as soon as he got his footing back, he rushed towards Satoshi once again, this time slicing the photon greatsword sideways.

In his mind, he was beginning to wonder how Satoshi managed to dodge his sword without using anything. He didn't sense Satoshi activating any of his superpowers nor did he detect energy coming out from his body. Despite all that, Satoshi was able to block his strike using his hands alone. That was simply impossible. If it were any other normal person, no, even if that person has a superpower, there's no way they could block the strike without suffering any damage.

"Color me surprised, how did you block that?" Black Fog asked out of curiosity while swinging his Photon Greatsword a second time. As soon as it hit Satoshi though, he grabbed the handle with his other arm.

To Satoshi's bewilderment, the photon greatsword separated into two. Black Fog then pivoted and struck Satoshi's right side twice, hoping that he won't be able to block the attack on time.

However, the surprise attack didn't faze Satoshi at all. In fact, Black Fog could've sworn that he saw Satoshi smiling while he was swinging his dual sword. The attack was almost there, it was about to hit Satoshi on the sides. Before that could happen though, Satoshi lifted his hand up and blocked the attack with his forearm. It was just a normal guard in boxing, but Satoshi totally stopped Black Fog's attack.

Silence befell the crowd before loud cheers erupted. They were sure that Satoshi would be hit by the strike, but when they noticed that Satoshi was unscathed, they cheered him on in utter excitement.

"Wha— but, but how? That's impossible! There's no way your hand could block that. What are you doing?" The longer the fight wore on, the more worried Black Fog became. He couldn't explain any of Satoshi's actions, nor could he explain his defenses. If this continues on, Black Fog knew that he'd be playing right into Satoshi's trap.

"It's a company secret. You don't have to know." Satoshi said, crouching down low before delivering a blow on his solar plexus.

The air was knocked out from Black Fog's lungs as he wheezed in pain. He couldn't believe that such a normal punch penetrated his armor and even gave him enough damage. By the time he got back to his senses, he was already on the ground, wheezing in pain. "That was just a normal punch... you didn't even use your superpower nor your tamed beast's superpower... but how... how could that be so strong. Haah~!" Black Fog's eyes widened in confusion as he stood up.

"I guess you're really slow. If you were a tad bit faster, you would know the secret behind my attacks." Satoshi called out, taunting Black Fog even more so he would go rampant.

"AARGHH~! This is impossible!" Black Fog's eyes turned bloodshot as he hack and slashed at Satoshi. It was a continuous flurry of attacks that expended his energy at a rapid rate. But he couldn't care less. Right now, he just wanted to bring Satoshi down with him. And he couldn't do that if he took any breaks.

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Up until now, Satoshi still hasn't attacked Black Fog seriously. Even the punch was pure intimidation instead of an attack. Still, Black Fog took it the wrong way, and now he's going down the path of exhausting himself.

As for Satoshi, he continued his defense, blocking every attack that Black Fog unleashed. This only riled Black Fog up even more since Satoshi was parrying his attacks with his pure physical prowess.

Little did Black Fog know that Satoshi was actually doing something different. In fact, Satoshi was activating Copycat's superpower every time he blocks Black Fog's attacks. It's just that, Satoshi activates it the moment Black Fog's attack hits. It was a pretty precise blocking technique taught by his grandfather, and it costs little to no energy at all. Right now, Satoshi was training his timing when it comes to activating his superpower. That way he'd be able to conserve as much energy as he could.

Every single time the attack hits, Copycat would copy Black Fog's power as well as his Trinity Beast Integration. In turn, this would cancel the attack, and then Satoshi would revert back to normal as soon as the attack was over.

"Take this!" Black Fog screamed. He was running out of options, and his patience was running thin as well. As soon as he struck Satoshi with his Photon Sword, he grabbed two short words from his back and slashed at Satoshi. As if that wasn't enough, he jumped back and aimed his back at Satoshi. Projectiles in the shape of missiles and rockets then fired off toward Satoshi. There were at least fifty of them.

BAM!

The explosion caused intense wind pressure to rise, up, causing the hair of the female audience to rise up. Since the shot was taken at point-blank range, there was no way Satoshi could dodge the explosion (unless of course the beast integrated with Ghast at the last minute). Black Fog was fairly certain that the attack was connected. And for the first time during the entire match, he felt like he's gotten an advantage over Satoshi.

When the smoke cleared up, however, Satoshi was still standing, dusting himself off and taking off his t-shirt which was torn to shreds. "Is that all you got? You went through all the trouble with your Trinity Beast Integration and you can't even land a decent attack." Satoshi clicked his tongue.

"How about this, I'm just going to stand here and you attack with all you've got. If you can make me kneel, then I will gladly forfeit the match." Satoshi challenged out of the blue.