Infinite Realm

'He's improving his skills and at an even faster rate than before.' The duplicate frowned sightly.

Even though the duplicate had things easy and was still capable of defeating Sato, it wouldn't as easy as before. This was because Sato's skills and control had been improving, and they were already much better than they previously were. 

Most of it was thanks to the duplicate and this special environment, which enabled Sato to continuously face off against an opponent faster and stronger than him in combat skills and control without losing anything. Even a novice in battle strategies and skills would have his/her skills polished if he/she were in a similar situation as Sato. 

However, even though improvements were inevitable, the rate at which Sato was developing was much faster than before. It could be said that in these couple of seconds they had exchanged dozens of attacks, the progress Sato had made was much more than the one he had in all the other fights combined.

'No. I have to end this.' 

Enraged at being used as a whetstone, the duplicate increased the ferocity of every one of its attacks and succeeded in forcing Sato back. 

'Looks like he's lost it.' 

Sato detected the escalating vigor from the duplicate's attacks. Even knowing that though, he still remained calm and kept a steady defence while also studying the duplicate's attacks.

'Everyone of its moves seems random but they are precisely targeted at the weak spots in my attacks.'

The duplicate always had a supercilious attitude when dealing with Sato. It always acted haughty and scornful towards Sato's attacks and strength but it did have the strength to do so. This was because it could easily spot the mistakes and weak points in Sato's every move and it would utilise it against him. Though it was true that Sato was a pro-player who had gone through multiple battles, he wasn't the best player to exist. In his eyes, his attacks might look okay but in the eyes of some few, Sato's attacks would be riddled with weak points and loose holes. This was like how an average chess player could beat a beginner and a few players at his level but against a grandmaster, his moves would look no different from a 3-year-old's. In the eyes of the duplicate, Sato's attacks were like that.

'There's also that weird air around it.'

Sato noticed that every move of the duplicates seemed to have a weird air attached to it. It was even more noticeable each time the duplicate wanted to use a martial arts move. The air wasn't tangible but Sato felt like it made the duplicate's attacks better. 

To an outsider, Martial arts was just a collection of body movements and actions but to those who have dedicated their time to it, it was more than that. Martial arts, to some, could be said to be a way of expressing themselves and for them to succeed in doing so, their actions had to entail their feeling. In simpler terms, their movements had to contain an essence to them. This was one of the important factors used to differentiate the classes of martial arts practitioners. 

As a Master level practitioner, Sato's attacks had more essence than that of a white belt. But against a grandmaster, however, it was lacking by a great deal. The duplicate's attacks had more essence than Sato's attacks and if he wasn't wrong, the duplicate's control and use of martial arts were on the same level as either a peak level Master rank or a Grandmaster; which was the same level as his grandfather.

'I doubt it's a grandmaster cause the intent in its attacks feels a bit weaker than one. It should be at the peak of the Master rank or so.' 

Having exchanged blows with his grandfather, Sato could easily ascertain the level of the duplicate's skills but even if it wasn't a Grandmaster, a  peak Master rank martial artist was still a tough nut to crack. It should be known that even though Sato was Master rank martial artist, he wasn't as experienced as the old folks who had been stuck at that level for a while.

'If I can mimic its intent though, defeating it would be only a matter of time.'

Just as Sato was thinking this, the duplicate's sword managed to pass through his defence once more. However, as if it had learnt its lesson from before, the duplicate didn't aim for his heart but his shoulder.

-87 (63/150 Sato's HP)

'It's over.'

Having injured Sato at last, the duplicate felt that victory was close at hand. Though it didn't manage to land a critical hit, the spot it stabbed was still close to one. With one of his shoulders injured, Sato would inevitably have a hard time fighting against it and his death was only a matter of time. 

Even though he was injured, Sato barely reacted to it and thrust his sword forward with the injured right arm.

"What?"

The duplicate felt incredulous at the fact that despite being injured, Sato could still attack with the same hand. It should be known that in IR when a player gets severely injured at a body part, they would lose the ability to utilise that part as they usually would. Also, the duplicate's sword was still stuck in Sato's arm so moving that arm should be very difficult. With the painful sensation attached to it, no one in their right mind would think of using the arm, at least until the sword was removed. However, Sato didn't even care. He didn't even flinch when the sword pierced him.

The duplicate hastened to remove its sword and escape Sato's reaches but because Sato's attack had already been released when its sword had struck, the duplicate couldn't extract it in time or else it would get hit.

'Damn.'

Choosing to abandon its sword, the duplicate let go of the hilt and hastened to create some distance between it and Sato with a jump backward. However, why would Sato let it go so easily? 

Sato charged right at it and swung his sword at the copy. Because it was in the air, dodging was a difficult matter and the duplicate knew this more than anyone. Somehow though, it managed to move to the side, luckily dodging Sato's attack. Even if Sato wanted to perform a follow-up attack it would be too late because the duplicate's foot was about to land on the ground. Once it did so, it could easily escape again or maybe even retaliate.

'Hehe. I will make you pay soon. Just you wait.' The duplicate grinned inwardly.

However, just within that instant, warning bells rang in the duplicate's mind as something astonishing occurred before it; something it never would have expected.

The sword that was stuck in Sato's body got pulled out by his left hand. Normally, according to the Equipping function of the game, since Sato could only use one weapon at a time, he shouldn't be able to attack with that one. However, he had already tossed away the [Astral Blade] after his attack had missed. Therefore, while the sword did belong to the duplicate, Sato could still easily use it. This was especially true since the two [Astral Blade] didn't have any function that prevented this from happening. Also, the duplicate's sword wasn't stuck so deeply in his shoulder and with its previous efforts of trying to pull it out, the sword was already loose and could be taken out without much effort.

The change was so fluid as if Sato had planned it from the beginning and in fact, he did. Sato knew that even if the duplicate was caught mid-air, it would still be capable of dodging at least one of his attacks. By the time he would redirect his sword and gather energy for a second one, it would have landed on the ground and easily retreated. Once that happened, even without its sword, Sato didn't doubt that the duplicate could turn the tables around. In that case, rather than take such a risk, why not use its weapon against it? 

Since such a strategy was unconventional, the duplicate never expected it at this moment. After having dodged Sato's previous attack, it couldn't dodge this one. Forget impossible, it couldn't even react to it in time.

In such a situation, there was only one outcome left for the copy.

"Die."