"This is just the beginning! I'll bring out the potential in us!" HAHAHA!
Exploding forward, he slammed his palms on Blake's face and then, with a wide grin, muttered loudly. "Blast Away!"
Blake felt a great force slam into him, his body shooting backwards like a broken kite before crashing to the ground.
"How does it feel to get struck by your own attacks. Anyway, that's not the right way of using the skill. Don't worry, we're going to learn in the most brutal way!"
Appearing before Blake, he picked him up from the ground and then twisted his hips, swung his leg upward, striking his chin. Still holding him, he pushed him backwards and spun around. His dagger slashed right at Blake's chest.
CLANNG
At the last moment, Blake had placed the chains of his daggers across his chest, enabling him to block the attack. With the opening from the wide swing, he slammed his palms on his hand. "Explode!"
"Arghhh!" Leaping backwards, his replica held onto his shattered hand with bones and flesh hanging loosely.
'It didn't fully shatter the hand. My energy is getting exhausted,' Blake thought, staring at his opponent. "But that won't do, I need to do more damage."
Charging forward, he evaded the series of attacks, his replica launched, weaving through the dagger he finally closed in and then slammed his palm on his chest. "Explode!"
Ughhh. His replica staggered backwards with blood spilling from his mouth. Swinging his dagger all of over a sudden, he shouted as soon as the dagger slammed into Blake. "Blast away!"
Blake felt the force from within this time around with a sickening sound of bones crunching.
"You see... This is it! The only way to true strength is by evolving during life and death battle." Retracting the chains, Blake was pulled along and was lifted high. He slammed him to the ground at the same muttering out: "Blast away."
Ugh. Blake felt his body screaming in agony. Blood spilt from his mouth like a faulty tap with his body bouncing a couple of times just from the clash. Each time he appeared, he had the upper hand in the fight. Things would change instantly.
"The way he used it," Blake muttered, lying weakly on the ground.
His body was battered, and he was barely conscious. His replica had timed it perfectly, slamming him to the ground and at the same time making use of the damage inducement, causing the attack to be overly powerful. It was quite surprising that he was still alive with all the injuries attained.
[Maximum damage has been attained]
[Your stats have now been boosted by 60%]
[The title "The Unbroken One" skill is active now]
Just then, he felt his body surging with strength amidst the pain. Slowly staggering to his feet, he stared ahead. His opponent wasn't left out as he was also covered in injuries but was still standing strongly.
"If this works for me, it means it's guaranteed the same thing would happen to him if seriously injured. I need to make it so to defeat him in one go!" Quickly accessing his inventory, a bottle filled with blue swirling liquid appeared before his hand and was gulped down quickly.
Clenching his daggers, he charged forward, swinging his daggers rapidly. With each swing, a spark of light erupted from both daggers. Blake, waiting for the right moment, finally found it. Swinging one of his daggers, he mumbled softly while sending the other one shooting forward with his true strength.
"Shatter."
The first dagger collided with the replica daggers, and they shattered, leaving just the chains. The other dagger soared forward and then pierced deep into the replica's chest.
"Oh. That's good." The replica muttered with a smile. "We are really a force to reckon."
"Implode! Implode" He felt a force rock his insides, with most of his organs destroyed by the attack. "I'm glad... all my doubts have been cleared now. Here's a gift for you." He said as his body slowly melted, turning into particles that flowed into Blake.
Feeling a weird sensation overcame him, he didn't know when the arena began to crumble with him getting whisked away. 'I thought it was a battle with my darker version. Why did it feel like I was getting trained?'
Coming out from his daze, he realised he had been transported to a different room with a large platform at the centre. Also, he his injuries hadn't been healed this time around.
Looking around, he noticed quite a few sparsely spread around the room with dark expression. It appeared the last test had taken a toll on them, although they made it out alive. Some were with missing limbs, while quite a few had their complete limbs intact with other random injuries over their bodies.
[Processing rewards...]
[You've received the mana circulation skill...]
[You've levelled up]
[Current level: Level 9]
[Mana: 90]
[Battle Power: 30]
[Intelligence: 21]
Finally, Kent appeared in the room, his body covered in blood, and one of his eyes gone with a large menacing scar replacing it.
"Kent!" Blake exclaimed, rushing towards his direction. He couldn't help but wince in pain during the process. His injuries weren't light either. Rather, he looked worse compared to the rest. His body was torn up, and he was just getting through due to the damage empowerment skill effects still active.
"You made it out also, good." Came the reply, weak and a bit lacklustre.
RUMBLE~
The room rumbled softly, causing the others to sprang up.
"Don't tell me we're the only ones that made it out alive?" Blake muttered in disbelief.
[Congratulations on making it to the final trial...]
[Calculating number of candidates: 22]
Out of over a hundred, only twenty-two had managed to make it back alive. It was a plain truth that many found it hard to believe. Hearing it was the last trial they had to face, some let out a relieved expression while others had a look of dread on their faces.
"What were they going to face next?" And in their current condition. They knew it wasn't going to end well for them.
And then the information about the last trial was displayed to them.
"What's this?"
The last trial came as a shock to all...