This was the noise that sounded each time before the scenery changed.
At this godâs movement and the sound I heard, I automatically looked around me.
However, I could not see any changes.
The only thing that changed was that the illusion of my mother dissipated.
Next to me, I could hear the laughter of a young girl.
Of course, it was the god. Looking at her, I asked.
âI thought the last test began? Has it not yet?â
âHehe. Nope! The test has started.â
ââŠâŠâ
âWhy do you look at me like that? What! What! Hehehe.â
âWerenât you the one to tell me to prove my strength to you?â
âYep! Thatâs right! I canât just hand over the powers of the Piece of Time and Space, right?â
âHm⊠If thatâs the case, there needs to be an opponent for me to demonstrate that.â
âKekek!â
âPerhapsâŠ. Are you telling me to face you?â
âKahahaha.â
âDidnât you say that you wouldnât ask the impossible of me?â
âThatâs right.â
ââŠâŠâ
âDonât be so tense. This isnât a test to defeat me.â
âBut thereâs nothing hereâŠâŠâ
In a gesture to invite her to look around, I lifted my hand to point.
It was then.
I wasnât sure when, but I hadnât noticed all this time.
It was the fact that my body was several times heavier than usual.
Not only that, but I noticed that there was another arm below the arm I had raised to point.
ââŠâŠâ
âHehe. I thought you caught on quickly, but I guess thatâs not the case?â
âIs this the third test you were talking about?â
âYep!â
âHowever, this test doesnât end.â
âHm?â
This was this godâs final test that I needed to pass in order to make mine the power behind the Piece of Time and Space.
It seemed that I needed to win against myself in a fight.
However, as this god had said, this fight wouldnât end.
The reason for that was due to my Mana Shield.
Mana Shield could only be penetrated by a skill beyond ranking.
Not only that, but because I had successfully Transcended this skill, this shield had a chance to block skills beyond ranking at a fixed percentage.
That percentage was at a whopping 50%.
I had 3 skills beyond ranking in my arsenal.
Proof of Pledge, Dual Casting, and Archangelâs Fall.
All these skills werenât offensive spells.
The only thing close to one was the Archangelâs Fall, and that spell was more akin to a support spell due to the fact that it raised my damage against monsters.
And it wasnât as if the bonus damage worked against humans such as myself.
What would happen if another me, who has the same powers as I have, fight me while both of us have Mana Shields up?
Only the area around us would be destroyed, with no clear victor at the end.
She looked towards me for awhile with a playful childish look.
It was almost as if she was signaling me that she already knew what I was going to say and what I was thinking.
Her appearance was that of a cute little girl.
However, her personality was so cruel and vicious that I dreaded even thinking about it.
After a long silence, she spoke.
âYou mean to say that the shields in this battle are too thick, right?â
ââŠâŠâ
âHehe. That wonât do! This fight wonât be fun at all then. A boring fight where all you do is defend! We should start this fight by removing shields from both sides to make it fair. How about it? Thatâll do, right?â
âThat meansâŠ..â
âHehe. From this moment on, you and your copy cannot use defensive skills. This is the rule of the test.â
âI cannot use defensive skills?â
I quickly opened the status window and checked my skills.
I was hoping that wouldnât be so, but as this god had told me, I could not find any defensive skills.
Not only that, but all my recovery skills were sealed away as well.
I could only attack.
While I was deep in thought, another me had separated itself from my body and stood in front of me.
It was almost as if I was looking into a mirror.
Even its expression, armor, and weapon was the same as mine.
It was enough to unnerve me just how identical this copy was to me.
âI assume both of you are very well aware of how strong each other is, right? Hehe.â
âOf course. I know better than anyone else.â
âThen an explanation wonât be necessary, and right now Iâm very excited, you know? Iâm hoping that this begins as soon as possibleâŠâ
âSure.â
Finishing her words, she seemed to turn and move away from me, but all of a sudden came back and whispered in my ear.
âKehe. Do you think that youâre using all of your strength? Heh. Wrong. Youâre not using your strength properly to its full potential. Learn well from this, though I guess you wonât be using this knowledge anywhere after you perish.â
ââŠâŠâ
I wanted to swear up a storm, but this was a god I was facing.
I couldnât mess this up due to my pride.
Hearing the words through one ear and out the other, I ignored what she told me.
Not using the strength I had properly?
I thought that I possessed quite the sense in when and how to use the skills I possessed.
Something that could only be obtained from countless battle experiences, I guess?
This copy that stood in front of me, had it only copied my growth?
Or has it copied also my thought processes and my experiences?
Either way, it was obvious that this opponent was quite the difficult one to deal with.
The biggest reason being that I could not defend against it.
Just from it using Meteor Call, I would have my hands full trying to avoid it.
The god leaving the scene signaled the beginning of the fight.
The one who was ready to launch the first attack was the opponent.
Behind its back were many of the vastly powerful Butcherâs Swords.
It had casted Piercing Sword.
It was pretty smart for using this skill.
Piercing Sword was one of the skills that moved at the will of its user.
Since this fight did not include any defensive measures, it would seek its target more persistently.
âThis copy is quite handsome. And smart to bootâŠâ
It began its attack before I could even finish.
The opponent it targeted was just me.
There were a vast number of swords that flew towards me at once.
If I had my shields, I wouldnât have even bothered to try avoiding or blocking against this attack skill that wasnât even beyond ranking.
However, the situation was different.
It was so very different.
My choice to counter the flying swords was to use Iceberg and Devil Avatar.
Just with my fight against Joker before, Iceberg was quite useful as a defensive measure.
It was solid enough to hold out against most attacks, and even its size was massive.
It was obvious that this skill would be very important in this fight.
Due to my lack of a Mana Shield, I could cast three spells at once.
I used Iceberg in front of me to block the flying swords, and then casted Gravity Laser.
Gravity Laser attacked all that was in its range.
The attack would also become more concentrated the fewer targets there were.
An orb appeared in the air and a summoned Devil Avatar charged at my copy.
-crack!
âHaâŠ.. Youâre also blocking with that?â
ââŠâŠ.â
It seemed that this would become quite the extended fight.
Not only did this copy possess my ability and growth, but it also had copied my fighting style as well.
I smashed a Meteor into the Iceberg it had summoned.
Meteor and Iceberg were of the same ranking and dealt a similar amount of damage.
When these two skills meet, they cancel each other out completely.
You could say that these skills were the polar opposites of each other.
Leaving behind glittering shards of ice behind, most skills had canceled each other out.
It was the same with how this copy destroyed my Iceberg I was using as a shield.
The same strength and thought process.
âEven if I used Mass Stealth Jutsu, youâd use Eye of Insight to see right through it. Just what do I need to do defeat you?â
âSame with me. I am another you.â
âOhoâŠ. You even speak? Iâm too scared to even die, considering that you might impersonate me.â
âYou wonât be able to surpass me.â
âAt the rate this is going, I think weâre going to tie? As you said, you are just another me, right?â
âKuhu! I am foaming at the mouth from all this wasted talent that is rotting away because of you!â
âHuh?â
âEndless mana. To think that youâre only using it to cast skills.â
âWhat do you mean?â
âI shall show you. Your special trait! Your ability! Used to its full 100% potential!â
ââŠ..â
âKuaaa!â
I wondered just what nonsense it was spitting out.
The only way humans could use their mana was through the use of skills.
I had never thought otherwise all this time.
However, here was this clone, berating me.
I looked at my copy as if I was looking at an insane person.
With its ringing shout, this copy had given up on all defense and stood still.
Thinking that it had gone mad, I charged it.
There was no attack worth allowing to be attacked freely in such a vulnerable state.
To exchange oneâs life to attack was going overboard and an incorrect decision.
Especially if there wasnât any ways to defend oneself.
This was the case at least for me.
Without a single hesitation, I stabbed it with my sword.
After that, I used Formless Sword Aura.
It was because I was being too hasty with the idea of trying to deal a heavy amount of damage to my copy.
However, I didnât deal that much damage.
The reason for that was simple.
My strength was over 30,000. However, my stamina stat was far over 50,000.
Due to my miscalculations, I had made a mistake that had wasted what little precious time I had.
However, I believed that my continued attacks with Formless Sword Aura would cover the mistake.
âDamn it! Why did I raise so much of my stats!â
With the Wild Beast activated, my Formless Sword Aura attack countlessly stabbed away at my copy.
I sliced and stabbed repeatedly in a crazy frenzy.
Due to the skillâs rank and destructive force, the difference in the strength stat and stamina stat had been covered for awhile.
The end was approaching.
-gulp.
âDamn itâŠ. No wayâŠ..â
âUWOOOOO!â
Something that I didnât even want to consider a possibility had occurred.
It had swallowed something.
That something was the Kingâs Marble.
Noticing the changes to its body, I became sure of it.
âYou little shit!â
âKuhahaha!â
In an instant, its body turned to a slightly reddish hue.
This process continued until its color changed black like charcoal.
Thanks to the effects of the Kingâs Marble, its body had become immortal.
Even the body that had been pierced all over had recovered in an instant.
There was still one more huge issue.
That issue was the effect of the marble that granted twice the offensive power to its user for a minute.
Even resorting to letting out a roar, it had created something.
It was using a skill that I did not possess.
This spellcasting motion was something that I had never seen nor heard of before.
It had created something insane that was completely different from anything so far.
Not only that, but it was twice as strong what it would have been normally.
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âWhatâŠ. What is thatâŠ..â
âI told you! I said that I would use 100% of your potential!â
âI had never learned that skill! WhatâŠ..â
âKuhu. Skill? I understand that you cannot use magical energies. After all, it is a power that our kind cannot use. However, youâre saying that someone who cannot even use the mana that they were hand fed will obtain the power of the Piece of Time and Space? Shut up with that nonsense!â