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Quote of the Chapter:
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
— Winston Churchill.
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Mantis staggered backward as his vision blurred; however, Victor didn't let up after that, as his eyes glowed even brighter as he raised his arms in the same way Mantis did, with his stance perfectly mimicking Mantis in every way.
Mantis immediately noticed the angle of the shoulders, the positioning of the feet, even the way Victor held his hands; it was as if he was looking at himself. "…What are you doing?" Mantis asked coldly.
Victor blinked once before looking down at himself. "…Honestly?" He shifted slightly into the stance more naturally. "I have absolutely no idea."
After saying those words, Victor moved.
[BANG!!!]
The floor cracked beneath his feet as he shot forward at surprising speed, and Mantis's eyes narrowed instantly as Victor's arm carved downward in a chopping motion.
[SHNK!!]
The air split with the strike as Mantis immediately raised one blade to intercept, and sparks exploded outward as Victor's hand collided against the blade.
Mantis's eyes widened slightly as Victor's grin widened before Mantis retaliated instantly as the second blade thrust toward Victor's throat.
Victor twisted his body sideways before unconsciously mirroring the same movement as his hand shot forward like a spear.
[THUD!!]
The strike slammed directly into Mantis's shoulder hard enough to crack the wall behind him from the shockwave as Mantis slid backward several feet, and Victor stared at his own hand for a moment.
Mantis disappeared instantly as Victor's instincts screamed before he crossed both arms diagonally in front of himself.
[SHRRRAAAKKK!!!]
The blades collided against Victor's arms, and the impact sent both of them skidding backward as Victor's feet dragged through the concrete while Mantis's claws carved deep trenches into the floor before they both stopped simultaneously.
A short silence passed between them as Victor slowly lowered his arms. Small cuts had formed across them from the impact, but not deep at all, with barely even bleeding, and were already beginning to close. "Looks like I have a bit of limits, but still it's enough to win this."
Mantis lowered himself further as there was a small amount of shaking from his body, and Victor noticed immediately. "…Wait." His grin widened. "…Are you nervous?"
Mantis, who refused to be seen as afraid of this defective clone, vanished again towards Victor as he himself moved toward Mantis at the same time.
[BBOOOOMMMM!!!]
Both figures collided in the center of the hallway, and Victor's chopping strike met Mantis's own directly.
[SCHKKKKK!!!]
The impact blasted air outward violently as cracks spread across the floor beneath them before they immediately exchanged blows, Mantis leading the battle with rapid attacks as Victor copied every slash, counter, and thrust with growing ease.
Strike after strike echoed through the hallway as Victor continued to adapt in real time, his movements becoming sharper as he used Mantis as a wetstone to grow.
Victor ducked beneath a horizontal slash before driving his elbow into Mantis's ribs, and Mantis retaliated with a knee strike, which was quickly blocked by Victor using one arm before chopping downward toward Mantis's shoulder with the other.
[THUD!!]
The hallway exploded around them as the two continued tearing through the corridor at blinding speed, as they cut through the air with enough force to make it whistle, each chop carrying enough power to split chunks from the walls whenever they missed each other.
"Impossible..." Mantis noticed how quickly Victor was growing, but couldn't understand it. As a clone, and a half-baked one at that, how could he be matching him?
Victor, however, was growing more and more cocky as the fight progressed, grinning smugly as he narrowly slipped beneath another slash from Mantis. "You're making this way too easy, Mantis. Give it 120%, or you're gonna die."
Mantis didn't respond; instead, his stance shifted as the frantic barrage of attacks stopped suddenly. His breathing slowed, and the crimson glow in his eyes sharpened as all unnecessary movement ceased.
Victor's grin faltered slightly as confusion crossed his face for a moment. "...Huh?" Before he could react, Mantis disappeared, and he felt an impact immediately afterwards.
[BANG!!]
He flew backwards, straight towards a wall, as he immediately caught himself mid air and stopped himself using his legs against the wall, and he immediately launched himself to the side, as not long after.
[BANG!!]
[BANG!!]
[BANG!!]
As Victor ran, his eyes darted around frantically as Mantis ricocheted between the walls, ceiling, and floor at impossible speeds, leaving nothing but afterimages behind. "...What the hell?!"
Victor swung his arm toward one of the blurs and hit nothing but air before his instincts screamed at him, and he tried to twist his body, but it was already too late.
[SHNK!!]
A blade skimmed across the back of his knee. "...Tch!" Victor stumbled, but before he could recover.
[BANG!!]
Mantis kicked off the ceiling, and a blade slammed into Victor's elbow joint as pain shot through his arm, as it went limp for a split second. "...Gah!"
Victor retaliated immediately, his knife-hand strike carved through the air upward and struck empty air once more as Mantis was already gone.
[BANG!!]
Mantis's blur flew through the air off the wall, and a blade struck the side of Victor's ankle. While he still wasn't strong enough to cut deeply, it was enough to throw off his footing as Victor gritted his teeth and tried to focus. "...He's not trying to kill me anymore..."
Victor narrowly leaned away as another slash skimmed across his shoulder. "...He's trying to break me. This either means he's playing with his food or trying to tire me out slowly."
[THUD!!]
Another attack came almost instantly, as a chop struck the side of his wrist, forcing his arm away from his body, and almost immediately afterward, another landed behind his opposite knee as Victor dropped to one leg. "Damn it...!"
He swung wildly toward another blur and hit only air once more before Mantis appeared above him. Victor barely crossed his arms in time as a downward chop slammed into his guard.
[BOOM!!]
The force drove Victor through the floor beneath him, and concrete shattered as he crashed into the level below.
[CRASH!!!]
He rolled across the hallway before forcing himself back onto his feet, breathing heavily. His body ached from the past strikes as his body began to feel heavier under the pain.
Victor looked upward through the hole in the ceiling just in time to see Mantis calmly drop through it and land without making a sound.
Victor let out a cough and groaned. "Ugh...so what happened, man? I thought we were having a heart-to-heart earlier..."
Mantis's face somehow showed a sneer as he let out a dark chuckle. "So even now you still find time to joke, boy."
Victor let out a chuckle of his own before wincing in pain. "Can't help it, gotta cope with the pain somehow...so what has your buggy panties in a bunch?"
Mantis shook his head in slight amusement. "It's simple, really. While you somehow possess a body my blades cannot properly pierce, it changes nothing. You are slower than me...and more importantly..."
His crimson eyes glowed brighter. "You lack what every member of my race possesses." He slowly lowered himself into another stance. "Instinct." His eyes then narrowed as they looked at Victor. "And because of that..." He raised one of his bladed arms. "You will die here."
Victor stared at him for a long moment. "...Well..." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "...Shit." Victor suddenly exhaled. "...Well, it doesn't matter."
The smile disappeared from his face as Victor wore an expression of complete seriousness, with his eyes never leaving Mantis. "Because...I still have my ultimate attack."
Silence filled the room as Mantis slowly raised both blades into a guarded position. "...You're bluffing."
Victor slowly bent down without taking his eyes off Mantis as his hand scooped up a small handful of shattered concrete dust and loose debris scattered across the floor before he closed both fists and began walking forward slowly with a dead calm expression on his face. "Oh yeah?" Victor asked with complete confidence. "Try me."
Mantis narrowed his eyes once more in thought. That confidence...it didn't seem fake. Every instinct told him Victor had been hiding something, and if that was true, he couldn't afford to underestimate him. "...Very well." Mantis lowered himself further and began to approach Victor as well.
Victor continued walking forward with zero hesitation in his steps, and the distance between the two began to shrink rapidly.
Ten meters.
Eight.
Five.
Three.
Both stopped, and neither moved for a brief moment. Then in the next moment—
[BANG!!!]
Mantis exploded forward first, one bladed arm carving directly toward Victor's neck, and Victor himself began to move as well.
He slipped just outside the slash with a quick sidestep and sent what seemed to be a counter punch to Mantis's face before he opened up his balled up fist. "POCKET SAND!!"
[FWOOSH!!]
A cloud of dust, shattered concrete, and loose grit blasted directly into Mantis's glowing eyes. "...GHH—?!" His attack stopped midway as both hands instinctively moved toward his face. "My eyes—!"
Victor didn't waste the opportunity. "Sorry, bug man!" He jumped as both feet landed squarely on top of Mantis's head.
[THUNK!!]
Using Mantis like a springboard, Victor launched himself upward through the massive hole in the ceiling. "WHA—?!" Mantis stumbled forward just as Victor disappeared onto the floor above.
Victor landed in a roll before immediately springing back onto his feet. Then, without even looking back, he took off at full speed. "NIGERUNDAYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
His voice echoed through the facility as he sprinted away with every ounce of speed he could muster.
Behind him, Mantis finally cleared the dust from his eyes. He looked upward through the hole in the ceiling silently before his shoulders slumped ever so slightly.
"..."
"...I cannot believe..." A long sigh escaped him. "...I fell for that."
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To be continued in the next chapter of
RIDING THROUGH THE OMNIVERSE!
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