Infinite Realm

*Clang* *Clang*

On a black fighting stage in some unknown location, there were 2 individuals engaged in a sword fight. One of them had a solemn look on his face as he brandished his sword multiple times in the direction of his opponent. As for the opposing figure, he had a carefree expression on his face as he received all the strikes from the dignified man with ease. These two were respectively Sato and his duplicate.

The nonchalant duplicate thrust its sword at Sato right after it spotted an opening, sending him back by 3 steps. It then pressed on and slashed out a flurry of sword strikes at Sato, dealing continuous damage on him, before sending him flying with a sword slash.

*Thud*

10 seconds later, Sato's body reappeared close to the edge of the fighting stage.

"Again!"

With a low roar, Sato charged back in and exchanged blows with the duplicate again. Compared to before, Sato's attacks were now more precise and accurate; lacking any fanciful moves to them but being direct yet harder to deal with.

*Clang* *Clang*

*Thud*

Less than a minute later, a body was sent flying but just before it landed on the ground, it had completely disintegrated into stardust. 10 seconds later, the same figure appeared at the outskirts of the arena.

"Another time!"

*Clang* *Clang*

"Tch. Don't you get it? You're weaker than me. Give up on your futile tries. They are pointless." The duplicate said with an irritated tone but Sato didn't reply it and kept pushing on with his attacks.

Sato had been stuck in this dimension for over 14 hours yet he couldn't even make a mark on the duplicate's armour. While he had indeed made improvements in his sword arts, Sato was still not the duplicate's match.

In 14 hours of fighting, Sato had used every trick in his book, every skill accessible to him, including [Gratitude of Races] but he couldn't get the upper hand. The reason was simply because whatever skill Sato had, the duplicate did too. Hence, Sato couldn't get the upper hand by utilizing any of his in-game skills. 

On a good note though, even after the skills were used, once Sato died and was revived to the arena, all his skills would be refreshed as if the term 'cool-down' doesn't apply to them. As a result, even though he still wasn't the duplicate's match, Sato was still able to deliver pester it and make it take him seriously sometimes. Of course, the duplicate would also have its skill and status refreshed with each round.

Seeing Sato not respond to its comment or react to its words, the duplicate frowned in annoyance.

"In that case, just die." The duplicate said coldly.

'Not good…!'

The sword in the duplicate's hand became almost like a flexible snake as it passed through Sato's defense and stabbed him right in the chest. 

[Critical Hit]

-138 (12/150 Sato's HP)

However, the duplicate didn't stop there as it quickly took back its sword and flourished it once more, ending Sato's life for the umpteenth time.

-84 (0/150 Sato's HP)

10 seconds later with a brilliant burst of light, Sato appeared once more outside the stage but this time, he didn't dash in as he did before. Instead, he stood at the side as he went into thought.

"Huh? Have you given up?" The duplicate stared at him.

Sato ignored it and instead began recalling his experience so far.

'As expected. The defence of my armour is weakened here.'

After exchanging blows with the duplicate countless number of times, Sato had finally begun to discover some of the mechanics of the final challenge. One of them was that being forced out of the stage equates to losing the fight, another was the matter of his body's defence.

Sato had previously noticed that each attack aimed at a vital organ would deal more damage than usual, with the chance of a [Critical Hit] occurring being high. This was why the duplicate always aimed for his heart in battle, to end the fight quickly. Also, Sato observed that his armour couldn't repel the sword as it did with certain physical attacks in the outside world. Rather than behaving like metallic armour, the [Dawn Steel Armour] behaved like leather armour. It was much easier to cut through as against the sword of the duplicate, it felt more like a piece of cloth than an armour. However, it did still manage to reduce the damage he received on other parts of his body.

'This should be the same with it.' Sato conjectured.

'If I can land a clean hit on a vital spot, passing the challenge wouldn't be difficult.'

While he indeed thought of this, Sato knew that the difficulty of achieving this was very high. Since the start of this challenge, he had not been able to get his sword through the duplicate's defence, not even once. If just making a mark was so difficult, then actually injuring it or aiming for a weak spot was even harder.

'Martial arts, in-game skills, weapons, and attributes. Excluding martial arts, it's on par with me in everything else yet I still can't beat it.' Sato had a grim look on his face as he thought of this.

The duplicate was a copy of him so all the skills and equipment Sato had, it also had. As for the martial arts it used, they consisted of a variety of those, however, the level at which the duplicate could use them was roughly the same as Sato.

In order to try and find a breakthrough point as quickly as possible, Sato had engaged in a continuous set of battles with the duplicate all in hopes of finding its weakness or the crux to defeating it. But even with all his efforts, he still hadn't found one.

'There has to be a way to win. It can't be invincible.' Sato thought.

Sato had once thought that there was a secret on this altar that would help him win but after spending 2 hours searching for 'it', he found nothing. At this point, he was feeling a bit helpless.

After not reaching any conclusion, Sato walked up to the stage once more.

"Hehe. Here I was thinking you had given up. Come on, play with me a bit more." The duplicate grinned.

Sato didn't rush to attack as usual but instead calmed down and decided to wait for it to attack.

"This again?" The duplicate chuckled.

"I'm coming."

The duplicate charged towards him and hacked its sword at Sato.

With a composed expression, Sato didn't hurry to attack yet but tried to spot the trajectory of the attack while at the same time guessing its next pattern of attack.

"Ha!"

Just when the duplicate was less than 5 metres away, Sato retaliated with his sword and blocked its attack, forcing the rip-off back. Unlike with the first time he faced off against the duplicate, Sato only went back by half a step. This was the result of the improvements he had made after 12 hours of intense fighting.

Despite seeing its attack being blocked, the duplicate didn't have any change in its same condescending expression as it attacked once more. This time, its target was Sato's left side.

Having just blocked its attack and also being forced back, Sato would be too slow to react to the next one. Even if he managed to somehow do so, he would be forced off balance and the duplicate would be able to end everything with the third attack.

'Fast reactions, movement, and an impressive battle awareness and alertness.' Sato evaluated.

An invigorating aura burst forth from Sato's body as his power increased and his attributes began to rise. At this moment, Sato radiated the aura of a hero, and when imposed with the passive boundless aura from [Astral Might], it made it seem as if he was a legendary heroic knight that was undefeatable even in the face of a futile battle.

[Gratitude of Races]

Being forced to a tight spot, Sato used his ultimate skill and managed to react just in time to block the attack. With the increased bonus in [Strength], he wasn't forced off balance by the duplicate's move but instead had made it retreat by 5 steps.

"Hehe. Did you forget? I have that too."

Just as it spoke, a similar aura leaked out from the duplicate slowly, before exploding all at once. Compared to Sato, the momentum from the duplicate using the same skill was much more imposing.

"Die."

The duplicate charged back again and attacked once more at the approaching Sato. This time around, the sword it slashed out gave off a weird feeling. A regular player wouldn't notice this but as a pro-gamer and a martial artist, Sato did. The duplicate had used a martial art skill with that move.

Sato frowned because he couldn't predict the trajectory of that sword attack. It felt like the duplicate's sword was aimed at his right but also his left. At this moment, Sato couldn't come to a decision, and that lead to a hole in his defence being formed.

'Hehe.'

The duplicate obviously took notice of this and aimed for his heart.

*Clang*

"Huh?" A surprised expression was shown on the duplicate's face as the sword in its hand was stopped from moving an inch further.

"You're too conceited." Sato apathetically said.

Even if he couldn't see the trajectory of the sword, Sato could easily guess that the duplicate would go for his heart as it always did.

"Haha. True. But don't feel high over one sword."

The duplicate took back its sword and attacked once more. Compared to before though, the intensity of its strikes had increased.

*Clang*

With each time the two swords collided, brilliant orange and red sparks flew out from the point of contact.

The two swords danced around but with neither seeming to have an advantage over the other. Eventually, Sato could hardly keep up with the duplicate as its attack continued to increase in both speed and strength, pressuring him to make more mistakes.

'His attacks seem to be aimed at the weak point of my attacks.'

Even though he was on the losing end of the fight, Sato wasn't bothered. Instead, he had entered a tranquil state where he easily spotted the mistakes and differences between his attacks and the duplicate's. This was the famous 'Enlightenment state' and unbeknownst to him, Sato had gained enlightenment after engaging in countless fights with the duplicate.

An Enlightenment state was a very special situation or state that one would enter once their focus and concentration were at the epitome that it could achieve. There were two such common forms; the Void state and true enlightenment. 

The Void state was when one's focus and attention on a particular subject were at their highest. A good example would be when an artist is focused on painting a scene with their whole heart. During that point, the artist enters a state where he/she ignores the happenings of reality as their attention is focused on the scene before their eyes or in their head. In other to create that magnificent work, they 'exit' reality and only put their eyes on their goal. This was the state Sato was currently experiencing.

True enlightenment is sudden enlightenment that happens randomly and at unexpected moments. A simplified version of such would be when one is trying to solve a riddle. At first, they don't know the answer but at a sudden moment, just like a click, the words begin to link up and the answer is revealed to them with no effort attached. It is also the same thing that happens with certain inventors. They might be currently lacking an idea of what to create or make but out of nowhere, an idea seems to pop up in their minds.

In his enlightened state, Sato could spot the mistakes he made and refined his attacks mid-battle as well as see through the attacks of the duplicate.

Sato used this opportunity to take note of the duplicate's fighting style while also keeping in mind the mistakes that he made in the fight.

As time went on, Sato's attacks became better and refined than before.. Slowly, it was harder for the duplicate to force him back again.