Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

Clang!

Ark’s sword screeched as it made contact with Olivia’s axe, sparks bursting out of the weapon on impact.

He drew his sword back before lashing out again with an impact that sent another ripple through the space between them.

Olivia smirked as she stared into his eyes. "How long do you think you will last against me?"

Ark chuckled. "That is a very good joke."

Although in the past, she had been stronger than him, Ark had long surpassed her.

Still...

Olivia had improved at an astonishing rate.

She took a few steps back, just before she lunged, her axe flying towards his neck. Ark could see the trajectory of the blade; he raised his sword, ready to take the attack.

But at the very last moment, Olivia’s wings suddenly unleashed a burst of wind, her talons screeching on the metal floor to keep her balance.

In an instant, her entire trajectory changed, and she was at his side, the axe flying to cleave off his feet.

It was too fast for the average copper-ranked player to dodge.

"We’ll have to visit the hero’s statue after this one!" She cackled.

Swish!

But Ark was not the average player.

Moving purely based on instinct, he leaped into the air, the axe whistling underneath him. Then his fingers tightened around the hilt of his katana as he brought it down on her head.

"You’re pretty good!" Ark smiled internally as he stared at her.

Clang!

Olivia knew that it would be too late if she tried to recall her blade, so she had slipped underneath the staff of her axe.

"Do you think I was sleeping all this while?"

The two of them clashed once more, swinging their weapons with vigour as they moved from place to place, creating music with the sound of their clashes.

Fending off an axe was not easy work. Each blow came with the force of a sledgehammer, but with the sharpness of the cruel end of a blade.

But while the axe was powerful, the katana made up for it with stunning speed and breathtaking precision.

Olivia gritted her teeth as she unleashed heavy blow after blow, each one causing the katana to rattle in Ark’s hands.

But he watched her, continuously losing ground as he fended off her attacks.

The battle was not about who seemed to be winning. Victory was not determined by who appeared flashier...

During his fight with Tristan, Ark had been the one to pull out the big moves; he was the one who had screamed like a madman.

He had lost.

Ark had learned a lot from that battle—

Clang!

His katana was blown back, Olivia smiled wildly, her orange hair gleaming like fire as she rotated her body, swinging the axe with everything in her.

The axe flashed with light, there was a whistle in the air, just before the wind was pulled along with the strike.

Crack—BANG!

But as the weapon came, Ark adjusted his position, taking on the full brunt of the blade in a flexible stance.

The energy rang through his bones, just before fleeing through his feet.

...Ark had learned that during battles, the victor was determined by who was able to read their opponent better.

All great warriors knew how to do this. They had been doing it so long that it had become second nature to them.

While he fought Tristan with murder in mind, Tristan had unravelled him like a puzzle, just like he was doing with Olivia.

"What are you doing?!"

Bang!!

"Fight me seriously!!"

Swish!

Olivia’s face hardened. "If you don’t want to take this fight seriously, then I will have to force a reaction out of you!"

She knew that Ark was stronger than her, but she wanted to see just how vast the gap between them was.

Olivia could tell how great that trench was until Ark showed her his full strength.

She gripped her axe by its neck, and at the end of the shaft, then she stood still for a brief moment.

This was a technique that she had been privileged to learn, a combat art passed through the Harrow clan for generations.

Olivia took in a breath—

"First technique of the Harrow blade art..." She swung her arms down, but this time, it felt as though her blade carried the weight of the world.

"The Blade of Mysteries."

The tip of her axe blurred, and piece by piece, it began to vanish, until there was not an ounce of it left.

A crack filled the air as dark currents erupted from where the blade should have been, and then it came down like a whip—

But Ark...

He took in a deep breath, his blue orbs burning violently.

He had already analysed Olivia’s moves. From each strike, to her bad habits, to her facial expressions before each move, he had memorised them all!

Crack—!

The air seemed to split apart as multiple strikes tore through the blade, but Ark was next to Olivia before she could blink.

He knocked her axe to the side, using his forearm, then slammed into her, tackling her to the floor, his blade pressed against her throat.

Blood dripped out of the wound.

Ark could feel the heat radiating out of Olivia’s body. She was breathing heavily, her hair damp with sweat, and her eyes wide in shock as she stared at him.

He, on the other hand, was quiet, still trying to process everything he had just learned from their spar.

Then he laughed darkly.

"It looks like I won."

Olivia frowned as Ark got off her. He offered her a hand and she grabbed it as he pulled her to her feet.

Then turned around to the spot he had been, only to see steam rising from the floor. The thick alloy had been deformed by the strike, but that was not what caught his attention.

Olivia had slashed once, but instead of a single point of impact, Ark could count seven different slashes, each of them coming from all directions, front, back, and the sides!

Was that even possible?

If he had not dodged the attack when he did, then it would have been impossible to evade.

"What the hell was that?" He turned around to ask Olivia, but it seemed she had questions of her own.

She was staring at him intently, while stroking her chin. The Olivia he knew in the past would have been throwing a tantrum because she lost, but right now she looked more curious than angry.

"You read my attack patterns in that short time..." she muttered in a low tone.

Then her eyes flashed with determination. "Teach me how you did it!"

Ark’s face brightened up as he walked back into the centre of the platform, but this time, his weapon transformed into a lance that kissed the alloy floor.

"I’m still learning it myself, come, let us learn it together."

Olivia’s technique was likely a family battle art that she could not teach. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn it by watching her.

With each spar, he would unravel the secrets of that technique, he would become a copycat, until it was impossible to tell the difference.

After all, the difference between a well-made copy and an original was the price tag...

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