He said to himself, "My camouflage ability and power to change my body color will make winning this match easy, but I need to see one of the copies to acquire its form—then my plan will begin."
Ares heard one of the copies approaching and knew his opportunity had arrived. He quietly drew his knife, waited patiently, and prepared to ambush.
The moment the copy passed by the tree, Ares pounced, stabbing it in the neck, then concealed the body among the tall grass to prevent discovery.
Ares replicated the corpse’s appearance with his eyes, transforming into Yuri’s form. He emerged from the trees and began walking with confidence and composure, a perfect duplicate, then started searching for the two remaining copies among the trees.
He spotted one copy moving cautiously, aiming its pistol in every direction in search of its target. Ares approached, fearful of being discovered. The copy looked at him and asked, "Did you find anything?"
He shook his head in denial, then moved closer to the copy and forcefully stabbed its neck until it collapsed to the ground. He carefully carried the body and concealed it thoroughly.
He continued his path, ears sharpened for the slightest movement.
The trees obscured the sky, but sunbeams filtered through, providing clear visibility, while gentle breezes caressed the leaves that danced in harmony with the sounds of birds and animals dwelling among the trees.
After walking for a minute, Ares heard the final copy rustling through trees and underbrush. He hid behind a tree, determining it would pass before him momentarily. Indeed, it crossed his path, and he killed it.
He reasoned that now he must deceive the real Yuri and strike without warning, so he decided to return to the clearing.
Ares traversed the trees and entered the clearing, where he was shocked and alarmed by what he saw.
Ten more copies of Yuri stood before him. He tried to maintain his composure and continued walking calmly toward Yuri. He said, attempting to feign the coldness of the copies, "I found nothing among the trees, and everyone who entered with me disappeared. He must have eliminated them."
The original Yuri said angrily, "Three copies couldn’t find one man? What’s happening here? We’ll all go now to finish him."
The copies moved forward with the original Yuri following behind. Ares realized he needed another plan. He circled around and slipped into the forest ahead of them, quietly and patiently. Once hidden among the trees, he concealed himself behind one near the clearing and contemplated his next move to defeat Yuri. A potentially effective idea flashed in his mind.
The copies advanced in a single line followed by the original Yuri. Ares waited until they passed, but he couldn’t identify the original Yuri—three identical figures walked in the rear. Ares knew this wouldn’t be easy.
He approached them slowly, raised his gun, and shot one in the head, dropping him to the ground. Then he shouted while aiming his weapon toward the trees, "He’s among the trees! Be careful!"
Everyone aimed their weapons in all directions in panic.
One of them asked, "Where is he?"
"I don’t know, open fire everywhere—perhaps we’ll hit him." Fresh chapters posted on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✦𝓷𝓮𝓽
The clones began firing wildly in all directions, gripped by panic and confusion.
Ares exploited this chaos, carefully taking aim to eliminate them one by one. The clones believed an enemy was hunting them from among the trees.
Ares moved among the clones, taking advantage of their lack of focus. He cautiously aimed at one and killed him, which only increased the panic and gunfire.
He approached three clones standing together, attached an adhesive bomb to one of them, then slowly backed away and pressed the detonation button. They were reduced to fragments, intensifying the terror.
As they retreated among the trees, Ares heard the real Yuri’s voice:
"Protect me, you fools!"
But he couldn’t pinpoint Yuri’s location amid the commotion. Ares continued hunting them at close range whenever possible, until their number dwindled to four, including himself.
The original Yuri, sweat pouring down his face, said in a terrified tone, "You must get me out of here immediately."
A malicious smile flashed across Ares’s face as he finally located his adversary.
Ares thought to himself, "Now, how do I eliminate him without getting killed myself?"
He approached slowly beside the two clones, quickly raising his gun to shoot them in the head. Yuri turned to find a gun aimed at his head. Ares, with deadly seriousness in his voice, said, "Surrender or die."
Yuri was shocked to find one of his clones wanting to kill him, but quickly realized it was Ares. Grinding his teeth in intense frustration, he said, "Fine. I surrender. How did you do this?"
Ares recounted his actions, then heard the announcement ending the match with his victory, declaring the next match between Jean and Francis.
Jean felt her heart tighten with fear, her anxiety mounting. Noor teased her, "Don’t be afraid, you’ll win against him. Use your mind and your abilities. From what I can see, you have a good chance of winning."
Noor’s words encouraged her somewhat, but the fear inside her was stronger. She took a deep breath to calm herself a little, yet here she was facing the boy with tremendous speed. If she didn’t act quickly, he would defeat her easily and in record time.
Jean descended the stairs to the arena and saw Francis already standing there, having prepared everything.
She quickened her pace and moved forward to take some weapons that might be useful to her.
After she finished and returned to her position, she saw Francis with mockery written across his face. He said to her in a tone saturated with derision and scorn, "I won’t go easy on you because you’re a girl. Surrender now and I won’t hurt you. But if you wish to continue, you must bear the consequences."
Jean remained silent, not answering him, determination evident in her demeanor to complete the duel. He continued:
"So this is your choice? Then bear the consequences—I will show you no mercy."