Chapter 201: Kokoro and the Clone's death
"ELEMENT SIMULATION," Kokoro's body was surrounding by the four elements: fire, water, earth and wind as she began to float in the air in a meditation pose.
Some sort of energy ball was growing more and more as she was pouring the aura of the four elements inside of it.
[4 seconds of 'Virtual World' remaining…]
The ball of energy was growing more and more, and in less than a second it was already three times Kokoro's size, meaning that it was extremely powerful.
"Tsk… lucky idiots, if I had just a bit more time, this entire hallway would have been destroyed…" Kokoro sighed as she wasn't able to power her attack anymore since only three seconds remained before she would disappear forever.
~FWISH~
She separated the giant energy ball into two different ones that were slightly smaller, yet just as powerful, and then… she sent them at Akira and Stark.
She didn't even bother to send an attack at the clone, option only for the real threats: the actual participants.
"And with this…" Kokoro looked down, a sad expression on her face and tears forming on her holographic face, "I guess it's over for me…" she fell to the floor, sitting down and just looking at the energy balls head toward them, "You'll be joining me…"
'Well… time to use [Dodge Control] I guess…' Stark got ready as soon as the energy ball headed his way.
'…' Akira didn't think of anything, he closed his eyes as soon as he saw the first giant energy ball, and the moon around him began to grow more and more, slowly seeping into his body as it gradually disappeared inside of it, 'FULL MOON FORM!'
~FWISH, FWISH~
Both energy balls headed toward Stark and Akira, the latter already having activated his skill, getting ready to cut the ball in half using his mythical skill.
But… at that moment…
Kokoro opened her tearful eyes one more time, then pointed her arms toward Stark and Akira.
"TIME DILATION!"
…
[Skill: Time Dilation]
[Type: Epic]
[Description: Completely slows down the skill of the users you select (limit of two skills per user), thus allowing you to place an attack as they believe they would be able to dodge it/counter with their skills]
[Note: it pretty much deactivate the skills]
…
And so…
"DODGE CONTROL!" Stark got ready to easily avoid the ball.
But…
['Dodge Control' is affected by 'Time Dilation', thus the speed is too slow to be cast!]
This was the second time such a thing happened to Stark, the first being against the cyclops who locked its skill using its eye to lock [Dodge Control] while it was using its final attack.
And now…
"I'm fucked…" Stark saw the ball of energy, combining all element as well as Kokoro's entire power, heading toward him, only centimeters away from his face
['Invincible Dodge' is affected by 'Time Dilation', thus the speed is too slow to avoid the attack, try something else!]
In addition to that, Kokoro had upgraded that skill to level 10, thus allowing it to lock two skills instead of only one… and so he decided to block [Invincible Dodge], taking Stark completely aback as there was no way for him to avoid now.
~FWISH~
'Ah…' he smiled as he saw the energy ball, 'I guess… heh… doesn't matter…'
He turned his head slightly toward his clone, just to see what it was doing in his final movements as it had been his greatest companion yet.
And…
'Oh…' he saw it right next to him, jumping in his direction.
It didn't have that =) on its face anymore, instead its expression was completely serious, and it was following only one order: "Protect the original Stark, at all costs".
Clones don't have feelings, and the [Superior Clone] may seem more 'human' and sadistic, as well as able to think for itself, it was still following its ultimate rule: Stark needs to live.
And so… it pushed the original out of the way.
~SLAM~
It bumped into him with incredible force, sending him flying to the right and falling to the ground.
But of course… when it did that… the energy ball hit it.
~BOOM, FWISH, ZAP, SPLASH~
The explosion was deafening, a mixture of fire, wind, water, and earth elements colliding with incredible force against the clone, who received all of it and began to tremble, a powerful aura swirling around it as its body convulsed repeatedly.
It didn't have the smile on its face when it saved to Stark, but now that the original was save, then it went back to smiling, the pain was nothing to it.
And so just like that…
"-56732!" it received damage, and it would have more than enough to kill Stark if it actually hit.
'…' Stark sighed, 'There was no need… I can revive myself…' he shook his head, he couldn't understand why his clone did that.
But somehow… Stark did feel somewhat sad, almost as if he had lost a true companion.
He could summon it back after 1h30 since it was the time needed for all three clones to be restored, but… he didn't know why it was still… well… doesn't matter, he had survived.
[The "Superior Clone" has been killed!]
And as for Akira…
"…" he had already activated his [Full Moon Form], so Kokoro couldn't slow it down, meaning she decided to slow down [Moonlight Slash] and [Half-Moon Technique] instead.
And yet…
"Pathetic…" Akira raised his katana and cut the energy ball so easily it was actually quite scary, the ball exploding behind him and creating a cool effect.
"-17362!" he did receive some damage but the elements, but he didn't even look bothered.
"I… No… None of them thing…" Kokoro's eyes widened as she saw that both Stark and Akira avoided her ultimate attack, "T-This… wasn't… how this was supposed… to… g-go…"
And so just like that, her holograph body faded, as well as her tablet, and after a few seconds, [Virtual World] deactivated, meaning that the simulation-like surroundings disappeared, replaced by the normal golden hallway of the sublevel.
"At least that's done with…" Akira spoke, his figure was hidden by a wall of smoke created by the explosion of the energy ball, making Stark unable to see how his new form looked like.
But he wasn't interested to be honest, since he was too focused on something else…
[EGO Meter: 75/100]
The EGO meter was somehow growing each time he avoided an attack or hit one himself… it was definitely interesting.
In the end, he just closed this panel and focused on his final opponent.
He didn't understand how shit could become this crazy in such a short amount of time, but now that it happened there was no going back.
Only three participants alive: Akira, Stark and Sora.
Just how many would survive by the end… no one knows… but one thing was certain: at least one person between Stark and Akira will die by the end of their battle, and the latter was in his mythical form, and he had 4 more rewards that he could use.
Basically… Stark was in complete disadvantage as he had also lost his clone.
Just how would he get out of this situation…?