Although the sun began to shine a while ago, it quickly turned cloudy again.
[Name: Jay ???
Level: ???]
The skill [Appraisal] showed Jay exactly what he feared when he used it on the man before him. The screen that popped up was the same as Jay's. There was no need to investigate any further. No single person, aside from Jay and his other selves, was the owner of such a unique status window.
"Shit...!" Jay murmured, smiling wryly. Instinctively, he tried to take out his sword, only to notice that there was nothing to grab onto on his hip. His sword and his armor were at his apartment, leaving him completely defenseless. He scouted the area for any weapons, but the nearest weapons were those that belonged to the knight candidates on the training field. And in order to get there, Jay somehow had to pass by a certain obstacle.
"You've spared me the effort and time to look for you." the older Jay stated as he raised his blade. He sounded neither happy, arrogant, nor wicked. It was as if he stated a simple fact.
However, before the blade could slice Jay in two, he jumped away just in time. He might not have a weapon on him, but he was still confident in his stats. There was no way he would be defeated so easily.
"!"
Unfortunately, Jay disregarded one thing: His opponent was himself. The one he faced had identical stats to him—if not even higher.
The older Jay instantly closed the gap between him and Jay and grabbed his face tightly.
"Arghh!" Jay screamed. The other Jay's sword pierced his stomach before he was violently slammed to the ground with the older Jay on top of him. Jay tightened his grip on the other Jay's arm so that he would let go of the sword, but he struggled. The pain did not allow him to muster his usual strength.
Thus, Jay resorted to his skills. With his hands still on the other Jay's arm, he cast his ice skill, slowly freezing the arm.
"You're pretty persistent." the other Jay commented, remaining unfazed. He surprisingly let go of his sword quickly.
"Maybe I should render you motionless first." he added, now raising his fist. And without hesitation, he hammered his fist down on Jay's face.
"2. 3. 4..." he started counting as he kept swinging his fist mercilessly. Every hit was heavy, turning Jay's face into a bloody mess. The blood splattered on the ground, whereas Jay barely showed any resistance or let out a sound.
"5 and-"
But before he could land his sixth punch, Jay slowly reached his hand out. It looked like he was trying to grab the other Jay's neck. Questioning what he could do in his state, the other Jay paused his barrage of punches for a single moment.
However, that single moment proved to be a fatal mistake.
"Ahhhh!" Jay screamed vigorously when he held the sword's grip. Fighting against the pain, Jay pulled out the sword carelessly, disregarding the amount of blood that flowed out—whether it was from the sword wound or from his bloody mouth.
"You're crazy." the other Jay remarked, feeling both irritated and impressed.
He had to jump away from Jay, who immediately began swinging the sword.
"You didn't hold back, huh...?" Jay muttered, out of breath. Needing the sword to support himself, Jay finally got on his feet again.
It began to pour again. The rain trickled on Jay's body, partly washing the blood and dirt off him.
"Jay...!" Luna called out to him weakly. She crawled toward them despite tanking a hit from the other Jay, whose strength was far superior to hers.
"Do you really think you can stop me? You two can barely stand on your own." the older Jay said. Jay was losing a lot of blood and could hardly see due to all the punches to his face. Luna's legs were wobbly, appearing like they were about to fold again. For him, those two were nothing close to a threat.
Luna raised her arm weakly, pointing her palm at the older Jay. Then, several lightning arrows appeared around her. The lightning arrows were thin as needles and as long as an average human's armspan.
"A lightning skill...?" Jay wondered. However, he was a lot more surprised by the number of lightning arrows she summoned. A beginner would only be able to summon a few of them. And yet, Luna managed to make dozens of them appear at the same time.
One after another arrow was shot at the other Jay, who dodged most of them. Some of them actually hit him, but at this stage, the magic attack did not hurt too much.
However, it went according to Luna's plan.
"Got you...!"
Because he was too focused on Luna's attacks, the older Jay forgot about Jay for a moment, allowing him to close in on him. With a strong kick, Jay sent him flying to the ground, and this time he was the one on top.
"Kuh...!" the older Jay groaned silently when his right hand was stabbed with the sword. He stared at Jay, who froze the sword wound he inflicted on Jay previously.
It was only one second later when Jay froze the other hand to the ground. Now, he could not move his hands and therefore could not defend himself anymore. Despite that, he remained calm.
"You'd better finish me. There won't be another opportunity next time." he stated, his tone still cold and threatening.
"Shut up...!"
Mustering his energy, Jay also thrashed him. The punches were weaker than his, but it did not matter. What truly mattered was the number of hits.
The older Jay was not reacting to the weak punches and just counted inside his head. It was only when Jay landed his fifth hit that he took action.
"That's enough." he said. He pushed his right hand up, although it was still pierced by the sword. And with blood gushing out of his palm, he tightly grasped Jay's hand that was on the sword. The older Jay broke the ice on his other hand with sheer power and pulled Jay toward him, landing such an intense headbutt on him that Jay stumbled backward until he eventually fell.
Jay's vision darkened further, but the bigger problem was that he could not move. He had no strength left.
"Shouldn't have been so half-assed with it." the other Jay remarked. After pulling the sword out, he got up.
"J-Jay! Get up...!" Luna yelled from afar. Her legs had already given out, but she still shot the last remaining lightning arrows at the standing Jay.
"Give it a rest. I'll take care of you after him."
The other Jay evaded the last few attacks effortlessly while moving toward the motionless Jay. His eyes were focused on the neck as he raised his blade for the last time.
"Stop it right there!"
However, someone reprimanded him, talking through a megaphone. It was a voice containing authority and power. Also, it was a voice that Luna recognized.
"Kilgen..." the other Jay muttered, sharpening his gaze.
Approaching the scene was the same woman who put Luna, Jay, and Erik into handcuffs back then. Her red eyes were fierce as ever, and while she headed toward them, she put her blonde, shoulder-length hair into a bun. It was the policewoman who was emerging from a crowd of scared and worried bystanders. Her subordinates stood behind her and ensured that no one could trespass.
"Put up your hands unless it gets ugly for you." she ordered, taking a short glance at the wounded Jay and the tired Luna.
The other Jay shortly looked at her, but neither his stance nor his facial expression changed. He proceeded to ignore her presence and resumed his unfinished job.
But his blade stopped right before Jay's neck. Another blade intercepted his sword. It was a clean and well-maintained katana.
"Looks like we have to deal with a troublesome person here." the policewoman remarked with a smug grin.
The other Jay jumped back.
[Name: Scarlet Kilgen
Level: 72]
"You piece of shit... You dare to use your appraisal skill on me...?!" the policewoman named Scarlet Kilgen grumbled, gritting her teeth.
"I've made up my mind." she added, taking a deep breath.
The grip on her sword tightened.
"I will execute you!"
Following her announcement, Scarlet rushed toward him and began to unleash a barrage of precise sword swings. The older Jay, on the other hand, barely escaped direct hits and was even pushed back. He had trouble holding his sword properly as his hand was badly wounded by Jay. Blood kept trickling down each time he parried Scarlet's sword.
Neither his expression nor Scarlet's changed during the exchange. The two were emotionless as they tried to kill each other.
And soon, it came to a conclusion.
"Any last words?" Scarlet asked coldly. After the last sword clash, the other Jay's sword was flung away from his hand, and now he had to feel a sword's tip poking his neck.
"I wouldn't do this if I were you." he replied.
"Begging to be spared, huh?"
"No. I'm just warning you. If you kill me now, you will not only lose your self, but you'll constantly have a target on your back."
"Hm? What are y-" Scarlet frowned.
"Could you please put your sword down?"
Suddenly, Erik walked up to them. He smiled at them even though his friends were in a dire state.
"What are you doing here?" Scarlet asked, looking over to her subordinates. She could not see clearly, but it looked like her subordinates were apologizing and bowing for forgiveness.
"Never mind that. What did you do to them?" she switched questions, pointing her sword at Erik now.
"I don't care if you have any connections to Alice, but I won't overlook it if you've harmed my people."
"It's alright. I haven't done anything to them. I just kindly asked them to let me through." Erik explained, waving his hands in front of her.
"You... just asked them?" Scarlet repeated, unsure if that was the truth after she explicitly told them not to let a single person through.
"You can ask them later if you want to." Erik responded, his smile not reaching his eyes.
"Tch!" clicking her tongue in annoyance, she turned back to the other Jay.
However, he vanished.
"Don't screw with me...!"
Her sword was lowered. She felt like she could explode at any moment. Not only did she let herself get distracted by an unrelated person, but she also let a criminal slip through her fingers.
Frantically, she looked everywhere, but she could not find a single trace of him. He did not even leave a trace of his blood behind despite his pierced hand.
"You hindered the police from doing their duties and even allowed a criminal to get away. Do you know what will happen to you?" she stated, glaring at Erik.
"That may be true." he answered without a care in the world.
"I won't try to defend myself-"
"Enough of your talking!" before Erik could finish, Scarlet cut him off, pressing her blade against his neck. From their previous interactions, she realized that Erik was the kind of person who liked to talk his way out of a situation. Thus, it was better to silence him as soon as possible.
"Be silent and come with us...! Call Alice or whoever you want! I won't let you go!"
Erik's smile disappeared.
"C-Captain! Please let me handle him!" one of Scarlet's subordinates rushed to her. Apparently, having reflected on their mistake of letting a stranger get through, they wanted to at least deal with Erik accordingly as a way to atone.
Scarlet, in turn, sheathed her sword and walked to the subordinate.
"Leave him be. We will retreat from the scene." she stated indifferently.
"Captain...?"
"Don't ask questions... Especially about him." she said, glancing over to Erik, who was heading toward Luna and Jay.
Scarlet regrouped with her other subordinates and issued commands. She also informed the bystanders what had happened, although she was only repeating what Erik told her.
"Nothing happened here to worry about. It was just a small dispute between friends." Scarlet announced. She noticed that a lot of people were visibly annoyed and displeased, having been scared for nothing.
After that, she took a seat in a police car. With the door open, she lit a cigarette and took a few puffs while staring at Erik. Ignoring his friends' injuries and conditions, he carried them like bags of rice.
"Captain, we're done and ready to return!"
"Understood." Scarlet sighed, putting out her cigarette.
"Hey."
"Yes, Captain?"
"Have you thought about climbing the tower further?" she asked her subordinate.
"H-huh? W-well, not really, I guess...? I'm quite satisfied with where I am now..." the subordinate replied nervously.
"D-do you intend to ascend further, Captain?"
"I don't know yet. I thought I was satisfied with my current achievements, too. But..."
The image of a certain trio that escaped her grasp for a second time was burned in the back of her mind.
"But meeting them made me realize that I was not strong enough." she admitted, closing the car door.
"C-Captain...?!"
With the door shut, nobody could hear her anymore.
"Erik Wagner... I'll pay you back for that humiliation...!"