It was a painstaking match and undoubtedly the longest Yuuta had to go through. And yet, there were no signs of its conclusion.
A low-kick suddenly came from behind him but he managed to dodge it. And then, another roundhouse kick followed, aiming straight at his chest. Since Yuuta was still in mid-air, he didn't have any choice but to just block the kick with his arms. As the kick connected, Yuuta was sent flying to the other side of the room, making him gasp for air.
They were both nearing exhaustion an hour ago and now, Yuuta felt even more drained than he once was. It would even be an understatement that he would lose consciousness once the fight is over.
"If only I have some sort of special skill to end this match or something," Yuuta muttered to himself as he pumped his legs in order for it to move. His muscles were already screaming in pain and there were at least a dozen spots on his body where it felt sore. But there was no way he's forfeiting the match just because of those minuscule reasons.
Surprised, Yuuta sidestepped and looked around. He managed to dodge another attack from his opponent and now he had a few seconds to ponder on the prompt that he heard in his mind. 'If this was the case, then, I'll just activate any skill I have.'
"Yes," Without a shred of hesitation, Yuuta shouted and agreed to the notification he received in his mind.
In an instant, colors entered Yuuta's eyes, enabling him to see his surroundings. Just like before, the nostalgia of being able to see distracted Yuuta a little bit as he admired the scenery in front of him. Even though he was already on the verge of exhaustion, his energy was renewed as his Sight was returned to him once again.
And now, he can finally see his opponent.
But what he didn't know was that his opponent could actually see him as well. From the start of the match, his opponent has been using the Sight Skill to fight to him to the fullest while he was there, trying to make ends meet with his blind eyes. 'In any case, he really does look a lot like me. I can even confidently say that he's my doppelganger. Look at that. It's like staring straight at the mirror.'
Coincidentally, the two of them let out a right hook at the same time, making their teeth chatter as both fists connect. Yuuta and his other self took two steps back as they gritted their teeth. Yuuta figure that he was wearing the same expression as his opponent since their reactions were more or less the same all this time.
His opponent's eyes suddenly glinted red as his opponent charged with greater acceleration than before. It took all of Yuuta's strength just to block the punch coming at his face. Yuuta could've sworn that he heard a crack coming from his arms but to his relief, he was still fine.
"I just have to do this." Gathering his resolve, Yuuta waited for his opponent to attack him once again. Knowing himself, he knew that it would totally work against him, or rather, his shadow.
A sigh left Yuuta's mouth as he realized that he should've thought of this method a little earlier so he didn't have to waste any time.
Finding an opening, his opponent rushed at him a second time, with fists at the ready. As for Yuuta, he just stood there, unmoving, trying to find the perfect timing when he'll unleash his surprise attack.
'Got you!' Yuuta said in his mind as he raised his arm and closed his eyes. From the opponent's perspective, it was clear that he was surrendering the match and that made him hesitate to punch Yuuta.
And just like that, Yuuta found the opening he was waiting for. Since the opponent was rushing at him with no reprieve, it became even harder for his opponent to decelerate. Using that to his advantage, Yuuta poured all his energy into his arms and unleashed an uppercut.
The uppercut hit his opponent straight on the jaw.
Yuuta heaved a sigh of relief as a series of panels opened in front of him. The initial tests were finally over and now he can finally move on to the main game of the Lucid Dream Server. In a flash, his opponent disappeared right in front of him and he was teleported back to the 'loading screen' of the game. This is where Yuuta first found himself being mesmerized by a flashing gray dot when he first logged in to the game.
A sense of thrill overwhelmed Yuuta as the realization that the lengthened tests were finally over and all his hard work were generously rewards by— not one, not two but— three special skills exclusive only to him. Going by the knowledge that there are no identical skills in the game, and one could only get one special skill from the initial tests, at most, Yuuta was genuinely puzzled by it.
But then again, he was the only beta tester who managed to complete all the hidden quests in the pre-arranged tests.
"Now that I think about it, why is it that all my special skills are connected to my Sight Skill?" Yuuta asked himself but he couldn't figure out how the game actually hands out skills to its players. Right now, all that he could do was to learn how to use his skills and hopefully get used to the game as fast as possible.
'There's also that 'thing' that Miki was supposed to tell me about. I wonder when I could meet her.' Yuuta's face reddened for a little bit before he shook his head, trying to undo the thoughts of Miki in his mind right now. He knew that the first thing that he needs to do is get used to the game and find out what secrets lie inside it.
And right now, although it was just a hunch, Yuuta is convinced that the Lucid Dream Server is somewhat connected to the murders in the City.
Subsequent to defeating his shadow and spending his time thinking inside the room where he fought for hours, Yuuta finally remembered that he already wasted ample time in the game. That's why Yuuta decided to just log out for the day, not knowing that it was already morning and he was running late for school.
.....
"Tsutomu-san, there's another one," Gerald exclaimed, running to the office where Tsutomu was having a warm cup of coffee.
Due to the unknown errors and unexplainable occurrences in the game, Tsutomu and the Silverwing didn't get a shut-eye last night since they were trying to find the underlying cause of the events. And yet, for some reason, they were always back to square one. Even after a few hours of constantly checking and monitoring Lucid Dream Server, they couldn't find anything.
"What are you talking about?" Tsutomu scratched his head in slight annoyance. He thought that maybe, some sort of a breakthrough happened or maybe someone finally reached the level forty cap in the game. However, when he saw Gerald's reaction as he rushed towards him, he realized that Gerald wasn't the least bit enthusiastic about his report. In fact, he seemed pale, as if he has just seen a ghost in its purest form— if there was such a thing.
"Another one, another victim!" Gerald's breathing quickened as he flashed the tablet in front of Tsutomu's face.
"What are you talking abou— " As soon as he saw the footage, Tsutomu's teeth suddenly dug into the mug where he was sipping coffee from. He was not certain why but his reflex instinctively made him flinch. And in the process, his teeth fully cracked the mug, making it break into tiny little shards as coffee rained on his pants.
If someone were to see it, one would say that this was definitely not a good omen.