"It's been a long time since I had the chance to unwind," Deterrent remarked, still smiling savagely. "This is a good day!" he added, clenching his fists with a stiff posture.
And his muscles enlarged, with the veins lining his body becoming pronounced even under his armor. Clay grasped a handful of his attire at the torso area, yanking it away and revealing the bloody hole in his chest.
The bloody wound eerily squirmed as it began closing itself at a visible rate, disappearing as if it was never there in a matter of seconds.
The game master's clones looked at this sight in fascination without interrupting the Deterrent actions until he completely healed himself.
"Ready or not!" exclaimed one clone as soon as Clay's wound disappeared. "Here we come!" Added another as it extended its hand forward with the golden coin gently floating above it.
Two clones, considerably taller than the others, charged toward Clay as another one, carrying a small cube, made its way towards the clone with the coin, seemingly up to something.
Clay looked at the cube and immediately had a bad feeling, deciding that whatever the clone was planning to do, he had to stop it.
He shot towards the clone, flying at an incredible speed, even faster than what he demonstrated before, but the two tall clones were just as quick to intercept, standing in Clay's way.
Clay did not hesitate to savagely swing his sword towards the first clone that stood in his way, but the shield wielder appeared out of nowhere, standing in front of him and blocking the strike.
Though the shield wielder went flying because of the force of Clay's strike, his act bought just enough time for the tall clone to land a punch in the Deterrent's gut.
Clay took the hit to his abdomen without even flinching as he swung his sword again, cleaving the first tall clone in half.
He quickly charged the clone with the cube again, but only for the second tall clone and shield wielder to stand in his way again. However, Clay had seen the shield wielder coming this time and flew past it with a quick maneuver as he moved too fast for the eyes to see.
Now standing between the tall clone and the shield wielder, Clay acted quickly, swinging his words in a circle, cutting them both in half.
He turned down to look at the clone with the cube, intending to charge it again, but it was already too late. The clone had already reached its destination and quickly received the gold coin, inserting it inside the cube.
The cube began shaking violently, emitting the same sinister black light the coin would, as it suddenly shot open. Twelve golden coins shot out of the cube, immediately flying towards different clones.
"Now, then," said one clone, carrying a golden coin. "We can finally have some real fun now," added another as more and more clones began emerging from the facility below.
Clay did not respond, but he didn't have to, as his grin said it all.
The twelve clones with the golden coins launched their respective coins into the air, and they began flying in random patterns around the Deterrent, who remained standing still as he followed the movement of the coins with his eyes.
All the clones in the area began loudly laughing as they charged at Clay, brandishing different weapons, some mundane like swords, pistols, and whatnot, while others were clearly anything but regular, like the ice trident.
They all threw themselves towards Clay, with the clones carrying mundane weapons being the first to attack.
Clay kept his eager grin as he began dodging left and right, counter-attacking whenever he had the chance as he swung his blade like an embodiment of a sword god, cleaving clones left and right while remaining untouched.
This stalemate continued for at least three minutes of Clay constantly moving, dodging, and attacking without stopping, but he did not seem to tire.
On the contrary, Clay only became faster, stronger, and more ferocious as the fight continued, his grin becoming more and more pronounced until he looked more beast than a man with his body covered in the clones' blood, with a savage grin on his face.
Suddenly one coin orbiting Clay made an abrupt stop, shooting towards him at an incredible speed, even he faced some difficulty in reacting to it.
But he still reacted in time, catching the neck of the ice trident with a red hand as the coin disappeared, replaced by a clone wielding the weapon.
Though many clones charged Clay, intending to save the trident wielder, he merely looked at them dismissively, releasing a shock wave of red energy that sent them all flying.
He then swung his blade, cutting the trident wielder in half. "Oh no, you don't," Clay remarked in an amused tone as the trident turned into mist, trying to escape.
He waved his hand, and a red, transparent energy dome emerged, engulfing the mist and stopping it from flying towards another clone.
"Impressive!" Came a voice from behind Clay, causing him to violently jerk behind him, swinging his sword, catching nothing but air as another coin flew towards him from the side.
Clay turned around, swinging his sword towards the coin, intending to cut it in half before it activated, but it stopped an inch away from his strike, changing course and flying away.
Suddenly Clay felt a sharp pain coming from his side, causing him to turn around only to see a clone carrying a dagger, dripping with a purple liquid as it took it out of his side.
He quickly swung his sword at the clone, but it turned into a coin that promptly tried to fly away. The golden trinket didn't make it far, as Clay caught with his free hand after throwing away the energy sphere with the trident inside.
With a quick clench of his hand, Clay crushed the coin, turning it into nothing but dust.
"Interesting!" Clay remarked with a raised eyebrow as he clenched his muscles around his side, trying to force the wound to mend itself with no success.
"But it doesn't matter!" he exclaimed with a grin as he clenched the wounded chunk of flesh from his side, yanking and ripping it away without so much as batting an eye.
Clay raised his hand and looked at the chunk of flesh that was dissolving into a purple liquid in his hand and shrugged, tossing it away as the wound on his side, now made bigger, began healing at a visible rate.
...
"What a monster!" I murmured to myself with an astonished expression as I watched the fight between the Deterrent and game master's fight through an enormous monitor inside a fancy-looking room I found while exploring the facility.
Of course, I didn't come here to spectate the fight as I had better things to do, but I couldn't help standing in awe and watching as I saw the Deterrent shred the game master's clones.
And luckily, I found something here that would help me loot this place, so I could afford to waste a minute or two watching the fight.
Still, it was time to move again, and with a shake of my head, I retrieved the map I had found laying on the table here, making my way outside.