With a hiss of hydraulics, Noah's pod slid open.
Kelvin's form blurred and vanished, leaving the arena in his place.
In his hand, Eclipse Blade pulsed—a sleek blade that devoured the surrounding light.
His na floated above his head:
[Shadow Oracle]
Across from him, Ronin stood alone.
ViralPsycho had vanished, leaving Ronin to face Noah one-on-one.
Noah cracked his neck. He wasn't about to fumble this.
'Kelvin took a beating, but he bought enough ti to study their fighting style.'
His gaze locked onto Ronin's posture—the way he held his katana slightly forward, weight shifted onto his back foot.
'Waiting to counter. I see.'
Ronin vanished.
A blur of red and black as he teleported behind Noah.
But Noah was already moving.
He activated Void Blink—
Flickering out of existence—
—And reappearing five feet away, already swinging.
Eclipse Blade slashed through the air, forcing Ronin to pivot hard, barely dodging.
Noah didn't let up.
He dashed forward, blade cutting in precise, controlled arcs.
Ronin parried once—twice—third strike slid past his guard.
-15 HP
Ronin stumbled back, but he wasn't shaken yet.
Noah smirked.
'That got his attention.'
Ronin's red katana flared with energy as he ca in fast, faster than before.
A diagonal slash—Noah sidestepped.
A follow-up thrust—Noah parried, redirecting the blade.
A flicker of red—Ronin teleported behind him.
'Predictable.'
Noah Void Blinked before the attack could land.
Reappearing above Ronin.
He descended like a shadow, blade whistling through the air—
-20 HP
Ronin hissed, rolling away.
For the first ti, he looked visibly confused.
Noah stayed silent, watching.
Ronin flexed his grip on his katana.
He was re-evaluating.
Noah could tell—he'd played hundreds of PvP matches in different gas. He knew that mont when a player realized sothing was wrong.
Ronin's stance shifted. More careful.
'Yeah… he's wondering why I'm not fighting like a newbie.'
Ronin teleported again, but this ti, Noah waited.
'Where's the angle?'
Behind.
Ronin appeared, swinging—Noah ducked under the blade, spun, and slashed up.
-10 HP
Ronin winced.
His health had dropped by 45 in under a minute.
Noah had only taken one hit— and that was Void Slash.
-3 HP
That was what stunned Ronin the most.
Noah caught the micro-expression.
'There it is. That mont of doubt.'
Ronin stepped back, gripping his katana tighter.
This wasn't right.
He and ViralPsycho had chosen this match specifically.
Two players with zero wins, zero losses.
'This guy's stats should be garbage. Why does he feel like a top-ranked player?'
Noah lifted Eclipse Blade.
"What's wrong?" he said coolly.
Ronin's grip on his weapon tightened.
He wasn't going down without a fight.
Noah smirked.
'Good. Neither am I.'
The Dance of Shadows – Shadow Oracle vs. Ronin
The arena pulsed with neon streaks as Ronin and Noah flickered in and out of existence, teleporting just beyond each other's strikes.
Noah's Eclipse Blade humd with void energy, leaving afterimages of black slashes in its wake. Ronin's red katana shimred with compressed plasma, cutting through the air in bright arcs.
Neither landed a hit.
Every strike was t with a dodge, a counter, a teleport.
Noah vanished—
—Ronin followed.
They reappeared in opposite corners of the arena, locked in a standoff.
Noah's heart pounded, but his mind was clear.
'He's fast. Too fast for normal players. His teleport is nearly instant. But he can't attack mid-teleport.'
Ronin's stance shifted slightly.
Noah smirked.
'He's enjoying this.'
Ronin vanished again—
—Noah anticipated it.
Void Blink.
They both reappeared mid-air.
Noah's blade slashed downward, Ronin's katana angled up—
CLANG!
A shower of red and black sparks as their weapons clashed.
Then—gone.
They teleported again.
Across the arena.
Noah ducked under a slash, blade skimming just past his hair.
Ronin twisted his body, missing Noah's counterattack by inches.
No words were exchanged.
Only movent. Only instinct.
They fought like two phantoms, weaving in and out of existence, locked in an unspoken duel of reflex and precision.
Noah was used to reading opponents.
But Ronin was different.
There was no hesitation, no wasted movent.
Every action flowed perfectly into the next.
A real warrior.
And yet—
So was Noah.
Ronin appeared above Noah this ti, bringing his katana down in a powerful arc.
Noah tilted his body backward, narrowly avoiding the strike, then twisted mid-fall to counter.
Ronin teleported away before it could land.
Again, they flickered across the battlefield.
Each strike t with a dodge.
Each attack t with a counter.
They weren't fighting anymore.
They were dancing.
The rhythm of combat flowed between them, each step dictated by instinct, precision, and reaction.
Ronin's breathing was steady.
Noah's mind was razor-sharp.
Then—
A single miscalculation.
Ronin teleported a fraction too slow.
Noah saw the opening.
A flick of the wrist.
Eclipse Blade arced forward—
Ronin barely phased out in ti, but Noah still clipped his side.
-10 HP
Ronin landed a few ters away, gripping his side.
For the first ti, he hesitated.
Noah lowered his blade slightly.
'Now he knows. He can't keep dodging forever.'
Ronin's fingers tightened around his katana.
His expression, hidden beneath his mask, was unreadable.
But his posture said everything.
He was about to go all in.
Noah smirked.
'Good. Let's go, then.'
ViralPsycho stood watch, seeing his partner struggle against Shadow Oracle.
His fingers twitched. This wasn't right.
Ronin was no scrub. They had steamrolled countless teams before, exploiting weaknesses, breaking down even the most seasoned players with precision.
And yet—
This so-called "noob" was dominating him.
ViralPsycho exhaled sharply.
'Sothing's off.'
He pulled up the Elder Genes forum on his secondary display, a chaotic hub where hardcore gars, wannabe elites, and absolute trolls gathered to dissect matches, analyze ga chanics, and—more often than not—complain.
With a few keystrokes, he uploaded the match link and titled it:
"Is this a hacker or a veteran?"
It didn't take long.
Within seconds, the thread exploded.
Forum Replies:
[Top Comnt – User: PixelReaper]
"Bro, look at his movent. That's not so random button-masher. He's reading Ronin like an open book."
[User: GaGuru99]
"Veteran, 100%. Probably so pro playing on a smurf account. No way a fresh player moves like that."
[User: NoobSlayerX]
"Smurf or hacker, dude's cracked. He's not just reacting—he's predicting."
[User: LaggyMcGee]
"Lol if this guy's hacking, I need his cheat codes. But tbh, it feels like skill. Dude's just too clean with his dodges."
[User: SaltLord]
"Hacker. End of discussion. The dodges, the perfect counters, the way Ronin's barely landing hits? No way."
[User: GhostFra]
"I'd say veteran. Probably soone from the ranked leaderboards ssing around. Either way, Ronin's getting washed."
[User: ControllerSweat]
"Could be an AI-assisted script. Seen it before in other gas—movent tracking, automated dodges. If that's what this is, we got a serious problem."
[User: NoLifeGar]
"Man, you guys love crying hacker every ti soone's better than you. So people are just built different."
ViralPsycho scrolled through the comnts, his stomach twisting.
'Hacker or veteran, huh?'
Either way—
He wasn't about to let this guy get away with it.
---
Noah could feel it now.
A faint pull at the edge of his consciousness. A creeping exhaustion settling into his muscles.
It wasn't in-ga fatigue—it was real.
His Void Energy was draining fast.
[Void Energy: 300/450]
'Damn… so it really does burn through my actual reserves.'
Noah clenched his jaw. He had been relying too much on Void Blink, using it instinctively to counter Ronin's teleportation. But if this fight dragged on any longer, he'd burn himself out.
He needed to end this.
Now.
And he already knew how.
Breaking Down Ronin's Teleportation Pattern
Ronin was fast, but speed alone wasn't enough.
Noah had been studying him.
Every teleport. Every movent. Every strike.
It wasn't random. It wasn't chaotic. It was a pattern.
'His teleport distance is about five ters max. He never uses it twice in quick succession, which ans a cooldown. And he always reappears either behind or to the side of his opponent.'
A strategy ford in Noah's mind, the steps clear as a blueprint.
1. Bait Ronin into teleporting.
2. Predict his landing point.
3. Use Void Blink at the sa ti—
4. And finish him before he can react.
He took a slow breath, steadying himself.
'Ti to execute.'
Noah sprinted forward, Eclipse Blade low in his hand.
Ronin, sensing the aggression, tightened his grip on his red energy katana and prepared to counter.
At the last second—
Ronin teleported.
Noah smirked. He knew he would.
'There you are.'
His body vanished in a flicker of black energy—
—appearing exactly where Ronin was about to materialize.
Ronin's eyes widened a fraction of a second too late.
Noah's fist was already moving.
[Null Strike Activated]
Dark purple energy rippled around his knuckles, distorting the air itself.
A single devastating blow slamd into Ronin's back before he had fully reappeared.
BOOM!
The impact distorted the space around them, like a miniature black hole collapsing inward—
Ronin's body pixelated instantly.
Silence.
For a mont, the entire ga world froze.
Then, Ronin's defeat ssage flashed across every screen.
ViralPsycho and Kelvin—watching from the sidelines—were speechless.
Millions of players around the world stared at their monitors, wondering the sa thing.
What the hell just happened?
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