The air inside the white void trembled as lightning around Arthur's body crackled to life. Golden arcs hissed along the ground, splitting the silence of the infinite space. Across from him, the shadow doppelgänger, stood in perfect stillness. Its posture, stance, even the faint tilt of its chin… everything mirrored Arthur with unnerving precision.

The shadow also used the same technique that Arthur was using, but with a different kind of energy as black lightning covered it. Then, with a sonic boom, they both moved.

Two blurs collided in the middle of the white expanse.

BOOOOM!

A shockwave blasted outward, shattering the stillness of the space. Golden and black energy tangled together, the air warping from the sheer pressure of their collision. Arthur swung his sword diagonally, lightning bursting from the blade, only for the shadow to parry in the exact same motion, their strikes creating arcs that cut across the horizon.

Clang! Clash! BOOM!

Each strike came faster than the last, too fast for human eyes to follow. Their blades sparked with mana and Chi, the golden and black light flashing like miniature suns. Each time they met, the shock rippled outward in waves, distorting the endless white world into flickering streaks of gold and shadow. But there was no damage to the ground they stood on, as if it was indestructible.

Arthur gritted his teeth and pushed off, lightning surging from his legs. He spun midair and slashed again, sending a crescent blade of golden energy forward. The shadow copied him a split second later, two identical arcs collided and detonated.

The explosion threw Arthur back, his boots skidding across the glassy ground.

He exhaled sharply, as his hair flickered with static as he steadied himself. "So that's how it's gonna be."

The shadow tilted its head in silence, and then lifted its hand. An invisible ripple in space appeared, as it used Telekinesis.

Arthur's body locked instantly. Invisible pressure crushed against him, like the weight of a mountain pressing from every side of his body. His bones creaked, and his muscles screamed.

But his lips twitched into a smirk. "Cute trick."

His own telekinesis flared outward, clashing against the shadow's like two storms meeting head-on. The air between them warped violently, sparks of psychic force shattering like glass shards. For a few moments, neither could overpower the other, as if their psychic power and wills were perfectly matched.

Then Arthur let out a loud shout, lightning bursting from his body like an exploding star. The telekinetic hold of the shadow shattered, and he blurred forward, his sword swinging in a golden arc towards the shadow's neck.

The shadow met him halfway, its blade wreathed in the black lightning.

Their swords collided, and then vanished.

Both of them had dropped their weapons mid-swing, relying purely on telekinesis.

The two blades floated in the air, spinning and clashing on their own while their wielders fought barehanded. Fists, elbows, and knees blurred together in a brutal dance. Each impact echoed like thunderclaps, bones meeting bones, lightning flashing with every strike.

Arthur ducked under a jab, sweeping his leg low. The shadow mirrored him, both tripped each other and flipped back in perfect sync.

Both of their movements were maddeningly equal.

Arthur's brow furrowed as he landed, lightning cracking around his fists. "Alright, let's change the rhythm."

He thrust his palm out. 'Mana Bullet!'

Dozens of glowing spheres of condensed mana erupted from his hand, shooting toward the shadow like miniature comets.

The shadow raised its own hand.

A transparent barrier shimmered into existence in front of it. The bullets exploded on impact, their light blooming in quick succession, but the barrier held. When the smoke cleared, the shadow countered, summoning its own barrage of mana bullets.

Arthur raised a barrier just in time.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions forced him back a few meters.

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His sword spirit's voice echoed in his mind. "So, lad, you're basically fighting yourself. How do you plan to outmatch your own powers?"

Arthur spat to the side, his eyes glowing brighter due to the influx of Chi and mana. "The outcome is not decided yet."

He extended his hand, a ball of compressed mana forming at his palm pulsating violently. 'Mana Bomb.'

The shadow mirrored him immediately, forming the same unstable sphere of energy.

Arthur grinned, a spark of insanity flickering across his eyes. "Let's see who's more reckless."

Both hurled the bombs at the same time.

The impact was catastrophic.

The explosion engulfed the battlefield in pure black and gold. The blast tore through the void, and for a brief second, the floor of the dimension finally cracked a bit, visible fractures spread across the ground from where the attacks collided, before mending themselves.

Arthur staggered out of the smoke, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, though the wound healed instantly. His body was still overdosed with adrenaline, and his aura was flickering wildly.

Across from him, the shadow also emerged from the blast, its figure appeared a bit distorted, but still standing tall.

They locked eyes. No words were needed for their next action.

Arthur dashed forward again. Their swords flew back into their hands, summoned by telekinesis. When the blades met this time, both infused them with Chi.

Golden and black energy erupted from the collision, roaring like dragons. Every swing now carried enough force to level mountains.

Arthur's Chi and lightning flared outward in the form of a giant spectral dragon coiling around him. His Chi manifestation has taken a huge leap from the time he learned it from Kai, now he is able to effortlessly shape them into complex structures.

The shadow mirrored him, a black dragon covered in black lightning roaring back in defiance.

Two dragons of pure Chi and lightning clashed, their impact splitting the white void apart with waves of destructive energy. The ground beneath them shattered and reformed over and over, unable to withstand the pressure.

Arthur's veins glowed as he poured everything into his next move. 'Judgement!'

Dozens of concentrated mana lances formed around him, orbiting him like a constellation of destruction.

The shadow did the same, a mirrored array of mana lances spinning into existence.

For a moment, the two sides stared each other down, then both fired their attacks.

The lances shot forward at blinding speed, colliding midair like a rain of divine light. Each impact detonated like a small nuclear explosion. The void was now filled with light, their forms barely visible through the chaos.

Arthur broke through the explosion, appearing behind the shadow in an instant. He slashed, but the shadow vanished, and it reappeared behind him.

Arthur spun and blocked, sparks flying due to the collision of weapons.

"Now we're talking," Arthur grinned as he muttered.

The fight turned into a blur of teleportation-like movements, each appearing and disappearing in flickers of lightning. Their blades collided hundreds of times in mere seconds. Telekinetic bursts, Chi-infused slashes, lightning arcs, mana explosions, the white void was no longer calm; it was a storm of raw energy and explosions.

But as the battle continued, subtle differences began to appear.

Arthur's strikes were sharper, not in speed, but in maneuverability and techniques. The shadow was fast, powerful, and flawless… but it was mechanical. Perfect, but emotionless.

Arthur ducked under a slash, his breath rough but steady. "You're just a copy…"

He grinned as lightning crawled up his arm. "I noticed you are not improving and using the same moves repeatedly."

He released a burst of telekinetic force upward, sending the shadow flying. Before it could react, Arthur was already above it, gathering all his remaining mana into one hand.

"Let's end this…!"

He slammed his palm forward. "Judgement!"

A single, massive lance of condensed mana and Chi fused together erupted downward. It tore through the white void like a spear of divine wrath, striking the shadow in the dead-center of its chest. Arthur has finally merged Chi to his judgement spell making it multiple times stronger.

The explosion was blinding.

For several seconds, there was no sound, only a gigantic sphere of white light.

When it finally cleared, Arthur stood alone, his breathing was heavy, as sweat dripped down his jaw. The space slowly reformed, the cracks on the ground mending.

The shadow was gone. Only faint motes of black energy lingered before they, too, faded into light.

Arthur wiped the blood from his lip, and exhaled slowly, he chuckled under his breath. "Equal power or not… I've got experience you can't fake."

The sword spirit's voice rumbled in amusement.

"You've always been a reckless one, lad. But I'll admit… that was a beautiful sight."

Arthur grinned faintly, rolling his shoulder. "Yeah. But something tells me this trial isn't done yet."

As if on cue, the white space began to tremble again.

A ripple spread across the horizon, and new shapes started to form, not one, but several shadows, rising slowly from the ground. And each of these shadows possessed the same level of power he possessed, making this trial one of the most dangerous fights he ever faced in his life.

There was one other thing that he noticed while he fought with the shadow, it was unable to adapt and he figured it failed to copy that power from him, it was only able to copy the spells and Chi technique and the powers he had gained after entering this world.

The abilities he possessed like, Energy Absorption, Reactive Evolution were not used by the shadow, he figured it was his [Gene Lock] Ability in play. And he guessed the shadow didn't copy his powers but imitated them to some extent.

Arthur tightened his grip on his sword, and Chi and lightning flared back to life around him. He needed to give more than a hundred percent of himself to win this fight.

***

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