Death Notice Book 6: Chapter 46: Persistence Leads to Victory

“No, he is not a Martial Artist. It should just be some kind of imitation ability! The moves, the force exertion were exactly the same, even the spirit of the ‘Iaido Battleaxe’ was mimicked seventy or eighty percent.” Menlo wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and slowly stood up, her thoughts racing in an instant.

“It’s a pity imitation is just imitation after all. My previous target was a large mount, so the force application was somewhat dispersed. If dealing with a small-sized target like myself, the force should be concentrated at the heel. That way, that move earlier should have injured my ankle…”

A trace of regret appeared in Menlo’s eyes. She truly was a pure battle maniac. At a time like this, her first thought wasn’t her own safety, but the flaw in the enemy’s previous battleaxe leg technique.

“This imitation ability is terrifying, but it requires some lead time. He still needs to calculate and analyze my martial techniques, otherwise he can’t use it at all.” Menlo’s eyes flashed. She lightly tapped her toes and charged towards Joey again. “Since that’s the case… I’ll let you see the side of a Martial Artist that cannot be imitated!”

Seeing Menlo charge again, Joey showed a sinister smile on his face. His left leg bent slightly at the knee, his right toes pointed in front of him, his right fist pulled back to his ribs, and his left palm guarded his chest, assuming the stance Menlo used when facing the Female Knight’s charge.

“Hmph!” Menlo curled her lip disdainfully. She rushed in front of Joey and, without hesitation, threw a kick, whipping it towards the young man like a lash. As her straightened calf approached, it stirred ripples within Joey’s Circle of Iaido.

Joey sneered and launched a kick, blocking Menlo’s attack with a whip kick in the same posture. However, the Kung Fu Girl’s expression remained calm. As soon as her leg met the young man’s, she dropped down like a spring. She twisted her waist, turned like a whirlwind, and her other supporting leg flew up again, lashing towards Joey.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” In an instant, the two became entangled using the same leg techniques, like senior and junior martial siblings practicing together.

“Still not enough?” The mockery in Menlo’s eyes grew heavier. Suddenly, her whip kicks accelerated again, swirling around Joey like a small whirlwind. The young man seemed to become the stamen, surrounded by countless whip kicks blooming into a beautiful flower.

“Bang!” A gunshot abruptly rang out across the field. The multitude of leg shadows surrounding Joey suddenly retracted. The Kung Fu Girl did a backflip and leaped out of the combat circle.

Menlo raised her hand and wiped away a streak of blood on her cheek, but her expression showed no anger. Instead, a trace of pride appeared. In contrast, Joey’s face was contorted, sweating profusely, his expression ferocious as he gritted his teeth. His originally empty left hand now held a black “Demon’s Song”.

Even though Menlo was the one injured, Joey understood in his heart that the Kung Fu Girl had found a way to deal with him. He could no longer defeat this Female Martial Artist in close combat.

Joey’s imitation ability was based on the Time-Space Threads formed by the combination of his Clock Eye and Perception. Essentially, the Clock Eye slowed down the enemy’s martial techniques, then the Time-Space Threads observed and analyzed the opponent’s skills before imitating them.

This ability seemed very powerful at first glance, but it actually had a weakness. In imitating close combat skills, it was inferior to Grant’s “Joker’s Gift”.

Although “Joker’s Gift” had a time limit, it could transform the basic attributes of the Law Body and, combined with Grant’s combat talent, perform even better than the original user.

The imitation ability of the Clock Eye, however, was based on the user’s own basic attributes and skills. It could not simulate combat laws it did not understand, nor surpass the limits of its own attributes.

Back in the World War II World, Qin Lun managed to escape from Dean David by utilizing dean David’s inability to comprehend the laws of Infrasound and Light-energy Scattergun.

Now, although Menlo didn’t have Qin Lun’s calculating ability, the Kung Fu Girl’s combat instinct, akin to a wild beast, detected the weakness of the Clock Eye. She believed Joey could not imitate high-speed leg techniques based on Agility, and also lacked the time to calculate the complex moves of the whirlwind leg technique.

Menlo’s intuition was correct. Joey’s own Agility and close combat skills were far inferior to the Kung Fu Girl’s. He could imitate the relatively simple combat movements of the “Circle of Iaido”, but he could not imitate the complex leg techniques based on the Agility attribute. In the end, Menlo broke through his integrated offense and defense of the “Circle of Iaido”, forcing him to use Gun Fu to temporarily drive back his opponent.

Although it was only one failed move, Joey clearly understood that even if he simulated the “Circle of Iaido” again, he was no match for Menlo. Just as Qingming using the Bow Dance Technique could not defeat his Gun Fu back then, his Gun Fu similarly could not defeat genuine close combat martial skills.

This was a difference in quality, unrelated to skill level. After all, Gun Fu was a close combat technique based on shooting. For a Martial Artist whose reflexes to danger were conditioned, this martial skill was like child’s play, less threatening than long-range sniping.

“Out of tricks!” Menlo sneered. She tapped her toes, leaped up, and aimed a flying kick at Joey.

Joey stared fixedly at Menlo, his bloodshot eyes filled with unwillingness, yet the blood vessels in his eyes were actually slowly receding. “Qin Lun, you take over!”

The young man’s ferocious, twisted face quickly returned to an expression of indifference. Qin Lun regained control of the body. Looking at the Kung Fu Girl who was now right in front of him, his face showed no surprise.

When Joey seized control of the body, he had already anticipated this outcome. This battle originally belonged to him, not Joey. Menlo’s fighting style happened to be Joey’s nemesis. No matter how murderous the “Dissector” was, it had no effect on a battle maniac like Menlo.

Besides, the Kung Fu Girl was a true Martial Artist. Joey, who loved close combat, didn’t stand a chance. Qin Lun’s analysis and judgment were naturally clear to Joey. But given his personality, if he didn’t try, he wouldn’t be the obsessive Serial Killer.

“Whoosh!” Menlo’s flying kick hit empty air. A cloud of black mist rose where Qin Lun had been, and his figure vanished from the spot.

“A Rogue’s shadow skill? No, he probably used a High Rank Magic Scroll!” Menlo reacted quickly. She jumped away from the area of the black mist and warily watched her surroundings, though her face showed no tension.

Apart from Hunters, Martial Artists were the second combat profession that did not fear Rogues. Their keen physical reactions meant they didn’t worry about sudden attacks from any direction.

“Hmph, you can run, but your companion can’t!” Menlo sneered as she turned her head to look at Yin Shi.

“Damn it!” Yin Shi’s heart sank. After watching for so long, she had also realized that Joey was not the Martial Artist she initially guessed, but was merely using an imitation ability.

However, she had originally thought Joey could hold on a little longer, buying her more recovery time. She didn’t expect the Gunslinger to lose his fighting spirit as soon as he was at a disadvantage.

Menlo thought Joey was Yin Shi’s companion, but the Female Knight knew this was just a beautiful misunderstanding. Moreover, the Gunslinger used such a high-level Shadow Cloak scroll; he might have already fled the battlefield and wouldn’t show up again.

In the conspiracy Qin Lun planned, although various unpredictable situations arose, one point largely matched his judgment. That was, all the Apostles in this Domination War area had, by now, used up their stock of Magic Scrolls.

Even the six top fighters were the same. Powerful as they were, they had also experienced the most battles. After more than ten fights, even if they only used one magic skill each time, that still amounted to over ten Magic Scrolls.

Yin Shi slowly drew the knight’s sword from her waist. Her original lance had fallen under the tree. But now, without her mount, such a long spear was not easy to use in close combat; it was worse than her backup knight’s sword.

“Ha!” Menlo dragged her hands behind her back, sprinted two steps, and leaped high. While still in the air, her legs kicked out repeatedly. A sky full of scattered leg shadows firmly covered Yin Shi below, completely blocking the Female Knight’s retreat.

Yin Shi’s face was serious. She gripped her knight’s sword tightly with both hands and forcefully swept it upward. A crescent-shaped sword energy slashed diagonally upwards, heading straight for the center of the leg shadows.

“Hehe!” A clear, delicate laugh came from mid-air. The multitude of leg shadows abruptly retracted. Menlo lightly tapped the empty space with her right foot, causing an air explosion under her foot. She forcibly shifted several feet in mid-air, dodging the sword energy.

Seeing this, Yin Shi wore a bitter smile. This was the biggest reason why she could easily kill Menlo’s two companions, yet struggled in a one-on-one fight with Menlo. The Kung Fu Girl’s bug-like aerial stepping technique was simply a nightmare for heavily armored classes.

It was true she had several sword energy skills, but after all, the Female Knight was not a true swordsman. She hadn’t developed a complete and refined sword skill system, so naturally, she couldn’t rely on sword techniques to fight a real Martial Artist.

“Bang! Bang!” Just as Yin Shi thought she was slowly heading towards defeat, gunshots timely rang out across the field. Two bullets, as if possessing life, slipped out from under Yin Shi’s armpits and shot towards Menlo at an extremely tricky angle.

“So they really are companions!” Anger flashed across Menlo’s face, strengthening her belief that the Gunslinger and the Female Knight must be a team.

The Gunslinger had been forced to use a High Rank shadow scroll earlier. If it weren’t to rescue his companion, he probably wouldn’t have returned. After all, if he got entangled with Menlo again, it was hard to believe he would have a second shadow scroll to save his life.

Menlo changed direction in mid-air, attempting to leap over Yin Shi’s head to first deal with the Gunslinger behind the Female Knight.

Compared to the Kung Fu Girl, Yin Shi felt delighted. This time she didn’t hesitate at all. She immediately released a sword energy, forcing the Kung Fu Girl to change direction again and intercepting her. Although the Female Knight couldn’t injure Menlo, using medium-range sword energy attacks and charge skills to stop her was not a problem at all.

Besides, she now also had a protective aura, so she didn’t need to worry about the Kung Fu Girl’s “Circle of Iaido” like before. The battle among the three completely turned into a war of attrition. Victory would go to whoever exhausted themselves first.

Of course, compared to Menlo and Yin Shi, Qin Lun, hiding in the shadows and taking potshots, was the one expending the least effort.