The battlefield had become a slaughterhouse.

Alex’s shout to run had barely left his lips before the disaster struck. The fragmented data of the fallen doppelgangers—those who had already slain their originals—rushed toward his own copy like a tidal wave of corruption.

Then they fused, and when they did, the entire Colosseum was engulfed in chaos.

Blades of pure distortion erupted from the merging code, slashing through the air at blinding speeds.

“ARGH!!!!”

A student barely had time to react before a jagged, glitched spear pierced his chest, his body convulsing before he was ripped apart like a distorted image fragmenting into static.

More followed—warriors, mages, even professors—cut down before they could escape.

“DON’T RUN!” One of the professors shouted in horror. “IT CAN—”

His words, however, were drowned out as a razor-thin wire of energy sliced through him, his body unraveling into digital fragments before vanishing completely.

Blood—real blood—splattered across the battlefield, mixing with the corrupted remains of those who had been erased instantly.

What had once been an arena filled with hopeful warriors was now a graveyard of broken souls.

And at the center of it all stood the monstrosity that had once been Alex’s doppelganger.

No longer a simple imitation, the creature had absorbed the remnants of the fallen. Its form was no longer humanoid but a grotesque, ever-shifting mass of corrupted code, jagged edges, and flickering voids in space where limbs should be.

It exuded raw, overwhelming power—power that dwarfed anything Alex had faced before.

And it was looking right at him.

The air grew heavier, a silent acknowledgment from the surviving students and warriors.

“We’re trapped…”

“That thing… it’s stronger than before…”

“Why?! Why is it only after him?!”

Blame and desperation clashed among the voices.

“This is his fault! Vaelith—Vaelith did all of this because of Alex!”

“If he hadn’t pushed the guy so much, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now!”

“Shut up! Do you think whining will change anything?! We need to fight!”

But it was clear—no one could fight. Not against the abomination before them.

Alex clenched his teeth, forcing his focus back on the creature. He didn’t have the luxury of worrying about the others. If he died here, everyone else would follow anyway.

He launched forward, his astral form blurring as he activated ‘Space Shift,’ phasing out of sync with reality just as a massive, jagged limb tore through where he had stood a second earlier.

He used the space element, which he had been trying to hide, even though he knew there was an elder from the academy watching him.

He had to survive, so he had to do this.

Reappeared behind the creature, Alex swung his blade with a strike empowered by gravitational force.

But his attack phased through the entity’s body like slicing through smoke.

And then—it retaliated.

A limb shot out, reforming into a perfect copy of Alex’s own sword, but far larger, crackling with unstable energy. It swung faster than he could react.

SLASH!

Pain exploded across Alex’s side as he was sent hurtling backward, crashing through the shattered remains of a stone pillar. His body screamed in agony, but he couldn’t afford to rest.

He barely had time to roll aside as the ground where he landed warped, spikes of twisted code erupting from below. The creature wasn’t letting up.

‘It’s not just stronger… It can use every technique that the other doppelganger could along with mine,’ Alex realized grimly. His usual tricks weren’t working.

The corrupted entity lunged again, forcing Alex into another frantic dodge.

Every strike he landed was absorbed, and every attack it launched was deadlier than the last.

Worse still, the arena’s barrier—once meant to keep the battle contained—had turned into a cage. The creature was controlling it now.

Alex exhaled, steadying his stance.

He was losing. Badly.

Sweat dripped from his brow as he assessed the battlefield. The survivors were dwindling, the weakest already eliminated. The stronger ones still stood, but they were powerless against something like this.

“Is this it…?” A student whispered, his voice breaking. “Are we just… going to die here?”

A professor clenched his fists, glaring at Alex. “This thing… it wants you. If you just—”

“I’m not dying here,” Alex cut him off coldly, his eyes locked onto the monster. “And neither are any of you.”

Alex said that, but his plans weren’t solid yet.

He was still thinking of a way out, as this creature wasn’t something he could win against—no one knew that better than Alex.

Even if he used all of his abilities, he wouldn’t be able to win, and that was why he wasn’t using his other affinities.

The entity let out a sound—a screech, a distorted mockery of laughter—as if challenging the claim he had made.

Alex, however, didn’t respond. He had no more words to waste.

He tightened his grip on his sword, his mind sharpening.

If he wanted to survive this, he had to do something drastic.

He forced his mind, thinking of something as the beast seemed to have decided to get serious. It was clear from the way the air surrounding it had changed.

[It’s running out of time.] Sophie told him why this was happening, making Alex’s eyes sharpen, realizing that the leader taken away by that elder must be reaching its end.

And when he recalled the elder from before, something clicked in his head as his expression grew determined.

“You want me, don’t you?” He asked at the creature, gritting his teeth as he knew he was being reckless, but this was the only way.

The battlefield, however, remained silent for a fraction of a second.

The corrupted entity loomed, its distorted form flickering, its jagged, ever-shifting limbs writhing in anticipation.

It watched Alex as if trying to decipher what Alex was trying to do.

Then Alex moved.

He launched himself forward at full speed, completing his earlier sentence as his voice cut through the silence. “Then take me!”

Gasps filled the Colosseum as realization struck the survivors. Alex wasn’t trying to fight anymore—he was offering himself up.

“What the hell is he doing?!”

“He’s… sacrificing himself?”

“No! No, you can’t!”

Ignoring the audience’s shock, Alex pushed forward with everything he had, his sword still in his hand and his speed amplified by the gravitational force he wielded.

His voice cut through the battlefield, addressing the remaining fighters. “The moment I die, the barrier will most likely drop! Or maybe—just maybe—it’ll be weakened enough for you to escape! Don’t waste that chance!”

The weight of his words settled like a hammer blow. Some gaped in disbelief, their earlier resentment toward him now clashing with something they hadn’t expected—guilt.

“No way…”

“That bastard… is actually going to do it.”

“We can’t let him! There has to be another way!”

Many wanted to stop him. Some, however, turned away, unable to meet the moment with words.

They had blamed him, hated him, wished for his downfall—but now that he was willing to throw himself into death, they found themselves paralyzed. Was it truly the only way?

But Alex didn’t hear them. He didn’t need to.

His entire focus was on the monstrosity ahead of him.

The beast tilted its head, momentarily confused by its prey’s sudden charge—before it scoffed in a guttural voice.

It was mocking him as it raised its blade, an abomination of pure, chaotic distortion—a weapon that mirrored Alex’s own but twisted into something far more lethal.

The very air around it cracked as it swung down with a speed that defied reality.

SLASH!

Alex barely had time to register the movement. The attack was too fast—faster than anything he had faced before.

But it wasn’t only him who couldn’t see it; no one could. To everyone, it was just a blur of motion.

Alex, on the other hand, felt a rush of adrenaline; his senses heightened, making it possible for him to see the path of the creature’s sword, but that was all.

Even if he could see the path, he couldn’t move. His body wasn’t fast enough.

All he could do was watch as the blade slowly approached his torso, just an inch away from tearing him apart in a way even the best healers wouldn’t be able to save him.

He would be dead after all. No healer can bring back the dead.

‘Did I fail?’ This was the last thought in his head.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep