There was no ti to block both. My body moved on pure instinct.
I ducked down, dropping into a low crouch. Both swords whistled pass my head, so close I felt the displacent of air rustle my hair.
In the process of their swords slashing through the empty space where my neck had been, the two robots, unable to arrest their montum, ended up cutting their own arms.
There was a horrible crunch of polyr as their weapons bit into each other's joints.
Sparks flew. Their systems short-circuited, and they fell to the ground in a tangled, twitching heap.
I stared dumbfoundedly at their fallen robot bodies.
How much dumber can they be?
It was a flaw in their programming, a failure to account for their own proximity.
At least their stupidity saved so ti and energy.
I didn't have a second to celebrate. Suddenly I felt sothing fly towards with lightning speed, entering my domain.
It wasn't a bullet this ti; it was heavier, more brutal.
An axe. A wooden axe, spinning end over end.
I raised my katana, bracing for the impact.
The deflection wasn't clean. The force of the throw was imnse, jarring my entire arm.
My wrist scread in protest, but I held firm.
The axe clattered to the ground, its deadly montum spent.
I looked towards the thrower, a bulkier dummy that had hung back.
It was now literally defenseless, its primary weapon gone. Easy to kill now.
But that didn't an it was stupid. The strategy was sound.
The first throw was deadly. Because of my technique, that's why I didn't lose.
If that axe had hit in the beginning, it could've been bad. Really bad.
The robot had used all its strength to throw the axe in the hope of it hitting .
That force was strong, it could've either knocked unconscious, injured severely, or even yet made lose balance and focus for a long while.
Which would have been more than enough for it to pick up its axe and attack again while I was vulnerable. I would've been a sitting duck.
I dashed towards the unard robot, my katana ready to deliver a final blow.
Before I could move more than two steps... I felt sothing move towards with a lightning speed.
The sniper. I'd forgotten about it in the close-quarters chaos.
I sidestepped on pure reflex. The wooden bullet passed , grazing pass my arm.
A line of fire blood on my bicep. It was just a graze, but it stung like hell.
Very fast. Too fast.
My perception, even amplified by the Domain, was barely keeping up.
Which was obvious because it was stronger than I am. Its level was higher, its reactions sharper.
I turned towards it, the last remaining threat, nestled in the far corner of the training arena.
Its barrel was already adjusting for another shot. I had maybe a second.
I didn't have ti to close the distance. So, I first fired. Not with a gun, no, but with my katana.
In one fluid motion, I reversed my grip and threw it.
The katana beca a blur, flying through the air with an incredible speed born of desperation and reinforced strength.
It wasn't an elegant throw, but it was straight.
It flew like a javelin, straight to the robot dummy, and pierced its optical sensor head.
The polyr shell cracked, and the dummy sparked violently before slumping over, deactivated.
Then—
Beep!
The red tir on the wall flashed zeros.
Ti was over.
At that instant, all the dummy robots turned off, frozen, as if they had never moved in the first place.
The sudden silence was almost louder than the combat had been.
The only sound was my own ragged breathing.
I sighed, a long, weary exhalation that ca from the very depths of my soul.
The adrenaline was receding, leaving behind a familiar ache in my muscles and a stinging reminder on my arm where the wooden bullet had grazed .
I walked over to the sniper dummy, the one with my wooden katana embedded in its head.
I gripped the hilt and drew my katana out of its head, then willed it back into my inventory.
I then took out a clean towel from my inventory and wiped the sweat from my face and neck. When I finished, I put the damp towel back.
After all of that, I finally walked out of the training section.
I was already done with training for today. My body and mind had reached their limit.
This day's training was more intense than I had expected, pushing right to the edge of what I could handle.
Well, it wasn't that surprising. Today's session was ant to be hard, especially since the difficulty was sothing I was still trying to get used to.
As I walked down the sterile, white corridor, the quiet was broken by a familiar sound.
I suddenly heard loud, concussive noises coming from a training section nearby, almost like the one I had just co out from.
Well, it wasn't far from the one I just ca out from either, just a few doors down.
I realized I had always been hearing these loud sounds coming from this specific room every ti I ca to train.
A relentless, percussive rhythm of impact and destruction.
It was like the person inside always used this room, a creature of habit.
Well, almost also like I do. I always used that specific training section every ti I wanted to challenge the robots.
I guess everyone has their favorite battleground.
I was suddenly curious to watch the person.
I know it's like invading soone's privacy, but it actually isn't, not really.
Because I can't enter. The door is always locked from the inside during active sessions, a basic safety and privacy feature.
So I could only peep in through the reinforced observation window.
I walked softly towards the door, my footsteps silent on the padded floor, and leaned forward to look through the narrow, shatterproof glass window.
And what I saw almost made my jaw drop.
Almost.
The person in the training room, was no other than Yara.
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