BOOM! The enemy’s st drone exploded. It should’ve been good news, yet it left Lars fused.

  “Wut…?” Lars blinked. I know my shot was on point, but it didn’t even reach the drone. Did dude straight up blow up his own drone!?

  That brave drone was at a 2-2 scainst Lars and this decisive shot was supposed to break the tie. Yet, Winner denied Lars that satisfa.

  It served its purpose. William didn’t even spare a g the smashed drone lying on the ground. He was the one who ordered this droo self-destruct early, as it was iably going to be shot down by Gunz.

  I don’t think I could’ve stepped that. William reasoned. So, no point in wasting any more time on this drone.

  The earlier a dro out of service, the earlier it freed the battery slots it was occupying. And, the less slots were occupied at a given time, the faster batteries recharged overall. Therefetting rid of the drone was equivalent to getting an early boost of cooldowion.

  I should be able to recharge everything by the wave at this pace. William estimated on the fly. Even though he was about to engage in a muticipated duel with Gunz, he didn’t hinking about what’ll e .

  Ron should be back by the time I beat this guy, so ush hard if nobody returns to defend the ne by then. Sounds like a solid pn.

  This was the best-case sario and William had every io realize it with his own two hands. Even without any avaible dro his disposal, he’ll definitely stomp Gunz.

  This is why I picked Droid against you. William gazed at Gunz. I knew we’d get a ce to have a “raw” fight like this, with no abilities or special effects involved. Yes, this is just you and me, with minimum noise in the background. This is almost a pure test of skill.

  Of course, that didly hold true funz himself. The guy spent his Backfire on earlier, but he still had access to his Cutss and Kraken, both dangerous tools that Wilim had to look out for.

  With that said, bringing out the cutss was effectively the same as sing a ranged on for a melee ohough the cutss was strohan the Pirate’s default pistol, the bde cked range and this made the cutss that much harder to utilize in a duel between marksmen.

  Oher hand, the Kraken was definitely a threat. It owerful CC skill that could single-handedly decide the entire duel.

  Would he use it in a duel? William wondered.

  Normally, it was best to save Kraken for plicated team fights, but Stratus robably hungering for any sort of advantage. After all, they were fag the regional champions, so gaining even the slightest advantage would be sidered a great honor for them.

  As such, Kraken wasn’t off the table for this duel. Gunz might very well dump that sea monster on William if things get rough.

  So, I have to keep my Dodge Roll avaible. William cluded. Spending his Dodge Roll on anything other than tering the Kraken would be suicide.

  Hmph. I thought this was going to be a “fair” duel, but so far I’m only disc restris for myself.

  He wasn’t allowed to let Gunz into melee range, and he wasn’t allowed to spend his Dodge Roll until Gunz uses Kraken. Maybe these weren’t the worst restris in the world, but they’ll definitely handicap William against a formidable oppo like Gunz.

  Well, I'm sure it'll be fine. William cluded. If my image of Gunz is on point, thehe type who'll gdly accept an invitation for a pure test of skill. So, I trust him to not use Kraken willy-nilly. Just like me, he should be ied in proving he’s better via pure skill.

  Besides, spending resources too early was a waste regardless of the situation. Therefunz would like to be servative at the start. But, he might resort to Kraken if things go south for him.

  Of course, I'll also resummon my drones if push es to shove. William thought. As much as I want to win this test of skill, it’d be dumb to waste my life on it. So, if I’m forced to deploy my drones and shield, then I’ll do it. And, Gunz will surely do the same with his Kraken.

  With that, William finished framing his mind for the uping csh.

  As the coach always lectured, it was very important for pyers to maintain clear sight of their goals. Therefore, every now and then, it was a good idea to take a break and reaffirm the situation.

  Alright, I'm ready. William took a deep breath and rexed his body for a moment, helping his brain rebuild tration. So, are you going to accept my duel invitation?

  As expected, Gunz's as spoke louder than words.

  Okay, I get it now. Lars grinned. You killed that drone early because ya wanna hod a simple fight, right? Without skills, ults, and all that fancy stuff. Okey-dokey! I dig that.

  A pure mano-a-mano that relied solely on each pyer's individual skill. It was the best kind of bout, yo!

  Even in terms of csses, I think we're pretty much matched, right? Lars wondered. Pirate and Droid are both kinda meh in the early game, so this should be fair.

  Likewise, in terms of HP, both of them were at maximum health.

  Even though Winner lost some of his HP earlier when he and Challetacked Lars, his Support patched him up before leaving the ne. So now, both sides were on equal footing.

  This is such a rare opportunity. I almost never get the ce to hold a simple and fair fight like this. Lars readied his gun. I dig it for sure. So, better have fun with it while it sts, yo!

  BAM! Lars fired as soon as Wiepped within his ra was showtime! But...

  Hmph. Fast response, as always. William sidestepped the shot and fired back.

  ZAP! The ser darted straight at Gunz's side! However...

  Not so fast, yo! Lars sidestepped the beam at the st moment. Phew! Dang, it was a close one.

  That terattack was lightning fast. This py must’ve been close to the upper limit of human capability, or maybe it even surpassed it!

  heless, Lars recovered just in time to sidestep and shoot back!

  BAM! A bullet drilled itself into Winner's side. First blood, yooooo!

  Tch, I failed to KC it. William grimaced. So, he'll be the one serving in this game.

  If this were a tennis game, then Gunz would be the one serving the ball. He had the initial momentum on his side, so it was William's job to break this momentum.

  Therefore, this was not time to be aggressive. Instead, William had to be patient ahodical in his approach, biding his time until he flip the tables around and bee the server himself.

  But, that didn’t mean he shouldn’t attack either. He had to keep returning the ball to the enemy side of the court, to keep piling pressure oacker.

  ZAP! William fired a ser beam after repositioning himself.

  Once again, Gunz sidestepped the shot with ease.

  BAM! A fast ter, ohat required a pitch-perfect rea from William.

  Tch, another failed KC. William failed to cel into a sidestep yet again. But, this time, he had a backup pn.

  His step input registered a little ter than he would have liked it to, but he heless stepped backward before the bullet reached him. And so, the bullet dropped off and fell onto the ground right before reag him.

  You miscalcuted your spag. William criticized as he stepped in and fired a beam. ZAP!

  Dang, I was just a little too far...! Lars criticized his earlier shot while simultaneously sidestepping the ining beam. Gotta say tho, that backstep he did was slick. It's like dude knew he was right at the edge of my reach. Sick skillz.

  To avoid itting the same mistake again, Lars stepped in a little further this time. BAM!

  Too slow. William scoffed.

  Iime it took Gunz to step in deeper, William has already finished rec from his previous attaimation. So, he was ready to shoot once more! ZAP!

  "Whoa!" Lars rolled aside oion. He escaped the damage by a hair's breadth.

  Hmph. Not bad. William admitted. Oher hand, I messed up…

  The enemy's bullet pierced his chest. William nearly stole the initiative this round, yet his oppo was just a little better this time again.

  Tch, another failed KC. William grumped. What a terrible streak. I thought I'll be able to do them more sistently when push es to shove, but so far it’s beeher way around. I’ve been messing up left and right.

  This was an important battle for William. Not only was he fag a formidable petitive oppo for once, but also the title of the region’s “No. 2 Stro Pyer” was on the line here.

  Maybe the pressure is getting to me a little. William wao believe he was calm and posed as usual, yet the results were undeniable. Then again, maybe it’s just a streak of bad luck. My KC always feels so insistent...

  The Korean Step cel -level teique, ohat took months, sometimes years, to master. And, William only started practig it this year after Young-jin joihe club and showed off the teique’s potential.

  As a result, William's KC teique was still far from perfect. He simply didn’t have enough practid experiender his belt.

  His KC was very unreliable overall, with a success rate below 50%. Furthermore, Sonya collected all sorts of advaatistics about William’s Kcluding how the success rate varied between different sarios. It illustrated how unreliable William’s KC was at the moment.

  For example, one important finding was that the KC’s success rate dropped sharply when Wilim was dueling a strong oppo. It became around 30% against Young-jin and even dropped as low as 20% against pros. Yes, it was that bad.

  I ’t keep getting hit like this. William thought. Maybe I’ll have to dial down on the KC, after all.

  There was some merit in sacrifig a bit of his HP to try out K a high-level fight. There was a lot of experieo be earned here.

  With that said, he couldn't allow these tests to ruin his ces of winning the duel.

  Well, if it keeps failing like this, then it’s a , at least for now. William decided.

  KC was a useful tool but it came with great risks when it was this imperfect. So, depending on how this fight will proceed, William might have no choice but to seal this great tool...

  DarkestCymore