This seems like a joke because the actions and thoughts of the two are exactly the same.

He took the retreating action of "stepping back," but his body unconsciously moved to ensure the death of the enemy. There was no hesitation at all, a truly calm and clear killing intent.

"Haha, you really do understand the timing, thinking, and tactics to kill the enemy."

The phantom grinned infuriatingly, then stepped out of the ice mirror world, as if seeping out from a rippling ice tree, and walked into the real world.

Then, the white prosthetic limb drew out a white Hulak and joined Donal in a stance. He pulled his left foot back, lowering his waist slightly. Donal held it in front of his chest, his prosthetic elbow thrust forward, while Hulak held it in his abdomen. This was a stance he had invented: Donal and the shotguns of his prosthetic elbow would attack from the front, while Hulak would protect the rear.

It was exactly the same as the gun-shaped stance that Hajime had created.

Hajime silently adopted the same stance.

The white-haired Hajime (the real one) and the black-haired Hajime (the phantom) confronted each other in the real world.

The two men released fierce murderous intent and pressure like a waterfall, causing the space to creak and groan like a painful wail.

This place is like a different dimension. A normal person would definitely go crazy. But the phantom just grinned.

"Come on, Nanyun Hajime. Can you defeat me?"

In an instant, a strong and loud sound resounded all around.

It was the sound of two people's simple footsteps, the sound of two cross-shaped floating cannons summoned in an instant firing at the same time, and the sound of pretending to fire a gun, but actually performing roundhouse kicks on each other.

Hajime switched to a spinning kick, aiming to dodge the bullets while simultaneously attacking. As Hajime had predicted, he relied on his enhanced perception, watching the hail of bullets pass by him. However, the opponent was also in the same boat, and Hajime's bullets missed him.

They both used the spikes that had instantly formed on the soles of their shoes to forcibly steady their bodies as they were about to be blown away by the impact of the kick.

Then, Hajime immediately carried out his next move. He used his shoe spikes as a starting point, turned half a circle, and pointed the muzzle of Donal's gun at his opponent.

There was a clang, the sound of metal clashing. Upon closer inspection, the Phantom had also spun half a circle to the opposite side, turning Donal around, the muzzles of the two guns perfectly aligned.

The two of them were always looking at each other as if in a mirror, so the curses they uttered were exactly the same.

"Go to hell."

"Go to hell."

Without hesitation, Hajime pulled the trigger. A crackling sound echoed. Simultaneously, the two guns' bullets bounced off each other with great force. In that moment, two crushed bullets fell to the ground.

They all ignored the falling bullets, and the next moment, two Hulaks passed under their armpits opened fire.

The red flash and the black flash were emitted at a very close distance, colliding head-on between the two people, and the shock wave generated made the space wail.

The real body and the phantom even used the impact to perform an upper roundhouse kick.

There was a clang, a playful sound unlike the impact of two bodies colliding. Then, Hajime immediately changed the angle of his kick, skillfully transforming it into a mid-kick.

The sound of metal clashing echoed again. The next moment, the phantom smirked, as if declaring the game over. In reality, the martial arts performance, like a mirror, had concluded.

Hajime aimed the Donal at the Phantom's head and pulled the trigger. But before he could do that, the Phantom, with the left hand of the Hulak, swung the Donal away, thus escaping the firing line.

As the red flash passed over the Phantom's temple, this time it was the Phantom's Donal who shot the death shot at Hajime's head.

As if he had foreseen this, Hajime dodged the bullet with a simple twist of his neck. Without even a glance at the black flash, Hajime aimed the Hulak at the phantom's feet.

The phantom turned, pushing Hulak aside. Instead, he retracted Donal and aimed at Hajime's heart. However, before he could fire, he was elbowed and deflected, sending the black death beam flying in a different direction.

At extremely close range, Hajime slapped, knocked down, and lifted up his opponent's arms as if he were fighting.

Each dodged or deflected the other's beams by the merest fraction of a second. To seize that split second and strike the enemy dead, each increased their speed relentlessly. However, neither the black nor the red flashes caught their opponent, instead flying empty behind them.

Hajime used the cross floaters to launch multi-angle attacks from blind spots, but the result was still "missed". With luck, they just canceled each other out.

Throwing himself into a storm of ultra-high-speed, ultra-advanced close-quarters gunfighting, the phantom suddenly spoke:

"So strong, you are really strong. That's not a human strength. Right, me?"

"what?"

The two men pretended to fire, extending their Donalds, but from the Donalds' barrels, "Wind Claws" darted lightly across each other's cheeks. Between the splattering blood, a phantom smile could be seen.

"With a monster-like strength, blood-stained hands, and a heart that doesn't hesitate to kill... What would my (your) family think of you now?"

“…What do you want to say?”

The two men turned their guns at the same time and reloaded in the air.

In the brief moment before reloading was complete, Hajime attempted to use "Refinement" to disrupt the phantom's balance.

However, as the red electric current shot through the ground, Phantom, as if having known about it, shot through it with his black electric current, hindering the "refining".

"Wanting to return to my hometown is a desire that exists in my (your) heart, but... do you really think there is still room for me in my hometown?"

"..."

"In that world, killing is not tolerated, especially in Japan. Besides, who would accept a monster? Dad? Mom? If their son, who had been missing for a long time, finally returned and turned into a murderous monster, they would definitely be devastated. They would wonder, 'Is this really my son?'"

Those words were like a bullet, trying to penetrate my heart. A bullet as destructive as a demon.

Under such a verbal attack that he had no defense against, Hajime remained silent, his face expressionless.

However, with smooth movements, his body summoned a large number of grenades from the treasure chest, and then ignited them in the air with the electricity of "Thunder Wrap".

Seeing Hajime raining down attacks with the intention of self-destruction at his feet, the phantom sneered.

Hajime was covered in red, while Phantom was covered in black, and then simultaneously activated the radiance of "Vajra".

The next moment, the entire space was filled with screams.

The loud bang and shockwave were enough to create such an illusion. The red flames of the explosion illuminated the space, creating a crater at the center of the explosion.

In the flames of the explosion, there was only a snap, and two figures rushed out in opposite directions. They slid on the ground at the same time, took out Alcorn, and immediately fired all twelve missiles.

Between the two, destruction and explosions echoed one after another. The impact of the numerous missiles canceling each other out was immense. Not only the ground, but even the ceiling was damaged, cracking profusely.

Because missiles, unlike bullets, were not amenable to precise aiming, half of them flew straight towards their targets. However, the terrifyingly precise shooting shot down all of them without missing a single shot.

After a beat, a voice sounded calmly:

"Are you really scared? Afraid that there's no place left to go back to? Afraid of being rejected by your hometown and your family?!"

"You talk a lot."

The phantom, like a stage actor, held Alcorn and Donal in his hands, his arms wide open as he spoke. He seemed to revel in exposing Hajime's hidden feelings, his tone growing more emotional as he spoke, his words becoming more pointed in proportion.

Hajime frowned and shot out the crescent moon wheel he summoned from the treasure house.

"That's why you couldn't ignore what Hatayama Aiko said, and when she pointed out your lifestyle after returning home, your heart wavered. The reason you respected Hatayama Aiko as your 'mentor' was because she brought a small solution to the worries in your heart. Am I right!?"

"..."

Silence is the proof of affirmation.

The mocking expression on Phantom's face deepened. Like Hajime, he took out his Moon Wheel and casually threw it. It collided with Hajime's Moon Wheel in mid-air, easily negating Hajime's attack.

Hajime fired a bullet at the crescent moon wheel in his hand, using the inner ring's portal to perform a special technique of space jump shooting. The bullet flew out from the crescent moon wheel, which bounced off the phantom, and hit the phantom with chilling accuracy.

However, as expected, the phantom remained unmoved. He also fired bullets at the crescent moon in his hand, responding to the space-jumping shots from the pair of crescent moons in the air.

It was as if telling Hajime that no matter what he did, it was useless.

The phantom acted calm and continued to taunt Hajime.

"However, even if you don't live a 'lonely lifestyle', you're still a monster stained with blood. Neither the world nor your family will accept you."

"..."

"You said you didn't feel anything the first time you killed someone, but I know that's a lie! Even if you didn't feel guilty, you did feel something! It was fear! Even if you didn't realize it, you were still afraid of no longer being 'the Nagumo Hajime your parents knew'!"

Hajime frowned, reacting a little too late. At that moment, a black flash from the crescent moon lightly streaked across Hajime's right shoulder.

It was just a minor injury, nothing serious. However, this was the first time since the battle began that only Hajime was injured.

Seeing this, Phantom continued to press the trigger of words, taking advantage of the situation, as if he wanted to use invisible and piercing bullets to make Hajime's heart into a honeycomb.

"It's wonderful to have Yue around, isn't it? As long as you insist on "Having Yue is enough for me", then no matter how others reject you, you will always have Yue to rely on."

Hajime didn't seem to care about the injury on his shoulder, and stared at the phantom with a pair of cold eyes.

Hajime had no expression, no rebuttal, his cold eyes seemed to be gradually losing their emotion. Was this because of Hajime's anger? Or was it because his iron will was about to break?

The atmosphere Hajime exuded was both quiet and cold, like the night air, so Phantom concluded it was the latter.

To destroy Hajime's other pillar of support, his 'favorite', the phantom approached with bullets. Then, at extremely close range, a fierce attack and defense were once again launched.

"You love Yue? From the bottom of your heart? Without any hesitation? No, that's not right."

His words were full of malice and insults, and those words became invisible bullets, fired without mercy.

"—You just depend on her."

Deep red blood splattered, and a black flash streaked across Hajime's neck.

It wasn't a fatal wound, but if it had gone a few centimeters deeper, the blood gushing out would have probably dyed the surrounding area red. Even so, Hajime's expression remained unchanged, but he was probably distracted...

Hajime's movements were slow, not as sharp as usual, and he began to show slight delays when facing the phantom.

The phantom smiled, a genuine smile, as if disappointed.

"She exists to protect your heart when you're rejected. What you think is love is mostly just a sense of security. That's right, the moon is just an insurance policy for you (me)."

The Donard in Hajime's hand was gently pushed upwards.

The phantom white Hulak pressed against the wide-open chest.

The desire to return home.

Love for the moon.

The phantom mercilessly penetrated the emotions that were the backbone of Hajime, and then prepared to give Hajime the final fatal blow.

If you can't even defeat yourself, then sink into the ocean of malice now.

The trigger was pulled.

The one who pulled the trigger with his pinky finger was Hajime.

『──!? 』

A red flash of light fell like a meteorite, piercing the phantom holding Hulak's prosthetic hand and knocking it down. The moment his arm was torn away, Hajime reversed his grip on the Donal, using the angle of his wrist and pinky finger to aim and fire.

Phantom had no idea why this happened, so he could only gasp, dumbfounded. Of course, Hajime wouldn't give him time to grasp the situation.

He instantly recovered his posture and quickly rushed in front of the phantom. His movements were so smooth that it made people wonder why his arm and Donald were pushed away, leaving him completely open.

Then, he took a step that seemed to cause an earthquake. That was the shock kick. Then, he swung his prosthetic elbow, which had a truly lethal destructive power. Besides that—

"Guaaa!?"

Coupled with the exploding shrapnel creating an effect similar to inch force, the phantom had no chance of standing.

As expected, the phantom vomited blood and flew out.

It was like a Bajiquan elbow strike. Hajime, after retracting his Zanshin stance, grasped Donal again and tapped him on the shoulder. Only then did he finally show any emotion.

With his fierce eyes and bulging veins on his forehead, he looked like a gangster.

"While this is perhaps unavoidable given the nature of the trial,... you're talking too much during the fight. Instead of wasting time on idle chatter, you should be thinking of a way to kill your opponent. This isn't like me at all."

It seems that what made Hajime angry was that the phantom imitated him, but its fighting style was not decent.

Phantom's back hit the ice tree and he stood up with a confused look on his face.

His feet seemed a little weak, and although he relied on "King Kong" to reduce the impact force a little, part of his prosthetic arm was damaged, and the injury to his abdomen was not serious.

"...I said everything that was in your heart. You should know that I wasn't just saying it casually. Why don't you care? Is your heart frozen?"

"Well, those words really do sound harsh. Having your deepest feelings dug out is painful, like someone reading aloud a notebook full of your dark past."

Hajime said this with a smile, but the phantom became even more confused.

"Then why are you still laughing?"

"That's obvious, because I know it all myself, without you having to tell me."

After a pause, as if to reassure himself, he spoke quietly:

"It's true that I longed to return home from the bottom of my heart, but I was also afraid. My teacher's words did save me. However, it's also true that that fear is not unbearable. And even if the result is not what I want, I still have Yue by my side... I do have this thought, and it's also true."

"Then why didn't you waver? Humans are creatures that cannot face the ugliness and filth of their own selves. If you mercilessly expose it before their eyes, they will close their eyes, cover their ears, and squat on the ground, unable to move. If they still force themselves to face it, their spirit will collapse. That's how humans are."

Hajime laughed out loud after hearing what the phantom said.

"I feel like I've heard that before. To me, you're pretty serious, aren't you?"

"..."

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