"Seriously?" Isaac asked, a little taken aback.

"Don't forget that we are the New World’s strongest strike force. When we are deployed, we leave no survivors."

"What if the mission’s objective is to capture an important target alive?" Stella asked.

"Some things are worse than death."

Even though Executioner Leywin didn’t show any emotion when saying that, Stella and Isaac couldn't help but shiver as they felt the overwhelming aura of killing intent and bloodlust coming from her.

Bang!

A loud noise brought their attention back to the spar between Chase and Delta. Their eyes widened as they witnessed Delta's astonishing display of strength. He effortlessly grabbed one of Chase's arms while simultaneously unleashing a powerful punch to his abdomen. The impact of the blow reverberated through the air. With a swift release, Delta let go of Chase's arm, who was sent flying through the ring, his body soaring several meters before hitting the ground.

Chase slowly got up, his body still trembling from Delta’s punch.

‘His fighting style is definitely more aggressive than Executioner Leywin’s. I have to find a way to take the initiative,’ Chase thought.

He dashed toward Delta while activating his ability once more and when he was a couple of meters away from him, he whispered, “Set.” At that moment, he divided into what looked like two holographic projections of himself. One of them attacked Delta from the left, and the other one from the right.

Delta quickly reacted, positioned his right arm to block one of the projections, and readied his left leg to kick the other. With a swift movement, he swung his left leg at the projection; however, before he could make contact, the projection disappeared into thin air. At the same time, the other projection became tangible and hit Delta’s arm.

Bang!

Without skipping a beat, Chase divided himself into another two projections that dropped to the ground and divided each one into another two projections. All four of them dashed at random around Delta.

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Every time Delta tried to hit one of the projections, it would disappear before he could even touch it, and another projection would appear. The projections would also attack him every couple of seconds, and if he didn’t do anything to defend himself, the projection would materialize itself and land a blow on him. This left Delta fighting against the air as the four projections of Chase gracefully danced around him.

"What’s happening? There are four Chases," Isaac rubbed his eyes; this was the first time he was seeing Chase’s ability in action.

“Quantum superposition at a macroscopic scale,” Executioner Leywin answered plainly.

Chase’s ability was one of the most fundamental and powerful abilities that had ever been registered. Even though it didn’t possess as much destructive power as other abilities, if used correctly, it allowed him to fight enemies without even getting hit. His high stage and powerful ability were the reasons he was accepted into the Black Guard by recommendation.

The calculations required to use Chase's ability were quite complex, which explained why he could only “divide himself into four projections,” however saying that would be highly inaccurate. As shown by Schrödinger’s Cat Experiment, a quantum system can exist in multiple, simultaneous states until it is measured or observed. Chase’s ability allowed him to set himself as the system and place it in a state of superposition. This enabled him to send each of the potential states to execute different attacks, overwhelming his opponent. However, these states couldn't interact until the system was “resolved,” which means reducing it to a single state. There were two ways to achieve this resolution: either Chase himself would choose which state to keep, or his opponent would make contact with one of the states before Chase had a chance to eliminate it. In that case, the superposition would collapse into the state that was hit.

Bang!

With a swift punch that was several times faster than any before, Delta landed a hit in one of Chase’s projections. The sudden acceleration in Delta’s movement caught Chase by surprise and didn’t allow him to eliminate the projection in time.

However, Delta looked in astonishment at Chase as he saw how he had been able to catch his fist in mid-air before it could make contact with his chest. He then looked at Chase’s face just to see his smug face.

“Caught you,” Chase said, his smug smile widening.

‘I knew something was amiss, his technique wasn’t as polished as someone would expect from a Black Guard. Seems like I was right; that sudden acceleration was because he stopped doing unnecessary movements. So that’s what a perfect punch looks like, huh? Anyway, I hope this works,’ Chase thought as he started channeling even more energy to activate his ability.

He divided into four projections, three of them dashed around Delta and the last one stayed in the same place. However, this time something was different. The hands of the last projection were still holding Delta’s arm tightly in place.

The right leg of one of the projections materialized as well as the left leg of another one, then both of them attacked Delta from opposite directions. Having one of his arms held in place, Delta’s movements were limited; however, he still reacted quickly, infusing energy all over his body he swung the projection that held his arm at the other two projections.

Both projections disappeared before Delta could make any contact, and then the third did the same. Delta had been able to defend from both of the attacks; however, the swing had left him widely open, and Chase appeared behind him, his dagger at hand.

With his limited speed, Delta wouldn’t be able to turn in time to block the attack, but he still channeled energy around his body. However, this time instead of just gathering it in a wide zone, he concentrated the energy on specific muscles. Such precise control over energy was unfathomable to Chase and the others, as well as the improvement in physical energy-enhancement that such a technique had.

BANG!

In the blink of an eye, Delta turned around and struck Chase with a powerful kick that sent him flying across the ring and out of it for several meters. Chase’s eyes weren’t even able to follow Delta’s movement.