"Level three," The hall announced. "Superior reflexes, superior mobility, superior resilience."
Khan noticed the change in the adjectives used to describe the features of the training program, and he immediately stepped off the scraps of metal to return to the center of the training hall.
The metal rope shot out of the opening in the wall and dragged the puppet inside the workshop. A few short cubical robots also came out of the cavity and cleaned the various debris left after the exchanges.
Khan didn't let those robots sway his focus. The training program had announced something different at that time, and it was even taking longer to rebuild the puppet. Something told him that the next level wouldn't be so easy.
The cleaning robots returned inside the opening as a tall puppet came out of the wall. The dummy still had its three eyes, but their red light blinked while they inspected Khan. Moreover, its shades had moved toward even darker colors.
The puppet immediately took a battle stance different from before. It stretched its front leg forward and lowered its body to improve its stability. One of its arms pointed toward Khan while the other waited behind the back of its head.
That was an obvious defensive stance, but the puppet had never taken such a complicated form before. The dummy had limited itself to raise its arms and prepare a counterattack in the previous levels, but things had changed in ways that Khan couldn't predict now.
'It has started to counter the Lightning-demon style,' Khan concluded in his mind before bending forward and sprinting ahead.
There was no reason to change his approach or study his opponent further. The Lightning-demon style focused on quick moves meant to take out enemies before they could deploy their techniques. Improvements and martial arts wouldn't matter as long as Khan succeeded in preserving the upper hand in the battle.
The puppet's guard had openings in its front leg, face, and side. Khan reached his opponent and pointed his left foot on the floor before spinning on his leg to perform a roundhouse kick aimed at the dummy's head.
The three red eyes continued to flash and inspect his movements. The puppet didn't miss anything even if Khan's speed went beyond what its structure could reach.
The puppet moved its rear arm on the kick's trajectory, but Khan promptly tilted his leg to aim for its exposed chest. Yet, the dummy suddenly bent its front leg and closed the distance from its opponent while its free arm shot toward Khan's face.
That move had been too sudden. The puppet had managed to reach Khan's speed since its stance allowed it to shift its weight forward in less than an instant and stretch its range by a full meter.
Normally, Khan's face was safe during his roundhouse kicks because his body tilted backward to give more power to his legs. However, the puppet had bent its stretched front leg to cover a lot of distance and reach otherwise protected body parts.
The metal sphere that the puppet had as a hand flew toward Khan's ear. The attack would hit at the same time as his foot, but Khan would definitely take more damage if he decided to trade blows.
His foot was also off-target now that the puppet had moved forward. Khan would only hit its arm, which wouldn't bring him closer to victory in the slightest.
'I'm still stronger!' Khan shouted in his mind as the leg on the floor bent.
Khan let himself fall. His kick lost power and only managed to make the puppet tremble, but his movement made the punch miss his face.
The puppet promptly lowered its arm in an attempt to follow Khan's face, but the latter twisted his ankle to perform a short jump and accelerate his fall.
Khan's body rotated mid-air. His back quickly approached the floor as his legs went upward. The puppet couldn't reach its opponent after that acceleration, but it still followed his fall to exploit that seemingly defenseless situation.
However, Khan quickly grabbed his opponent's arm and used it as a handhold. His shoulder withstood the entirety of his weight as he stabilized his rotation and pointed his feet on the puppet's rear arm.
Khan's back hit the floor, and he used that chance to pull the puppet toward him. The dummy bent forward before Khan released the power accumulated in his legs.
The puppet lost its foothold as Khan pushed it upward. The dummy ended up flying toward the ceiling, but it stopped before hitting the black metal.
Still, Khan spun while the puppet started to descend. His hands glued themselves on the floor as he rotated his entire body to deliver a roundhouse kick toward his falling opponent.
The puppet couldn't take any defensive stance in the air. It raised its arms to block the incoming attack, but its structure couldn't match the sheer might gathered in that kick.
Khan's heel landed on the puppet's arms and bent the dark metal that reinforced them. The limbs didn't shatter, but they didn't manage to remain in their position either. They crashed on the dummy's head while Khan continued to push it toward the floor.
Khan completed his move by sitting on the floor. His heel had never let go of the puppet during the technique. His attack slammed the dummy on the black metal and flattened its head.
The writing on the walls turned green, and the metal rope quickly shot out of the opening. Khan barely had the time to stand up before the puppet returned inside the workshop.
"Level four," The hall announced. "Superior body, medium-level martial arts."
The new puppet that came out of the wall was completely black, with azure neon blinking in specific spots of its body. A fourth red eye had appeared on its face, and lights flashed from those artificial organs.
The metal spheres were no more. Metal hands and fingers had replaced those parts, and the puppet didn't hesitate to raise them to take a simple defensive stance.
'Let's see these martial arts,' Khan thought before shooting forward.
He quickly arrived on the puppet and delivered a direct kick aimed at its chest. Still, the dummy's arms flashed and hit his limb while the foot landed on its body.
A sharp pain filled Khan's leg, but he gritted his teeth to complete his attack. The puppet flew backward, but it didn't fall. His kick had dug a foot-shaped mark on the metal, but the dummy had managed to land on its feet.
Still, a sense of numbness spread through his leg when he tried to bend it to flow into the next technique. Khan glanced at his limb and noticed that two holes had appeared on its trousers. One of them pointed at the lower side of his thigh, while the other was near the center of his shinbone.
'What's this?' Khan wondered as he stomped his foot multiple times to push away that numbness.
Khan's knowledge of martial arts was quite poor. He didn't know that some techniques could target his pressure points and temporarily affect his movements.
The situation left him speechless, but the puppet didn't give him time to think. The dummy had managed to endure the kick with its new body, so it could shoot directly toward Khan since the latter didn't attack.
Khan found himself on the defensive side for the first time since the beginning of the training program. The puppet was slower than him, but it still covered the few meters that separated it from him in less than a second.
Its metallic fingers shot forward. Those nimble arms resembled snakes that were about to bite his body. It was hard to keep track of them, but Khan's martial art had forced him to grow used to quick and sudden changes in his vision.
Khan's arms shot forward. His right hand failed to stop the enemy attack, and two metal fingers landed on his shoulder. However, he succeeded in grabbing the other metal wrist and prevent the other half of the technique.
A sense of numbness spread through his entire shoulder. Khan felt unable to raise his arm, and his left leg also struggled to follow his orders. Yet, the puppet was in his grasp now, and he didn't dare to let it go.
Khan pulled the puppet closer before using his numb leg to support his rising knee. A powerful blow hit the dummy's torso, but that attack didn't seem to be enough to knock it down.
The puppet tried to attack with its free arm, but Khan pushed it on the side without releasing his grasp. The attack missed his numb shoulder, and Khan could use that chance to lift his knee again.
Khan repeated the process multiple times. He had transformed that training program into a mere scuffle between brutes, but he didn't care as long as that approach could bring him to victory.
The puppet managed to deliver a few attacks from time to time, but Khan always hit its chest. It didn't take much before the dummy's movements began to slow down, and its neon started to lose their light.
The dummy went limp after Khan hit it with his knee for the twelfth time. He let his opponent fall to the floor while he stepped backward and decided to sit.
The writings on the wall became green, and the metal rope appeared again, but Khan shouted a command before the training program could step on the next level.
"Time-out!" Khan shouted, and everything stopped.
The gears inside the wall stopped turning, and the writings remained stuck on unclear letters. Khan could only see the faint number five hidden behind the disappearing green light.
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