Pause System: Harem In The Apocalypse-Novel

[Preparing training sequence: Mind Training]

Gray's eyes widened as the scenery sudden changed once more.

There he stood in a large blank white room. Ahead of him a shadowy figure could be seen.

Gray took a step forward in surprise and the shadow did the same.

He raised his hand and so did the shadow.

It was mimicking every move he was making.

Surprised, Gray turned to the system orb which had remained in the same spot before asking.

"What is this?"

[A training sequence I have prepared.]

[The User said that he desired training.]

[This training was created to improve technique and gain better fighting experience.]

[No XP will be awarded for training here, however the user may unlock Martial Art or Weapon Masteries from the shop to use whilst also gaining a deeper understanding of his power and body.]

"I take it you think this will make me grow stronger?"

[That is correct. In the off chance that the user is not able to utilize his skill and must rely on pause, having martial arts available or weapon masteries would be very beneficial.]

"Will you still be able to synchronize with the book while I train?"

[Affirmative, I will continue with the synchronisation in the background.]

[Is the user ready?]

Gray gave it a short thought. The system was completely correct. He didn't have any specific fighting style, nor did he know the best and proper way to use the weapons.

All he would do is just attack and parry based on instinct. He'd never taken the time to train and actually think of ways to improve his fighting style.

Did he even have a fighting style? It was just pause and overpower as far as he remembered.

But even he knew this style wouldn't work forever. The strength of the opponents he'd encounter would only increase from now on.

Perhaps he'd be able to find a proper fighting style from this training.

"Yes, start it." He said.

[Initiating training sequence.]

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Inside of a store, a zombie could be seen staggering around in search of a prey. Based on it's movements it was clear as day that it had no idea what it was doing.

Zombie's were mindless husks of what was once a human. They were just corpses which could move.

That was the mindset Violet had and convinced herself to believe.

*Stab*

*Slash*

A knife which had flown out of Violet's hand suddenly pierced into the neck of a nearby zombie, it proceeded to slash its neck off of its head in the following instant.

Now that the path was clear inside of the store, she quietly rushed through, doing everything she could to not alert the zombies nearby.

The stench coming from the corpses was horrible.

There were many zombies and half eaten corpses laying around the store but they didn't bother her.

She had more important things to worry about as of the moment, after all.

During her silent rush, she supplied herself with anything she deemed would be useful and anything which was on the list of the things they needed.

She placed them all on the large backpack which was on her back.

Whilst on her scavenge hunt, she could hear a lot of noises coming from outside. Explosions, gunshots, people fighting.

The chaos which had calmed down previously had returned, and this time it was stronger than ever.

"I have to hurry… They're all waiting for me… And the house could get attacked at any given moment… I still don't trust that princess…" She muttered to herself.

-

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-

Gray's expression grew dumbfounded as the shadow took shape of a figure.

He instantly recognised it.

After all, the figure was… Himself.

[The first round, the training will contain no weapons.]

[Commencing training in 3… 2… 1…]

Gray raised his hands up in a boxing style. He wasn't sure how the style exactly was, he just imitated a stance he saw online.

The figure was also only a few steps away which meant that it wouldn't be a long range fight.

[Begin.]

Gray was going to start off with a rush, to get closer before attacking.

If it was himself, he'd naturally be able to predict his moves.

But the moment he took a step forward.

*BAM!*

A knee suddenly landed on his chin, as his figure appeared before him.

It was pause step, there was no trace of any movement.

Gray's head cocked back before completely freezing in space.

He couldn't move, but that was the least of his worries.

The pain. He could feel pain… And boy did it hurt.

The mimic him had already began swinging at his paused figure. Holding nothing back as it unleashed a barrage of punches on him.

'What the fuck is going on…?' He wondered.

He could do nothing but watch as he took the punches crashed against his body head on.

'I'm getting beat up by myse-'

[Unpause]

*BAM!!!* *BABABABBABABBABBAM!*

First it was his head which cocked back, then it was the side of his chest which resulted in him spinning backwards.

After those, came hell. His body was covered in fist prints all over.

Gray was hit instantaneously in every single one of those places as his body burst backwards.

His mimic, pause stepped behind him, with another swing in motion. The back of Gray's head was heading straight for it's collision.

As his mimic's fist was an inch away from making contact, Gray rotated his body mid-air, landing a spinning kick on his mimic's figure right before it's punch had hit him.

His figure went flying, back whilst he stood frozen in the air.

[Pause.]

His mimic paused him right as it had gotten hit.

'Son of a – system what happened to training martial arts and weapons? All I'm doing is spamming pause and-'

Gray was interrupted as his mimic appeared above him with an axe kick dropping down at his face.

He couldn't move his hands to block as his entire body was frozen.

Bracing himself for another set of attacks, he was surprised to see his mimics leg pass right through him before it disappeared.

His body dropped to the floor as he was unpaused.

[That was just an example so you could gain a bigger understanding of your fighting style.]

[The real training begins now.]

Veins bulged out of Gray's neck as he began to think of ways to fight the system instead.

But he held it in as his eyes landed on another mimic which appeared ahead of him.

This time it was someone completely different. It was someone which he never thought he'd see again.

Axel.