Is it Wrong to Copy Abilities in Apocalypse?

*Pierce—*

Karina heard the arrow whistling through the air, piercing past number 3\'s head, causing her to turn around, only to see Dipti\'s panicked and horrified expression before...

*—Splatter*

Dipti\'s head splattered into blood and gore, causing some of it to get splashed on Karina\'s body.

Karina\'s gaze quivered as she realized that the arrow had yet to stop.

"Poison Shield," she called out in a hurry and the next second...

*Sssssss*

A wet green miasmic gas came out of her body, covering her in less than a second, even before the arrow could come close to Karina, and the moment the arrow touched the barrier, it started to melt.

*Hisss*

It couldn\'t pass through it, as its metal head was turned into liquid while the wooden part was completely gone.

Karina\'s eyes finally moved toward the other end of the cave, and the moment she caught sight of the handsome yet deadly figure of the red-haired and golden-eyed guy, her body trembled.

\'Alex Matthew.\'

Her gaze turned hard as she didn\'t expect to meet the only guy she didn\'t want to meet.

She did say that ranking didn\'t matter, as anyone with the higher amount of coins could be up on the ranking, but this was the only guy who gave her a really bad feeling; it was as if her senses were telling her to not mess with this guy.

[The Flame of Sacrifice is telling you to run away.]

The notification of the system flashed in front of her eyes, causing her gaze to turn grim, as she rushed toward the exit.

Her god wasn\'t a normal god, and she knew it as she had some knowledge of mythology, enough to let her know about the renowned gods.

The god that she had formed a contract with was the god of fire, Agni Deva.

He was the ruler of all fires, and if someone as strong as him was telling her to run away, then she wouldn\'t think twice before doing it.

Alex, however, just followed behind her with unhurried steps, knowing full well that no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn\'t be able to escape his speed.

<Which ability do you want to copy?>

\'Judgment of Truth.\'

Alex muttered, finally stepping out of the path, stepping into the forest that the path led him to.

<At least she used her shield.>

The AI commented after it noted Alex\'s answer; it was, just like Alex, a bit worried about the shield-ability as it could estimate that it was strong enough to stop any of Alex\'s attacks.

But just as Alex stepped out...

An arrow whistled toward him at a very fast speed; for Alex, however, it was slow.

He could clearly see an arrow, made of green liquid, moving toward his head, and he just tilted his head a bit.

*Chisssss*

The arrow shot past him, embedding itself in the outer wall of that cave, melting down whatever came into its way, going deeper and deeper into the wall.

Alex, however, just glanced at the arrow for a moment before he turned back to look at the forest in front of him.

\'Mapping.\'

\'Temporal internal projection.\'

He activated both of his abilities that let him track his enemies, and in just a second, he found out where Karina was hiding, causing his eyes to squint.

\'What do I do now?\'

Then, as he moved forward, he questioned the AI, wanting to know what he had to do.

<The judgment of truth is a passive ability, just like the beastly instincts, so as you did when you were copying the ability from the Smilodon leader, you will have to make it so that her ability activates.>

The AI\'s reply was instantaneous, as if it were waiting for Alex to ask that question.

\'... you want me to lie to her?\'

Alex questioned, knowing full well that it was the only thing the AI\'s words meant, and the AI, who had answered instantly for the last question, chose to remain silent this time.

Passive abilities are a kind of ability that activates automatically; some don\'t need their user to expend mana, while some need it partially.

Alex\'s beastly instinct was the partial one; it wouldn\'t need mana for minor danger, but the moment Alex was in a major danger, it would burn mana to warn Alex about it—it was a danger sense of a sort.

Karina\'s ability was something like that as well.

If it was just lie detection, then it wouldn\'t need mana, but if it were illusion breaking, then it would need mana; something created by mana couldn\'t be just broken without the use of mana.

Now, there were two ways of activating her ability: the first one was to trap her in an illusion, which would activate her ability automatically.

Some would think that this was the best way, but Alex didn\'t have any illusion skill active right now; his illusion of death was still locked.

What about killing intent? Didn\'t it give the Kobolds the illusion of a bloodthirsty beast staring at them?

Yes, it did, but that illusion wasn\'t something optical; it was a mental illusion, or more like, it wasn\'t even an illusion, just a way of their mind seeing Alex as the scariest thing they could.

So, it wasn\'t something Karina could be able to break with her illusion-breaking skill.

Leaving Alex with the second option, which is to lie to her, as the moment one lied to her would be the moment her ability tells her that he lies to her.

His gaze turned back toward the forest, staring at one tree in particular before he spoke.

"I don\'t know where you are."

His words reached exactly where they needed to be as the moment he said that...

*Rustle*

He could hear the sound of someone moving through the bushes.

His words were lies, of course, and Karina, who heard them, frowned for a bit before she started rushing deeper into the forest.

But as she did, she heard Alex\'s voice again.

"I\'m not going to kill you."

Those words sent shivers down her spine as she could tell just how much truth those words held—0%.

\'I didn\'t know that this guy was a liar as well...\'

She muttered inwardly, as she never thought that the first-ranked guy in the whole northern region of India was a liar, but as she looked around, realizing what the world had turned into, she just sighed, her face turning solemn before she increased her speed.

"I am not following you."

Only to hear Alex\'s voice just some meters away from herself, causing her eyes to widen in shock, realizing that her position wasn\'t hidden from Alex.

She wasn\'t going to stop and attack Alex when she rushed out of the cave, but her instincts—her damned instincts—told her that she would live longer if she did that, so she did what she did.

If not for that, then by the time Alex came out, she would\'ve been way ahead of him, but now she realizes why her instincts told her that she would live longer if she were to do it.

Alex would\'ve caught up to her even if she didn\'t stop, so in a way, she did live longer, even if it was for some seconds.

\'This shitty ability of mine!\'

She growled inwardly, increasing her speed.