Chapter 187: Chapter One Hundred Eighty Eight

The lot of us headed down into the ring after her announcement.  A  surprising number of the people in the audience were here for this  apparently, and I handed over my ticket as the collected all of them,  with Melissa (or Starbreaker rather since she was in costume) making  sure to get all of them. I wondered if the tickets acted as some sort of  waiver, or if we would have signed one when we got them from...wherever  Emery had picked them up. The thought wasn't reassuring but I wasn't  going to dwell on it. No point crying over spilled milk.

Melissa  nodded approvingly as she took the last ticket, turning back to the  crowd to play to her audience. "Well now! These fine people are willing  to put themselves at risk to prove their worth!" She turned back to us.  "Here in the Starburst Pavilion we measure our worth by combat prowess.  You will be measured, tested, and strained to your very limits. We  accept only the most talented and dedicated combatants, and mere Skills  and stats will not be enough to see you through this trial." I was  assuming the Starburst Pavilion was the name of this tent. It was kind  of cool honestly.

Melissa gestured widely with both arms,  her voice rising as she gestured to all of us. "Combat is more than  simply Skill or power. Combat is a matter of instinct. Of drive. Of  talent and determination. In view of this fact the trial you are about  to undergo will be different than any other trial you have ever  undertaken. It will push you to your limits and beyond, and only those  with true potential will ascend the next step through the ranks to  become a member of our Starburst Pavilion. Knowing this, understanding  the stress and danger, do you consent to be tested?"

Her  eyes, blazing orange behind her red mask, pinned us all as she waited  for her answer. We all thought it over before confirming, nodding and  agreeing verbally depending on the person who made the affirmation. She  gave a pleased hum. "Very well. Bring out the instrument!" She bellowed  the last part loud enough for everyone to hear but never took her eyes  off of the rest of us as she did so. "Your test now will be one of the  hardest of our trials. We have great plans on the horizon, and we need  only the most talented."

The same people who retrieved the  bear carried out a massive rectangular shape, and when they stopped and  set it down Melissa stepped up next to it, grabbed the cloth still  covering the shape, and whipped it dramatically away. "Behold!" SHe was  really milking the drama here, but it seemed to be working, everyone was  excited. "This is the mirror of multiplication. Look into the mirror  and any of G rank or lower will find their very reflection stepping from  the glass to face them in single combat. Do any of you dare?"

She  didn't wait for a response, just continued speaking. "The mirror test  will require much of you. In order to pass you must defeat yourself in  battle. An enemy who knows your every weakness, your every thought, who  can match your every Skill and ability. You will need to overcome your  limits, to push past what is possible for you, to even come close to  winning. Only those who have the talent to overcome impossible odds are  worthy of joining our pavilion. Now, whichever of you is willing to take  on this burden, step forward!"

She finally fell silent,  and I honestly wanted to sigh in relief. She hadn't cared about any of  us, putting on a show for her own benefit, not that I minded too much,  but I didn't really enjoy being set dressing. Still, I volunteered to go  first. My tricks were varied enough that I might be able to swing  something interesting. I wasn't actually sure how this was going to  work. Could the mirror let the clone grant wishes? I was betting not,  but that wouldn't matter anyway given the circumstances. My ability  wasn't combat oriented, so it wouldn't be needed in the fight.

I  stepped past Melissa, gazing into the mirror as she stepped back,  letting me have unfettered access to the testing implement. I stared  into the reflective surface, contemplating myself. Sleek black leather  armor with purple trim, a black hooded jacket with loosely hanging  sleeves, and a wooden mask with no features or eyeholes. I watched  myself in the mirror, checking for any sign that something unusual was  happening, but I saw nothing. I stared into the blank masked face, and  eventually tried moving. I raised an arm, and nothing odd happened, so I  took a step back to see what it would do.

Unlike the arm  raise, the reflection didn't just do the exact thing I did like it was  supposed to. When I stepped back, it stepped forward, and I saw the  armored form, push slowly through the surface of the glass, the  reflective surface warping and shifting like mercury as the reflection  passed out of the mirror. The others had all backed away, opening up the  ring for me, and the assistants or whatever ran up to carry off the  mirror, leaving just me and my reflection out here getting ready for our  upcoming fight.

I glanced up and down the reflection, and  sure enough, just like a real reflection it wasn't at all different  than I was. I expected the lapel logo of my well of wishes sigil with  the S in it to have been reversed, but it wasn't. I stared at it for a  moment and then decided to start the fight with something to throw the  other me off balance. I triggered mistwalking, filling the air around me  with concealing mist. I resonated it with stealth, hoping that it would  enable me to hide myself from the other me's Seek Hidden skill, even if  it seemed unlikely. Any little bit helped.

I immersed  myself in my own Seek Hidden skill, focusing on finding the other  version of me, and was forced to roll sideways as a mirror image of my  cane came scything through the space where my head had been. I cursed  internally, and used the dip to begin rotation, drawing my own cane from  a spot on the inside of my coat and whirling both it and myself to  begin my Balam forms. The cane in my hand smashed toward the other me,  only to be deflected by the whirling duplicate in his hand.

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I  didn't bother with poison or fire. I had no desire to wreck my gear,  and it wouldn't have done much good anyway since the other version could  just use the same skills. I just began to circle slowly. I was wracking  my brain for what the hell to do in this situation. As expected,  beating yourself in a fight was the opposite of simple. I was up against  someone with the same tricks and tactics I had. He could effectively  counter every move I made. I tried a few more probing strikes, only to  have them met and deflected, and he tried a few of his own that I easily  saw coming.

Contrary to what I had expected, this wasn't  some kind of perfect mime routine where we did the same thing in unison.  People were complex creatures, and the choice they made vary depending  on a myriad of complicated factors. Even innocuous changes like  direction faced could have an impact on the choices a person made, and  any deviation would snowball into even larger differences. The optimal  tactic for me didn't exist in a vacuum, and the changes to our positions  and view were subtle but important factors in something as delicate in  battle.

I needed to focus on those differences, to force  them to expand, and to exploit them. Step one was change the game and  step two was win it. I considered my options, things I could do to  separate us and force him to take a different tactical route than I was.  Then I realized that as much as taking advantage of differences could  help, the opposite was also an option. We shared several things here,  and if I affected them he would have to adjust to that without having  been the initiator.

I darted forward and smashed down with  my cane, aiming right at his head but making sure it was only barely on  target. As I would have done, he ducked back to avoid the blow, wasting  the least energy by slightly opening the distance to let it pass  harmlessly by instead of committing to a block. I smiled under my mask  as the attack passed him, and instead of pulling back or disengaging I  continued the strike, letting it smash into the ground as I triggered  the stored force in my cane, turning the ground under his feet into a  crater as the effect blasted the dirt up into a shower.

He  lost his footing trying to backpedal and I pressed. While knowing each  other's moves was a pain in the ass was a potential weakness, it was  also a great strength. I knew where I'd be vulnerable if someone opened  me up like that in battle, and I was able to exploit those gaps  ruthlessly. The harder I pushed the more off balance he got, and I laid  into him as hard as I could in the hopes that he wouldn't be able to  regain his balance and I could end this in a single concentrated push.

Sadly,  the other me was about as good at fighting as I was, obviously. He took  a few solid hits, but I'd wasted my force burst throwing him off  balance, and his armor was the same set I had. I cursed myself mentally  for upgrading before this. I might have been able to drop him if he'd  been wearing my old H grade gear. Still, I had used Mercy Kill and  Flurry of Blows during the exchange, and I could see the ones that had  hit had damaged him enough to make him a bit unsteady as he took his  stance again.

I  considered coming in to take advantage of the damage and stop him  before his Vitality patched him up, but the wounds were inflicted by a G  ranker, so they wouldn't vanish fast. Despite how badly I wanted to  overwhelm him, I recognized that a battle of attrition favored me more  here. As long as I didn't let him recover, the smart call was drawing  this out and taking advantage of my better condition to chip away at  him. Haste made waste, and if I was too aggressive I'd leave openings  for him to exploit back. If he evened out our conditions I might not be  able to win at all. I had a feeling a draw wouldn't be considered my  victory.

When  I backed up I saw him tense. He was me after all, and he knew exactly  what I did. Unfortunately, he was on the other side of that dilemma. A  battle of attrition would be detrimental to him, and he couldn't afford  to drag things out and let me widen the gap. I heard a muttered snarl of  frustration as he dashed forward, and it was his turn to activate  Flurry of Blows. I turtled up, trying to minimize my profile as I  deflected the attacks, not wanting to give him too large of a target to  land a hit on.

I  waited for several minutes, doing my best to avoid and deflect hits  without taking damage until one of the blows I landed on his ribs  started to cause him obvious pain. I waited as the gaps in his offense  got bigger, until finally I lashed out, smashing a blow into the side of  his head. He staggered and I activated Flurry of Blows, my wait over as  I finally pressed the attack. We fought it out for the next few  minutes, me chipping away at him slowly until I finally landed a solid  blow and knocked him out with my now refilled force cane. I slumped down  onto the ground, gasping for breath. That had been the hardest fight  I'd had in a while, but I did it. Now it was time for others to give it a  shot. I was eager to see their fights.

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