Hirrus feared that he wouldn’t have time to assess the threat before him. With thirteen enemies, even a moment was too much to expect.

Fortunately, Fidelis was either too proud or too uncertain to leap to attack immediately. It was impossible to tell if the man was trying to savor his imagined victory or if he was more appropriately afraid of Hirrus' unknown potential. Either way, the hesitation let him gather his thoughts and formulate the skeleton of a plan.

Ultimately, Hirrus had no idea how Fidelis' Arcana worked. It was possible that the images he faced were entirely illusory, and would have no effect other than to obscure the position of the real Fidelis. But it was also possible the images could have physical elements, which could include the ability to harm him, or be harmed in turn. As much as he didn’t want to, he had to entertain the possibility that they were true duplicates, and he was actually in very real danger from facing down thirteen adventurers.

He couldn’t back down, though.

This had been his objective all along. The final foe. The last living soul deserving of his revenge.

Every single body he’d stepped over had been in service to reach this one.

This man was the reason his wife was dead.

Rather than waiting for Fidelis to make the first move, Hirrus reached for his Arcana, activating the first that came to mind. Purple-blue sparks flashed in his vision before the energy discharged, sweeping across half of the assembled images. Melisune’s Eye would freeze them in place, evening the odds of the fight.

The blast, however, had no effect. When his vision cleared after the flash of energy, the images within his field of view were looking away.

With thirteen voices, Fidelis laughed.

“Come on,” one of them to Hirrus' left said.

“You think we don’t know,” an image on the right continued, adding a discordant quality to the conversation.

“How gaze attacks work?” an image in the middle of the group finished. “I mean, I, personally, helped Clive farm up that move.”

Hirrus didn’t have time to grimace. The images seemed to take his failed Arcana as a sign to attack, and rushed in at him. He used the half-second before they engaged to activate his Metallic Shell Arcana, hoping that the shimmering energy around him might be of use.

The first Fidelis charged right towards Hirrus from the front. The hooked blade came down, but almost sluggishly, as if the image was uncertain of its course. Hirrus took advantage of its hesitance and ducked to the left, letting the blade cut only air.

Before he could celebrate that triumph, there was an impact against his back.

One of the images had gotten behind him already, its blade smashing against the shield he’d generated, unable to penetrate with a single hit.

That told Hirrus how dire the situation was.

The images were capable of dealing damage. This strike had only been for seven hundred and seventy damage, but it was still real damage. With thirteen of them, it would add up. Even if each one wasn’t a threat individually - especially once his Cosmic Barrette started to come into play - it was still a lot of potential damage if they were allowed to run rampant on him.

He whirled and smashed his axe into the foe that struck him. The speed of his retaliation seemed to surprise the image, and he caught it squarely in the chest, the impact sending it staggering away. Three thousand five hundred and thirty-three damage. It was actually alarming. The number didn’t seem particularly high or low. Had he just landed his first blow against the actual Fidelis? Or was there no fast way to tell the difference between the real one and the fakes?

Another blow struck his back, the image dealing enough damage to break the Metallic Shell. Shards of the Arcana blasted out from him, answering the paltry seven hundred-ish damage with one thousand six hundred and forty-six to all the images in the immediate area.

The whole group of them flinched back from the damage.

Except one.

That one lunged and the edge of its blade struck him as a critical hit, dealing three thousand one hundred and ninety-seven damage to Hirrus.

That one. That had to be the real Fidelis.

Hirrus whirled, smashing his axe into the figure that had just struck him. Just before the moment of impact, there was a shimmering. All thirteen images froze in place and wavered slightly.

The impact of the axe struck Fidels in the shoulder. This blow was a double strike, dealing three thousand five hundred and twenty damage with the first and then two thousand four hundred and sixty-four with the secondary strike.

Fidelis made a dissonant grunting sound before he erupted in a puff of smoke, vanishing. It left him with only twelve remaining images, but revealed another challenge. When Fidelis struck, he revealed himself, but he could still vanish into the crowd no matter how well Hirrus tracked his movements.

“What’s the matter?” a nearby image taunted.

“Frustrated?” the farthest image asked.

“The fun has just started,” another one added with a smirk.

The whole group moved as one, surrounding Hirrus as he tried to formulate anything approaching a plan. Hooked blades glittered as they menaced and mocked him. There were still only twelve, so it was possible he could thin their numbers enough to isolate the true Fidelis, but he didn’t have sufficient information to gauge how viable a plan that was. What if Fidelis could replace them at will, and was choosing not to in order to waste Hirrus' time and energy?

That was it.

As much as Hirrus didn’t know about Fidelis' capabilities, Hirrus hadn’t even begun to unlock his potential. Fidelis was smart enough to fear Hirrus, which was why he wasn’t going all-out on the offensive, choosing to posture and taunt. He didn’t know what he was up against.

If Hirrus didn’t want to drag the fight out, then he would need to fall back on the oldest trick in the book.

He’d give Fidelis a taste of his own medicine with a show of force. And when Fidelis used whatever trump card he was saving, Hirrus would have just a little more power to escalate again and go over the top.

Hirrus mashed his awareness across the metaphorical instrument panel of his Arcana. Iron Typhoon, Pumped Kicks, Electric Field, Going Ape, Eyes on Me, and Shining Sprocket all activated at once, a multitude of glowing effects shrouding his person. Three hooked blades hacked into him for around seven hundred damage each while he was going through the combined cast time of all of those Arcana, but the surge of power that roared through him made it all irrelevant.

His axe felt light as a thin rod of yew wood in his hands, and he whirled it effortlessly, crashing it into foes to his left and right

Each blow did over four thousand damage, with the double strikes dealing over seven thousand total with both attacks combined. Hirrus hadn’t fought many foes in such close quarters before, and for the first time, he actually noticed when his Cleave passive statistic procced. It was about once in every five strikes, but it did an extra one thousand damage to four or five of the images in a tight area when it went off.

He found himself laughing at the paltry strikes that came in at him. The true Fidelis seemed unwilling to show himself while Hirrus crushed the images one at a time. His damage was adding up - especially as he was holding back his Arcana usage, not healing from the Cosmic Barrette - but he pushed the concern aside.

“Come on,” an image taunted, “you’re getting close! You’re doing so well!”

“Yeah, only a few more,” added another.

His blade smashed into the face of that image even as it smirked and laughed. Hirrus’ reward was a half-second of the extremely satisfying sight of teeth shattering out of that smug grin before it erupted in smoke.

There were only two images left.

One of them had to be Fidelis.

He couldn’t hide behind them forever.

If he had another trick up his sleeve, now would be the time for it.

Iron Typhoon was the shortest of the buffs Hirrus had used, and it faded first. Both of the images of Fidelis backed off, but Hirrus still had movement speed in spades. They couldn’t escape. He closed with one of the images in a flash, and a single strike finished the work an unknown number of Cleaves had begun.

Hirrus whirled, finding only one Fidelis facing him now. This was the time for them to compare trump cards and determine who had the upper hand. Fidelis seemed unconcerned, still smirking across the room at Hirrus.

“A few more seconds and you’d have had me,” Fidelis admitted in an almost reverent tone. “But you were just slightly slow.”

Another Fidelis stepped out of his body.

And another.

Then another.

The thirteen images repopulated quickly, even as he kept speaking, each time with one more voice.

“I don’t have to stop doing this,” the Fidelises continued. “I have all the time in the world. You haven’t hit the real me one time. Meanwhile, I’ve been whittling you down. You’re good, I’ll admit. I’ve soloed some old-world raid bosses like this, and they usually don’t make it to the second cast, but I’m playing it a little safe and keeping my body hidden.” Each one held up their hooked blades, examining the glittering metal. “No more of that, though. I’ve never been in a fight that lasted to the third cast, and this one won’t.”

Hirrus felt his lips peeling back from his teeth, not in a snarl, but in a grin to match Fidelis'. It was true that he was at just a little more than half health after all the little chips of damage he’d taken from the images, but that was about to change.

The Eyes On Me Arcana had caused a rainbow of sparks to flicker around his eyes. He added some yellow-white sparks for the cast time of another Arcana.

For Fidelis' part, the images averted their eyes, the man skilled enough to recognize the new sparks added to the active Arcana.

But not skilled enough to know what the rainbow sparks did.

Eyes On Me rendered averting their gaze useless.

Five thousand one hundred and forty-five damage smashed across every image in line of sight. The group of them were scattered, hurled back by the knockback effect of the Arcana, but that wasn’t the true objective. Each one represented over two thousand hit points of healing from his Cosmic Barrette. Hitting every target undid all the damage that had been done to him, going from barely thirty-six thousand hit points remaining back up to full health.

“Well fuck,” the Fidelis in the middle of the group snarled. Despite the aggravated tone, his smile was still in place. “I guess you might have a bit more fight in you than I thought.”

Hirrus winced inwardly as Pumped Kicks faded. Another buff gone. He needed to push his way forward, and bring this fight to an end. The remaining speed boost from Electric Field let him rush across the room towards the scattered images. His axe crashed into it before it could react, dispelling it instantly in a puff of smoke. Ideally, the group would collapse around him again, and he could use another area of effect Arcana to clear them out, but if he had to pick them apart, he would.

“I have to thank you,” an image to Hirrus' left said, as it and four others closed in around Hirrus.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a real fight,” one of the others said, its hooked blade whipping in at him, just barely slow enough for him to duck under.

“I forgot about how good it feels,” another of the other images said, this one still several feet away, making no move to approach. “I think this is the first time since I got this Arcana that I’ve actually felt threatened.”

“The first time in months,” another called, this one actually moving away from Hirrus to take up a position at the far end of the room, “that I think my heart rate has actually increased playing this game!”

A blade crashed into Hirrus' back, and while he wanted to ignore it, it was a critical hit for four thousand and fourteen damage - another strike from Fidelis' real body. Before he could whirl, he saw the remaining images freeze and flicker. Even as he struck the image, he knew it would vanish in a puff of smoke, failing to harm the actual Fidelis.

“Keep going!” the image at the far end of the room called with a laugh. “Maybe this time you might clear them out in time to force me to stand and fight!”

Another one from the other side of the room let out a cackle even as it took a few more steps away from Hirrus, striking a leisurely pose leaning against the white column in that corner of the room. “Probably not, though!”

Hirrus realized the potential that Fidelis was unlocking here.

His ability to apparently switch places with his images allowed him to dance around the room with impunity. When the four images immediately around him were killed, Hirrus would have to run around the room and handle the eight that were making themselves scarce. Fidelis could freely swap places with the one farthest from Hirrus, keeping him running around the room long enough for whatever cooldown the Arcana had.

It was a coward’s way of fighting, but it was cunning. Shrewd. Cautious.

Perhaps indomitable.

If Fidelis kept employing these tactics, Hirrus' victory might actually be impossible. And if Fidelis' strikes kept coming in, instead of leaving it all to the negligible damage of the images, there was a chance that Hirrus' revenge might slip through his hands.