As soon as I charged, my clone also performed a kickstarted charge. He seemed to plan to intercept me but I passed before he could connect to me. I went straight for the Balasi clone who was waiting for me with his axes crossed in front of him. As I hit him, he countered with crossing slashes.

I knocked him back, the kickstarted charge was effective against him although he was higher levelled than me. “Shit,” I exclaimed. I attempted to follow up my attack but for a second a couldn’t move then I was slowed for a couple more seconds. “Falter status? Probably that counterattack skill.” Balasi’s clone recovered from the knockback, cast some buff on himself and went for me. I cast [Urus Stance] and [Defense is the Best Offense] and stood my ground. With full level four Ancestral Constitution, all my armor and shield, and the Stance, I had a little over a hundred armor. My buff gave me an added five damage. At least, it was way better than the previous plus one damage. Another double attack hit me followed by a critical strike. I stabbed him back, dealing some damage. He was only wearing leather armor, after all. We exchanged a few more hits. Even with my peytral, his hits hurt. I glanced back and saw my beautiful clone preparing to charge me. I chained [Kickstart] with my normal attack just to get another good hit in then used charge to get out of the way of my clone. “Fuck, what’s up with all those double attacks and crits,” I said as I galloped after exhausting my charge. I heard a whooshing sound and turned just in time to see a couple of axes whirling towards me. I was in time to see them but not to avoid them. I didn’t even use my Stance because I was surprised that those axes could travel so far. A couple of clangs and the axes went back to Balasi’s clone. “Phew, they don’t do much damage. A low level skill.” I used a kickstarted charge after it cooled down to get further away. I drew them away from Balasi. If Balasi gets killed, then this was all a waste. I could probably use him later as fodder, but I would just do that if I’m sure the clones wouldn’t gang up on him and kill him. The real Balasi certainly wouldn't listen to me if I told it to run away so it's best that I pulled the battle away from him. “At least the AI’s not cheating,” I said with a laugh. I damaged myself before charging for two reasons. Firstly, to check how good was the AI of the clones. Obviously, my kickstarted charge was much faster than my clone’s because I had [Critical Frenzy] on. If my clone was doing some inhuman calculations, it could have intercepted me even with his slower charge. The AIs were probably approximating human player behavior. As much as possible, I should charge away after my clone has started his so that it would never catch me if it ever decided to cheat. The second reason was to take on Balasi’s clone while I had the boosts of having lower life. I knew his clone would hit hard, double wielding axes, duh, even though I have better armor than him. Shit, this is going to get nasty if Balasi’s [Critical Frenzy] turns on. I stood still, hoping that I could get ten seconds of peace standing still so that my passive skill boosting [Ancestral Constitution] would activate. The clones were there, with the clone of my awesome self leading with a kickstarted charge. I got a couple of seconds of boosted regen then I responded with my own attack, making beeline for Balasi’s clone. Again, he did that cross slash shit, whatever that annoying skill was, giving me Falter Status. I could never take advantage of the massive knockback of my level four charge with kickstart. I exchanged blows with him as long as I could before my own clone come charging back, which wasn’t very long actually. My clone really loved to go after me. After a couple more exchanges with Balasi’s clone, I think I have seen most of his skills. There was the counter giving Falter Status, an occasional double attack with a sprinkling of critical strikes, he even had a hoof counter attack! It was funny when we’re stabbing and slicing each other and there’s an occasional front kick in the midst of the clash of blades. I don't think real horses could do a front kick. Maybe I should get that skill? Viewing its mechanics, it could actually proc while you’re doing something with your weapons; it wasn't a simple additional attack but inserted itself in the middle of an another attack animation and dealt damage instantly. The scariest thing about the Balasi clone was that it could inflict Bleeding Status. It had a powerful strike that it chained with his own [Kickstart] and it brings that annoying status. My regen stops for a few seconds and the hits hurt more. It doesn’t use that skill often, probably because of its cooldown, and I really couldn’t predict it unless it was chained with a [Kickstart]. Once I was inflicted with Bleeding, I immediately ran away. This was a battle of attrition. Balasi’s regeneration was way lower than mine. The normal Mardukryon probably didn’t stab himself all the time, like I did, just to level [Ancestral Constitution]. If our melee fights lasted more than ten seconds, then my increased regeneration would kick in. During our clashes, the clones’ regeneration was effectively cancelled by my tiny return damage. But, fuck, Balasi hits like a truck. It even hits harder and faster the longer we hit each other. Probably some passive skill. “This was going to last awhile,” I said, chuckling. My clone was super annoying, trying to catch me while Balasi and I have our little bouts. Concentration was needed here. The moment my clone catches me with a kickstarted charge, then they’ll both attack me while I was disabled; it would be hard to recover if that happened. I accessed my phone which was connected the pod. Searching through my music list, I tried to find some music that would help me concentrate while trying to whittle down Balasi. Classical music perhaps? Mellow notes filled the arena as the beginning tunes of “Beautiful Blue Danube” flowed. “Pam-pam-pam-pam-pam…pam-pam…pam-pam,” I hummed as I galloped towards Balasi. Slowly but surely, this fucker was going down. I didn’t know how long it took me to take him down to about a third of his life but it was exhausting. The problem was that he was gaining more speed from [Critical Frenzy], I had to bring down my life to about the same level as his to match his speed. My Heavy Armor type Peytral decreased my speed but my faster charge made up for the gap. It's important not to bring down my life too much because the clone might burst me with some high damage combo I didn't know about. My own clone nearly did catch me a couple of times, but I always kept my charge cooled down to bail out. Hehe, bail out, such a lawyer pun. What saddened me was the incapacity of my own clone to catch me. In this fight, I saw the weakness of my character. No long ranged attack. No sure hit disable. No way of chasing someone at least as fast. I had to think about those when choosing my skills when the Solar Spirit nodes can be picked. At about a fifth of its life, Balasi’s clone decided to make things harder for me. It kept its distance and simply threw axes at me. It used its own [Charge] to run away and try to kite me. But my own mobility skill was higher than its own. I always used [Charge] everywhere I go, even inside the village. Little by little, I herded Balasi’s clone to one side of the arena. Cutting it off with my own charge the moment it tried to get out. My own clone was tirelessly chasing me. Thank you AIs for not teaming up and strategizing together. If this was against two human players working together, I would certainly lose because there was a time limit. They could stand together at the edge of the arena and I wouldn't be able to fish one out with a charge. I wasn’t even hitting the Balasi clone. Instead, I allowed it to regen some of its life back so that its speed will decrease. Its life reached thirty percent and then it changed its tactic back to counter attack me with that bullshit cross slash skill. But I already have it near where I wanted it. Checking my back, I saw my stupid clone just beginning to turn from its charge that didn’t connect. I chose the “Ride of the Valkyries” to be the background music of the last stretch of my fight with Balasi’s clone. I charged and was obviously disabled. It ran away and I followed it, with a kickstarted charge. I caught it and knocked it back to Balasi, the real one.

I’ve been slowly herding the clone towards the real Balasi. If you can call herding one target as herding, since a herd needs to be…you know, a herd. “I’ll ask Eclairs about this. She'll know about this herding stuff." I faced my clone to anticipate where to leap to avoid the charge. "I realy need some skill that can catch fleeing monsters," I said as I moved out of the way of my clone, its spear nearly glancing my flank.

The real Balasi lashed out with a roar. The two Balasi’s fought with each other. The clone was using skills while the real one simply hacked and slashed away, sometimes missing, losing more life in the process. But the clone already has low life. I chose to use Balasi when his clone was nearly dying to make sure that I could save him after I finished off one of them. I kept my eye on my clone. It charged. It came for Balasi and not me. “Take care of yourself!” I shouted as I did a kickstarted charge at Balasi’s clone. It wasn’t able to put up its stupid disabling counter attack because it used it against the real Balasi. It skidded across the floor. I followed it with my spear pointed forward. The clone suddenly turned red and leapt at me, with blades slicing the air. I met its challenged and engaged it in a stabbing contest. Thankfully, it didn’t run away anymore. My brows furrowed, all four brows. I don’t know what skill made him turn red but it made him incredibly hard. His attacks also became faster and crit more often. I stood still to increase my regen and cast [Urus Stance]. All my eyes slowly widened as my life slowly went down while the life of the clone of Balasi barely moved. “What the fuck is that skill! Some Berserker mode?” I used another kickstarted charge to knock it back and give me a breathing space. I pressed forward and recast my stance. Just a little bit more! I was down to a fourth of my life but my opponent’s life simply refused to go down! Then its skill ran out. “Eat this, fucker!” I charged it, bringing its life below ten percent. Finally! It tried to run away but it was limping. “Resistance is futile,” I said as I ran him down. I madly stabbed at it. It didn't bother to fight back but still continued its failing escape. With a final thrust of my partisan, the clone burst in a shower of light that ascended into the air. “Balasi, where are you?” That NPC better not be dead. I saw him fighting with my clone and obviously losing. Balasi would stand around and then attack wildly, missing most of his attacks and then stand around again. My clone bullied him with knockbacks. I hurried to help him. As I got my clone off Balasi, that baggage of an NPC ran off to attack the wall. Whatever made him happy as long as he’s not attacking me. I led my clone away from Balasi so that he could regen. My clone and I chased a bit around the arena. I pricked myself with my spear to keep up my [Ancestral Constitution] so that I could heal back the damage I took when I killed Balasi’s clone. Fighting my clone would be easy. If I could get in at least one extra hit then I would win if we duked it out. After I got back to full life, I faced my clone. It reared up and then began a kickstarted charge. I responded in kind, meeting him halfway. Both of us were blown back. I grinned as I stood still rather than ran up to him to attack. With increased regeneration while standing still and [Urus Stance] the one on the defense would win. I simply had to meet the charges of my clone and stand still afterwards and wait for the attack. I’m such a genius strategist. Hannibal, Alexander the Great, and Napoleon are probably cheering, wherever they are, as they saw my genius plan unfold in this super important fight in a virtual game. My plan was paying off. I had increased regeneration and plus ten armor over my clone who had to come to me to attack. It was small, but I could notice that I had more life than my clone. “You want another charging match again?” I said as I used [Kickstart]. “It’s probably going to be a draw but here we go. Charge!”

We were both knocked back again and, once again, I stood still and waited for my clone to attack.

Warning: Unadorned Ironeice Peytral rendered useless because its durability has dropped to zero.

[Unadorned Ironice Peytral] unequipped.

Warning: Plated Vest rendered useless because its durability has dropped to zero.

[Plated Vest] unequipped.

“Oh-em-gee,” I exclaimed as my defenses went down. I checked my inventory and saw that my helmet, bracer, and shield didn’t have much durability left. “Balasi you bastard! You had a skill that quickly degrades armor?” My clone attacked me, and even with my stance, its damage noticeably increased because I lost two of my defense equipment. I galloped away. I turned off the classical music playing. Think, what could I do here. I wasn’t given a moment of respite. Another kickstarted charge was incoming. I held my breath and leapt away at the last moment. At the end of my clone’s charge, I started my own kickstarted charge and caught it, blowing it away and sneaking in a couple of normal attacks. “Damn it. This is the best that I could do. But I don’t think I’ll be able to win before my equipment gives out.” I searched for Balasi. The only way was to get that fucker to help. But he would probably die and I couldn’t even help him.

Wait. Why was there a golden flame in the middle of the arena? That wasn’t there before. I ran along the edge of the arena while my clone tagged along. I looked at Balasi then the golden flame. What did Zaido say again? “Something like after finishing the Trial, your channels will open then you get burned and voila, Solar Spirit.

“If you fail when the Trial ends, you will still get burned and you’ll end up like Balasi. So Balasi needs to do the trial again…and get burned.” I ran for Balasi. His Trial was already over. It only leaves the burning part. Stampeding hooves told me a charge was incoming so I also charged forward. I kept up my stacks of [Ancestral Constitution] to have higher regeneration than my clone. That was one advantage I had over it. But I feared that it wasn't enough. Balasi was standing while facing the wall. His hatchets dangled by his side held limply by his hands. “Stupid NPC, let’s get to the fire!” I unequipped my spear and grabbed his arm. I yanked him a moment before my clone smashed against the wall with another charge. We ran awkwardly for the golden flames. My clone wouldn’t let us go in peace. Its spear met my shield. I didn’t pay attention to its attacks but continued dragging Balasi. The clone got closer to us, and to my surprise, Balasi went forward to meet it. Balasi was knocked away. I cursed as I picked him up and continued our journey towards the flame. As my clone went past us, Balasi chased it again then he stopped and wildly ran around. We were so near. “Sorry for this, stupid NPC.” I equipped my spear so that I could have knockback effect and carefully timed my charge. As Balasi was about to pass in front of me, I went forward with a kickstarted charge, sending him careening for the flames. I followed him and gave him the last push into the golden fire. My clone slammed into me just as I delivered Balasi to his goal. A flurry of spears hit me, my clone unrelenting with its attacks. [Critical Frenzy] boosted my speed and I was able to run away. “Shit, shit, shit. This is too tiring.” I stood still and hoped that my clone would chill out and let me regen. “Mentally tiring, anyway. Since I don’t think my body is supposed to get tired while inside the pod.” Facing me, my clone pawed the ground. Another charge. Should I try to evade? Yes, I should. And catch him with my own charge as he missed. I gritted my teeth and gathered my concentration. Suddenly, whirling axes emerged from the flames, hitting my clone, stopping it from charging. A voice spoke, “Thank you for your help. I’m ashamed that I have dragged you into my mess even though I’m older than you.” The flame around Balasi started to recede into his charcoal skin. Magma veins glowed brightly across his body while steam bellowed around him. “I confess that I have underestimated myself when I first took the Trial. I thank you for accompanying me in this Trial.” His horns have grown and he had hints of tusks at the sides of his mouth. “Don’t mention it. I’m awesome enough to make up for your weakness.” “May I ask for your name?” “Heraldic Hard-on. Make sure to remember it.” “An honorable name for an honorable man. Thank you once again for your help” “Yes, it’s very honorable,” I said with a snort. I searched my playlist for the fitting song for the final battle against my clone. Low tones of string instruments echoed through the cavern. I cranked up the volume. “Holy shit, surround sound.” I closed my eyes as “Lux Aeterna” slowly became louder as more instruments joined. Balasi charged at my clone. Damn, this AIs don’t know how to wait for the dramatic timing when to start the fight. My clone responded with its own charge. Both of them crashed. Noticeably, Balasi was knockbacked more but he immediately switched to his skill with crossed hatchets before him. My clone continued attacking at was hit by the Falter Status. As if on cue, the voices began to sing. With a kickstarted charge, I aimed for my clone as the orchestra music filled the background. I immediately switched to my Stance to take on the attacks of my clone. Without my peytral, and chest armor, the partisan spear took chunks off my life. But I didn’t move because Balasi came to my aid, smashing both axes and inflicting Bleeding Status on my clone. We drove off my clone with our attacks. Balasi pursued him but I stayed behind to regenerate. Once I had nearly full life, I joined the fun. Balasi kept on chasing our target. If my clone attacked Balasi, he would simply get Falter Status and then I would combo it with a kickstarted charge. If my clone went for me, I met his charge with my own, then immediately switched to Stance and stood my ground with increased regeneration. Balasi would then come to help me because my fucking clone hurts a lot.

I wonder how hard Balasi hits if I didn’t have tons of armor? Slowly but surely, we brought down my clone. I even had to damage myself just to catch him with his [Critical Frenzy] turned on. We simply herded him to one part of the arena and took him down. If herded was the right word to use. “Fuck, that was exhausting.” I hated long fights with a passion, but what choice did I have here? I was fine with handling large dungeons, but fights that drag on because the enemy, most likely a boss, was just that hard to kill annoy me a lot.

Fortunately, this fight was over.

The remaining flames hovering above us descended. It was my time to be burned.

Trial of Fire Completed Reward: DIVINE INHERITANCE [1/6] Permanent Bonus: +10% Maximum Health +10% Total Armor +10% Total Attack Speed +10% Total Movement Speed +10% Total Fire Damage Resistance Permanent Attributes: +15 Strength +15 Vitality +10 Agility +5 Focus +5 Solar Spirit

[Additional Quest Reward]

+1 Skill Point

+2 Respec Points.

[Social]

Reputation with Mirdabon Village +250

Reputation with Zaido +75

Reputation with Balasi +75

[Quest Updated]

Collect the other pieces of the Golden Flames of Divine Inheritance located in other Mardukryon villages.

-Talk to the Elder

-Get the map of the locations of the Mardukryon villages he has visited.

I huge smile broke over my face. I slumped down the arena floor. A fiery portal opened to my side but I didn't immediately exit. The music slowly faded as it ended. My eyes went over the rewards I got from the quest.

It was awesome and all, but it was obvious what's the most important thing that I got here.

"Fuck yeah! I got horns!"