The moment Noah had both his feet on the first step, a featureless phantom of a human materialized, completely lacking any armor from head to toe- though it was armed, with a gladius identical in shape to what Noah was wielding, except it looked to be of inferior make. The phantom charged at Noah, gladius raised above head level and running parallel to the ground, it looked like the phantom was going for a lunge. But Noah knew that move, he had seen it in the visions Azamorath had provided him with- the lunge was a feint, it would metamorphose into a half-moon slash that would leave Noah’s head severed from the body.

Noah was about to parry the incoming slash, but something felt odd about the situation. Liam had cautioned him to pay attention to Azamorath’s words but had refused to explain further. What appears real, is illusory. What appears illusory shall be real……. What appears real, is illusory…..Noah’s eyes widened in alarm, as he realized that the lunge was no feint, but a deadly trap. Noah tilted his neck to the left, able to feel the air fluctuating around him as the sword barely missed his mark. He capitalized on the moment, thrusting his sword into the phantom’s chest without hesitation. Moments later, it dissolved into thin air.

Panting out of exertion, Noah gave Liam a woeful grimace. “You could’ve warned me, you know? Almost didn’t realize it until it was too late.”

“If I did, you’d never learn the Combat Art. Besides, you can’t die as long as you’re on the trial grounds. A fatal wound will hurt just as much though, I assure you.”

“Oh,” Noah said, looking visibly elated at that news. “Well then, I have nothing to lose.”

Noah reached the second floor, and this time the same phantom materialized, but it was wearing a piece of chest guard as well. Noah charged first this time, adjusting his body posture to be more aggressive, more emotional- indicating to the opponent that his fighting style was wild and frenzied, a graceless series of slashes instead of thrusting or parrying. Noah swung his blade, and while it appeared fast by his old standards, with 17 dexterity he could go much, much faster. Mid-swing, Noah’s blade froze for an instant as his opponent readied itself to parry his slash, and transformed into a blindingly fast lunge towards the phantom’s neck- every point of dexterity utilized to the maximum.

Just like that, Noah had cleared the second step.

The third step arrived, and the phantom materialized with a chest guard and plate legs. This time Noah let the guard charge, and it utilized the same opening move as the first one. Real or illusory? Noah watched the phantom guard’s footsteps closely, they were fast, but steady at the same time- the faster you reached your foe, the greater chance there was to catch him off guard- thus the only reason the footsteps were so steady and well-paced was because they intended to abruptly halt. Indeed, the situation played out as Noah had guessed, the guard came within striking range and then paused for an instant, switching from a thrust to a half-moon slash in a single, fluid flick of the wrist. Noah parried with his gladius, the force of their collision sending repulsing their blades back. Noah flicked his wrist again, curving the blade in the air and directing his gladius back towards the phantom’s chest. Unfortunately, this was part of the Combat Art, and the phantom too seemed familiar with this move- easily parrying it.

Gladius against gladius, cool steel against steel, the clangs and clashes of metal rang out on the third step, taking Noah to a different realm of concentration and focus. It lasted for a few minutes until Noah finally saw an opening. The guard slashed horizontally towards Noah’s waist, and Noah took a step back and met it with his gladius. The blades clashed, but there was no force between Noah’s parry- the guard’s blade pushed Noah’s blade aside, and his grip was as malleable as clay, directing the guard’s blade towards the floor. The phantom guard realized what was happening, but Noah’s blade, which was pointing downwards- suddenly burst out with tremendous momentum, a wicked upward slash cutting the phantom guard from chest to face.

The guard burst out into a plume of smoke, and Noah let out a triumphant grin. Falsetto Grip was a handy card to play, but it also required razor-thin precision to pull off

By the fifth step, Noah was facing a heavily outfitted guard with a chest plate, plate legs, boots, and gloves, leaving the head as the only real exposed area that wouldn’t require pummeling to get through. But that wasn’t much of a problem for Noah, he finished it off after taking a decent amount of time to hone the various forms of Myriad Illusions. The real problem came after, and it confirmed Noah’s suspicions.

A second completely unguarded gladius wielding phantom materialized on the sixth step, both of them charging at him from opposite directions in the original form- sword held overhead and parallel to the ground. Noah froze for a second, it was only adrenaline that caused him to dive out of harm’s way. One had feinted, while the other one had struck true. Thankfully, the gigantic steps had enough space for him to maneuver easily, but that did little to solve his predicament.

Noah went over the forms he had witnessed in the vision, until it struck him, ‘What appears illusory shall be real….’

He charged towards the two phantoms headed in his direction with a wild grin on his face, copying the same stance they kept using to torment him. The distance between them shortened, and all three parties involved in the duel stopped to feint as if they had accepted Noah’s challenge.