“Are you sure you’re ready?” Azula asked.

“Of course,” Felix replied, bending over to stretch his legs.

“First up in the ring is a nooby to the arena.” The announcer said. “The bronze adventurer Felix!”

The crowd cheered, pleased by the notion.

“As you all know, today's main event is the battle between long-time champion Lakro and the rising star Petra. As usual, this will be taking place after the second of our two exhibition matches. Felix’s opponent will be Daphne the Demon: a crowd favorite.”

The crowd cheered louder in agreement. Felix nodded to Azula, taking his leave to the coliseum's main stage. The light cast brightly into the archway, forcing him to lift his hand to block out the artificial light. The arena around Felix was packed with excited spectators. He had never been in the spotlight of such a massive audience, but didn’t feel anxious. He’d trained for this, and he was ready.

“Look who it is!” The announcer continued. “Felix has entered The Tower in hopes of becoming an obsidian adventure, even though he is currently ranked bronze. Can we get some love for his determination!”

The crowd cheered, shouting words of encouragement. This was an opportune time to score points, as quickly defeating his opponent could land Felix a high quantity of combat points. After receiving a combined total of one hundred points, pooled together from combat and dungeon points, he’d be a quarter of the way towards being an obsidian adventurer. The mere idea of it made him grin with excitement.

“On the opposite side of the arena, you will now see Daphne making her first appearance since her devastating loss against Petra. She may have taken some time off, but she seems well charged and ready for action. Welcome back, Daphne the Demon!”

Felix didn’t know who ‘Daphne the Demon’ thought she was, but he didn’t plan to go easy on anyone who’d fancy themself a demon. Almost contradictory, the crowd cheered far louder as a woman emerged from the opposing archway. Her short, black hair seemed to shine as she came into full view. Daphne waved her hands around, encouraging the crowd. Attached to her hands were two sharp sets of blades extruding from the casing that held them. On her head laid a horned crown, reaching past her head and curling to a sharp point.

Why are they cheering for someone who’d take demons so lightly? Felix asked himself. I’ll have to end this quickly.

Reminded of his failure when entering The Tower, Felix tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword. The announcer was right. His goal was to become an obsidian adventurer. How he knew so didn’t matter to Felix in the slightest. All Felix could focus on now was catching up to Cole. It felt fitting that he’d be doing so by defeating someone who’d add the word demon to their name.

“Felix, Daphne, please make your way to your respective starting area.” The announcer shouted eagerly.

Felix walked forwards, entering the large circle a few meters from his archway. Daphne did the same, still giving her attention to the crowd rather than Felix.

“The rules for today’s exhibition matches are simple.” The announcer said. “The first person to concede or be knocked out loses. A match official may also call the match, either due to time or significant danger to either participant, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that today. One minute has been placed on the clock. Felix, Daphne, prepare yourselves!”

Daphne finally turned her attention to Felix, briefly looking over him. Felix knew painfully well how unimpressive he looked, primarily due to how often Azula would point it out. However, he planned to use this to his advantage. Unlike his fight with Lucy, he knew he had to hold back before making his frontal assault.

Daphne’s weapons indicated a preference for close-quarters combat, playing into Felix’s strength. His biggest disadvantage in a fight was distance. The amplify magic he specializes in relied on empowering himself and his sword, giving him few options for ranged attacks. Felix’s confidence continued to rise, but he forced himself not to underestimate his opponent. Cole had slipped from his grasp for this exact reason, and he planned never to make the same mistake again.

“Three,” The announcer said, counting down with the clock, “two, one, start!”

A loud drumming noise sounded from all around, officially starting the match. As Felix expected, Daphne moved to close the distance between them. Running diagonally to her right, Daphne reached to hip to reveal a sharp set of needles. She threw them at Felix, aiming for his head.

Felix quickly drew his sword, easily deflecting her barrage. Daphne continued sending waves of needles his way, keeping him occupied as she came closer and closer. Pretending to be overwhelmed by the quantity of needles as he took a few steps backward, Felix continued to focus his mana. Throwing needles was most likely Daphne’s way of distracting a ranged opponent, but the force behind them was too weak to give Felix pause.

He waited for Daphne to make her move, but she remained in front of him, zig-zagging in a semi-circle around him. She’d stopped making progress towards him, even as Felix left ample openings. He’d hoped she would attack him while he was seemingly preoccupied, especially given the amount of mana he’d amassed in his arms and eyes. If she were to pop up unexpectedly, he would easily be able to see it, launching an attack before she could duck away.

However, Daphne seemed intent on keeping some distance between them. If she wouldn’t come to him, then Felix would have to go to her. Taking a step forward, Felix shifted half of his mana from his arms to his legs. His new plan was to close the distance himself, engaging Daphne in a more straightforward fight.

As Felix made his way towards Daphne, she retreated slightly, stopping near the side of the arena. Smiling at Felix, she used one hand to throw a set of needles directly above her, throwing another set directly at Felix with her other hand. Felix easily repelled her direct attack and looked up, expecting the first set of needles to curve down towards him. Daphne was only out of his view for a second as he searched for the needles, but that was more than enough.

Felix turned back to see Daphne had disappeared into thin air. Before he could even look around to search for her, Felix felt a sharp pain in his left leg. He turned around to see half of Daphne’s body extruding from the floor, a subtle grin on her face. She’d swiped at Felix’s leg with her claw-like blades, leaving three shallow cuts. If Felix hadn’t shifted his mana directly before, he would have sustained far more damage. He could have lost the fight before it even began.

“There it is!” The announcer shouted as the crowd roared. “Daphne’s signature shadow magic! It allows her to create shadows of herself to engage her enemy while she slips into darkness. With this technique, Daphne slowly torments her opponent into conceding. How will the newbie Felix handle such a formidable foe?”

Felix swung his sword, but Daphne’s body disappeared back into the ground. Felix hadn’t taken into account the positioning of his shadow, but what the announcer said was helping him make sense of what just happened. Daphne’s body hadn’t extruded from the ground but from his own shadow. Cast by the arena’s artificial light, he’d started with a disadvantage. If the light were facing the other way, his shadow would have been in full view, letting him see Daphne’s sneak attack.

Felix cautiously searched the arena for her to reappear. Surely enough, he could see her in plain view, waving to the crowd back near her archway, egging them on along with the announcer. He was frustrated but knew better than to let it get to him.

Keeping an eye on his shadow, Felix made his way around the side of the arena. His plan was simple enough: reverse their positioning, forcing his shadow to remain in front of him. Daphne paid his advance no attention whatsoever. Felix felt the blood dripping down his leg as he walked, ignoring the pain. She’d only scratched him once, and Felix wasn’t going to give her another free attack. He watched her closely as he approached, making sure to keep his shadow within his peripheral vision.

Daphne turned as Felix passed the center of the arena. Watching him hesitantly approach her, his eyes locked between her and his shadow, she started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Felix asked. “Me or your tacky outfit?”

“Well, that’s not very nice,” Daphne replied, displaying an over-the-top frown. “I guess I’ll have to teach you a little respect, kid.”

Turning fully towards Felix, Daphne produced another set of needles. This time, she threw them directly at the ground in front of her, colliding firmly against the middle of her shadow. Felix’s eyes darted to his own shadow, expecting the needles to transport freely between them. To his surprise, nothing emerged.

Looking back to Daphne, he saw her standing as she was, waving gleefully in his direction. Squinting his eyes at her, Felix became increasingly annoyed by Daphne’s attitude. While slightly distracted by her taunt, he’d taken longer than it should have for him to realize what had changed about Daphne’s appearance. The needles she’d thrown, along with her shadow, had completely disappeared.

In the middle of discovering this new information, Felix was barely able to redistribute his mana across his entire body before feeling a greater pain than before. There was still a Daphne at the other end of the arena, still waving towards him, while another had appeared above his shadow, stabbing his side. Her blade hadn’t gone deep, but it’d managed to go deeper than her previous attack.

“Ohh!” The announcer shouted out. “Daphne finally used her ‘Shadow Dance’ against Felix. It seems her time away hasn’t dulled her senses one bit!”

Felix staggered forward, again swinging his sword towards Daphne. Retreating backward to evade, Daphne didn’t reenter Felix’s shadow. Calmly standing a few feet away, she pointed behind Felix before increasing the distance between them.

Ignoring her taunt, Felix moved to pursue. Daphne and his shadow were now both easily in view, giving him the upper hand. During his approach, Felix grimaced as a set of needles penetrated his lower back. Felix darted his head around to see the other Daphne behind him had jumped into the air, holding more needles in hand. So it wasn't just a decoy. It’s some kind of clone.

The airborne Daphne threw more needles at Felix, now aimed at his head. Blood continued to drip down his injured back, leg, and side as Felix readied his sword, eager to continue fighting.

Easily repelling her attack, Felix got an idea. Pouring more mana back into his legs and arms, he sprung himself into the air, meeting Daphne head-on. He assumed being in the air would make it hard for her to take advantage of his shadow, as it still remained on the ground beneath him.

Daphne descended towards the ground, swinging her claws down to block Felix’s swing. Meeting in midair, Felix’s assumption had been correct. His sword, combined with his amplified attack, ripped through Daphne’s defense with relative ease, slashing her hand away as he cut through her.

To no surprise, this Daphne faded into a shadowy form upon being ripped in two. Felix watched as her defeated clone whizzed through the air, returning behind Daphne as a normal shadow. Left in its wake were a few needles falling swiftly towards the ground. He’d yet to strike a real blow, but this was better than nothing.

Of course, Felix’s small victory was quickly cheapened as Daphne threw another set of needles at her shadow. These were then enveloped by her shadow as it moved to form around them, creating yet another clone. Only one appearing was something Felix was thankful for. Given how infinite her supply of needles seemed, he wasn’t sure how he’d fare against ten or twenty of her.

“Alright, come on.” Daphne said, raising her arms as she ushered Felix closer. “let’s see what you’ve really got.”

“With pleasure.” Felix smiled.