The third level was completely deprived of creatures. Last time this was the place where Arthurows had freaked out very much, to Bel’s amusement. Now, it was as if someone had meticulously cleaned the cave walls, floor, and ceiling in an attempt to make the place inhabitable. Dallion’s initial reaction was to think that a Shelfey had taken residence. However, the amount of light and lack of mother-of-pearl made him reconsider.

Close to the guardian chamber, Dallion saw a red carpet rolled out to welcome him. His music skills made it obvious that this was no carpet—it had emotions running through it.

“I’m touched by the welcome, but would prefer not to tread on you walking in,” he said, emanating a sensation of deep calm.

On cue, the carpet rolled up into the guardian chamber where it instantly disappeared. So much for a grand entrance, but better safe than sorry.

“You’ll have to be fast on this one, shield,” Dallion whispered.

The guardian chamber was quite different from last time. Instead of thrones and statues, massive paintings covered the walls. On closer inspection, the paintings illustrated scenes from the last fight that had occurred here. Dallion recognized several of the scenes, especially the one in which he fought “himself” with a harpsisword.

“I knew you’d be back,” the copyette said, appearing in Dallion’s form. The only difference was that he had chosen to color his clothes crimson red. “You were vibrating with determination to clear the dagger. An obsession almost.”

The guardian moved closer, stepping next to Dallion in front of the large painting.

“Nice spar, wasn’t it? Pity you knew so little back then. I would have loved to show you more of my tricks.”

“Maybe you’ll get to show them now,” Dallion said. On the surface he remained calm, but was ready to engage in battle at a moment’s notice. “You gave me a really goofy expression,” he commented.

“Oh?” The copyette moved closer to the painting. “Looks fine to me.”

“Your face, not mine.” Dallion corrected.

“Ah, that. I was just trying to bring some life to the scene.” The expression changed. “Better now?”

Dallion remained silent. The copyette had been talkative last time as well, and that made him feel on edge for some reason.

“Nice use of music, by the way,” the guardian said. “A bit on the nose. Anyone with the skill will catch on quickly, but still a massive improvement from last time. What level is it at now? Twenties? Thirties?”

Dallion tensed up.

“It’s obvious you’ve climbed a few levels.” The copyette shook its head. “Didn’t you get the whole Moon speech? Once you pass this gate the world will be different, and so on?”

There was a long moment of silence.

“Thirties,” Dallion replied at last.

“Not bad. It’s time to learn some subtlety, then. Direct music interference is fine when you’re starting out, but it gets you targeted later on. I guess things really have gone downhill on the outside. Maybe you’ll be fine as you are now, after all.”

“Talkative as ever, I see.”

“You’ve only seen me once before,” the copyette laughed. “But yes, I like to talk. As I told you, after a while that’s all there is.”

“Other guardians would disagree.”

“Are you referring to the dryad?” There was an unusually sharp note in the guardian’s voice. “Or the nymph? Trust me, there’s no way you can compare them to me. So, what’s your schedule like this time? Have some time to chat or do you want to get directly to business?”

A trick question if Dallion had ever heard one. He wasn’t at all in the mood for a chat, not against someone who knew music for one thing. Then again, refusing might make the situation worse. At least the scylla had given him somewhat of a warning before attacking. With this number of paintings in the room, Dallion could well end up fighting against a dozen of himself.

“Why not both?” he asked.

Now it was the copyette’s turn to be surprised. Tilting his head to the side, he indicated for Dallion to continue with his suggestion.

“You want to talk, I want to learn more about my music skill.” As well as clear the level. ”Why not combine them?”

“And miss out on another music duel?”

“Will I need to fight if I’m good enough with music?” Dallion asked, deliberately adding vibrations of surrender in his voice.

The attempt was caught immediately by the guardian, who only shook its head with a smile. Amusement and a sense of acceptance resonated within him.

“You really think it would be easier for you?”

Dallion felt the waves of emotion hit him like a hammer. Fear, hesitation, but also eagerness. At the first few words, he remained still, trying to weather the effect. Later he tried to examine the emotions, unbinding them in mentally to see what they were composed of. It was almost like a work of art—subtle threads were hidden among the rest, making them difficult to notice and even more difficult to counter. Even while Dallion was aware of what was going on, he still felt the effects. It took several seconds more for him to come close to his previous state, though by doing so he had caused whole new emotions to appear.

Wow, Dallion thought. This was like playing three-dimensional chess. It didn’t only matter what was to be countered and how, but what the effects of that countering would be. In this case, trying to cope with the music attack had made Dallion somewhat anxious, even if he was able to calm down with a short hum of his own.

“Still up for it?” the copyette asked. “Remember, I might be cursed not to exceed your level, but have a lot more experience.”

“I have to get experience from somewhere,” Dallion said. He felt excitement at the prospect of a music fight, and he was fairly certain that feeling originated from him.

“Good intention, but no,” the copyette said firmly. “You’re not ready, and I don’t want to stop you from reaching the last level. You’ll have your hands full there, anyway.”

“What’s so special about the fifth level?”

“Someone who you won’t defeat in the state you’re in. Of course, if you clear the next level you’ll get to level up. I’d suggest going for mind. It’s what you need right now.”

Hey!

“Why not perception?”

“Indeed, why not? It’s your decision. If you think that will help you best, go for it.”

Perception made the most sense. It would go quite well with Dallion’s music skills as well as possibly help him with the forging a bit. On the other hand, maybe mind was the way to go? Increasing that would let him think faster, remember more, not to mention explore battle outcomes in his mind. Or maybe he should back body and reaction… So many options, so little time to decide.

“Don’t overthink it,” the guardian went on. “The best solution is always the first. Trust me, I know.”

“In my place, what would you do? I mean, how will you defeat the final guardian?”

The red clad Dallion placed a finger on his lips.

“In your place, what would I do?” he repeated the question. “The best solution is to do nothing. As you are, you don’t stand much of a chance. Sure, you might be able to defeat the next guardian—and that’s a big if—but you’ll never manage to deal with the last. Music has no effect on him, not to mention he’s way faster. At best you might get lucky enough to get a third of his health.”

“Even with this?” Dallion drew his harpsisword. “She’s pretty powerful.”

“I’m sure.” The copyette chuckled, taking a step back. “But she’s not the one who’ll be fighting. You are, and you’re not ready.”

“So, you’re saying I should surrender?”

“It’s not the worst option.”

Actually, it was. If Dallion surrendered, he’d fail his trial for the second time. Not only would that keep him from getting a mentor and better job guilds, but he would lose the dagger as well. And he had plans for that dagger—something he had thought of the moment Vend had explained the nature of sphere items.

“Will you accept a draw?” Dallion asked.

“It doesn’t work that way. There are no draws in sphere items. Through combat or negotiation one of us must lose.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“Absolutely. I wish there was another way.”

“Pity.”

COMBAT INITIATED

Dallion swung his sword at the copyette. The action was fast, but his intention had already warned the guardian what to expect. However, the blade didn’t stop, continuing to slash the painting in two.

MEDIUM STRIKE

Damage has increased by 50%

The painting shriveled up, disappearing into nothingness. Dallion’s suspicion had proved to be true—every part of the copyette represented the same creature, thus harming part harmed the whole. Dashing away, Dallion let go of the harpsisword and summoned his dartbow. Within seconds bolts split the air targeting the remaining pictures. Unfortunately, the guardian was prepared. The rest of the paintings trickled down the walls in unison, merging into a second copy of Dallion, this one dressed entirely in blue clothes. Weapons also appeared in both instances of the copyette—the red Dallion held a copy of the harpsisword, while the other held a dartbow and a standard buckler. For some reason, the armadil shield was not there.

“Can’t blame me for trying,” the red instance of the guardian said. “I was considering letting you go on.”

“Probably not for long,” Dallion smirked.

He had read up a bit on copyettes. While most of the information had been removed and forgotten, the ring library had mentioned a few things. Chief among them was the copyettes desire to trick people. They had been described as powerful in ages past, with the ability to mimic skills and weapons of anyone they fought, not so much as to win in a direct conflict, but to create the illusion they could. Their skills, while outstanding, were always weaker than those of the original, forcing them to resort to other tactics.

The music attack that the guardian had done was indeed quite successful. The initial taste wasn’t to impress Dallion, but to make him think that he was incapable of spotting any music attacks. Quite a sneaky approach, and it had a chance of being successful if it wasn’t for Nox once more. The crackling had easily spotted what the guardian was doing and then done something that Dallion thought impossible—it had sliced through the music thread that attempted to attach itself to the realm. Dallion was still able to feel how the guardian was trying to influence him, but felt no impulse to actually do it.

“Still want to have that music duel?” Dallion asked.

“Maybe next time.”

The red copy of the copyette charged forward, while the blue one shot a bolt in Dallion’s direction, limiting his movement. Now there were two attacks to worry about, though after the scylla’s barrage they seemed more than manageable.

Blocking the bolt with his shield, Dallion twisted around, spinning in place. The harpsisword did a circular slash, followed by another.

From experience Dallion knew that it took about a second before the dartbow could shoot again. He also knew that the copyette had one serious weakness.

“Now, Nox!” Waiting for the precise moment of turning, he changed target, leaping in the direction of the blue instance, while the crackling—that had timely appeared on his shoulder—went for the red one.

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 5%

The second bolt grazed him as Dallion slammed the harpsisword into the blue copyette.

Damn it! Dallion had hoped he could finish this fight without getting additional damage. Although, losing only five percent from a dartbow bolt was a pretty big achievement. Even with the armor Eury made him, three direct hits would be enough to put an end to the trial.

A loud sound filled the chamber, as blade met the copyette’s buckler. Despite the force of the strike, the harpsisword wasn’t able to chop through the shield, going only half an inch in. Instantly both sides of the fight reacted: the blue copyette moved to aim its dartbow at Dallion to shoot from point blank range, while Dallion reached for the strings of the harpsisword.

Ultimately, Harp proved to be faster than all, causing the strings to vibrate. Her action only caused the blue copyette to freeze for one second, but that was enough. Dallion played a second chord while pushing on the sword. This time the shield snapped in two like a broken biscuit.

“You really need to mimic better.”

CRITICAL HIT

Damage has increased by 200%

Now there were only two Dallions left in the chamber.