Another of Dallion’s instances managed to fire a bolt from point blank range, reducing Nox’s health by a tenth. It was a slow and laborious process, but at least he was getting somewhere. Having to fight without the ability to restore health was a significant hindrance, although Dallion was somewhat used to it thanks to his wilderness activities. Thankfully, due to their natures, Lux and Nox weren’t a good match together. The firebird couldn’t heal the crackling without harming it. Sadly, that still gave Nox the ability to fly and almost instantly move from place to place.

I’ve trained them too well, Dallion thought as he continued to split after every action. The strain was starting to get to him. The splitting combined with his extreme focus on the movements of the familiar-duo was starting to make his head pound with pain. But that wasn’t the worst of it. So far there was no hint of Gleam. The shardfly was hiding somewhere in the battlefield—Dallion was certain about that—however, he couldn't see her.

You won’t last long like this, the armadil shield said. You need to break for a bit.

Just a few more, Dallion thought. After a lot of effort, he had brought down the crackling’s level to eight. Two more good hits and he should be okay on that front. Of course, then the real fight would begin—facing Gleam herself.

Six pumas appeared, surrounding Dallion. Normally, this wouldn’t be a cause for concern. However, unlike before, these weren’t instances.

“Damn it!” Dallion shouted, protecting himself with the shield best he could.

MEDIUM WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 20%

A red rectangle appeared, as one of the cracklings managed to exploit an opening Dallion had left in his defenses. Dallion, of course, was quick to slice the creature, along with a few more, but the damage was already done. This attack marked half of his health gone… and more followed.

Several of Nox’s copies moved through the air. Dallion immediately recognized the type of the attack: it was the same he had used when fighting the Vermillion. Since Lux was unable to combat split, he was shifting from crackling to crackling, giving them an aimed shove in the right direction. While a bit clumsy, that allowed all the crackling fragments to act as if they had flying. Definitely a sneaky plan, but it had one major flaw.

Focusing, Dallion managed to see the trail of light between cracklings. It was barely visible, but more than a perfect indication of what to do.

I’m counting on you, Harp. Dallion played a chord, then struck the air between Noxes.

CRITICAL HIT

Damage dealt is increased by 200%

The assumption was correct, but Dallion didn’t rejoice yet. Not wasting a second, he slashed again, striking the ground beneath him. Then again, and again. To most of those watching, it would have seemed that he had lost his mind, or was waving the harpsisword aimlessly in a desperate attempt to keep Nox from nearing. However, with each hit a new red rectangle appeared in the air. Moments later, a ball of blue flame exploded, sweeping through Dallion and everything else in the area.

LUX has been defeated!

MODERATE HEAL

Your health has been increased by 15%

Destroying a firebird had an effect? That was good to know, especially if Dallion ever had to fight one in the wilderness. In this case, the “death damage” was to his advantage since Lux only had the ability to heal. Nox, on the other hand, suffered significantly more. The wave of flame had passed through three of his fragments, effectively halving the crackling’s overall level. From here on, it was pretty much the same as fighting a cub.

“What trick did you use?” Gleam’s voice echoed all around him.

“Why don’t you come out here and I’ll show you?” Dallion asked as he split into ten instances.

Instead of an answer, a wave of crystal razor blades tore through the battlefield. Dozens of columns, as well as eight of Dallion’s instances, were shredded to bits. It was pure luck that the last two happened to be out of reach.

What the heck?!

Some species of wild shardflies are capable of that, Nil said in academic fashion. There have been cases of a single one slicing through entire villages. Usually, the Order of the Seven Moons organizes a hunt in such cases.

Usually? Dallion looked at the trail of destruction. A series of lines, hand an inch apart, started from the distance, ending at the wall that marked the beginning of the “hall.” Since this was a trial, realm logic prevented the destruction from moving on. If it didn’t, there could have been a few more miles of shredded stone.

Not wasting a moment, Dallion split again. This time, nothing followed. Several of his instances examined the marks. The area was as wide as a highway, and by the looks of it just as long. There was no telling what exactly Gleam had used, but Dallion was pretty certain that it was more than her wings. Or maybe it wasn’t?

Playing a series of chords on his harpsisword, Dallion stepped on the “road” still combat splitting. At this point he really hoped that his familiar couldn’t split or, more importantly, see his instances.

Keep in mind that Nox is still out here, dear boy, Nil reminded.

I haven’t forgotten, Nil, Dallion grumbled.

Without warning, another wave of razors passed through. This time, Dallion paid attention, checking which of his instances “died” first. Out of fifteen, only four remained, but it was worth it. Dallion was able to determine the direction of the shardfly’s attacks. Out in the open, this would have resulted in almost certain death. Even with experience and improved stats, Dallion didn’t have the physical speed to avoid such an attack. By the looks of it, he didn’t have the perception level required to see it before it was too late, either. That was why he wasn’t able to spot the familiar: the creature was miles away, attacking from a distance that would make sharpshooters envious.

Concentrating, Dallion doubled the speed at which he was playing his chords, and split into instances yet again.

“You’ve become a lot sneakier,” Gleam said.

“I was about to say the same.” Dallion continued along the road of scars. “I don’t remember seeing you do that when we fought.”

“I don’t remember you doing successful line attacks, either.” The shardfly countered.

That much was true. Unfortunately, the trial hadn’t allowed Dallion to perform that skill, while it had boosted the abilities of his familiars. One thing was interesting, though. The increase of their abilities was quite disproportionate. While stronger than before, Lux hadn’t shown anything new. Nox had performed combat splitting, and swarm merging, as Dallion expected he would. Meanwhile, Gleam had displayed abilities Dallion had never imagined. Normally, the abilities of the beings in his trial were based on his thoughts on the matter. In this particular case, that wasn’t true. Dallion had often wondered if Lux would act as a flame thrower when leveling up. That hadn’t occurred, and neither had Nox released tentacles as a chainling would.

Slowly, Dallion went back on the road and continued forward. For close to half a minute nothing happened, then the usual attack followed. If nothing else, the shardfly was consistent. The fact that she kept to a single attack, strongly suggested she had more up her sleeve. At the moment, this was more than enough. After all, Dallion didn’t even know what the attack was, even after experiencing it several times.

“This is your ability, isn’t it?” he asked, walking on. “The ability that you remember from before you were captured.”

“And you’re using music to try and get me to show myself,” the response came from everywhere around him. “It won’t work.”

“Sooner or later, it will. There’s only so much you can do.”

“Nox was able to take half your health and you think you stand a chance against me?”

“If it were the real Gleam, I probably wouldn’t have. However, you aren’t her. You’re nothing more but an echo created based on her thoughts and memories. That’s why you can use abilities I couldn’t imagine.” It was also the reason why the other two familiars were so limited in their repertoire. In theory, they were supposed to be level twenty familiars, but in practice, they were nothing more than a boosted level four and a boosted level two.

“Who says there’s a difference? Am I any less real? I have the appearance of a shardfly, and I have her thoughts, memories, and skills. Who is to say I’m any less different?”

“I’ve already passed that gate when I became level five.” Dallion smirked. “An echo isn’t the original, it’s just an echo.”

“That doesn’t make it any worse.”

“It doesn’t make you any better, either. Just different.”

A new wave sliced the battlefield. This one was twice as wide as the previous ones, also it was perpendicular to the last. However, the surprise attack failed to achieve its goal. For one thing, Dallion had already determined that the familiar couldn’t sense his instances, so he had spread them as wide as possible. Also, he had been consistently linking dozens of music strands to objects throughout the battlefield every second. The chords he had been constantly playing were never aimed at revealing Gleam. Rather, they were to establish a parameter. He had felt several of them snap as the attack had proceeded. Interestingly enough, even then, he hadn’t felt the weight of the attack, just its force.

“So that’s your trick.” Dallion smiled, as he split into a dozen instances, yet again. The familiar was right when she had said that her illusion doesn’t affect just sight. A good illusion could trick other senses as well; it could create fake sounds, fake sensations, and sometimes, when it was powerful enough, it could even cause damage to items and areas as well. After all, people weren’t the only ones to be tricked by illusions, guardians could be as well.

“Figured it out?” Gleam asked. She sounded slightly disappointed. “Would have been fun if I could play a bit longer.”

“I know you. It was never about play. You like to win quickly and crush your target.”

“Just a bit. Can you blame me? I haven’t led a charmed life the last few millennia.”

“That’s a lie,” Dallion said. “Gleam hasn’t. But you’re not Gleam. Even if you appear to have the same thoughts and memories, your actions are your own. And that means it’s also mine.”

There was no response.

“You could have attacked me early on,” Dallion continued. “You’d have hurt Nox and Lux in the process, but so what? You’d have still won.”

“It would have been stupid to waste allies.”

“That’s not it. You didn’t do it because you didn’t want to, and the reason you didn’t want to was because your thoughts are based on me.”

“That’s a bit meta for my taste.”

“Precisely.” Checkmate.

Finally, he had found what the question of this trial was. On the surface, it was facing the fear that his familiars could turn against him. However, that was not the whole of it. Fighting alone was definitely part of the answer. The more important part was reducing the advantage ranged creatures had. Most likely, this was what Euryale had expected him to achieve in order to become a hunter. That was also the challenge of the previous challenge as well, Dallion had simply misinterpreted it and found an alternative way to succeed.

The sad truth was that while he had started to follow the Path of the Empath, he remained too weak to use it for all of his battles. There would be times when he wouldn’t be able to rely on guardians, there would be times when he wouldn’t be able to rely on familiars even. That was why he had to have the strength to win until that time when his empathy stat became high enough.

Dallion took a deep breath.

“Line strike,” he said, then weaved his harpsisword.