Another line made its way towards Dallion. The armadil shield on his left arm extended to form a semi-sphere of metal, blocking the attack. The force was immense, pushing him several meters back, but that was nothing compared to what had happened to the rest of the room. Unable to withstand two slices, a quarter of the roof section slid off, revealing a clear sky.

Dallion gritted his teeth. This was the first time he witnessed an enemy in a trial actually destroy the trial chamber. He knew that no actual damage had been done to his realm—the moment the trial was over, succeed or fail, everything would go back to its previous state. However, facing such power was more than a little intimidating.

“Gleam!” he shouted, splitting into three dozen instances.

Each instance was a potential reality of attack, going at March in a different fashion. Slashes, piercing attacks, even a hammer bash attempted to do even a moderate amount of damage, but all of them failed. Despite the heavy armor, the woman was far nimbler than Dallion gave her credit for, not to mention that she could split into instances as well.

Without warning, Dallion’s whip blade emerged from its sheath and extended its tip towards March. A simply deflected it into the remaining part of the ceiling, causing it to be stuck. Just because something was indestructible didn’t mean that it couldn’t be dealt with.

Taking advantage of the fraction of a second March took to defend herself, Dallion did two line-attacks of his own. A large section of the flaw ripped open. Unfortunately, none even touched their target. The woman remained there, completely unharmed, destruction all around her.

“Commendable that you’ve learned line attacks,” she said. “You still have to practice a bit more. You’re wasting too much energy.”

That was true. Although the attacks no longer caused Dallion’s arms to go numb, he did feel them slightly weaker. Normally, it would take him a few seconds to get back to normal. The time was halved thanks to Lux, whose flames had healing properties, even more so now that he had become level three.

“You have everything it takes to move forward,” March said. “You just need to learn how to use it.”

“Is that the advice you’re giving me?” Dallion focused, combining his music and forging skills. For a moment, he could see the entire composition of every metal item in front of him. The woman’s blade and set of armor were virtually flawless. There were no hairline cracks or weakened areas, and the joint connections are securely covered. Without a doubt, the suit was made by a master craftsman and meticulously maintained.

“I’m not giving you any advice. This is a challenge of combat strength. There’s nothing hidden about it. All you need to do to break through your next barrier is to prove that you could best me. Simple.”

“Things are never simple.” Although, more and more, it was looking like she was right. Dallion’s hidden fear had to be that he didn’t think he was good enough for a mission with March. In order to prove himself wrong, he had to defeat his mental image of her. The issue was that his mental image of the captain was much tougher than anything he had faced so far, including the dragon shadow.

A bit of strategy might go a long way, Nil grumbled. That is, if you’re not too busy swinging that sword about like a complete idiot.

With no time to waste, Dallion changed the fashion in which he was holding the harprisword, then with his left hand played a single chord. Strands of music attached to March’s shoulder piece, making it vibrate in the same intensity. This was a trick Dallion had discovered recently: after increasing his music level past fifty, he could inflict damage from a distance when combining it with his attack skills. Also, if he also combined his forging skills to the mix…

The metal shoulder piece burst into fragments.

MINOR HIT

Dealt damage is increased by 10%

“Nice trick.” March took a step back, then did a series of circular line-attack, reducing all furniture in the area to bits. “But you can’t win on tricks alone.” A point attack followed, going through the room like a hurricane. Wooden splinters flew everywhere, like miniature bolts.

Cocoon! Dallion ordered.

Instantly, the shield grew even further, surrounding him completely in a metal sphere. Wooden fragments bounced off, creating a sound like hail on a metal roof.

Damn it! Dallion cursed. He had successfully protected himself from serious damage, but with that he might well have lost the fight. While the shield offered full protection, it also prevented him from seeing what was going on. There were a whole lot of things that March could be doing to take advantage of the situation. And even if she didn’t, it wasn’t her task to get Dallion out of his battlefield shelter, it was Dallion who had to take the initiative to defeat her. If things remained as they were, the trial would end in failure.

And that is precisely why you need strategic thinking, Nil sighed. Or at least tactical. You’re past the phase of quick wins. Fight more like you do in the wilderness.

There! That was the precise problem and focus of the trial. It wasn’t so much that Dallion didn’t have the strength or skills, nor was it that he was incapable of strategic thinking. Rather, it was the fact that he still couldn’t shake the mental image of people who had been vastly superior to him in the past. That was the main reason he still couldn’t defeat Vend—his first mentor in the guild—despite being only a few years younger than him, and ten levels higher. Even with Vend’s uncanny ability to split into hundreds of instances, he wasn’t supposed to be a match to Dallion, and yet he remained unbeatable. March was no different.

You’re only invincible because you’re invincible in my mind, Dallion thought.

Given that the whole trial was in Dallion’s mind, that made things a tad more difficult. However, as he had seen, just because someone was invincible, that didn’t mean there weren’t ways of dealing with them.

Gleam, what’s going on? Dallion asked.

She’s just standing there, waiting for you, the whip blade guardian replied. I don’t have a good angle of attack, but I can try to distract her.

Don’t. Attack the shield instead.

That’s harsh even from you, the armadil shield guardian said.

Create an illusion, moving me slightly to the side, Dallion went on.

Won’t she guess what you’re thinking? Gleam asked. One of the guardian’s most useful powers, other than flying, was the ability to use her dust to create illusions. The scarier part was that when she was in the wild, those illusions were so good that they had the power to kill as if they were the real thing.

The secret to a good strategy is that it words even when the other side knows what it is, Dallion grinned. Just do it and have some fun on the way back.

The whip blade weaved through the air, its fragments moving away from one another. Forming an arc, the blade extended, cutting through all wooden fragments in the air. It passed over a foot over March’s head, aimint to strike the metal sphere Dallion was in instead. The instant before it could do that, though, the woman struck the metal cord that connected the blade fragments, sending it back again.

“Nice try.” March thrust the whip blade behind her, burying it in the wooden wall.

This wasn’t within Dallion’s expectations, but there was nothing he could do. The armadil shield contracted, allowing him to emerge on the floor. It was at that precise moment that March thrust forward, striking a series of strikes in rapid succession. Her speed was impressive, making the action seem like a single blur.

Focusing to the point of his eyes tearing, Dallion did his best to counter. Each time his harpsisword struck March’s blade, a musical chord filled the air. Unfortunately, lacking the time for the chord to be finished no music effects took hold. Dallion kept retreating further and further back. The room that once had seemed enormous not didn’t seem at all large. In what felt like mere moments, Dallion found himself almost up against the wall. He had made several attempts to get back up into the air thanks to Lux’s wings, but throughout all the instances he attempted, he was struck down by March, often receiving a critical wound.

Red rectangles kept on appearing, letting him know that he’d received damage as well as that he’d restored his health. The firebird was working on overtime, healing his wounds almost as quickly as they appeared. However, that too was a false sense of security. Dallion knew that two good hits were enough to finish him.

“Your footwork has improved,” March said as she pushed on. “Must be all that hunting in the wilderness. However, you’re still struggling a bit when it comes to manmade environments. You won’t always have the luxury of fighting in the open. Not where we’re going.”

That was partially true—a lot of Dallion’s tactics were useless here. Thinking about it, he couldn’t remember ever fighting in tight spaces. The only exceptions were an alleyway—in which he had almost ended up killed—and in a tavern, where he’d been a spectator rather than anything else. Normally, one didn’t expect to get into fights within settlements. The domain rulers of the cities particularly hated anything that could disturb the peace and efficiency, and they also had the means to sense major infractions within their territory. Naturally, that became more and more difficult as the settlements grew bigger, requiring the need of a dedicated city guard of awakened and an overseer—an entity which was part human, part guardian, that held the power of the city itself. Could it be that provincial capitals were different? Given the prize at stake, political conflicts were more than likely, and in this world, political and actual conflicts were often the same thing.

Several feet from the end of the wall, Dallion briskly removed the shield and threw it at March.

Cocoon! He ordered.

This was a desperate act, but the best option he had at present. If his back touched the wall, he would be pretty much finished.

The shield flew through the air, expanding so as to swallow Dallion’s opponent. For a moment, it almost seemed that it would succeed. The woman had failed to evade or deflect it, and now was halfway surrounded by large metal segments. Alas, before it could fully close, a second weapon was drawn. Or rather, it wasn’t exactly a weapon—not something Dallion would consider one in any event. With one swift action, March detached an entire section of her armor. When Dallion had examined it earlier, he had noticed the near clip-on functionality of the metal pieces, but hadn’t given it much thought. This was by no means an exception. Many awakened had similar suits, designed for ease of putting on and taking off. In this case, though, something completely different happened. The shin and leg armor that were removed, didn’t just remain as it was, but changed form like an origami of metal, transforming into a large mace with blades instead of spikes.

One strike was enough to keep the armadil shield from closing around March. Another opened it enough so she could step out freely.

Dallion frowned, watching the shield fall to the floor. This was something he hadn’t expected.

“As I said before, nice try.” March took a calm step forward. She had paused her attack. At this point, she could afford to. Dallion had already lost two of his weapons and was in an exceedingly difficult position. “Do you know what failure is, Dal?” she asked.

“When your best isn’t good enough,” Dallion replied.

“Precisely. Now the only question that remains is was that your best?”