"You think this is funny?" my clone asked angrily as we both recovered from our collision.
"Of course," I replied smugly. "Unlike you, I don't have anything holding me back anymore." I laughed as I thought about it even more. Without my true siblings in front of me, I really didn't need to hold back anything. I didn't need to feel guilty, I didn't need to protect them... it almost made me glad that they had exiled me in the first place. It made me think for the first time that I had thought about the whole situation incorrectly. Maybe being exiled was a blessing in disguise? Maybe there is truly a silver lining to everything?
I didn't have time to think as my clone materialized another [Misty Frozen Spear] in front of him as his expression turned from anger to smugness - the same smugness that I was sure was plastered all over my own face.
Pshhh.
Instantly it flew through the air, but I was prepared. Dodging towards the side, the spear nearly skimmed past my shell, scratching its surface and knocking me towards my left. The momentum of the shot was clear.
'Magic is dangerous.' I thought as I quickly recovered my footing.
"Look at the fool who can't even use magic or any skills." my clone yelled as if it had accomplished some great task. Like I was facing my pompous younger self, my clones seemed to boast of all its accomplishments, even the tiny ones.
I laughed instead. "Are you sure?" I replied as I hinted at the devastation that had occurred behind me. Also like my younger self, the clone never seemed to realize the bigger picture until it was too late.
'So unresponsible.' I thought as I watched its smugness fade. Tens of his own snails had burst into dust behind me due to collateral damage and it hadn't noticed. Instead, it deciding to mock me instead.
'Typical. Typical younger me.' I thought as I heard a mad shout enter my head. "AARRRGGHHH" it shouted in frustration as it charged straight at me in its raged induced stupor.
I only shook my head as I prepared for its charge. As exchanged hits and taunts with my clone, I continued to see myself within it. I was once the same snail that was controlled by anger and rash decisions was before me. Deep down I felt that I had really grown as a snail. I had tempered both my body and my mind.
Boom. The room shook as we collided at full power.
I was knocked back.
'It's stronger than me.' I thought, but it made sense. It was buffed by skills and resistances, whereas mine were still locked away by the trial. Luckily it didn't know how to use them as well as I did.
We smashed against each other once more with our shells.
Bang. Tilting backwards, I wasn't going to let it knock me away. I change my strategy. Instead, I opened my mouth and bit down as quickly as I could while it pushed my body backwards.
A satisfying crunch? An explosion of dust?
No.
Closing my jaws as swiftly as I could, I expected that my clone to be crushed into dust particles that it was made of.
But I was wrong.
The only thing that I was able to bite down onto was white mist.
'[Misty Shift]' I thought as I instantly knew what to do as I watched the floating mist drift away. It was the same [Misty Shift] that I had used to escape the Labyrinth of White with and one that saved me from dying from a vertical drop. Of course, I knew the way to counter it.
With full speed, I moved my body in the middle of the mist and waited as particles of the mist disappeared with the heat my body was generating.
"You idiot," I said out loud as I was sure it could feel and hear me. "The battles over you headstrong idiot," I said once more as I waited.
"How do you know?" the clone called out.
Knowing that I had already won the battle, I decided to humour "myself".
"Just try to reform your body," I replied. "You'll die instantly as your body reforms around mine. If you try to run away, I'll catch up because the cold mist is slow. If you stay in the mist form you'll disappear... its just a matter of time. And if you think you can reform the mist by our [Mist Production] skill then feel free. I'm sure you'll run out of the mana that sustains it. So be my guest. Choose which way you want to go out, you dumb imposter... or should I say, younger me."
Minutes passed and it had gone as I had predicted. My clone seemed to retain my tenacity as it held on to its last moment.
Poof. Mist turned into flesh as its body reformed out of the mist. And my greatest fear when using the skill became realized. Like I was a horribly shaped popsicle, with no space to form, its innards and body formed around mine and scattered all over - a deformed mass of flesh guts and shell.
"Jus...t how...?" it seemed to ask just before it disappeared into a puff of dust.
"I know my own weaknesses better than you ever will," I replied solemnly as I slid instantly into a group of snails.
With swift movements, I quickly crushed the rest of the tiny snails and 60 who ended up cowering behind them within a few minutes.
...
[Trials of the rainbow coloured seed: 1/7] (Completed)
+ [Illusionary Red] (Unlocked)
+ [Red] (Locked)
Please increase [Mastery: rainbow coloured seed] to unlock skills.
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[Trials of the rainbow coloured seed initiated: 2/7]
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