(Rylle's POV):
After a single flash from the chest, I ended up in a dark hallway separated from everyone. Robin hit the mark well huh? What do I do then?
I started walking forward without even lighting up the area. It's an unnecessary action for me who can actually see in the shadows or the darkness.
"This is a creepy hallway though I have to say that."
When I had noticed, I'm completely alone which gave me a huge wonder on what to do. The best way I could think is to run in so...
I dashed forward and ran through the hallway without even caring about the possible risks that are involved to the actions I'm taking.
After a while, nothing really came out so I slowed back down to a walking pace. I might as well rest because there's a huge opening coming up, there should be something that I might have to fight there all alone.
I had arrived to the opening and saw a figure that's at the same height, same clothing, same stature, just like a reflection of me.
"Yo, got bored of your current life?" - ???
The voice I heard was also mine, it was enough to give me a conclusion that this is a reflection of myself.
"Yep, what do you think?"
"Well, I'm more keen to keeping myself entertained than having a shitty life. Everything is boring after all, I'd enjoy risking something which could lead to loss anyway." - Mirror
"Really? I think my risks have been purely positive so far."
'Be honest with yourself, you lost some friends because you wanted more fun." - Mirror
That's right, I did lose a lot of friends because of that behavior...
I took out a shrouded blade and poured some mana in it.
"I'll make sure you'll dwell back to your past." - Mirror
"I'll be sure to face my past well."
I activated some smoke to hide myself immediately. I then planned out some things on what to do to fight against myself. I have some information about my weaknesses since Robin had pointed it out to me after the training. He gave us great lessons to the point where we can pretty much take over and win against myself as I am right now.
"Dark cloud!"
I covered the area with dark smoke that allows almost no visibility. If it's myself then it could be able to see through but, I had already spread out my presence within the smoke. When I checked, the presence of the mirror is using it to his advantage which is actually a good way to trick myself.
"Laying out a place to hide for me? How wonderful." - Mirror
"Actually, this is an opening trap where you already screwed yourself over."
I moved to where he placed his presence and dispelled the entire cloud instantly. The black smoke disappeared within a split second which revealed the mirror immediately. I then tried to slash my reflection with the shrouded blade.
I landed a hit in the shoulder only as it tried to dash back to dodge my attack. I then started overwhelming the reflection with a single sword.
"Overwhelming me immediately? Did you learn that from your new friend?" - Mirror
"Yeah? Like it?"
"It's more of an unsuitable way of getting through it don't you think?" - Mirror
I moved to the right to try and maneuver my reflection to a corner. I have trouble fighting when in a corner since I'm mostly an assassin. When I got it to the corner, I simply continued overwhelming the reflection and tried to end it immediately.
"This should end with you being unable to dodge my attacks now."
"Heh, did you forget that you made a trump card when in a corner?" - Mirror
Crap! I forgot about that!
"Devouring Shadow!" - Mirror
Devouring Shadow is an ability that creates a blast made up of darkness and will damage the targets by a substantial amount. The affected targets will gain a debuff that will be troublesome after getting knocked back. I fell victim to my own ability.
I got blown back to the center of the area and started to feel a little numbed on most of my body parts.
"Keh! I knew it would be difficult fighting against myself."
"Yeah, specially when you started to enjoy risking your own life for no apparent reason." - Mirror
"Shut it."
"Surely everyone would start hating you again because of that retarded habit." - Mirror
"Really? Then why did the others not leave me yet?"
The reflection flinched a little bit, but it suddenly started charging towards me.
"Because eventually! They will abandon you!" - Mirror
Really? That ain't a reason you know?
I stood up and tried to hold out until the numbness disappears. I made various movements that require a low amount of effort just to get myself out. It's a risky method but it works pretty well.
"You're still risking yourself even now. So what can you say about that?!" - Mirror
"At least I ain't dumber than you!"
After regaining my senses, I started making counterattacks and try to bring the fight to two sides. I simply got the battle to equal terms now.
"Impressive, getting yourself in the risky chances to lessen the amount of effort made. Trying to conserve stamina? Then I'll do that too." - Mirror
The reflection starts trying to lessen the effort to try and match and try to get me exhausted. However, since I did it first, he's pretty much the first one to be exhausted.
"What are you gonna do now?" - Mirror
"Pretty sure I was never arrogant with my abilities."
The reflection somewhat had messed up his balance due to not focusing. I never knew I was actually not focusing on the fight...
"I guess I don't really focus in combat, whoa there!"
A hidden dagger suddenly shot up which is actually from the spot where I hide a dagger.
"Ooh? Resorting to that now? Pretty sure I was only using the dagger for preemptive measure."
"Well, pretty sure you already know the answer to that." - Mirror
"I see, then we might as well make this fight fun?"
I brought out a dagger from my sleeve and formed a stance for quick elimination.
The reflection also followed and it became a staredown.
"Whoever wins, wins."
"Whoever wins, wins." - Reflection
Both of us said the same thing at the same time before dashing forward and twirling for a powerful attack. Our weapons pretty much clashed so I had to pull back and dash to the side.
The reflection then started to overwhelm me while bringing out black smoke. Nice try but I know what you're planning.
I dashed back and activated my skill that allows me to see through the black smoke. I had this ability just in case I have to fight against a fellow shadow assassin. I took out a kunai and threw it in a random direction.
"Whoa there..." - Mirror
And that's my queue...
I took out more kunai made up from black smoke and threw them in random directions. This is my natural bet when fighting someone with the same class as me. The reason why I threw them around randomly is because it could basically say that the close calls were only lucky throws. It's a risky move but it pretty much works well when I do it.
"You troll! I know you're throwing everywhere on purpose!" - Mirror
I heard a voice somewhere on my right so I basically threw multiple kunai to my right in a form of a spread-out cone,
"Khh!" - Mirror
Looks like I got a clean hit!
The reflection started throwing kunai right at me without hesitation. His position was given away with a single dagger so he has pretty no other choice but to haul a bunch of kunai right at me. I'm slowly getting there...
I deflected all the kunai to different directions with the shrouded sword and the dagger. After that, I threw another few daggers to him which he dodged pretty smoothly. I forgot that it's a reflection of me, I could pretty much dodge well.
I dashed forward while the reflection was trying to get the main weapons out. I parried the sword with my dagger and moved it to the left by twirling with momentum. I then made a decisive slash with the sword that sliced the body in half. Finally... I made it...
I sighed and sat down for a while, when suddenly I hear my voice again.
"Good job there, making a risky play as always." - Reflection
"Well of course, the riskiest plays can give the greatest results. Just be sure to know that I could simply get through everything just fine with everyone. It's not like I'm the one leading them."
"Makes sense, so what are you gonna do? You should head to the central area of this gauntlet. There will be a latch you can drop into the spot where you came from." - Reflection
"Aight, cheers man, that was a good battle."
I offered a handshake to the severed body without hesitation even though some tricks could be done. The reflection just raised its hand to accept the handshake.
"Good fight indeed, now you know your weaknesses to improve... Now go." - Reflection
I left the reflection as it dispersed into atmospheric mana. I then went through another narrow hallway to the center but I ended up in a dead end.
"Wait a second, this is where I came from!"
I went back to the hall and tried the other hallway. I got trolled, impossible...
After going through, I saw Ridley sitting down on the center.
"Oh, Ridley! Done on your side?"
"Yeah, fighting yourself is pretty tiring. What the heck is this dungeon anyway? How did Robin find this?" - Ridley
"Pretty sure he said something about gamer logic."
"Now that's what you call a real gamer. How did we not know that?" - Ridley
"I have no idea, probably experience."
"Well, we're pretty much tattered up here... I wonder about Jay and Grace..." - Ridley
"Jay might be able to handle but it's about Gayle so it's most likely he's gonna break. I can say that Grace might need a Terrence pill after this..."
"Hoo? I wonder where he is now though?" - Ridley
"As Robin said, he's gonna be evacuated by another higherup to the palace. We should ask Robin to visit there..."
"Pretty sure Jay would be happy to see Gayle again, we may have to pull Lester away from them." - Ridley
"Good idea, let's do just that."
Another door had opened up with Jay leaving the room without much emotion...