——— Mira ———
I still haven't recovered fully from the physical exhaustion after using the Mirror of Despair, but there really wasn't much time left for the Monster Battle Contest. Now that I had this Human fully under my control, I couldn't waste time just ailing in bed. I had to get started on training him as soon as possible.
But how?
It was a tricky situation. I mean although he believed in my 'power' now, I had to offer him a target to fight against, and with me being the trainer, I was probably doomed to death if I went head to head against him with no real defense and offense magic of my own, not to mention the fact that as soon as he tanks my illusionary offensive magic he will find out that my magic does no physical harm. I had just the right plan for it though.
I brought the Human to a clearing inside a forest not so far from the city walls. Far enough to be away from any prying eyes, but not too deep into the forest that we might have unwelcome encounters with any real dangers that may lurk around.
"Are you ready?", I asked Minho.
"No. I really don't feel comfortable fighting, I tell you. And you are not in a very good condition."
How considerate but…
"How dare you think you could hurt me in a battle?!" It's time to stamp my authority again.
"So… sorry. Please, not the mirror…"
That's right. I heard that the experience of looking into the Mirror of Despair was extremely traumatizing. I have him on my palms now, hehe.
"Well, it doesn't do any good to break you before the Monster Battle Contest. I will train you to increase your combat skills. The purpose isn't to destroy you"
"OK… but seriously - I'm not what you think I am. I'm just a human"
"You need strong confidence in a battle. I shall allow no such feeble mind. If you still have any fear in your heart, I will beat it out of you. Understood?"
"Understood"
"Now, we must practice in the same condition as how the actual fight will be at the contest, which means there will be boundaries. All fights will happen within the boundary and if you step out of it, you are out"
As the Human nodded, I slowly began to draw a big circle around where we stood, while secretly whispering the spell for Sphere of Illusion.
This was one of my trump cards. As much as I'd hate to admit, I cannot be fighting this monster myself. So my plan was to create the Sphere of Illusion, keep him inside, and place a projection of myself inside the sphere with him. All and any attacks he makes will be against the illusion. I just have to create the visual effect that I was defending it, tanking the damage like a champ.
Once I drew the large circle, I did the genius trick that always worked.
"Look over there!"
"Huh?"
Fool.
As Minho turned his head away, I stepped out of the boundary and placed my image right in front of him at arm's length.
"There is nothing- WHOA!"
Kuku. That must have unsettled him - me suddenly closing distance in a split second like that.
"Foolish Human. You fell for the oldest trick in the book"
Minho then took a few steps back and assumed a fighting stance, reluctantly.
What the heck is he doing? We are not going to have a fistfight!
"What's up with your stance?"
"I… this is how humans prepare for a fight"
I see. I guess it's a bit like how some spells require physical gestures for conjuring the magic.
"Now, attack me"
"You sure?"
"Hahahaha. You can't hurt me. Try me"
I was going to let him land one proper attack on me, let myself appear to get hurt, and then heal myself. That should freak him out as well as give him a bit of confidence boost.
After some moments of hesitation, Minho dashed toward me and threw a punch at the stomach of my projection, which I chose not to dodge.
"Kyaaaaaaa!!!"
HOW. IS. THIS. POSSIBLE?!!!!!
I fell on my knees and threw up outside the sphere of illusion as I felt the full impact of the Human's punch.
Why did I feel pain in my REAL BODY?!
This has never ever happened before.
During the circus shows we did as a family, I had my proxy cut, burnt, mashed, and all sorts of horrible things but it never hurt me. But this Demon just delivered a REAL physical impact on me as it attacked my projection.
"I'm sorry! Are you alright?!"
Minho ran towards my projection, and gritting my teeth, I made my proxy image quickly get up, jump away from him, and float in the air.
"Not bad, kuku. Not bad"
IT WAS SO BAD!!!
"I'm glad you are fine"
"Tsk! I told you, I can't be hurt"
I'M SO HURT! This is so painful!
"Now, how will you attack an opponent that's floating in the air? Can you fly too? We might get some flying monsters as our opponent"
"No, I can't fly"
What the heck? A Human Demon cannot even fly?
"Then find another way to attack me, you fool. This is why we are doing the training"
":Sigh: OK"
The Human then looked like he was throwing up and started to pull something out of his mouth.
Right, here it comes. I have to…
:WHACK:
"Kyaaaaaaaa!!!!"
I just got frigging WHIPPED!!!
It was lucky that the Sphere of Illusion also blocked the sound coming in from outside, but feeling the pain of the vicious whip, I couldn't control my projection properly and let it crash onto the ground.
This doesn't feel right. I didn't feel pain as my projection crashed to the ground, but I felt every bit of it when I got whipped by this Human.
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry again!"
Minho ran to me again to check I was OK.
Right, I can't let him get closer to me now. I need to scare him away.
With that, I made my projection 'teleport' away and made it conjure up a ball of fire in front of it.
"My turn now, dodge this"
I threw the burning sphere of flame and the Human did exactly as how he countered last time during my summoning ritual, spewing water out of his mouth to put the fire out.
"Not bad. How about this?"
This time I made my projection summon a phoenix out of thin air - that must have looked impressive! - and made it circle him high above the air, almost at the vertical boundary of the sphere. He won't be able to spit out water this far. And it also had the extra benefit that even if he could attack the phoenix, it wouldn't hurt me as it was not a direct projection of myself, although I didn't quite understand how the attack on my proxy transpired to real pain on my very real body.
But wait-
Waaaaaaaiiiit a moment.
You can't 'put out' an illusionary fire with water!!!
How the HECK did he do that?!
The water should have gone right through it - but he did this during the summoning as well. Why didn't I think of this earlier? This demon can basically counter and treat illusion as if it were the real thing!
The Human then struggled to puke out something from his mouth.
What the heck is that?
In his hand he held a round yellow object, something that looked a bit squishy, and threw it at the 'phoenix'. The yellow object then burst into water and the phoenix was shot down.
This is astounding…. He's my true nemesis. No fire illusion magic was going to work on him.
What to do… what to do now…
But as I was distracted for a moment, the Human threw another one of those squishy yellow ball at 'me', which again burst into water and now the real me outside looked like I just wet myself.
This is sooo humiliating!
Come on… think something, Mira.
Think!!!