Lucas sat on the edge of his seat as the battle started. He had no idea how Kaleb fought, not really. He’d heard stories, knew his class, but that could only tell you so much about a person’s skill. As the skirmisher made his opening move, the King of Havar gasped.

  “What a relentless onslaught!” Rex exclaimed, leaning over the railing and cheering on his party leader.

  Asmodeus nodded his head, crossing his wings proudly as he soaked up the praise for his master as if it was his own. Black scales, tinged green, rippled as the muscles underneath his thickened back waved like a shimmering flag; dark sequins being stroked by an invisible hand.

  “I don’t know what you’re looking so proud for,” Panda huffed. “I came up with the idea.”

  “As his familiars, his partners, do we not all gain glory as one?” Asmodues responded.

  Panda snorted a chuckle, shrugging and taking an anxious puff on his bamboo pipe as he continued to watch the battle.

  Lucas knew that it wouldn’t be over that easily and he was proved right when the fight moved to close quarters. Kaleb’s opponent seeming to simply appear behind him. Something about Aethis had been off since the start and though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what that was, he knew it was insidious. Glancing over at his father, who thus far refused to engage with him, he saw that Havier’s attention had drifted elsewhere.

  Following his gaze, he noticed Diako standing threateningly above Loki. They were talking about something and from the deathly black glow of the shadow god’s tightly controlled aura, it was not a friendly conversation.

  “What the hell!” Bell shouted suddenly, pulling Lucas’ attention back to the fight. “She can use illusion magic too. What happened to it being rare?”

  With eyes darting back to the arena basin, Lucas saw three versions of Aethis charging towards Kaleb.

  “It is rare,” Panda exclaimed, his pipe falling from his mouth as he jumped up onto the rails with animated outrage. “In all of my studies I’ve only heard of a few people with that power and her god is one of them.”

  Is he cheating? Lucas wondered, scowling over at Diako and Loki who were still conversing animatedly. That would explain their row. Has Loki created illusions for his champion? He looked back towards his father, a scowl on the man’s face as he glared intently at the two gods.

  “Good job, Kaleb!” Taylor yelled, pumping a fist into the air as the skirmisher easily dispatched one of the illusions with a thrown knife. She stood next to her sister, though whilst Taylor was whooping and cheering, Sally stood completely still. Her arms were folded, her scowl could petrify a gorgon, and her neck twitched ever so slightly whenever Aethis landed a blow. It would have been imperceivable to most.

  “Father,” Lucas whispered, shuffling closer to Havier so that he didn’t disrupt the others. “Is Loki cheating?”

  “Noticed that did you?” Havier growled quietly. “It’s hard to say for certain, but Diako certainly thinks that’s the case. Akabane is doing extraordinarily well to hold Aethis back if her god is adding his strength to their fight.”

  Lucas nodded, his frown lines deepening. For his father to acknowledge his question, answer it, and not insult him, something had to be seriously wrong.

  ***

  I thrusted an arrow through the front of Aethis’ neck, into her palate and pierced her brain. It squelched; hardness followed by a soft gooey centre as the arrowhead penetrated deep.

  This has to be the real one, no illusionary trick can feel this real.

  I felt Chrysus’ gaze upon me, a devilish grin and hard eyes. He didn’t call the match. Hearing a poof, I looked back at the corpse of my foe.

  Aethis vanished in a puff of smoke.

  Eyes wide, I threw myself back from the dissipating body of the illusion. Daggers in hand, I stood with great difficulty, slamming on a healing potion and wincing as I felt the skin in my pierced thigh begin to knit itself back together. My HP rose steadily. Looking around the arena, I couldn’t see her. Where was the real one? How had her illusionary mana felt so real?

  I began turning in a staggered circle, sand whipping at my ankles as my grimy boots displaced it from the floor. A cold breeze swept through the battlefield: a momentary reprieve for my sweat soaked face. As the wind swept across my brow, my perspiration turned cold; seawater spray dripping down my nose after a mid-winter storm.

  The audience were silent, you could have heard a pin drop as, like me, they waited with bated breath for the battle to continue. I knew it wasn’t over. Chrysus hadn’t announced anything. Aethis’ corpse wasn’t laying at my feet. My blood ran hot, adrenaline pumping through my veins which stood ready, like pipes of fire pushing against my skin, fuelling my tired muscles.

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  “Aethis!” I yelled, breaking the silence. “Come out and fight me, let’s finish this!”

  “Are you sure that’s what you want?” Her voice hissed across the wind, a whisper tickling the lobe of my right ear. I turned towards it but there was no one there. She was toying with me.

  “Yes.”

  In a puff of smoke hundreds of figures, each a facsimilie of her likeness, appeared. They surrounded me, an army of tiny tanuki, each armed with a different weapon. A battalion of archers in the outermost circle of foes, spearmen in the front. Stepping out from behind them, an Aethis with tattered shinobi-like armour and bloodied knuckle dusters approached me.

  “Do you see now?” She said in a vindictive, gritty voice. “You have no hope of winning.” She approached me, pulling down the loosely wrapped shamagh which obscured her face so only I could see her.

  Recoiling in shock, I felt my eyes bulge. In place of black-circled fur over beady eyes was pale human skin and a victorious smile.

  “Loki?” I breathed.

  He pulled a fur covered finger to pursed lips and re-covered his face.

  Shit! Have I been fighting a god this entire time? He’s toying with me. I never had a chance of winning.

  I felt the rage bubbling inside me. This farcical tournament had been made even more of a joke and somehow I just knew Chrysus was behind it all. I glanced up him, sitting on thin air as he floated above the arena. His snake-eyes beaming an amused smile at me. He knew. He had to know.

  Kaleb: It’s a trick! Aethis is Loki in disguise!

  I fired off the message but had no chance to check the replies as the circling swarm of spear wielding god-tier illusions charged.

  Thrusting out with my right hand, I stabbed Aethis-Loki in the face and it disappeared. The apparitions weren’t hard to kill, the danger was in their numbers and their ability to cause me damage. If I couldn’t take out the puppet master then I was doomed to run out of stamina long before I had any chance of my allies coming to my rescue. It was a war of attrition.

  It’s a long shot, but what choice do I have?

  Knowing the first thing I needed to do was to clear some space, I went to work. Keeping one dagger stuck to my hand, I dodged, slashed, and parried the first Aethis illusions to reach me. A spear grazed the side of my head and I stabbed an Aethis in the shoulder causing it to puff away in a thin smoke. Another cut my arm and I threw a dagger which sliced through the eye of an Aethis. I slew dozens of them but they just kept coming, swarming me and leaving me no room to manoeuvre.

  It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but I knew that if the fight carried on in this fashion I’d die of a thousand small cuts long before my stamina bar ever had the chance to drain. It was a battle of attrition and I was losing, already on the back foot. I needed a trump card.

  I guess I have no choice but to use it, I thought, gritting me teeth and cursing my bad luck.

  I activated the second of my new skills.

  Myriad Of Slashes (legendary)

  Your soul trembles, craving the sweet tang of your enemies’ blood. Call forth the warrior within and expel your soul power in the form of ethereal daggers. Slice through your enemies and live to fight another day. This skill has the added effect of disguising itself as a mana-based skill – too bad you went and blabbed about how you don’t have any to anyone who would listen…

  This skill can only be activated once per day.

  This skill can only be used by one with access to soul power.

  This skill can only be accessed by someone with a variation of the “Qualified Skirmisher” skill, or higher.

  Possibly the strongest skill in my arsenal, Myriad Of Slashes was originally going to be my trump card in the finals. I had planned on keeping it a secret to catch The Samurai off guard. However, I had no choice but to use it now. I needed to create some space and this was the best chance I had. Thankfully my Newly Qualified Apex Skirmisher skill had evolved during my time in the training zone, giving me access to Myriad Of Slashes when I reached level eighty.

  Qualified Apex Skirmisher (Dual Wield) (37%)

  The Qualified Apex Skirmisher has advanced on his path to mastering small blades. What it lacks in reach, it makes up for in speed – a description that would also accurately describe your love life.

  The Qualified Apex Skirmisher will have to complete greater feats in order to evolve this skill. Upon reaching 100% proficiency, the skill will evolve.

  Damage proficiency improved.

  Dual wielding proficiency improved.

  A medium bonus to the effect of agility will be added when a small blade is equipped.

  The only real difference from this new upgrade was that the bonus to agility had increased a little, but that wasn’t what made it so important. Evolving it had granted me access to Myriad Of Slashes, and if I was going to use that skill here and now, it wasn’t going to go to waste.

  I felt my soul core expanding outside of myself the moment I activated the skill. It felt like my core was a water balloon filling up way beyond the available capacity, then, it burst, exploding out of me in all directions. Glowing green light in the shape of hundreds of daggers shot from my core in all directions.

  A plethora of Aethis’ poofed into mist and I finally had my moment, the little bit of breathing room I’d been looking for. I wouldn’t waste it, nor would I risk being interrupted.

  Full Set Bonus: When all pieces of the set are equipped, turn invisible once a day for an amount of time dictated by your intelligence stat.

  Activating my full set armour bonus, I sprang into action. The rows of Aethis clones had thinned considerably, but there were still way too many for me to fight off. At least now they wouldn’t be able to see me for a short while.

  Perception of the Apex Predator (rare)

  Slow down time for a period determined by the amount of stamina you use on the skill. Cooldown determined by the amount of stamina used on the skill.

  Attributing just a little bit of my stamina, I willed the world to slow down and Perception Of The Apex Predator responded. I had a well of stamina now, more than I’d ever had before the training zone. Because of that I could activate this skill without having to worry as much about the draining effect it had on me, but I couldn’t keep it up for long if I wanted my attack to count.

  Swapping my daggers for my bow, I drew the string, aimed up at Loki, channelled all of my stamina into the god slaying arrow… and fired.