Chapter 58: Maze of Reflections
Damon stopped moving.
Not by choice but rather by the lack of it. Even if he turned the same corner twice, he would wind up in a different place. The second he took his eyes off the corridor, it would change entirely.
’Is this some kind of illusion?’
Wanting to test that theory, he sent his fist at full strength at a nearby wall. Any ordinary wall would’ve exploded from the impact, but to his surprise, this one did not. The impact left nothing but a faint thud.
’It’s real, alright,’ he thought, shaking his fist and taking a slow breath to calm his racing heart.
What was more surprising was Kitsune’s disappearance. Unlike the rest, who might’ve been weak to any illusions or mental attacks, she most certainly was not. Meaning whatever or whoever has done this was strong enough to even do it to a divine beast.
Of course, he had no doubt that she would be fine. The others, however, he had no such confidence in.
’I need to hurry up,’ he thought, picking up his pace and taking another corner. ’If they encounter any monsters, they’ll be as good as-’
Suddenly, the air behind him changed. It was a subtle yet unmistakable shift which he would not have missed.
He dashed forward on pure instinct, trying to avoid whatever it was before even seeing it.
But when he looked back, he saw his shadow, or rather, what he thought to be his shadow, completely detached, staying behind where he had just been a moment ago.
’What is-’
There was no time to process.
The shadow rose from the ground, coalescing into a humanoid form.
Its dark silhouette lasted only a few seconds before it began to look more and more familiar.
’Tall with black hair and... a dark Jian in its hands?’
The face was last to materialise, but when it did, Damon’s hand stilled on his sword.
It was him.
He was staring exactly at himself.
Damon, however, would have no time to dwell on what was going on before his doppelganger vanished and reappeared right beside him, with its Jian mid swing.
"Shadow Step?!"
***
"Where did everyone go?" Nyla frowned as she looked around. "They were just there... well, at least the boss was..."
She wasn’t sure when the rest of the group disappeared, but she was certain Damon, whom she referred to as boss, was right in front of her.
Unwilling to just sit idly around and wait to be rescued, she began to venture deeper into the maze, her massive hammer resting on her slender shoulder.
Despite her confident walk through the corridor, she did feel slightly uneasy. The sheer size of the hammer made it impossible to swing in such close quarters, meaning any monsters that came her way would be hard to deal with.
And with the next corner she took, her worst nightmare came to life.
A dark silhouette stood at the far side of the corridor.
It remained still at first, before taking slow, deliberate steps toward her.
It was a tall woman with golden-brown skin, wearing tall brown leather boots, a pair of shorts, and a top that left her abs exposed.
Nyla blinked.
"It’s... me?"
Suddenly, the figure dashed forward.
Nyla shifted just in time, putting her hammer between her and the fist flying her way.
BANG!
The deafening sound of fist crushing against the hammer filled the entire corridor. But Nyla was already moving, her own fist flying against her doppelganger, only to miss by a hair’s breadth.
The two went into a fury of blows, fists and kicks, equally matched at every instance.
The narrow corridor magnified every impact, knuckles cracked against bone, boots scraping stone, along with the sharp hiss of air from any of the blocked strikes.
Almost identical wounds began to fill their torsos as each landed their own strikes.
But there was one difference that made this fight even more frightening. While sweat stung Nyla’s eyes and brows, her doppelganger looked anew. No ragged breathing, no sign of tiredness.
’It’s not using a hammer,’ Nyla thought mid swing, ’It’s either smart or can’t copy abilities...’
They exchanged a couple more strikes before Nyla could finish her thought process.
’But if it can use my abilities, then why isn’t it using that?’
Nyla pushed forward, trying to push her doppelganger against the corner.
Each step required a half dozen strikes to succeed, but as they finally reached the corner of the corridor, Nyla left herself open.
The doppelganger didn’t waste the chance, striking right into the opening, but at that moment, Nyla raised her arm behind her clone.
"Furnace," She murmured, and in an instant, a massive furnace filled the space behind, its fire heating the entire corridor.
The doppelganger had no time to react before Nyla spun and kicked it right in the abdomen, sending it flying into the pit of fire.
The flames left it no chance of escaping, grasping its entire body in an instant until nothing but ash was left.
Nyla stood there for a moment, chest heaving, knuckles split and bleeding. The furnace dissolved behind her, leaving only scorched stone and the acrid smell of burnt... something, until a system notification announced her kill.
But she would not have a proper chance to hear that notification before her surroundings suddenly changed, and she was no longer in the maze but in a massive chamber of some sort.
***
’It can use shadow step?!’
Damon had no choice but to use the ability himself, teleporting to a nearby shadow in order to avoid the Jian coming his way.
He wasted no time sending shards of black ice straight at his doppelganger, but the moment the ability left his hand, the doppelganger did the exact same thing.
Ice crashed against ice as the doppelganger charged forward. Damon grimaced before dashing forward to meet his clone head-on.
CLANG!
The sound of their swords clashing echoed through the entire maze, faint but unmistakable. And even those separated by the maze would hear the faint echoes of Damon in a fierce duel against himself.