Balin's grip tightened around the worn leather of his zweihänder.
"..."
His smile didn't fade.
If anything...
It widened.
There had always been someone stronger.
As a child... He was already at a disadvantage due to the fact his phenomena was unexplored territory, not only that his mana was small compare to the average person.
But it didn't matter.
He'd trained until his hands split open.
Then watched another boy surpass him without breaking a sweat.
He practiced longer.
He swung his sword a thousand times.
Another prodigy mastered the same technique before lunch.
Everywhere he looked...
There were monsters wearing human skin.
People called them geniuses.
Natural talents.
Chosen ones.
Blessed by the heavens.
And every single time...
Someone would pat him on the shoulder.
"It's alright."
"You worked hard."
"As expected."
"Talent is a cruel thing."
He hated those words.
Not because they were cruel.
Because they were spoken like a eulogy.
Like the battle had already been decided.
...
One winter.
He challenged the strongest swordsman in his hometown.
Lost.
The next week...
He challenged him again.
Lost.
Again.
Again.
Again.
By the twentieth defeat...
People stopped watching.
By the fiftieth...
They started laughing.
By the hundredth...
They stopped trying to stop him.
"Still not giving up?"
"No."
His answer never changed.
Every defeat carved another lesson into his muscles.
Every broken bone became another page in a textbook written in pain.
He couldn't become a genius.
So he'd become something else.
Someone too stubborn to stay down.
Until he won.
By the Hundred and twenty three attempts...
I've won.
Years later...
A wandering knight asked him the question everyone eventually did.
"Why do you keep challenging people stronger than you?"
Balin remembered wiping the blood from his lip before answering.
"Because they're stronger."
The knight frowned.
"You'll lose."
"I know."
"So why?"
Balin gleefully smiling.
"Because one day... I won't." Balin answeted like it was the simplest question in the world.
He was fifteen.
He met Hjördis.
Not in person, rather from a distance.
A single swing of her sword parted the clouds, an entire mountain ridge split apart.
The impossible became reality before his eyes.
Everyone around him trembled in awe.
Some called her a monster.
Some called her a one In a billion talent.
I...
Only smiled.
"So... that's the summit."
The gap between them wasn't large.
It was absurd.
A difference so overwhelming that most people would've abandoned the climb before taking the first step.
I took another step anyway.
Back in the present...
Barry tilted his head.
"You look like a honey badger, y'know."
"..."
"I have no idea what that is."
"They're small."
Barry gestured casually.
"Angry, and completely insane."
"They spend their entire lives picking fights with things several times bigger than themselves."
He smiled.
"You'd get along."
Balin barked out a laugh.
"Hah... I'll take that as a compliment."
His grin slowly stretched into something almost manic.
Barry Wunderlich.
The man who had cleared the Trial of Self first.
Second overall.
Only beneath Hjördis.
12 Teams eliminated.
A genius.
Another wall standing before him.
He rested the zweihänder across his shoulder.
"After I'm done with you..."
His eyes gleamed with excitement.
"I'll go after her."
Barry blinked.
Then pointed a thumb toward himself.
"What makes you think you'll win?"
The wind swept across the cliff, carrying dust between them.
Balin chuckled.
"Who said anything about winning?"
He planted his sword into the earth.
"I'll probably lose, i know that, I've been losing my whole life."
His smile never wavered.
"But every time I lose... I'll leave with something, sometimes a habit, a weakness, a lesson."
His fingers tightened around the hilt.
"So I'll keep losing."
"Again."
"And again."
"And again."
"Until one day..."
He slowly lifted the enormous blade.
"I finally manage to scratch that smug little face all you geniuses make."
For a moment...
Barry simply stared at him.
Then a grin spread across his own face.
"I would look good with a scar on my face."
Before he spun the bat once before resting it on his shoulder.
"You're completely insane."
Balin's laughter echoed across the mountains.
"So I've been told."
The two of them lowered their weapons.
The air grew heavy.
Only one thing remained.
To see whether relentless effort could leave even the smallest mark...
...on a genius.
The instant I moved.
Barry disappeared.
No.
He was still there.
My sword simply cut through the space he'd occupied a fraction of a second ago.
His feet landed on an uneven root.
Anyone else would've stumbled.
He didn't.
Not even a twitch.
Like the forest itself had decided to stay out of his way.
Clang!
My second recording activated.
A manifestation burst from my left, repeating the horizontal slash I'd stored minutes ago.
The real me attacked from the front.
A textbook pincer.
Barry dipped his shoulder.
The phantom's blade skimmed over his back.
His bat rose.
CLANG!
Every action I'd banked earlier became another angle to think about.
He should've been overwhelmed.
He wasn't.
He spun over the sweep.
His foot landed on the flat of my own manifestation's sword.
...
What?
The phantom finished its action and disappeared.
Barry used it as a stepping stone.
He kicked off empty air
No.
He kicked off my attack.
My Zweihänder bit through empty air.
Again.
The manifestation finished its slash beside Barry.
The real me lunged a heartbeat later.
Clang.
His bat knocked my blade aside.
Barry casually sidestepped another replayed slash.
"I guess I expected too much."
He sighed.
"You're no _:3LagPowered_."
Silence.
The forest became awkwardly quiet.
Balin frowned.
"Huh?..."
Barry paused.
"Ah."
He scratched the back of his head.
"Ignore that."
He sighed.
"It's just means you have a lot of room for growth."
The bat jabbed toward my ribs.
I twisted away.
A recorded block appeared between us.
THUNK.
The manifestation absorbed the hit.
I countered immediately.
Barry slipped between my blade and the fading phantom like water through fingers.
The tip missed his nose by a hair.
He looked... annoyed.
"You're making your own ability babysit you."
"What?"
Another recording.
A dash.
I shot forward.
My manifestation repeated the same dash from another angle.
Two attacks.
One destination.
Barry stepped left.
Both of us rushed past him.
"Seriously?"
His bat smacked the back of my head.
Not hard.
Just insulting.
"You."
Thwack.
"The clone."
Thwack.
"You."
Thwack.
"The clone."
Each word landed with another light smack of the bat while I struggled to keep up.
"It's either you creating the opening..."
Another swing.
"Or the manifestation creating the opening."
He ducked under my slash.
"Never both."
I grit my teeth.
"I don't have time to."
"Exactly."
He pointed the bat at me.
"While you wait."
I frowned.
"I don't-"
"You attack."
His bat tapped my chest.
"Then your manifestation covers you."
Tap.
"Or your manifestation attacks."
Tap.
"Then you capitalize."
Tap.
"One."
Tap.
"Thing."
Tap.
"At."
Tap.
"A."
Tap.
"Time."
The irritation in his voice surprised me.
He sounded less like an opponent...
More like a teacher watching someone repeatedly hold a sword backwards.
"It's frustrating."
I blinked.
"Frustrating?"
"Your ability is disgusting."
He spread his arms dramatically.
"Actually disgusting."
"Thanks?"
"That wasn't a compliment."
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You can literally fight beside yourself."
"Yeah?"
"And somehow..."
He gestured vaguely at me.
"you turned it into a turned based rpg."
...
I don't know what means, but it's probably insulting.
I rushed him again.
Manifestation first.
Overhead slash.
I followed from below.
Barry swatted both away almost lazily.
"There!"
He barked.
"There it is again!"
The bat cracked against my wrist.
"You saw your manifestation attack..."
He shoved me backward.
"...and you waited to see if it'd work."
Another shove.
"If that thing misses."
Shove.
"So do you."
I slid through the leaves.
"When did this fight turned into a teaching session?."
Barry stared at me like I'd asked how breathing worked.
"Fight."
"I am fighting."
"No."
He shook his head.
"You're watching."
...
"What?"
"You attack."
He pointed at me.
"It attacks."
He pointed beside me.
"But neither of you combo to one another."
He swung the bat in a lazy figure-eight.
"Think for a sec."
He suddenly lunged.
The bat came for my shoulder.
I recorded a dodge instinctively.
The manifestation replayed it beside me.
I escaped.
The phantom escaped.
Barry froze.
"See?"
He looked like he wanted to throw the bat into orbit.
"Both of you dodged, WHO WAS ATTACKING?"
...
"..."
"..."
"No one."
"Exactly!"
He practically shouted it.
"Stop panicking, and calm down, it's not that hard!."
"It's harder than it looks."
His free hand raked through his purple hair.
"You escaped, then the manifestation escaped."
"Congratulations."
"Now there are two people doing absolutely nothing."
"When you dodge..."
He stepped closer.
"Your manifestation should be cutting my legs."
"When your manifestation blocks, yyou should already be stabbing my throat."
"When your manifestation jumps, you use the opening to change elevation."
"When it dashes... You get the point."
His bat pointed between my eyes.
"Stop making copies."
His voice dropped.
"And start making a combo, have you never played a fighting game?."
"Genuinely what are you talking about?."
Silence settled over the forest.
Leaves drifted between us.
I looked at my own fading manifestation.
It wasn't another fighter.
It never had been.
It was...
One completed action.
Nothing more.
Barry clicked his tongue.
"You're treating every recording like an extra person, it isn't, It's an extra decision, just how many times did you lose for you to develop a habits like this?."
I hate to say it but...
He's right.
...
I raised my Zweihänder.
This time...
I recorded a forward dash.
Then a low guard.
Then a diagonal slash.
Barry watched quietly.
I inhaled.
The dash manifestation exploded to my right.
At the same instant.
I ran left.
His eyes followed the phantom.
Mine never left him.
The guard appeared in front of me before his bat arrived.
CLANG!.
The impact stopped his swing for an instant.
Just long enough.
The diagonal slash manifested behind him.
Not to hit.
To herd.
Barry instinctively leaned away from it.
Toward me.
My blade was already there.
The edge kissed his neck.
A thin line of red appeared.
...
Barry smiled.
"That's more like it."
He reached up and wiped the blood away with his thumb.
For the first time since the fight began...
It felt like there were truly two of me.
It's not enough.
It's simply not enough.
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth.
"Is it frustrating?"
Barry rolled the bat across his shoulders.
"It should be."
He looked at me with the same expression a craftsman would give someone trying to cut wood with the blunt side of an axe.
"You've got the highest skill ceiling out of the eight."
I blinked.
"Oh my god, What are you talking about?."
He stared for a second.
"Forget I said anything."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means fight."
I hated this guy.
Fine.
No more waiting.
I recorded a planted step.
Another.
A leap.
A diagonal slash.
A guard.
Five.
The manifestations erupted around me.
The first slammed a foot into the earth.
I stepped onto its momentum.
Instead of merely running.
I was launched.
The world lurched.
Fast.
Barry' eyebrow lifted.
"Oh."
I twisted midair.
A second manifestation appeared beneath me.
Its recorded guard became a platform.
My falling momentum died instantly.
Without touching the ground.
I changed direction.
The third recording kicked off an invisible foothold.
I shot sideways.
The fourth slash cut off his retreat.
The fifth guarded my flank before his bat even moved.
Not one attack.
A chain.
Every recorded movement feeding into the next.
For the first time.
Barry had to move first.
He ducked.
Rolled.
His bat scraped against the guard manifestation.
CLANG!
I was already above him.
My blade came down.
He crossed the bat overhead.
Steel screamed.
The impact threw us apart.
"That's better."
He grinned.
"Much better."
My chest burned.
Again.
Again!
I was no longer chasing him.
I was ricocheting through my own past.
Every previous movement became another foothold.
Another springboard.
Another wall that wasn't there.
I almost smiled.
Then
THUNK.
The bat hit my wrist.
My sword flew away.
"What?"
I hadn't even seen him move.
My manifestation completed its slash anyway.
Barry walked straight through the fading light.
He'd already left before it existed.
My stomach folded.
A knee struck it.
Air exploded from my lungs.
The bat hooked behind my ankle.
The world spun.
The ground greeted my face.
Hard.
Before I could recover.
A knee pinned my arm.
The bat trapped the other.
"Again."
I growled.
A manifestation replayed my recorded kick.
Cassius simply shifted his weight.
The kick missed.
He never lost balance.
Not even for an instant.
How...?
I snarled.
Another manifestation.
Another escape.
Another.
Another.
Every attempt died before it began.
His footing never broke.
Never slipped.
Never overextended.
Like the earth itself refused to inconvenience him.
My temper finally snapped.
"GET OFF!"
I bucked.
Twisted.
Managed to throw him sideways.
Finally.
No sword.
Didn't matter.
I tackled him.
We crashed through bushes.
My fist slammed into his jaw.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
He slipped every clean hit by an inch, turning solid punches into glancing blows and blocking when necessary, but I kept swinging anyway.
He tried to bridge me off.
Nothing.
I had him.
Finally.
"I got you."
Barry looked strangely...
Calm.
"Gravity's a bitch."
"What?"
Something whistled overhead.
CRACK!.
The stone slammed into my skull.
White exploded across my vision.
I rolled off him instinctively.
Half blind.
Usually attack like that wouldn't work, however I was out mana.
"What the hell."
A white bird circled overhead.
A Rimecrow.
It let out a smug little caw before flying away.
...
My head throbbed.
Barry slowly stood.
"Perfect timing."
I stared.
"When, when did you..."
The bird hadn't been there.
Had it?
Had he...
Signaled it?
When?
During the fight?
Before the fight?
How far ahead had he planned that?, for him to use a bird to try to knock me down, was I that easy?,
Goddamit.
I forced myself upright.
My legs shook.
My mana...
Empty.
Every enhancement I'd been unconsciously maintaining vanished.
My body suddenly felt twice as heavy.
Barry looked exactly the same.
Not breathing hard.
Not exhausted.
Not even sweating much.
Throughout that entire fight...
I never sensed mana.
Not once.
Was he like Iris?
Someone who manipulated mana so perfectly that I couldn't perceive it.
He walked over.
I tried raising my fists.
My arms barely obeyed.
"Done?"
I swung anyway.
He caught my wrist.
"Yep."
The next thing I knew.
I was upside down.
Hanging over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
He adjusted my weight like carrying defeated swordsmen was part of his daily routine.
As he started walking through the forest, he spoke over his shoulder.
"...where are you taking me?."
"Oh?, Iris has something to say to you."
....
"That sounded more terrifying than fighting you... put me down."
"I would've, if you won, but you didn't so that's a bummer."
Why does this guy only spout nonsense after nonsense.
....
Perched atop a strand of water as thin as a thread, a black-haired, blue-eyed woman overlooked the forest. The rising sun bathed her in golden light, making her seem less like a person and more like a goddess descending from the heavens.
"Seriously!, and your saying your only tier one?, that's what we call lying Iris!."