What It Means To Be Powerful

(Robin's POV):

Present time...

I hid my revolver and brought out Mana Breaker and Heaven's Beacon. I then tried to attack Grace's reflection and overwhelmed it without holding back over anything. My speed is somewhat hindered because the effect of Illumination has worn off while I have some injuries sustained and have to continue without rest.

"What's wrong teacher? Losing to your student?" - Grace

"I think I'd rather say, I could win even while holding back by ninety percent."

The swords clashed strongly without stopping at anything. Two katanas are wielded against two great swords. The boost of wind from the reflection disappears when Mana Breaker comes close to it. I start dashing sideward and let Jay take aim against Grace's reflection.

"Clear!"

Jay fired a bullet which struck Grace's shoulder and made her flinch. I followed up by slashing a few times, some were blocked but both me and Jay landed clean hits.

"Good."

"Nice one!" - Jay

"Khh!" - Grace

I reformed my stance while waiting for Jay to prepare another bullet.

"Jay, signal when ready."

"Got it." - Jay

The reflection started dashing towards me at a high speed. I then try to block every single strike without exerting much effort.

Either we're trying to deal clean hits only or we stall for illumination.

"Robin! Why aren't you using illumination!" - Jay

"Cool down!"

"Hoo? So it's in cool down? I'll end this quick then." - Grace

Can't be helped if Jay blew my cover, it's gonna get exposed now or later anyway.

The reflection dashed back and enveloped itself with a strong gust of wind. Speed boosting huh? Well there isn't that much problem to that.

I took out a small object from by breast pocket and showed Jay what it means to be powerful.

"Tarot Card XIII!"

"Wha?!!" - Jay

"Justice!"

"Tempest Blade!" - Grace

"Activate!"

My stats have been boosted up once more to balance against the reflection of Grace who increased her speed beyond me. Don't think you're gonna win because I'm injured.

"Tailwind!" - Grace

The reflection increased its speed even more. I simply charged forward with Mana Breaker and Heaven's Beacon on dual wield.

The reflection dashed towards me and tried to land swift strikes, I smoothly blocked and deflected most attacks while receiving more minor damage. Fast, but not enough...

I tried to force a few strikes which the reflection just easily dodge while making counters. I may look like I'm losing with the constant addition of damage to my body but I'm actually getting something in here.

I felt Jay's signal as he aimed his sniper towards me. I then formed a blocking position which Grace's reflection tried to strike down with swift attacks.

I locked both of the reflection's swords and moved to the side as I pull her towards Jay's sight. Now it's clear for you.

Another bullet was shot and gouged out the shoulder. Now this part should be easy.

I deactivated my tarot card and brought out a potion to restore my mana. I spent a huge amount just to keep most skills active and not exiting combat state after my reflection. Most of my mana has been restored but I continued to move around towards the clone as it fell down to the ground.

It tried to stand up but Jay fired another bullet and gouged the other shoulder.

"I'm sorry Grace, I won't do something like this to you..." - Jay

"You shouldn't apologize to the reflection Jay, it'll only make it stronger."

The reflection tried to stand up using the legs but I sliced one off.

"I told you, this ends here..."

"What are you gonna do about that girl then?" - Grace

"Who knows, I'll find a way."

I stabbed the reflection with my Mana Breaker right at the skull. It stopped moving and dispersed into atmospheric mana pretty easily.

"Is it over?" - Jay

"Yeah, let's regroup with the others."

Me and Jay walked back as he loaded another bullet to the rifle and carried it on his back.

"So, what was your bet on the zodiacs again?"

"Well, I'm rather worried about Grace right now so..." - Jay

"Yeah, let's get her some smooth comfort first."

After returning towards the other central area, we saw Grace asleep while Ridley and Rylle are cracking some jokes toward each other.

"Good work guys, how is she?"

"She has calmed down now, we might need to let Grace have her Terrence pill." - Rylle

"But we have no idea where Terrence is..." - Ridley

"Pretty sure Robin said that Kaede is going around to rescue that bastard along with Terrence?" - Jay

"Jay, calm down... If I remember correctly, they went out yesterday so... We might just visit the crystal palace tomorrow. Ridley, Rylle, I want you two to take care of Grace in the town. You're gonna need these."

I brought out a bunch of glowing black stones without any kind of symbol engraved in it. I brought this out to prevent any of us from overloading mana while resting.

"What's this?" - Ridley

"These are black runes that will absorb mana constantly. They will prevent us from overloading mana without being flashy with our skills."

"Why didn't we use this since the start?" - Rylle

"These are items to die for, unless you want us to be swarmed by hundreds of players just by entering a town we can't really show this."

"I see, what are you gonna do with me though?" - Jay

"We'll be finding some arcane ore. I'm entrusting the defense of Grace while we look for the ore. Let's get the zodiac out first."

"Right!" - Jay

A hole in the center opened, I carried Grace who was sleeping and slowly floated down the hole. When we landed, we ended up returning to the spot on the gauntlet but with the last door finally opened.

"That's great then... Everyone, it's safe!"

Jay, Ridley, and Rylle jumped down one by one and landed gracefully without much trouble. I urged them to follow me to the last room as we see the other six rooms closed.

"The last hallway, let's see what it has in store for us..."

"I sure hope we aren't gonna fight another monster after the psychological attack we had received." - Ridley

"Yeah, it's somewhat troublesome fighting yourself after all." - Rylle

"Well, I don't think there is that much of a problem unless you're very sensitive over some things..." - Jay

Jay looked at Grace while worrying, he seems to have bad feelings if someone else goes through this fight.

"Well, it's not that bad once you know your weaknesses."

"I see..." - Jay

"Well, here we are."

We had finally arrived to a spacious room which was nicely decorated and lit up. The pedestal in front of us has a large symbol of Virgo.

"And our bets are wrong!"

I tried to yell out some positive vibes towards them which the three just sighed in a little bit of disappointment.

"Welp, too bad... I was hoping that one of us would win but I remembered that Rylle was guaranteed to lose."

"Eh?! Why?!" - Rylle

"You bet on something that Seymour has already."

"Ah well, I guess it's not that bad, nobody won anyway." - Rylle

"True."

When we came closer, I noticed something pretty bad. Oh boy, pretty sure the item comes with a bubble to absorb it. Is this what I think it is?

"I have a bad feeling..."

"Eh? It's unusual for you to have that." - Jay

"Before we entered, there was a platinum coin, and another gold coin in the fountain."

"Wait... Does that mean..." - Rylle

"Yeah, we had forerunners here. Damnit! We wasted time!"

"R-Robin, please calm down..." - Jay

"Haaaah..."

I sighed in exasperation as I had known that I ended up wasting equipment and time. I had healed myself up and started walking towards the exit while carrying Grace who is still asleep.

"We're out of here, we can't waste time anymore."

"Alright..." - Rylle

"What happened?" - Ridley

Ridley asked Jay and Rylle while following behind me. I simply listened in while thinking about what to do for the time being. I hope I'll find that forerunner and kill it.

"Well, the zodiac he needed isn't here. Somebody must've collected it already." - Jay

"I see... Wait, that's what we're here for?" - Ridley

After exiting the gauntlet from the current room, we ended up getting teleported to some inside area of a hallway. I heard footsteps so I assumed that we're right below the town. We walked forward silently and ended up seeing a staircase upwards with a trapdoor covering the surface.

"Ridley, Rylle."

"Got it..." - Ridley

"Aight." - Rylle

Both of them opened up the trapdoor and everyone got shined by sunlight after a while. It wasn't too bright as it was actually setting down already.

"Welp, let's find an inn and rest. Jay, I'll have you follow me by tomorrow."

"Got it." - Jay

We moved towards an inn and gave ourselves a full 24-hour stay with five separate rooms. The cost wasn't that big as we're actually filthy rich.

I laid Grace down on her bed and left her alone there. Jay was outside the room and I felt various presences trying to peek.

"We should keep an eye on Grace's room, she's the one prone to some funny actions from various people here."

"Eh? Why?" - Jay

"We have some powerful and flashy dudes in this place and we have to keep an eye on a broken person. Which is why I'm bringing only you with me in the collection of arcana ore tomorrow."

"I see... Should I prepare for tomorrow?" - Jay

"Go ahead, but don't get yourself screwed over by hunger. I'll prepare some food for Grace by cooking in here."

"Alright, I'll grab some dinner and head to sleep then." - Jay

"Tell the other two the same thing, I'll just leave some nice food for Grace here."

"Thanks for helping us Robin." - Jay

"Eh? What do you mean? We'll be doing a lot more here."

"Right, see you tomorrow." - Jay

We still have to collect ore tomorrow... I'll then hunt for this zodiac holder.