Chapter 219 Third Trial 5

Standing in that space, Lucas didn't know where it started or ended. Walking along the pillars, they were replaced with other pillars. Each an identical copy of one another, they populated the infinite room. 

Wandering around, he inspected the columns, they were finely carved from stone, a lot more pristine than the floor, giving it a strange mix of materials. Like the stones, the pillars were dark gray, if not black due to the torches casting a big shadow on them. 

'Who exactly are we supposed to fight here?'

'This place feels off, like it's not...'

'What?'

'Give me some time to think man! This shit doesn't feel real, that's all I'm saying.'

'Not real?'

'I mean, why build this? This is just a massive waste of resources and space, what kind of purpose could this even serve?'

'That's.. a good question.'

Lucas activated his flight spell and flew along the pillars. He had tried to practice his flying skills, since all he could do was float and go in a single direction. The moment he tried to turn, he would always lose control and fly in a random direction. 

Not that he found that annoying, he just needed more practice. As he passed pillar by pillar, he grew bored. Staring towards the sky or ceiling, there was nothing but darkness. Flying higher and higher, Lucas tried to see if there was even a ceiling.

Yet after a long time, he found nothing. Spreading his willpower, he knew the pillar continued for a very long time, at the end, there was no ceiling, but the pillar did end. The room on the other hand felt a lot bigger. 

Coming back down, Lucas had absolutely no idea what this place was meant to be nor why it existed in the first place. Seeing that he still wasn't attacked by his opponent, Lucas thought it would be better to hide himself.

Using both Eleven's and Selicia's spell, he hid both his presence and figure. He was hidden from willpower, but if one focussed, they could still notice him.

If one were to look in his direction, they wouldn't see anything, except if they used Magic Vision of course. Luckily, barely anyone used that constantly, only paranoid people would even bother. That or people who had no other form of vision. 

Moving forward, Lucas had spread his willpower far enough to notice any kind of movement. Eventually, wandering between the massive pillars for long enough, he came across a vague image of something moving into his willpower and he instantly put his entire guard up.

The vague figure in his mind's eye also stopped moving the instant it entered his range of willpower which only scared Lucas more. Conjuring up shields and readying healing spells, he also summoned his modified shield capable of handling a Dark Beam. Holding it in his hand, he was prepared for anything.

Even with all of those precautions, he didn't dare move forward or step back in case he might lose sight of the person he just found. Standing there, the sweat was already rolling from his forehead and that was because of a single reason. 

Lucas had his moments of paranoia where he devised a strategy against each person he knew in case they were to ever attack him. This was doable since he knew the people and how they acted. This time though, he was at a loss. 

The figure in his willpower was vague, but it had the same effect that Selicia had, knowing this, Lucas knew exactly who it was. The fact that the moment the figure entered his range of willpower they stopped moving meant they had the same reach.

Combining this with the spells both Eleven created and Selicia used, there was no doubt in his mind who he was going to fight. Himself. And that was the biggest problem, he knew himself quite well, and that was the issue. 

If he knew himself, did the other him also know him that well? Would the same thought processes appear? The fact that both hadn't moved in the slightest said enough to prove something of the like. 

What should he do next? Go in aggressively and take the initiative or stay back and prepare a trap? If he did either, wouldn't the other already know of his intentions? Yet every second that he just stood there was giving the other side unnecessary time. 

Sweat started to build up on his forehead as he got confused, what should he do first? But more importantly, how would he be capable of catching himself off guard? How could he set a trap that he couldn't think of? 

'Do we even need that shit? Why not just fire off everything we got?'

'Don't you think I thought of that already?'

'So? Why not? Just do something instead of standing around like an idiot!'

'If I thought of it, that means he thought of it as well! Why don't you understand?!'

'Argh, fine, whatever, give me control, I'll take care of the first few attacks, you think of something!'

'Good, also, be extremely impulsive and don't think anything through. I think that should at least have some effect.'

"Hah! Way ahead of you!"

While Lucas laughed, he instantly stifled his joy as he saw the other figure suddenly rush towards him. "Crazy bastard.", Lucas frowned the instant the figure started moving, because he was planning on doing the exact same thing. He was just a tiny bit slower. It proved his suspicions once more and also showed that even if he acted impulsively, it was still predictable.

Lucas kept track of the figure and figured out the path he would be most likely to take. Well, he only though how he would've moved, but that was exactly what he needed. 

He waved his hand to conjure a bunch of different strings between the pillars, creating a net around him. He had altered them a bit to fit his needs, basic strings were useless in Lucas's eyes, so he added an element to it. But even with the safety net around him, he felt like it didn't matter. If he was fighting against himself, no simple trap would be enough. 

Seeing no good choice, he simply made a few arrays between the pillars all around him. They were simple in complexity and served only a single purpose. By the time he created a few, the figure was getting very close. Even after his preparations, part of Lucas felt like he was just wasting energy since the person coming for him would already know what he did.

"Damn, this shit is frustrating.", coating his arms in pieces of condensed stone and turning his skin to a slightly silvery one, his defenses were set. All that he had to do now was wait for himself. The figure moved so quickly that Lucas had some trouble keeping up with his willpower. 

"Hey, how would you attack us?"

'Hmm? I don't know, destroy the pillars to create a distraction and cause obstacles to appear?'

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, is it?", part of Lucas grimaced as he broke his head over how he would tackle the things he just set up. Before he got anywhere, the vague image in his willpower revealed himself, making Lucas undo his own spells as well. They consumed a lot of mana and they both were well aware of each other.

No point in keeping up the spells. It was then that Lucas's judgement was proven correct, the figure revealed himself from behind a pillar, rushing towards him was none other than himself. 

Looking at the spitting image of himself felt weird, but now wasn't the time for that. The other Lucas had a vicious smile on his face as he raised his hand and summoned a bunch of small rocks before they flew off in the space above them.

Lucas stood still as he didn't know what he was even trying to do until another part of him warned him. 

'Hey! Get rid of those strings now! He's planning to-!', before he could get his warning out, all the string traps around him exploded at once as the stones broke them apart. 

Explosions went off from all sides, but Lucas didn't even have the time to focus on them as he lost track of where the other Lucas was at. Luckily, he didn't need to calculate it in the slightest, there was only one thing Lucas would do if he were the ambusher. Go for the head.

Lucas raised his shield just in time, deflecting the Blue Flame Sword crashing down with a fiery howl. The impact shattered his shield, sending shards of light scattering like glass. Gritting his teeth, Lucas seized the opening to grab the sword.

He pulled hard, his other fist coiling for a strike—but the blade evaporated instantly. A frigid blast engulfed him as a sudden blizzard erupted, ice and wind tearing into his defenses.

Releasing the punch he barely winded up completely broke the wind and ice. The wind pressure was enough to clear the place of smoke, revealing the other Lucas standing not much further with a familiar shield. 

"Shit.", Lucas instantly realized the attack wasn't mean to hurt him, it was just there to get rid of his shield. The blizzard was only a distraction.

The other Lucas had gathered enough mana in his body for a Dark Beam, and he already had his shield up, if Lucas hurried he might have been able to conjure up his shield, but not enough to fire off a Light Beam. 

Seeing no solution, he activated the arrays that were drawn onto the ground. By activating them all at once, explosion combined with a multitude of spells, enough to disrupt the other Lucas. He himself was also caught in his own arrays, but Lucas didn't have the time to care about it. 

Lucas didn't have a lot of time, but he set up a lot of basic arrays purely to cause distractions. Ice formed and exploded as waves of fire quickly melted them, walls of stone appeared in seemingly random spot. All of them in combination made both of them lose track of their current stance. 

Still, the mana was already released from the core, so at this point the other Lucas was a walking bomb. Then again, keeping so much mana flowing around in the body certainly didn't feel good and was hard to keep. 

Lucas knew that fact quite well, and took advantage of it. Releasing his aura, he caused chaos in the magicules that were floating in the air. It reached far enough to also engulf the other Lucas in his chaos. With all the mana floating around in his body and without the core to regulate it, the loose mana went haywire. 

The other Lucas released his Dark Beam, barely missing Lucas. Despite the chaotic surroundings where you could barely look ahead and magic was going in all directions, the other Lucas accurately guessed his location.

Blasting a whole in the entire place, entire holes were created in the base of multiple pillars. Inspecting them in a flash, Lucas noticed slight cracks appear around the hole, the weight was starting to become too much for the broken base to handle. 

Still, it stood strong for just a bit longer. Finding a slight lull in the fight, Lucas rushed towards the other one and pummeled him with a barrage of attacks, each strong enough to punch a hole into a bear's hide, yet all he did was push him back.

Each punch was accompanied by a different elemental spell as they all combined to create as much of a devastating attack as making it a pain to defend against. 

The other Lucas had a silvery skin as he grabbed Lucas's arm. In that mere moment, Darkness covered his arm, eating away at both of them. Lucas fired of mana in his legs and shot himself in the air. The moment his feet left the ground, he started to float only fire off a Blue Fire Ball while being upside down.

His exact copy had the exact same thought as both spells collided, creating a massive explosion, blasting the nearby pillar apart. The pillar groaned as it slowly started to fall down until it suddenly hit another pillar, barely holding on.

The power of the explosion was enough to blow them both away, but when it came to damage it wasn't nearly enough. Being in the air, Lucas grasped the initiative and fired off tons of small spells towards his other self. 

Lucas gathered the melted ice from the chaos of their spells. With a sweep of his hands, he conjured a massive water avatar. Resembling a giant alligator, the spell had a massive range at the cost of lower power. 

Unlike a Dark Beam or normal fireball, which were easy to block or dodge, this spell couldn't be dodged or blocked. Especially since the avatar was summoned in the air, Lucas didn't even have to control it in the slightest as gravity did the work for him.

The initial impact of a few tons of water landing on a human body were already dangerous enough, combined with the range of it, Lucas's doppelgänger was stuck. Running away wasn't an option and blocking it would still make him surrounded by water and thus extremely vulnerable to electric attacks.

And while it seemed the most obvious choice, Lucas wasn't even aiming for that. He just hoped the chaos and potential trap might buy him a split second.

And it did, although barely. The doppelgänger surged forward, cloaked in Darkness, breaking through the water avatar with a devastating charge, neither dodging nor blocking, but attacking instead.

Lucas had predicted the doppelgängers actions almost perfectly, as he was already creating distance between them, his mind racing. His eyes darted to the cracked pillars, their foundations straining under the weight of the immense stone structure. The sizes of these things were massive, if they actually fell down, it surely would change the battlefield.

His identical twin wasn't going to let him think without interference though, the moment Lucas thought of something he could use, he was being bombarded with spells, blowing him out of the sky. 

Crash landing on the ground, he quickly got back up on his feet before hurriedly dodging a Dark Red Flaming Sword. The sharpness and power enough to break through his defenses. Seeing the blade, Lucas almost panicked as he used up a bunch of mana to completely destabilize the ground, throwing the other Lucas off balance. 

Yet it only took a second before he was assaulted again with that sword, but that did give him enough time to summon the exact same sword. As their swords clashed, Lucas felt the heat of the battle get the best of him. The power extruding from the swords took a toll on both sides. 

As their fight raged through the pillars, explosion and random spells kept appearing, enough to break the base of multiple pillars. Hearing a ruckus above them. Both stared into the endless blackness only to find pieces of pillars falling down on top of them.

The pillars all started to fall down, yet both Lucas and his other self kept their fight strong, clashing against each other with all their might. Unleashing their aura, they powered their swords up and since Lucas's aura fed on chaos, yet also caused it, their auras combined to make even their basic spells collapse. 

As the magic went chaotic, the only way to continue fighting was by controlling their spells through pure willpower, bringing them to the brink of exhaustion. Yet both of them kept pouring their all into their spells. Not only did they have to keep track of each other, but also the falling pieces of pillar, which were large enough to flatten them in an instant. 

Lucas was able to survive by the skin of his teeth, avoiding miniature Dark Beams as they pierced their way through the battlefield. The other Lucas modified the spell during the fight and adapted, while Lucas had nothing up his sleeves. 

The only thing he had going for him was the fact that he was wasting less mana than his counterpart. A Dark Beam costed a lot of mana, there was no avoiding it, Lucas was waiting for the perfect moment to attack his doppelgänger. 

Their swords clashed and with each clash a flash of light appeared as their surroundings exploded into flame. The only reason they kept standing was because of their defenses, but that would change soon. 

Lucas gathered his energy into his sword and poured his aura into it. Enough for the blade to twitch, tentacles appeared around his hand as they caught fire instantly. Lifting his sword he swung it with all his might, creating a massive wave of Dark Red Fire, the heat so high, it melted the surrounding pillars.

Lucas instantly cancelled his spell as he focussed on his recovery while inspecting the scene. The power of that attack was enough to hurt even himself, just using it hurt his arms, the stones lodged in his hands had long melted, and his strengthened skin wasn't holding on. 

If just holding such a weapon was dangerous, then getting attacked surely would've killed him. But he couldn't even entertain such an optimistic thought as the white space didn't return. From the dust came a strong presence, one overbearing aura that pressured anything in sight. 

Lucas felt his knees buckle as he didn't deploy his own aura, saving the energy instead. He was confident in himself that he would be fine even if he didn't bother putting up defenses. 

'I calculated it perfectly, he only has enough energy for a few Wind Blades at best.' 

'You fucking sure?'

'I'm not wrong when it comes to this kind of stuff.', feeling the confidence in his counterpart, Lucas confronted his clone.

"Just give up already, you piece of shit! Your mana reserves are at rock bottom, and it's obvious you don't have a whole lot of willpower left.", Lucas gritted his teeth as the pressure was starting to take effect on him. He was always the one putting others under his pressure, being under it himself, he realized how terrible it felt. 

His twin simply stood atop a mountain of rubble as hundreds of calculations went through its artificial mind. If Lucas was able to calculate the remaining mana of his doppelgänger, the same was true for his opponent. 

Lucas, who had been more reserved, only had that card to win. Not by surprising himself or creating a new spell on the spot, but purely through winning a war of attrition. So in the end, Lucas had won through luck. Because his other self wanted to end the fight as soon as possible, he had saved as much as he could.

But it wouldn't end so easily, the trial was meant to be difficult, and that difficulty wasn't to be underestimated.