Meera reformed with a thunderclap and a scream. The scream was her own, of course, but the thunder came from the adjacent peak. Meera drew a few deep breaths as she looked herself over and realized she was okay.

She activated Mirror Eagle's Perceptivity, and the whole world came into view again. She was sitting on the ground, with Brison and Pallas standing off to the side and talking. There was another thunder so loud that it made her wince. Her Gem of Echoes amplified the sounds of everything, and a thunder this close was deafening.

Reluctantly, after how many days, she finally decided to remove her Gem of Echoes. She plucked it off her chest, where her armor held it, and put it in her Belt. The world almost quieted. It became almost too quiet. She hated it immediately. How did I ever live like this?

"Ah, looks like our first dead is finally up," Brison said.

Meera groaned. "I was the first one to die?"

Brison nodded. "It became close between you and Dirik, but he narrowly escaped and is still somehow…oh wait, he's dead now. I have to go. Be seeing you soon."

He nodded to them and traced something in his book. A door opened, and he walked through it. Something was off about this man. Sometimes, he was cheery and bubbly, while at other times, he was more serious than Zona.

"Sorry, Meera, for going a little overboard on killing you," Pallas said. "I'll try to kill you nicely next time."

Meera snorted. "Thanks." She jumped to her feet. "Let's go again?"

"Not before we discuss what you did wrong." Pallas walked over to her.

If Meera ever wanted to feel even shorter, all she had to do was stand beside him or his brother in his enraged form. Though Melas was likely to squish her head and then the feeling of being short would disappear.

"I know what I did wrong," Meera stated. "I got overconfident and didn't throw down my mirrors for Mirror Step."

"Correct," Pallas said. "And you're fighting an opponent who knows all your skills and is well-versed in your tactics. So please take that into account as well."

"Got it."

Tiny mirrors blasted out of Meera's armor, and using Mirror Wing, she placed them all over the clearing and even in the woods. She felt Pallas was the stationary type of fighter, and he would make her come to him.

Meera recalled her level 2 chakram that lay off to the side, where her squished-up remains should've been. But Brison must've cleaned those up, as not even a drop of Meera's blood remained.

As soon as her chakram touched her hand, Pallas attacked. A gigantic, heavy-looking shield formed over Meera's head. Pallas slammed his hand down in an overhead strike, and the shield came rushing to squish Meera again.

She used Mirror Step and moved to the tree line. But even at this distance, she felt the reverberations of the shield bashing the ground. Pallas motioned upwards with his hand, and the shield rose and came for Meera.

But she was gone again. This time, she moved closer to Pallas and shot him with a Mirror Shard Barrage, but he blocked it with a bronze shield. It caved inward, but it held. The gigantic shield that he sent for her had ripped through several trees as if they were made of paper.

He flicked his hand, and the shield ripped through more trees and came at her. She Stepped to the other side of Pallas right away. His massive shield flew into the trees on the other side of the clearing.

Meera activated Shadow Coating on her level 2 chakram. It looked like she held a circlet of twinkling stars. She would never get over how beautiful it looked. She launched it at Pallas. He raised a thick tower shield, but she flicked a finger, and the chakram flew around his shield to his side, and just when it looked like it would cut him in half, Pallas dodged. He rolled forward to his tower shield, lifted it off the ground, and rushed Meera.

In terms of speed, he was no less than his brother. One moment, he was lifting the shield off the ground. The next, he was on her, about to bash her with his shield. She used Mirror Step right away, but he still got her arm.

She groaned as she clutched her broken arm, which lay limp at her side. She activated Vitalize but also changed the trajectory of her chakram towards Pallas. Her chakram had been ripping through the tree line. It came zipping back toward the Guardian.

Pallas blocked it with his tower shield. Meera's eyes widened. She brought her chakram around to his back. Another tower shield appeared, followed by one on his right side and front, covering him completely.

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Meera stared in awe at his perfect defense. Then he did something she had only seen in cartoons. He started spinning, or his shields did, at least. They spun so fast that dust and leaves started forming a veritable tornado.

Then he moved.

Meera had never seen anyone move that fast. She thought he was teleporting. He was on her in the blink of an eye. Mirror Step saved her for but a moment as he came for her again. She teleported to safety, but he followed. They did this game of cat and mouse for a minute at most.

The gigantic shield of his returned and hovered in the air, and when she finished her Mirror Step, the massive mirror appeared behind her and flicked her towards Pallas. The pain in the back of her head nearly made her blackout, and that was all Pallas needed to finish her off.

His tornado of shields came spinning for her and bashed her head in.

Meera awoke with another scream and then huffed as she checked her head for dents and bumps. She looked around, and it was only Pallas waiting for her this time, which she was thankful for; she didn't want to be embarrassed again a second time.

"I didn't know you could move that fast." Meera stood and dusted herself off.

"Well, that was your first mistake then," Pallas replied. "Never assume anything. Unlike you, everyone else has two classes. Many people like to pick up classes that would synergize with one another. I, however, went the other way and put defense with speed. It always takes my opponent by surprise when I do, well, what I did."

"And my second mistake?" Meera asked.

"You were too stationary this time around. Meera, your strength lies in your speed, your instantaneous teleportation. I've never seen a teleportation skill as fast as your Mirror Step. Use it. You used it to dodge mostly when you can attack, vanish, then attack again."

"But how do I get over your impenetrable shields?" Meera asked.

"That, my dear, you must figure out on your own." He smirked. "I would be a poor teacher if I gave you all the answers."

Meera rolled her eyes. "Now, you sound like my algebra teacher."

"What's algebra? Is it a skill?"

"Never mind. But can you give me a moment before we begin our next match?"

"Sure, take all the time you need."

Meera pulled off two chakrams, brought them closer, and ran her Mana through them to create a level 2 chakram. Pallas's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. Then she did that again. Her enemies were getting tougher and tougher, so she created two more level 2 chakrams for a total of six, and nine regular chakrams left.

Meera's mirrors were still scattered everywhere, so she didn't have to do that this time. She nodded. "Ready."

"You will have to tell me how you did that?"

"After." She pulled off two level 2 chakrams. "Let's begin."

She activated Shadow Coating and launched them both at Pallas. He raised a tower shield and blocked them. The chakrams got wedged in his shield but didn't penetrate it.

Meera teleported to a mirror shard close by and activated Mirror Phantom. It made an exact copy of Meera. It was even more real than the one she had created with Mistbound Illusions. Then she moved to the next one and did the same. She went around him in a circle, leaving behind a copy of hers in place.

Pallas looked around himself and grinned. "Oh, this is good."

She reached around and pulled off two more level 2 chakrams, and without even concentrating, the phantoms copied her. With Mistbound Illusions, she would have to make her illusions do something consciously, but this was much better.

She activated Shadow Coating on her chakrams. All the fake Meera's chakrams twinkled like hers.

"Now, which is the real me?" Meera said, and all the others copied her. Her eyes widened, and the phantoms followed suit.

"Don't tell me this is the first time you're using this skill," Pallas said.

"No…"

"Meera, unless it's a devastating skill, always try them out before battle. By Numheia, even try those out, but use less Mana. Understood?"

"Yes," Meera and her phantoms replied sheepishly.

After that bit of embarrassment, she wanted to win this fight quickly. She knew some of his techniques and that he had a class geared towards creating shields and the other towards speed. Now, Ambush Tactics, show me something, please. Technically, she was ambushing him.

His eyes turned hard as he surveyed the phantoms. Then he turned around and flicked a finger. A bronze kite shield appeared out of the air and launched at a phantom. Meera was safe.

His shield went through that Meera's chest and out the other side. The mirror at the heart of the phantom shattered, and the illusion vanished. She remembered that the skill description stated that a mirror would be at the core of the illusion.

Meera stepped forward, and all the phantoms followed suit. She wondered if they did just that or something more. She activated Shroud of Shadows and commanded the other phantoms to attack Pallas. But before they attacked, she teleported behind him.

He spun around right away and brought his tower shield with him, swinging in an arc. She jumped back a step, and the other Meeras attacked.

He ignored them and glared at where she was. Meera got nervous, thinking he knew where she was, but his eyes moved. He ignored the phantoms as they fell on him.

He must have some skill that tells him when danger is close.

So, she did the best thing that would overload this skill over his. She activated Druvis Power, Stepped really close to him, threw her arms around him, and used Mirror Blast.

Light and mirrors blasted out of Meera, ripping through the Guardian. No matter his toughness, he couldn't survive a Mirror Blast at that range.

But he did.

Pallas' body was riddled with razor-sharp mirror shards. His right arm had been ripped off from below the elbow, and his bone stuck out below his ruined bicep. His face was a ruin, with many shards sticking out of his bloody flesh. His right eye had a huge shard sticking out of it. He had many gruesome holes in his body that Meera couldn't bear to look at. It was so bad that even Meera cringed.

"That wasn't so bad." He coughed and puked blood. He fell forward, but Meera caught him. He smiled through bloody teeth. "Never…take pity o-on your…foes."

He slammed his tower shield into Meera, sending her flying, and fell face forward into the ground, driving the shards further in. He gasped loudly but didn't stir after that.