For the last two days, Meera had trained with Dirik and Melas. Today was the final day before the free-for-all. She had reached level 269, and many of her skills had crossed level 100, as had her armor, which gave her a sweet new effect.
*ding!*
[Armor of Mirrors effect unlocked. Stage 2 – Chameleon. Thanks to the enchanted mirrors of this armor, you can dynamically adjust the armor's visual characteristics to mimic the colors and patterns of your surroundings, making you practically invisible to the naked eye.]
With this effect, she didn't need the Camouflage skill anymore. Having tried it out in her fights against Melas, this was much better than Camouflage. One time, Melas walked right in front of her and didn't even know she was there.
Other skills that had reached level 100 were the Mirror Shield and Mirror Blast skills. Of the two, only Mirror Shield evolved.
*ding!*
[Skill Evolution. Mirror Shield evolves to Mirror Tower Shield. Mirror Tower Shield – Type: Active. You can summon a Tower Shield, which can take twice the punishment. You can also decide the size and thickness of the shield, making it a versatile tool of defense.]
Meera had only recently gotten this after her matches with Melas, so she hadn't gotten the chance to try it out, but she was looking forward to it. She had always felt that the Mirror Shield was somewhat weak as it broke too easily. She hoped this Tower Shield upgrade was stronger.
She knew she should've been proud of her achievements, but after seeing how much stronger everyone was than her, she couldn't help but feel that they were leaving her behind. But still, she had gained over a hundred levels in a week, and where else could she get such high-level opponents to train against without the threat of death?
As for her opponent of the day, it was the last Warden. The only one whom Meera had yet to fight. She was quite looking forward to fighting Lexa and stealing her skill.
Lexa stretched as she got out of the hut. Even in her armor, the woman was pretty enough to win most beauty pageants if they were a thing in these worlds. She didn't tie her long hair in a braid but let it free, and Meera was once again subconscious of her hair that was forcefully cut.
[Stormweaver Warden – Level 332]
Meera could do nothing but gawk at her level. She was the highest-level opponent she had ever fought. Melas was only level 318 by the time their day came to an end. Meera wished she had faced her sooner when she was below level 300.
Lexa frowned at Brison. "That Melas really ought to give us more sleeping time."
"At least you're not the doorman going around having to wake everyone," Brison said.
Lexa chuckled. "Well, let's start another day of savagery and butchery. Oh, sorry, I mean training. Hello Meera, I've been waiting to see what you can do. After all the talk from Pallas, I would expect you to be a god in human form."
Meera smiled. "No, just a girl looking for her brother."
"Who just happens to carry divine weapons." Lexa looked her up and down. "There's more to you than meets the eye. Maybe by the end of the day, I'll get it out of you."
Meera shared a glance with Brison, and Lexa noticed.
Brison coughed. "Okay, I best be going now. Keep it nice, clean kills. Harder to put people back together if they're blasted all over the place." He gave Lexa a stern look.
She held up her hands. "I'll be sure to ask my lightning to not blow people up."
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Brison sighed, gave Meera a sympathetic look, and walked through his door, leaving Lexa and Meera alone.
Right away, Meera's Wild Instincts flared up. Lexa's hand whipped forward. Meera summoned a Tower Shield before her, and just in time, as a lightning bolt crashed against it, smashing it to pieces. But the shield stopped the lightning from getting through.
Then came the thunder.
Meera was sure she had lost one of her eardrums. She stared at the pieces of her shield on the ground, then back to the Stormweaver Warden. Smoke rose from her fingers. She blew it out and winked at Meera.
"At least Zona trained you to be always prepared," Lexa said.
"That and dying for real one day," Meera muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Just saying thanks…to Zona…a-and you for helping me."
Lexa wasn't wrong. Her Wild Instincts skill had helped her a lot in her matches but not a lot in Zona's as she hardly ever saw her death coming for her, which was saying something, as Meera was rather proud of being able to see everything.
Why didn't I get her skill to disguise my chakrams?
"Now, let's begin for real," Lexa said.
Mirrors exploded out of Meera, and she jumped between them in a zig-ag pattern even as they flew to the trees. She made it to the treeline, and Lexa's fingers sparked. Meera erected another shield and activated the Chameleon effect of her armor.
It was surreal. Her armor had turned colors to match her surroundings perfectly. By the time her shield fell, Meera reflected the foliage around her. She put her back to a tree and pretty much became part of the tree.
I am never going to get used to this.
She willed her armor to cover her head completely, even her eyes, leaving only two small holes for her nose. It wasn't like she needed eyes to see. In fact, not having eyes made it easier for her to concentrate on things around her.
Meera thought she would have heard footsteps by now, but she heard nothing. She activated Vitalize to heal her ears, but they were fine. She moved a small part of her foot out and saw that Lexa was still in the same spot.
Meera frowned. Is she not going to follow me in here?
Lexa looked to the heavens and raised her hands high. High in the sky above, clouds began to gather—storm clouds. Meera did not like the look of that. She pulled a level 2 chakram and launched it at her.
Sparks buzzed around Lexa's whole form. Her chakram looked like it would cut her in half, but a thunderbolt grounded her chakram, leaving behind a blackened patch on the ground, and then it started.
A rain of lightning bolts.
The entire peak was ravaged with lightning and thunder. The clearing was a mess as lightning struck again and again, moving outwards to the forest—more precisely, where Meera was hiding.
What awesome power…
The lightning storm finally reached the forest, and it amplified to cover a large area. Meera thought she might be safe under the cover of trees as they could not catch on fire, but she was wrong. Even if lightning could not burn these trees, it could smash them to splinters.
All around her, branches and even entire trees were ripped asunder. Splinters flew everywhere, and Meera thanked Midiea and Darthin for giving her the skill to see through mirrors, or it would have been impossible to keep her eyes open in all the splinters.
Lightning struck overhead, and her tree was split in half. One-half of it was literally about to fall on her. She looked for the closest mirror, and it was nowhere to be found. The forest floor was nothing but a mess of logs and blackened, smoking wood.
In the last moment, Meera jumped aside and noticed her chakram and the Mirror Tower Shield shards lying by the Warden. She smirked, pulled off another level 2 chakram, and teleported to the closest mirror piece to the Warden.
Lexa was smiling when Meera appeared in front of her. Meera should've guessed that was what Lexa wanted, as her smile didn't waver. Meera punched at her with her chakram, and she swayed to the side, but thanks to her chakram's effect, it still cut her.
Meera smiled, but Lexa didn't like the cut on her cheek. Her eyes grew furious. The smell of ozone filled the air, and Meera heard crackling. She teleported away at perfect timing as lightning hit right where she stood.
When she reappeared, she activated a Tower Shield, facing the Warden and a good thing too. A lightning bolt hit her Tower Shield, fired from Lexa's fingers.
Lexa gritted her teeth, and that was when the rain and wind started. Not like some bad weather but more like a hurricane. Meera was almost thrown off her feet, but somehow, she managed to keep her feet.
Lexa clapped, and Meera's world was flipped upside down.
A shockwave of wind and lightning exploded from her hands, sending Meera rolling into a tree. She hit it face first. She would've been fine if it was just that, but her Health took a dive when she blasted Meera with a lightning bolt from the heavens.
The storm centered around Meera. She pulled off a regular chakram using Mirror Wing and tossed it out of the storm's radius, but Lexa knocked it out of the sky. Then Meera took a shower with lightning.
She activated Tower Shield after Tower Shield, and they kept her alive, as did Vitalize, but still, the punishment was massive.
Her whole form smoked, and her armor had massive holes that burned and smelled of charred meat. When it looked like Lexa would not stop. Meera realized the end was near, but she had done enough losing to go down that easy.
She activated Mist Concealment, filling the area with mists. The lightning shower slowed until it stopped. Meera activated Mirror Phantom and sent a phantom out of the mist. Lexa was surprised to see that Meera was fine and well.
"My, my, you're a resilient one," she said.
Phantom Meera cupped a hand around her ear. "What? Sorry, my eardrums are shot. You're going to have to speak louder."
She repeated herself, but again, the phantom played the fool. Lexa sighed and came closer, stepping past her level 2 chakram that was embedded in the ground.
Meera smiled and spoke through the phantom. "I win."
Lexa tilted her head but could never speak as Meera cut off her head with the very chakram she had walked past.
Something tells me she won't be happy when she returns.