"All I've ever done since I got here is fight," Meera complained. "This world sucks."

Arvena chuckled. "Your young ward doesn't understand the lay of the land. Unlike the other worlds, there be monsters here, and to keep the monsters in their place, we have to become what scares the monsters."

"First, I'm not her ward, and you know what, I'm going to sit this one out," Meera said. "She's your friend, witch. You deal with her."

Kalrina staggered. "I'm sorry, what? You can see her level, right?"

Meera nodded. "I sure can, and yours is severely lacking. I think you need the experience."

"B-But—"

"What's…your name, lass?" The green-haired sorceress asked.

"Meera."

"Pleasure. I'm Arvena, and we'll get into each other later." She turned to Kalrina. "What Meera means to say is it's time you fought your battles yourself for once."

"That's right." Meera chimed.

"I only have one Health potion left. I might not come back from this," Kalrina said.

"I'm sure you'll manage."

The witch pursed her lips as she glared at Meera. "I'll remember this."

Meera waved at her, grinning as she backed up several steps to give them a wide berth. She had no intention of letting the witch die, as then she would have to fight the green-haired, dimpled beauty by herself, and the witch had shown that she had a couple of aces up her sleeves. Meera also knew she couldn't trust her, but they had similar goals for now.

She backed up to this massive tree and, using Druvis Power, jumped up to a thick branch that would give her a clear view of the fight.

Kalrina, who had been glaring at Meera's back this whole time, finally turned to her opponent.

"Arvena, do we need to do this? Wasn't I always like a sister to you when you were nothing but a young pup raring to show your worth? Remember how much I helped you out."

"All I remember is you sprinkling itching powder on my clothes and making fun of my hair. Always the hair."

"No, that couldn't have been me. Itching powder is what Reniva would do."

"To be honest, sounds like the witch would do both," Meera added.

"You don't even know me, dearie."

"No, but I know enough."

"See, even the lass who has known you for half a breath knows of your nature," Arvena said. "Now, enough talking, and let's get to it."

"If you're even here." Kalrina hurled a mirror dagger, which passed right through the green-haired sorceress.

Meera was stumped. She was sure the sorceress was standing there, and her mirage looked so real. She wondered if her phantoms stumped people like this. But unlike her phantom, which dissipated when the mirror at the core was destroyed, this phantom stayed where it was. The hole in her chest was mending itself back together.

Meera searched her surroundings for any sign of the sorceress, but all she saw were trees and shrubs. The sorceress had hidden herself quite well. Then she focused on the mirage as it made a move for the witch.

The mirage shimmered as it manifested a dagger in her hand and hurled it at Kalrina, who yawned, not bothering to dodge. The dagger passed right through Kalrina and traveled on. It shimmered as it dissipated into the wind.

"Try something else, Arvi darling," Kalrina chirped. "I'm not going to fall for your theatrics."

"Oh, let's try that again, shall we?" She waved a hand over her head, and a litany of daggers shimmered into existence. She jerked her arm forward in Kalrina's direction. All the blades flew at her.

Kalrina squinted as they came for her, but the sorceress of mirrors kept her ground. The daggers flew past and through her, but not all. A couple lashed her arms bloody, making the witch cry out and leaving bloody streaks as it left her dirty clothes in tethers.

This gave Meera pause. Arvena hid her real daggers in her illusions, which meant she launched them from somewhere opposite the witch's direction. Either that or this sorceress could conjure knives, which was a genuine possibility.

Luckily, Meera had a few skills that should help her figure out where the Sorceress of Mirages was hiding.

Kalrina scowled at Arvena's with rage. Her teeth clenched as she jerked her hand towards the mirage and launched a Mirror Shard Barrage. She moved her hand in a wide arc, covering as much area as possible in sharp mirror shards.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Her skill did nothing. Meera heard no sounds of pain nor saw any traces of blood. Arvena was safe, but Kalrina had just wasted her precious Mana. After being in two near-death fights, Meera's Mana was running low, and she doubted Kalrina was doing any better.

The whole point of Meera staying out of the fight was to conserve Mana so she could strike when the moment was opportune. But at this rate, the witch would tire herself before Meera could ascertain the enemy's location.

Arvena laughed, and her voice echoed through the trees. It wasn't like a true echo but more like multiple people laughing simultaneously. Then Arvena doubled and doubled again. Then, they quadrupled, followed by more mirages of Arvena stepping out from behind the trees until an army of green-haired sorceresses encircled the witch.

"Can you defeat so many of us?" All the Arvenas said simultaneously.

"Uh, I'm going to need some help here." Kalrina backed up from the illusions.

"I think you've got a handle on things," Meera said as she scanned the illusions. Unfortunately, she saw no difference from one illusion to the next.

"If I die here, I'm going to haunt you like your horse," Kalrina warned, backing up further.

She created a sword and charged the illusions, slashing and cutting like a mad woman. Her swings were haphazard, but each swing launched a wave of mirror shards that ripped through the illusions.

Arvena laughed at the witch's pathetic attempts to kill her. It didn't take Kalrina long to tire herself out. She huffed with a saber in hand. Meera scanned the crowd, hoping that her superior eye skills would catch something that would give away the sorceress's position, but as it were, Kalrina was not so lucky.

Arvena's illusions started exploding one after another. Meera's eyes widened as the trees lit up in flames or were blown apart, raining splinters and leaves everywhere. She almost fell out of her branch, but the witch could at least save herself from this much.

Kalrina teleported away using Mirror Step and jumped from one mirror to another. She stayed one step ahead of the explosions until Arvena figured out where she was headed and materialized an illusion in her path.

The mirage of Arvena waved goodbye at her before it exploded in Kalrina's face. She teleported again, but the blast still hit her. She screamed as she rolled on the ground and would have hit a tree full speed if she hadn't used Mirror Step and landed in a newly formed crater. The fact that the witch could even see a mirror at the speed she was rolling was astonishing.

She had taken considerable damage to her left side. Her clothes were singed and smoked. The worst was her face. It was disfigured and burnt black. She was missing her eyebrows completely. If the witch could see her face, she would probably die of a heart attack.

More mirages of Arvena formed around the crater, looking down at the defeated witch. They obscured the view that Kalrina might have of any remaining mirrors that she had scattered earlier.

Something about this whole setup did not sit right with Meera.

One of the sorceresses stepped to the mouth of the crater. "Give up now, and I'll take you to the dungeons quietly where the others can't rough you up because, believe me, there is a long line of sisters who want to do that, including Nikai."

Kalrina's expression turned to one of blatant fear. "Then you might as well kill me."

Meera made a mental note to avoid the one called Nikai.

"So, what's it going to be, sweet sister?"

Kalrina held out her hands. "Take me in. This world is too cruel to the likes of me."

Meera rolled her eyes at her overacting, but she finally saw the chance she had been looking for and something more.

Oh, you conniving little witch.

She took off a regular chakram and launched over the heads of the green-haired sorceresses. By the time she noticed it, it was too late. Meera flicked a finger, and the chakram descended. The next moment, she was among the mirages.

Meera pulled her chakram out of the air, hooked an arm around Arvena—the real Arvena's throat and placed her chakram so close to her eye that she could see the details of her green-colored eyes. She had been hiding among her illusions as Meera usually did to confuse her enemies. Arvena played it smart by not being the speaker. She was a little off to her right.

"Call off your illusions, or I will take your eye," Meera said.

"How did you know? I'm not an illusion, too," Arvena replied.

"Well, for one, I'm touching you, and secondly, because of this." Meera left a small cut on her cheek, making the woman flinch lightly. Also, Meera heard the sweet notification bell.

"You are as dumb as that hag in the crater," Arvena's vitriol spilled out of her mouth. "What is to stop me from blowing you up like I did your master?"

"You could, but I bet that my hand will slash your throat much faster," Meera replied. "Witch, you can come out now."

"Oh, thank the heavens—"

Meera interrupted the illusion in the pit by launching a level 2 chakram at its center, shattering the mirror at its core and dispelling the witch's illusion. She turned her chakram around and hurled it at the speaker, who looked like Arvena but was not Arvena.

The speaker backed up as the chakram stopped at her neck.

"I see with more than eyes, witch," Meera said, still holding on to the real Arevena. "Whatever game you two are playing, it stops now."

All of Arvena's illusions vanished, and Kalrina appeared as the speaker with a smile. "She's good, isn't she?" She said to the other sorceress, then looked at Meera. "How did you figure it out, dove?"

"Your voice didn't perfectly match this one's." Meera shook Arvena. "And there is a trick to both of your illusions. They are not perfect."

That got their attention. Arvena even forgot the sharp weapon threatening her life.

"No…my primary class is based on illusions. You must tell me, please," Arvena said.

"Dearie, you have the Mirror Phantom skill as well. You know it's perfect."

Meera snorted. "That's what I thought…until today."

This sent them both into a flurry of questions, which Meera ignored.

The truth was, she had lied. Their illusions were perfect. There was nothing that could tell the real from the fake unless you had the Eyes of the Phoenix skill.

This skill let her see through illusions to spot what was real. Then there was her Mirrorstrike Vision, which highlighted weak points on a person's body. Both skills worked hand in hand to let Meera see through their game.

Eyes of the Phoenix pointed out the fakes, while Mirrorstrike Vision highlighted the real sorceresses and their weak points. Of course, Meera was never going to tell them that. Better to keep them on their toes and let them think they couldn't fool Meera so easily.

She tired of their harping and pressed her chakram against Arvena's cheek, right under her eye. "I said it was imperfect, so imperfect it is. Figure the rest out on your own. Now, answer my question—what game are you two playing?"

"Relax, dearie," Kalrina said. "She is no enemy. She's the one who got me out when I ran from the sisterhood."

Meera's grip slackened. She withdrew her chakram and let go of the sorceress.

"You mean, I had to get you out and face scrutiny for almost a year, with Aksha watching my every step." Arvena huffed, crossing her arms.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that. It's not like you could let them kill your dear sister," Kalrina said.

"What?" Meera's eyes flicked between them.

Kalrina threw a hand over Arvena's shoulder. "This here is my older sister."