{You have gained multiple levels! You are now —}

Shut up.

Zoe didn’t have time for that. She had taken out the archer, yes, but now that the first moves had been made, the battle was on in earnest. Activating {Kinetic Dash}, Zoe dodged a flurry of attacks from all directions. While she managed to escape unscathed, she had no idea how she was going to approach this.

One at a time, I guess.

Deciding that it would take too long to try to figure out a proper strategy for which order to do things in, Zoe just went by proximity. Focusing all of her offense on a single target, Zoe streaked towards the man with red robes with gold trim. Analyzing him told her that he was a {Champion Cultist}, whatever that meant — and like all of the others, he was also level one hundred.

It took Zoe annoyingly long to kill him. In one sense, it didn’t feel very difficult — in fact, it might have seemed shockingly easy. Zoe landed blow after blow upon the cultist without taking a single hit herself. On the other hand, she was focusing extremely hard and giving the fight all of her effort.

As the bloody tatters of the now-blackened robes drifted down to the sand, a little voice in Zoe’s head asked her why she was trying so hard. After all, this wasn’t entirely real. What would the consequences of her losing even be? All she had to do was figure out what this path was about and then make a decision.

Zoe squashed that little voice down. Focus.

The next two champions died more easily. The next, however, caused Zoe a bit of trouble. Being a {Champion Shieldbarer}, he was big and tough, but not slow. Zoe was on her feet — or talons — constantly, and while the shieldbarer himself never landed a successful attack, the other champions weren’t just standing around and watching. Zoe slipped up a few times, taking a fair amount of damage for each error.

But the shieldbarer yielded before she did, and so the fight went on and on.

Logically, Zoe knew very well that there was absolutely no way she should have been able to even stand her ground against so many level one-hundreds all at the same time — let alone to cut them down one by one.

And they weren’t even weaker than they should be. They were just as strong as she would expect based on everyone she had fought up to this point, and they fought like it.

Nor was Zoe herself more powerful — she was just better.

Granted, Zoe did know that she was far more powerful than most level thirty-threes should be, and that was in no small part what allowed for her current kill streak. But at the same time, that still shouldn’t be enough.

She was just perfect.

It was like she had done this a thousand times before. As long as she pushed herself and stayed focused, she could handle everything the champions could throw at her. It wasn’t like she could predict everything, though. It was as if she had been training against these people for years, but they had remained static while she had learned.

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Once only four remained, Zoe was feeling a little more confident and decided to try an experiment.

She dropped her sword.

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Two minutes, two kills, and two fewer arms later, Zoe desperately grasped for her sword. Just barely managing to get her claws around it, she sprung back to her feet and delivered a savage counterstrike to the {Champion Weaponsmith} who was attempting to eviscerate her.

Definitely not trying that again.

As soon as Zoe had dropped the sword, all of her confidence and supernatural skill had vanished. So while she was still just as powerful and still had just as much focus and determination, things had gotten rather dicey at a few points.

At most points, if she were being honest.

But now with her simple sword in hand, Zoe felt unstoppable — as long as she made herself unstoppable. Realizing the danger, the two remaining champions stepped back — but they didn’t actually retreat. Zoe knew with certainty that they were going to fight to the end, just like her.

But it would be their end, not hers.

Instead of giving them time to encircle her, Zoe dashed forward.

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All of Zoe’s scrapes and wounds healed as soon as she stumbled through the passageway that had opened up in the arena wall. Her missing arms grew back as well, which was pretty nice.

The passageway had ground open immediately upon the defeat of the final champion. Zoe didn’t feel particularly inclined to stay around and celebrate, even despite the raucous cheer of the crowds above. Staggering forward, she made it through with the intention to collapse to the ground — until all of her pain vanished and her energy returned twofold.

It was another underground armory.

The other Zoe was waiting. Leaning against a column, she flicked the claws that she had held up to her lips. “Nice work.”

“Thanks.” Zoe panted for a moment even though she was no longer actually exhausted. “So what, is this the combat path?”

Her copy shrugged. “A bit reductive, but that’s sort of the idea.”

“Right…”

Zoe looked around. “So do I pick another one? I mean, I kind of feel like I already understand this one.”

“No, you don’t.”

Zoe blinked. “Huh. If you say so.”

“I do.”

Walking around, Zoe purveyed her options. Really, there seemed to be just about anything — from a crude wooden cudgel to some kind of chain sword. Chain sword. I wonder if it’s possible to make that actually practical. Looks cool as shit regardless.

Zoe decided not to risk it. Instead, she went for the rifle.

“You sure about that one?”

Freezing, Zoe turned around. Her claws had almost brushed it. “No, not really. But I mean — I know it’s supposedly hard to use, but won’t I magically become a master of it during this trial?”

Nodding, her double confirmed it. “Yes.” She shrugged again. “But I just don’t think it’s really your style.”

Turning back to the rifle, Zoe picked it up. It felt a bit awkward in her hands, but she knew that the sensation would go away as soon as she entered the next arena. “Whatever I’m supposed to understand by the end of this better be worth it. I don’t want to stay here forever.”

Laughing, her mirror walked over to stand before her. “Oh, it will be. Anyway, I have something else for you.”

Confused, Zoe began to ask what.

{You have gained multiple levels! You are now level 66.}

{Do you wish to attempt ascension?}

{You have ascended. You have unlocked the path ?}

Zoe blinked. “There’s no way I got that many levels even from a bunch of one-hundreds.”

“Consider it a free trial,” the other Zoe said. “It isn’t actually real anyway.”

Zoe began to rise. Looking up, she saw another metal grate grinding open above her. “So uh, what actually is this mysterious path? It’s not the first time the system has given me question marks…”

Just before slipping out of her sight, her copy smirked. “You’re about to find out.”