Now the first rule when two illusionists fight is to make certain you are where you think you are. Often illusionists get up very early in the morning to place whatever illusions they will need, often obscuring entire battlefields. Famously, an illusionist once caused an entire army to plunge off a cliff, believing that they were charging an opposing army that simply did not exist. With this in mind, Renault was wary when he entered the chosen dueling ground, a small circular clearing amongst a forest near Renault's academy. A young girl in a tattered travellers coat sat at a table which was placed for them, a big friendly grin on her face. He second-guessed himself, was it a friendly smile? Or was it smug?

This morning Renault Corellia found himself in the unenviable position as the participant in a duel between two illusionists. The fight itself hardly mattered anymore to Renault, but he wasn't about to let the pettiness of the squabble get in the way of his family honour. It was obvious to him that either he or Larissa, the upstart daughter of some travelling sorcerer or another, would simply have to die.

Renault had dueled other illusionists before, and it had always come down to immense labyrinths of trickery and subterfuge. One wrong step and the other illusionist has you. At least when you're facing a pyromancer you simply just need to distract them until they throw a fireball at one of your illusions, then you just knife them. Or at least, you're supposed to knife them. This was the first time he was fighting anything other than a practice duel. He supposed he was going to be a murderer after today, and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

Renault sat down in the chair opposite Larissa, or at least, that's what he wanted her to think. In truth, Renault was standing just outside the clearing, obscured by an illusion of a tree. He doubted the woman at the table was anything other than an illusion as well. The second rule of fighting an illusionist is to never let them know where you are. Humans are such fragile creatures after all, and it takes only a moment to kill one. Better to keep yourself secret until it's time to strike. Eventually, he would need to charge out and kill Larissa by hand. He would be vulnerable then, which of course was not ideal. If he had any hand-eye coordination to speak of, he would have brought a bow.

"Lovely morning, isn't it?" the obviously fake Larissa asked the expertly crafted illusory Renault, who did not reply. "We can start any time you like," she stated, still smiling.

"Are you implying we haven't already?" the fake Renault grinned maliciously.

Larissa frowned and got to her feet. She circled the table and attempted a half-hearted punch at the false boy. It was evident that she didn't expect it to actually work, and she didn't seem terribly surprised when the fist went straight through her target.

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"Interesting." She thought aloud "I had assumed we would start face to face." Her eyes darted around the treeline.

Renault felt a little worried. Was that filthy commoner's ignorance real or fake? Should he presume that she was on his level and play it safe? Or should he press his advantage against an obviously inferior opponent before he himself had the chance to make a mistake?

He chose somewhere in the middle. A second illusory Renault charged from the forest with a knife. The false noises of feet stomping their way across the grass caused Larissa to turn, a little disinterested. The illusion collided, knife first into Larissa. He feigned his own surprise when he went straight through the girls form.

"So your plan is:" Larissa started, and raised her finger to point at the new Renault. "This one charges, then acts surprised that I'm an illusion, causing the real me to reveal myself to stab this one, which I'm obviously supposed to believe is the real you. At which point you show yourself for real and gut me like a hog. It wasn't a bad plan rich boy." Renault silently cursed under his breath. "But Renault, why aren't they the same height? Poor craftsmanship." He noticed with a little shame that she was right. The knife-wielding Renault stood at least two inches shorter than the original one.

Renault allowed the two images to dissipate, but he certainly wasn't out of tricks. So long as he was hidden, he could do this forever.

"Now I'm going to do something a little taboo, maybe even rude, I don't know, I'm not fancy like you." She announced to the entire forest around her. "I'm going to tell you my plan. See my trick probably goes back a bit farther than yours does. I figure you didn't go to bed last night. You probably spent the night arranging this clearing to be full of tricks, traps, illusions and what not." Renault ceded in his mind that she was correct. "But here's the thing you spoiled little man, my scheme goes back to the moment I met you. Really it all goes back to a single lie I told. I'm not actually an illusionist, don't know why I said I was. No talent for it, difficult school of magic. I'm a touch too impulsive." She snapped her fingers and four slavering and fiery hellhounds tore their way into this reality, leaving the air around them looking like tattered cloth with hell on the other side. Renault went pale.

"In truth, I'm a summoner, which I'm aware, is illegal, but it's also very functional. I can feel you judging me, that's alright, that's what your kind does, isn't it?" She looked to the hounds who were sniffing the ground "You got the scent boy? Can you find him?" The charred dog looked in Renault's general direction. The heat from the demon dog's burning back causing the air above it to ripple dangerously.

Without waiting for the inevitable kill command, Renault got to his feet and turned to flee.

The real Larissa stood behind him and plunged a knife deep into Renault's gut.

Renault pondered what went wrong as his highborn blood left his body, his vision blurred as he realized his mistake. The third rule of fighting an illusionist, Renault thought while the world went black, is to never trust a word they say.