After Isaiah, Fons, Makenna, and Eyana had left, Ryan, Sumika, and Jaime immediately got bored. Alderich, who was having a lengthy conversation with Xander about his philosophies and experiences (which were many because daedra are immortal), was perfectly content.

Ryan and Sumika were still being wary of Jaime, so found each other. "Want to fight?" she asked him.

"Sure," Ryan replied eager to break the boredom, "let us go ask Alderich for some blunted weapons."

"Do we need them?' she queried. "We both regenerate, why do we not use sharp blades?"

"Um…" he hesitated. He did not wish to back down from a challenge, but he was not sure about using sharp weapons. Her regeneration was different from his, while his healing would protect him from a mortal wound, he was not sure about hers. "Alright," he agreed against his better judgment.

" I do need to ask Alderich for a few extra katanas though," she said.

"Why do you need…?" before he finished the question, the answer dawned on him. She smiled. She intended to fight using her duplicates.

"You know what I am afraid of," he said to her.

"Yes, and that is why you will be fighting them, not me," she replied. "Watch."

She drew blood from her finger and let it hit the floor. As soon as the second Sumika stood complete, the original drew her katana and stabbed the duplicate in the heart. She reduced to a mass of blood which moved along the blade of the katana and was absorbed by the original.

"they can die and I will be unaffected," she told him. "I can suffer mortal wounds and will be staying out of the fight."

"Is this not training?" Ryan asked her. "For you and me?"

"We are all of the same consciousness," Sumika explained. "Whatever they learn, I learn. I'll be right back."

Sumika walked over to where Alderich was sitting with Xander.

"Hey Alderich," she said as she approached him," can I have about half a dozen more sharp katanas?"

"I only have five of them," he replied turning away from Xander to her, "why?"

"Because I can multiply," she replied sitting in his lap, "and if you help us out now, we will all make it worth you while later."

Alderich turned back to Xander. " he said holding up a finger signifying he would be right back. He then picked up Sumika and stood her up. Then he got up himself and went to the armory. He returned half a minute later with a bundle of Akaviri blades under his arm.

"So you are using live weapons in a training fight?" Alderich asked as he handed her the blades.

She smiled and nodded.

"And you know what you are doing?" he pressed further.

"Yes Alderich," she replied still smiling.

She took the katanas.

"Thanks," she turned and ran off to the sparring area.

Xander chuckled.

Meanwhile, Jaime approached Daria, who was guarding his only way out. He knew there was now way he could sneak past or defeat the daedra in combat, so he would try to persuade her.

"So…" he began, trying to mask his nervousness.

"No," the monarch replied without letting him finish.

"Hear me out," he requested.

"Alright," she said, "but I already know what you are going to say."

"Well, why do you obey his orders and just stand here?" he questioned her.

"Because it is not an order," she responded, "it is a request."

"But why?" he asked again.

"These Wild Cards are the only mortals I have ever respected, Alderich and Makenna especially," she explained. "In their short, half century lives so far they have assisted me immensely, so I can take a few hours out of my immortal existence to guard a door."

Jaime had now way to respond and remained silent.

"You should count yourself lucky they have not killed you yet," Daria said, they normally have no mercy whatsoever towards trespassers."

The two watched as Sumika unrolled the bundle of katanas and let a drop of blood hit the floor.

"Looks like we get some entertainment," Daria commented, "enjoy it."

Ryan drew his shortsword as the duplicate Sumika picked up one of the katanas.

Sumika rushed at him, blade forward in a thrust. Pryde swung his sword as he dodged and sliced her arm. Soon another Sumika was grabbing up a katana. This was now a two on one fight.

The two duplicate Sumikas circled around him on opposite sides. Ryan stood in between them, trying to keep an eye on each of them.

One of the Sumikas swung her word directly level with his neck. He easily blocked the shot, but he did not notice the other one roll behind him. She was now outside of his line of sight and sliced him in the back.

Ryan yelled in pain, but the wound healed instantly. "Blood for blood," the Sumika off to the side stated.

The fighting Sumikas now stood shoulder to shoulder. One of them swung her bladed at him. He blocked it, and the two held their swords together, pushing against their enemy trying to gain ground. The other duplicate put her hand on Ryan's shoulder as she walked around behind him. He braced himself. Pryde grunted in pain as her katana entered his back.

"Do you give up yet?" the original asked him.

Ryan pushed the copy's blade off of his and used his elbow to hit the one behind him in the face. Her nose began to bleed. The blood trickled down to her chin where a single drop fell to the floor.

A few moments later, another Sumika stood before him with a katana at the ready.

Ryan began to look worried. Sumika would not be able to kill him, but having his limbs cut off repetitively would still hurt quite a bit.

One of the duplicates used her katana to cut her hand Ryan groaned as the blood fell from her palm to the floor.

"You act like you are afraid of being hurt," Sumika said to Ryan.

"Well, I do have four of you trying to cut me in half," he shot back.

She cut her hand and let the blood fall to the floor. "Five," she said with a duplicate of herself grabbing the last katana off the floor.

"This is what I am talking about!" he yelled at her.

"And cutting open my hand does not hurt me?" she asked rhetorically.

Pryde grew a puzzled face with a hint of realization. He watched as another drop of blood fell onto the floor from her still open wound. It hit the stone and did nothing.

Ryan then just looked puzzled, "You…?"

"Do not have to make a copy of myself?" she asked rhetorically again. "Yeah. What are you going to do about it?"

Ryan clutched the hilt of his sword tighter. He lunged at one of the duplicates before any of them could react and stabbed her through the heart. She fell to the floor I a puddle of blood. This puddle slid across the floor back into the original Sumika.

"Have I instilled some fight into you scholar?" Sumika asked in a mocking tone.

Pryde swung his blade horizontally at one of the other copies. A katana came from his side and blocked him. He slid his sword along her blade and brought it off still in motion towards her. It cut the Dunmer woman in half just below the ribs.

"I will take that as a yes…" she said satisfied with herself. One of the remaining Sumikas made a downward stroke to his shoulder, exiting his armpit. His flesh healed as the blade passed through it, his arm was never separated from his body.

"You are a cautious fighter, Sumika commented. "To use your gift to its fullest you have to be more aggressive. Focus on dealing damage, you can take your hits."

Ryan swung his sword in an arc head level with the last three duplicates. The first in the line blocked it easily and the other two stabbed him in either shin. He fell to his knees.

He looked at his sword then threw it to the side. "not giving up are we?" Sumika asked him.

He drew his mace from his belt. "Never."

"You know a mace is harder to block with than a blade," she said.

"But it deals more damage," he said back. He swung the mace and shattered one of the Sumika's knees.

Another copy stabbed at Ryan. He attempted to block the blade with his mace, but the curved blade easily slid around the rounded handle directly into his stomach.

Pryde pulled the blade out of his abdomen as he stood. The Sumika whose leg he broke cut through his ankle, and it healed behind her blade. He stepped on her head, crushing her skull.

A Sumika came up behind him and held him at the elbows. The other stabbed and sliced him repetitively. It looked as if the battle was all but lost for Ryan.

Sumika -or replica of her as it were- slashed Ryan in the arm just above the elbow here her look-alike held him. His arm was severed and did not regenerate. When he was free of her grasp his arm dissolved and joined with him once again. He used his now free arm to jab his holder in the stomach. She lost her grip on him. He rolled over to his sword, grabbed it up and span with it as he stood.

The blade connected with the base of one of the duplicate's necks. It did not stop.

He swung at the last copy. The sword entered her left shoulder and kept going down into her heart. In his adrenaline-filled fury, he swung his shortsword at the original Sumika. She attempted to draw her katana, but was too slow.

A longsword came out of nowhere to bock the shortsword.

Ryan looked down the blade at the Dunmer holding the hilt.

"That is one too many," Alderich told him.