Two figures fly around the room in great speed. As they flew, the figures would fly into each other, only to have their swords strike each other and resume flying and then repeat.
One was pure white and the other was pitch black, they were respectively Seiji and his reflection.
"Can you really be proud of this strength?" Fake Seiji asked in a mocking tone. "When you didn't even earn it yourself?"
Seiji tries to focus on his enemy while flying, but his reflection's insults kelt getting into his head, bit by bit. That lost of focus led him right into his reflection's foot, kicking him dead square in the chest.
Seiji spins around for a second, but manages to regain stance. He looks above at his own face, cockily grinning. "Hinata and Meld were the ones that killed Noint, Akira and Tio were the ones, who put your soul in his body."
"Tch, Hellfire Tsunami." Seiji sends a wave of flames to his reflection, who manages to block it effortlessly with his wings.
The fake Seiji unfurls his wings. "Some rival you are." He sends a barrage of feathers, Seiji had a harder time defending than his reflection. "Saying you'll beat Akira, when he's the reason you even got this strong."
Seiji fires a disintegration beam, it erases the feathers and was coming straight for the fake Seiji, who simply flew away at great speed.
When Seiji tried to find his reflection, his vision suddenly gets covered by a shadow flying right past him. Before he can even look up, the fake Seiji was already bringing his powerful downward kick, Sending Seiji straight to the ground.
Lying in a crater, Seiji can see his own cocky face looking down, straight at him. "In the end, nothing's change, you're still inferior to Akira, you're still jealous of him, that's why you attacked him back then. Not to mention, even though you gave up your body, Hinata is still not interested in you at all!"
The black haired Seiji flies straight down, holding both of his swords with a straight arm, as if he was an arrow aiming directly for Seiji's heart. "You even failed to keep your promise!" Just as he was about to reach Seiji...
CLANG
Seiji head blocked the attack, using both his swords and his wings. "Even so.." Seiji then kicks his reflection away and gets up. "I...STILL WANT TO BE HERE!" He declared loudly. "Even if I'm weak, even if I'm inferior, I still want to help my friend, I still want to be by Hinata's side."
"Oh? Then let's see if you can back that up." Fake Seiji challenged.
The two apostles were ready to continue their showdown, but then...
CRASH
Both Seiji's jumped, when they suddenly saw the wall burst apart, and two figures come out of it.
""Eh?""
"Why won't you take it back!?"
"Why won't you just say yes!?"
"Akira? Shu? What are you-"
The vampire and rabbit simply continued their bouts, ignoring Seiji in the process. They were both on the offensive, Akira kept firing powerful spells, and Shu kept managing to fend it off with brute force.
In the midst of this, both Seiji and his reflection tried getting their attention, but to no avail. After multiple failed attempts, Seiji sat down, curling his knees. "I see, I'm so weak that it's no wonder they can ignore me so easily." He said in a depressing tone while pitifully smiling.
"Oi, what happened?! You were acting so determined back then!" It seems that Seiji was so pitiful, even his reflection, who was trying to kill him earlier is giving him some sympathy. "Stop being an idiot!"
"See, even I think of myself as an idiot." Seiji buried his head further.
"Crap, I'm getting stronger!" Fake Seiji angrily looks at the ongoing battle between Akira and Shu. "That's it, I'm gonna put an end to this." Although he was programmed to kill the real Seiji, he was also made to give him a fair trial, so it is normal for him to want to stop Shu and Akira.
"Oy, you two, you're disturbing the tri- Bugwoh!" Before he can finish, the black haired Seiji was smacked in the face by Shu's hammer and crashed to the wall.
"Fake me!" Seiji cried out.
A stroke like that would've ordinarily killed anyone, but miraculously, fake Seiji survived, less unfortunately, he couldn't take a hint and tried again.
"Alright you two, that's enou-'
"Crimson Javelin." Akira summoned multiple lightning spears, and one them had hit Fake Seiji, and he was blown away again.
But refusing giving up, he goes for a third attempt, that ended the same, when Akira's five dragons and Shu's evolved attack created a very powerful shockwave that easily blew him away again.
"Noooooo!" Seiji runs to his copy's side. "Are you ok?!"
The copy coughed up blood. "Looks like I'm not gonna make it."
"Don't say that!" Seiji begged.
"It's ok, I'm just a manifestation of your repressed fear, if those two hadn't barged in, you would've ended up killing me anyway."
"Oh yeah."
SHINK
Seiji stabbed his copy in a rush.
"Ack! Why?!"
"If you died because of them, then I definitely wouldn't ger the ancient magic, this was the best I could hope for." Seiji frantically answered.
"Oh yeah, bleh" And so, the fake Seiji dropped dead.
Feeling unsatisfied due to the anticlimactic ending of his trial, Seiji turns two his two allies, who were both on the ground exhausted, having used up all of their mana.
"Stop saying depressing stuff like that, you of all people know that as long as we stick together, nothing can beat us!" Shu reminded.
"Shu..."
When they first met, Shu had seen Akira as a rival for Hinata's affection like Seiji. But overtime, Akira has become someone that Shu looks up to. When he saw Akira acting like a defeatist, it made him angry.
After seeing Shu unleashing his emotions on him, Akira realized he was wrong. "Shu, I'm sorry. You're right, even if both my last and future are unclear, I need to focus on the present, and right now I want to be Hinata." Akira and Shu got up. "Whatever comes, we'll handle it together, I know I can count on you and everyone else."
"There's the Akira I know, and I'm also sorry for getting so mad earlier."
"It's ok, I deserved it."
The two celebrated their reconciliation with a hug.
"Aww, I'm so glad you two made up."
Akira and Shu's eyes snapped open and they turn their heads to see Seiji, who is just and standing there...menacingly.
"S-Seiji?"
"When did you- Gulp!" It finally donned on Akira and Shu.
'Come to think about it, i did feel like I hit something.'
'I think i remember seeing some feathers during the fight.'
"Oh, so you finally noticed?" Seiji politely asked in a very calm manner, and yet this the first time he had been so intimidating to Shu and Akira.
"Uh...so how did your trial go?" Shu asked, desperately trying to change the subject.
"Oh, I just stabbed myself back there." Shu and Akira let out sigh of relief, but Seiji wasn't finish talking. "After you guys put him on his deathbed."
The two of them gulped as Seiji continued talking "calmly". "I did it in a rush, I really hope I don't fail because you guys messed him up."
Akira decided to try and defend himself. "Why, didn't you just use restoration magic and then start over?"
Although he was still smiling, it felt as if Seiji's expression grew darker.
Shu immediately grabbed Akira and leaned into his ear. "Akira, stop it! No matter how you see it, we're in the wrong." He whispered.
"I don't know what you two were fighting about, but you both looked stressed." Seiji begins cracking his knuckles while walking forward. "Hey, mind if relieve some of my stress...while you're both out of mana."
Akira and Shu can't do or say anything as Seiji get his completely justified revenge.
"You always avert your eyes." A white haired Suzu Taniguchi calmly said, meanwhile the real Suzu was on her knees, trapped inside a barrier enchanted with gravity magic. "That's our weakness."
"Kuh...Halowed Ground." Suzu projected her own barrier to protect herself, while also dispelling her reflection's barrier. She then made her own gravity barrier, bringing her copy to her knees.
"You knew Eri wasn't what she appeared to be." The fake was still sneering, while dispelling Suzu's barrier. "But you didn't expose her, because you thought that she was just like you."
Since Suzu's class is barrier master, that means that she doesn't exactly have any offensive power, at least, not until she got her fans from Hinata. This was all she and her reflection can do, continuously trapping each other in barriers, while dispelling their the other one's barrier.
But as this went on, Suzu's reflection didn't stop getting under her skin
"Mom and dad were such workaholics, they were barely at home, we know our caretaker way better than we do with them. And school wasn't any different, no matter where you were, you were always alone."
Suzu kept on dancing and projecting her barriers, despite the pained expression on her face.
"Then one day, you were told to "Just smile" and suddenly everything changed. Putting on a smile made everyone like you and happy, and that's what drew you to Eri."
Suzu knows full well what her reflection means.
"When you first saw her, you knew her shy personality was nothing but an act, but you thought she did it for the same reasons you did, to protect herself, but that couldn't be farther from the truth, and you just ignored it."
It's true, Suzu might not have known for sure, and she definitely didn't see Eri kill someone in real life until Kondo on that night. But she had some suspicions, which she suppressed, and in doing so...
"And because of you, that tragedy was able to happen."
Suzu flashed back to that horrid knight, seeing her friends on the ground bleeding and about to die.
"Jose, Nia, and all those knights turned into zombies, Seiji and Reichii almost dying, and the kingdom being flooded with monsters, all of it could've been prevented by you, but no, you chose to let it happen."
Suzu would've wanted nothing more to deny it, but she couldn't, her heart wouldn't let her.
"I can't believe you actually had the gull to ask Nagumo for a favour like that, letting a serial killer on the loose, just so you can have fake closure. Did you think everyone would listen to you just because you smiled at them?" Suzu's movement started to slow down. "All that suffering, because you couldn't accept reality, and now it's your turn to suffer, Heaven Crusher."
Suzu just realized that there are multiple mana shields inside her barrier. "When did-"
"Burst."
The shield's explode, destroying the barrier from the inside, and enveloping Suzu in the explosion.
The fake Suzu saw her real counterpart on the ground. "You didn't even know what you would've said to her, even if you did meet. Eri and Nagumo were right, you're a selfish moron."
After a brief moment, Suzu started to get up. "You're right." She powered through the pain, readying her fans. "I already knew my weakness, when I saw that dream in Haltina."
"So you did have some fight left." Suzu's reflection knew this, because even with her insults, she didn't feel any stronger, in fact, she's currently getting weaker.
"And that's why, I HAVE TO SEE HER!" Suzu shouted as she started gathering mana. "You were right about me not knowing what to say to her, but I still want to see her, Hallowed Ground- Reversal."
Suzu had actually enchanted her barriers with restoration magic, now every single barrier she created was brought back. "Thank you for helping me learn of my weakness, and the chance to overcome it, now, Blossom Burst!"
Suzu's spell not only made her barriers explode, it also let her control the shards to deal even more damage.
The room was covered in smoke because of Suzu's attack, and inside of it, the white haired Suzu was still standing, but barely. She had conjured up a makeshift barrier, it was destroyed instantly, but it did absorb some of the impact, which let her survived just a bit.
"An excellent attack, too bad you were a little bit-"
Before she can finish, the real Suzu comes out of the smoke, fans on hand, and her face was full of determination. Suzu runs forward, and slashed her reflection's neck with her fans, dealing enough damage to kill it. When Hinata gave her the fans, the sharpened edges were something Hinata added herself, just in case. Suzu didn't really plan to switch to a physical attacker like Kaori, she didn't think she was ever gonna use it, until now.
Suzu falls to the ground, along with her reflection. Her last attack took pretty much all of her mana. But even with her massive exhaustion, she was still smiling, for real, celebrating her victory. "I...did...it."
"Good for you, me." Suzu hears her own voice coming from next to her. "I hope you can give Eri your real feelings."
Suzu slowly closes her eyes, still smiling while her reflection disappears.
Suzu slowly opened her eyes, she can feel that her legs were being carried by a pair big hands, she also feels her arms draped over something broad. When she finally opened her eyes, she can see a familiar head.
"Ryutaro?"
"Oh, you're awake."
Ryutaro was carrying Suzu on his back, and was walking down the corridor.
"What...happened?" Suzu asked, still sounding tired.
"Well, I finished my trial, and a path opened up, i entered it and I ended up in your room, you were knocked out, so I just decided to carry you."
"Oh...thanks." Now that he mentioned it, Suzu took a look at his body, she can see the injuries. "You got into a fist fight with your reflection, didn't you?"
"Yeah, you can tell?"
'Of course i can.' Suzu flatly thought. "Sorry if this sounds rude, but I'm actually not surprised that you easily cleared your trial, back in Haltina, you were able to shrug off seeing those dreams so easily."
"True, but..." Ryutaro sounded a bit nervous. "That's because my dream was just me hanging out with everyone like usual, as for this trial..."
Ryutaro started telling Suzu about how his trial went.
"Back in Japan, you were always second fiddle to Kouki, and your now even lower than that, because of Nagumo."
That's how it always been, he was Kouki's best friend, but most people assumed he was more of a sidekick. He and Kouki often helped girls from delinquent, but only Kouki was thanked. Every girl Ryutaro had a crush on, eventually had a crush on Kouki.
And none of that changed when they got here, considering Kouki was literally the hero. And then Hinata got stronger and she became the center of attention.
"I knew deep inside that I hated being a mere side character, and wanted to be in the spotlight, and when I admitted that.."
"It doesn't have to stay that way." The fake Ryutaro extended his hand. "Take my hand, and we'll show them what we can really do."
Suzu was confused. "He offered you power? That didn't happen to me."
"Is that so? Well either way, I didn't take it, I just smacked his hand away and asked what the fuck was wrong with him. After that, I just started fighting."
He might've not liked being weaker, but that doesn't mean that he would deny it. Even a muscle head like him knew he still wouldn't stand a chance against Hinata, even if he had accepted the offer.
'Yeah, that sounds like him.' Suzu decided to keep that statement to herself.
"Actually, there is something else my double made me realize."
"Realize what?"
"Well..."
"You might've accepted being beneath Kouki, but are you ok with being below Nagumo, who you put down so much?"
"Was that...how I treated her?" He nervously asked, it didn't really come to mind until after he beat his reflection.
"I...think I heard you insulted her sometimes." Suzu sadly admitted.
"Yeah, I remember that too." He recalls the time when he considered her to be a good for nothing otaku. "Guess I was a dick to her, wasn't I?"
"Don't be too hard on yourself, I wasn't exactly good friends with her either." Suzu reminded. She was part of the group that avoided Hinata on purpose. "Remember when Kaori invited us to hang out with her, and we all just refused or made an excuse?"
"Yeah..."
They were filled with regret, they had casted out Hinata, but now, she was the reason that they were even alive right now. If they had accepted Kaori's invitation, they probably would have realized the kind of person Hinata is.
"I wish we had said yes." Suzu lamented.
"Me too." Ryutaro concurred.
They were feeling down, but if this labyrinth had thought them one thing, it's that they can get over this.
"Then...why don't we try to make up for it?"
"You know what? Yeah, I'd like that."
The two started smiling.
"We can talk about it with everyone else. We all owe her, not just for saving our lives, or these artifacts she gave us, but also to make up for how we treated her."
"But does she care about that last part? Yuka told us how that went for her."
"Hehe, you're right. But we're still gonna do it, whether she wants it or not."
As the two started to have a better mood, Suzu suddenly realized something. "Um, Ryutaro."
"Yeah?"
"I think I can walk by myself now."
They had been talking for so long that they forgot Ryutaro was still carrying Suzu on his back.
"Oh, sorry." Ryutaro quickly but gently let her down. The two of them kept walking, blushing all the way and full of awkwardness.
When they saw the wall, Ryutaro decided to try and break the ice. "So...whose room do you think we'll end up in?"
"Uhm...well, I'm hoping it'd be Kaori or- Kyah!"
As soon as they entered, they were welcomed by huge amount of mana. The two of them witnessed Tio in a fierce battle with white version of himself.
They were battling hand to hand, as if they were both martial artists. Each of their punches and kicks were covered in flames.
"Our kind gave their aid, we didn't discriminate against anyone." Tio's reflection sounded pissed. "BUT THEY STILL BETRAYED US!"
Suzu and Ryutaro had never seen Tio sound that angry before. In fact, they never remembered Tio being angry at all, or even raised his voice before.
"We wanted peace! We wanted to make a paradise for people of any kind!" Fake Tio roared as charged forward with a flame covered fist. "AND LOOKED AT WHAT HAPPENED!"
Tio had managed to block the powerful strike of his reflection, but he was still knocked back. Just in front of Suzu and Ryutaro, who he noticed. "What are you two doing here?"
Tio's reflection made a sinister grin. "Oh, spectators? Perhaps they would like to know how you really feel."
Neither Tio nor the other two liked the face that the fake Tio was making.
"You still remember don't you? How all of the people we helped turned on us? How they accused us of wanting to control them? How they killed our friends and family while calling us HERETICS?" Each question made him sound angrier and angrier. "You wanted them to die so badly. You wished that everyone in the world but your tribe would just suffer and die. You enjoyed blowing that church up. YOUR ANGER IS FULLY JUSTIFIED, YOU CAN'T IGNORE IT!" Fake Tio's smile grew even more sinister. "You wanted revenge so badly that you wanted to use your beloved Master as a pawn."
It's Tio's trial, but it was Suzu and Ryutaro that had a hard time accepting that this. Tio remained quiet, and he simply attacked, firing a powerful breath of fire, as though he was in his dragon form. His reflection did the same, the two different breath of flamed clashed with each other, pushing the other. Both Tios were focused on not relenting their attack, but it didn't stop the fake Tio from talking.
"When you met her, you knew she would attract god's attention and that's why you decided to stay close to her." Tio remained the same expression.
"You know that she can discern truth and lies, when you found out, you've been nervous. You keep wondering why she hasn't exposed you. Perhaps she just intended to use you. Maybe after this labyrinth, she will reveal you true intention and just kill you. Like everyone else did!" The fake Tio offered his hand. "Take my hand and we can finally achieve that goal on our own!"
Tio's kept his fire strong, but just for a single moment, he winced and thought. 'What if...he wa-'
"Tio, don't listen to him!"
"Yeah, there's no way that Nagumo would do that!"
It might've been bold of them to say that, as if they understood Hinata even though they barely hung out with her. But based of what they did know of her, the truly believe that Hinata wouldn't do something like that.
Taking advantage of someone? Definitely. But screwing them over that badly? Never in a million years. They might not know why she didn't confront Tio about that, but they do know that it wouldn't be because of something that malicious.
And so did Tio.
"We have yet to learn our purpose in this world. Is this body man or beast? If all things were made with a purpose, then the answer to that question must lie somewhere."
"Those words..." Tio's reflection widened his eyes, he knew what Tio was reciting.
The dragonmen creed.
"For centuries we have been unable to find the answer. In which case, it is time we decided on an answer for ourselves!"
"What? My power!" Tio's reflection started to get worried, his flames were being pushed back.
"A dragon's eyes see the truth, piercing all lies and deceit!"
Just like Hinata's, Tio's eyes prevents him from being misled by anything.
"A dragon's talons tear through fortresses, striking down the evil sequestered within!"
Tio's claws are strong enough to strike down nearly anything, but they are only meant to fight evil.
"A dragon's fangs shred through one's own weakness, biting through hatred and wrath."
A dragonmen must always control themselves, precisely because they are dragons. If their integrity wavered, they must bare their fangs at their own soul.
"For once a dragon loses its benevolence, it is naught more than a beast."
If the time comes when Tio did lose control, then he would have no choice to admit that dragonmen were just mindless monsters.
"So long as the blade of reason is my weapon...Then we are not beasts, but dragonmen!" Tio roared. His power being fueled by his honor and pride as a dragonmen.
"You...You were letting me read your mind, you showed me what you wanted me to see." Fake Tio realized, Tio had never once been affected by the labyrinth's temptations.
Tio smirked. "I must thank this labyrinth, I now know I can control myself against ancient magic, perhaps I can also do it against god."
"B-But my words weren't lies! You do have that kind of rage in your heart!" The reflection pointed out.
Tio merely smirks. "Who do you think I am?"
"Never forget the dark fire born in your heart, and also don't forget the pride you hold dear as a member of the Klarus line. Live Strong, Tio."
Tio kept those words close to his heart. For it was the last words his father gave before his demise.
"I am Tio Klarus! A proud descendant of the Klarus line and a noble dragonman!" His flame breath expanded in size, practically swallowing his reflection and his flames completely, as this happened, fake Tio smiles, accepting his end.
Suzu and Ryutaro stood there amazed, they were stunned after seeing Tio act so cool and then completely obliterate his reflection.
"That was...awesome."
"Just when we thought we got used to them being so overpowered...hehe."
Tio turns to the two of them. "Although I had planned it all, it seems I have worried you, my apologies, and thank you for your words of encouragement, it helped." Tio thought back to what her copy said. "I do still wonder why master hadn't called out my lie." He strokes his chin. "Is she preparing some punishment for me? That would actually be quite wonderful."
'So he's still a pervert.' Suzu and Ryutaro thought as they saw Tio with his tongue sticking out. And so, their memory of Tio being a cool and noble warrior suddenly became a distant dream.
The three of them continued down the path that just opened up. And when they reached the next room, they witnessed a surprising sight.
"Would you cut it out, aren't you satisfied by now."
"Like hell I am!"
"Guys, please cut it out."
Akira and Seiji were comically duking out, while Shu was trying to stop them.
"Uhm...excuse us." Tio spoke up.
Only Shu heard him. "Oh, it's you guys. Akira, Seiji. Look, it's Tio with Suzu and Ryutaro. Looks like they cleared their trial, isn't that great?" The two of them ignored Shu, who did not like that one bit. "Would you cut it out?!"
Shu smacks both of them, finally getting them to notice the other people in the room.
"So, did you guys meet anyone else?" Shu asked.
"No, with six of us here, that only leaves five others, Master, Meld, Kaori, Shizuku, and the hero." Tio answered.
"Then let's hurry up and go, I want to see Hinata, not a dud."
"I am not a dud!" Seiji cried.
Despite Akira and Seiji's bickering, they all went forward at a normal pace. But then Shu's ears started picking something up. "Huh? This sound..."
Tio, Akira, and Seiji started to sense the same thing.
"It's Hinata's gunshots."
"I sense master up ahead."
"Then what're we waiting for?"
The four of them rushed forward, with Suzu and Ryutaro running to keep up. They assumed that Hinata was in the midst of her trial, so they were quite excited to see two Hinatas.
But what they found was way farther than the truth. Hinata was fighting, but not with her reflection, but it was Kouki.