A Real Trial

"In all your struggles you left some behind, now let's see if they'll be kind!" The booming voice rang out, sounding much more sinister than it usually does.

Devotion instinctually summoned the staff form of Ghostwhisper into his hand, preparing for a fight. The figure jumped down from the hole in the sealing, and then another one followed it. As they landed on the ground, Devotion finally got a good look at them.

The figure on the right was shorter and portly, and strongly resembled that Guff fellow that Devotion had chased off. Only, something was off. The figure's facial features seemed to be distorted, like something had seen it once in a photograph and tried to replicate it.

The figure on the left resembled the leader that Devotion had scared away, only it was mission an arm and had a hole in its chest. Both of them were wielding sinister looking black swords, curved at the blade and dripping with sinew.

"So the trial looks at those you left behind, and creates copies of them to test you at the end. Interesting. This trial really is sinister. It lets you put your guard down in the early stages, only to do something like this. Maybe I was too harsh on it." Devotion thought aloud, as he summoned the Frostbrand sword in his right hand.

In his current stance, Devotion appeared quite domineering. In one hand, he carried a sinister black staff, while the other hand held a glowing, cold sword. He clutched both of them tightly.

"I think this is going to be our first real fight, Ysmir. You take the fake Guff, I'll go for the fake leader. Once one is down, we can team up on the other and end this." Devotion commanded Ysmir. Just as he said that, those two copies raised their weapons and charged.

Devotion let out a battle roar, and engaged them. His blood was boiling, and Devotion looked forward to venting some of his anger from the trial on these clones. Internally, he was a little worried. I'll cut the bullshit, he was extremely worried. After all, Devotion still thought that he was at First Rank, and these were two Second Rank Cultivators he was about to fight. He put on a false front of confidence, but inside, he didn't really think he had a chance to survive this. He wouldn't give up, though. He'd try his hardest.

Devotion charged at the leader, brandishing his Frostbrand for the first time. He'd never fought with a sword before, and it was incredibly terrifying to have someone swing one at you. He instinctually raised the Frostbrand in his right hand to block the haphazard swing from the leader's clone. The two blades connected, but instead of a metallic clang like Devotion expected, it was eerily silent. Whatever material the opponent's blade was made out of, it was not metal.

Devotion could feel the vibrations from the contact shaking his right arm. It was instantly numb. This was much more brutal than he thought. Before he could linger on it any more, his opponent pulled back the blade, borrowing the momentum to spin around and give a follow-up swing. Devotion blocked that with Ghostwhisper in his left hand, and took the opportunity to go on the offense. He stabbed forward with his Frostbrand, but the opponent was able to twist his body just in time to avoid the blade.

Devotion very quickly realized he was out-matched by this clone when it came to sword combat. After all, he'd never done it. Every contact their weapons made, Devotion's internals would shake, whereas the clone was unfazed. If this continued, he would be quickly exhausted, and most likely killed.

"Hopefully you don't know how to deal with magic." Devotion said as their blades made contact again. The clone only let out a pained groan that sounded remotely like the leader's real voice in response.

Devotion stepped back, narrowly dodging another swipe from the sinewy blade, and threw the Frostbrand sword up in the air. He then quickly casted a few ice knives to distract the clone, who spent time dodging. While those were flying, Devotion casted an earth spire from the ceiling, slamming into the Frostbrand and sending it flying towards the leader, who was currently distracted dodging the ice knives. Just as the leader noticed, Devotion charged and swept the leader's feet with his staff, knocking him off balance.

Devotion instinctually called out the name of this technique he created.

"Betrayal Of Ice!" As Devotion spoke those words, he felt a new power ignite his veins. He had just invented his very first combination technique!

At this critical juncture, the Frostbrand pierced the leader's head, black blood spraying everywhere. It had worked. Just as the clone was distracted dodging Devotion's onslaught, the sneak attack with the Frostbrand had made this integral attack. It was something he had come up with on the spot, and he was beyond excited that it actually worked.

"Alright, time to help out Ysmir." Devotion said. He turned around, but was shocked to see that Guff's clone was currently pinned to the ground, getting its jugular vein gnawed on by Ysmir. More of that black blood poured out, and the Guff clone kicked and thrashed until it fell still.

"Holy shit, Ysmir." Devotion gasped out. While he hadn't been injured, and while the fight hadn't really been that long, he was still pretty tired. He had used multiple techniques in very quick succession. "How do you keep doing this? I feel like every time I turn my back on you, you brutally murder something."

"Round One, you conquered fine. After Round Two, you'll reach the goal line!" The booming voice rang out. "Beat your companion's shadows, you have done. Now let's see when they become one!"

The two corpses of the clones began to twitch and melt, turning into piles of black sinew. They decomposed almost completely into liquid, letting out a horrid stench. Then, with a horrible slithering sound, they slithered together, forming into one larger pile. That larger pile slowly grew, and with horrid cracking and snapping sounds, a humanoid figure slowly emerged.

It was completely black, dripping with that black substance. It hunched, a large blade forming in each hand from that substance. It was the size of two men combined, towering a few feet over Devotion. It opened two milky white eyes and grinned, revealing a sinister set of teeth.

"Let's.... have.... some.... fun...." It spoke, its voice sounding like both the leader's and Guff's combined, overlapping over each other.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Devotion panted out.