205. Zenith Online Chapter 51 - Leather-bound Books and Rooks (10)

A gentle breeze rustled my hair as I cast gust in the direction of Cove's reflection. It didn't hit, but I hadn't expected it to. He vanished and took the opportunity to sprint up next to the real Cove, hovering uncertainly nearby as he braced himself against the wall and rose to his feet. 

"Nine," he said, the edges of his lips twitching slightly. 

"What was that?"

He rolled his shoulders back and cracked his neck as his skin began to bruise, red trickling down his neck. He winced as the motion pulled at the injuries I couldn't see. "I think he's augmenting his strength."

In front of us, Eliza swung at the back of Cove's reflection, causing him to duck. He rolled the movement into a toss, throwing her into the air. She moved with the motion, leaping off of the heaving and shifting crystals to splash in the water, back to back with Sinbad, who was exchanging another flurry of strikes with his reflection. He spared her a quick glance, his shoulders relaxing slightly. 

"You think?!" I questioned sarcastically, ducking and weaving as my reflection cast ice dagger at me. Still, my heart slowed, reassured that Cove wasn't hiding natural superhuman strength. Which meant…

"Which means he's not limited by the system," Cove said, unintentionally echoing my thoughts. 

It was the logical conclusion. No class change had been initiated by anyone on either side of the battle yet. Simply put, he couldn't have used the power-ups provided by the system and must have increased his strength the same way I'd doubled up on mine earlier. 

"But he should still be limited to the class you chose," I pointed out, sounding uncertain even to myself, "they added that feature to make it easier on players." If that feature wasn't applying, our chances of making it out of this alive were dwindling quickly. While we were far more conservative with our ability points, our reflections didn't seem to care, casting spells and altering their strength on a whim. In concept, that sounded great for us, but holding off through the initial onslaught of strikes until they were out of ability points was going to be very, very difficult. 

He shrugged, then winced, his eyes flicking through the fight ahead as Sinbad and Eliza did an admirable job of holding the four reflections off for the moment, giving us time to speak. "For Zenith Online, in particular, perception and intention seem to play a large role."

I shot him a quick glare, feeling patronized. I'd been the one who'd informed him of the 'expectations determine reality' bit Zenith Online had going on. 

Cove disappeared, our conversation apparently over. He reappeared directly behind his reflection, sending a fire shot sailing towards it and taking some of the metaphorical heat off Sinbad and Eliza, who were able to slow down from the incredible breakneck pace they'd been going at. 

I readied to cast gust, intending to follow through with the plan to rid ourselves of Cove's reflection first.  A change in the positioning of my reflection changed that, and I redirected the cast towards it, nullifying an identical cast. My reflection moved quickly–far quicker than I had–sprinting toward me. 

I dodged with boosted speed, casting my first bit of physical magic in this fight. The firm, constant drag on my ability points was slow but would accumulate quickly. I categorized the exact muscles I was using, focusing the physical boost on those alone and drawing back from the others as needed to conserve strength as my reflection took his first swing at me. 

The movement was familiar, and with instincts I hadn't known I possessed, I blocked, my right arm arcing in front of me to knock it away. The blow skidded off my wrist, and I used the newfound opening to send a palm strike to its chest. My reflection stumbled just out of arms reach, and I spun lightly on the ball of my left foot, following through with a roundhouse kick. 

My reflection shot a palm out, catching and tossing me back with gust. 

I landed hard against the wall a few feet away, feeling the rough edges dig sharply into my skin. Thanks to the suit, my skin didn't break, but I knew I'd have some nasty bruises to deal with later. Sinbad, having delivered a staggering blow to his own reflection, swiped at mine, going on the offensive with Eliza still at his back. They moved in tandem, a devastating force to behold as Sinbad's machete flew through the air, stinging my reflection's arms. It didn't do any damage–it couldn't–but the movement kept it from interfering as Eliza blocked a sudden ice dagger from Cove's reflection with an arch of her sword, ending the arc with her fist near her forehead, the blade pointed down at the floor. Sinbad's reflection's machete grazed off the end, inches from her protected left arm, and she twisted her right arm, catching its blade and sending its arm across its body, leaving the reflection open for a devastating blow. All this happened in the second it took me to rise from the floor. 

Sinbad did not disappoint, flipping his blade into a reverse grip and sliding his right foot back into an almost reverse lunge that dug his machete deep into his reflection's side. Red veins flickered across the reflection, indicating significant damage had been delivered. 

As I cast an explosion at my reflection, keeping it off of Sinbad, Eliza dropped into a crouch, kicking her left leg back and sweeping Sinbad's reflection's feet out from underneath it, jolting it off of Sinbad's machete. My spell slammed into my reflection, damaging it even as Eliza rose and Sinbad swung around. In two dance-worthy steps Eliza and Sinbad had switched locations, Eliza facing my reflection and Sinbad standing tall above his reflection on the floor. 

Eliza stabbed forward, striking only air as my reflection vanished, teleporting away for the second time to reappear behind Cove, who'd engaged himself in a furious fistfight.