Sworded Affair

Chapter 160: Mirror Match

[Heavenly Jade Mirror - Level ???]

Emma stared at the pulsating chrome sphere suspiciously, ready to take defensive action at a moment’s notice. It didn’t respond to her presence, at least not in any way she could see.

[WARNING: This Dungeon is unstable, and will collapse if unbeaten in 13 hours, 15 minutes.]

As always, with the timer involved, the onus for action lay on her. Wary of her opponent’s unknown level, Emma decided to open with her strongest ability: given how time had behaved thus far, she figured it might come back a lot sooner than the 12 hours it said on the description.

[Null Zone (Toggle: ON)]

From the safety of her magic immunity, Emma summoned the Angel of Extinction, positioning it right in front of the sphere to start its twelve second countdown. She wasn’t sure exactly what counted as line of sight for something like that, but she was ready to cry foul if the boss couldn’t even see something half an inch away. Of course, that was when it finally decided to react.

A thin, blue barrier now shrouded it, barely visible if Emma squinted. It didn’t look like anything she could do, but unfortunately, Emma had a good guess what it did, between the timing and the fact that she could no longer see its name tag at all.

[Null Zone (Toggle: OFF])

The barrier faded alongside Emma’s own defence, leaving them both exposed to the incoming hit. Still a good trade, in her opinion, as she was guaranteed to survive.

[One With Everything activates!

Anima: 1/500

Combat initiated!

Field Effect: All For One applied. Combatant numbers must be equal!]

Most of the sphere’s mass turned black, blowing away in wisps of acrid smoke. Where once it towered over Emma herself, now there remained only a silver pebble, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.

“I think I understand why it's called the Heavenly Jade Mirror,” Emma groaned, turning to her inventory as she searched for a way to kill something that would copy her every action, and possessed the same abilities, both active and passive.

[I hate enchanted mirrors. Once, I had a suitor present me one as a gift, claiming the mirror would show me the fairest maiden in all the land. When I got close to take a look, my reflection reached out and twisted my nose. It laughed at me too, the bitch; modelled off of my own personality with a pinch of added mischief. Admittedly, it was funny: I still turned the man into a frog and fed him to the ducks on my estate, though. Appearances had to be kept, and a blatant insult at court couldn’t be borne. Only later did I learn that he’d already offended Overmind’s niece, and was given the delivery job as his execution. She always did love to foist her work off on me; I got her back in the end though, a few years later...]

Emma frowned, turning the anecdote around in her head. Edith’s rambling was amusing, but bore little relevance to the situation at hand: at least, so it appeared. Her ancestor only spoke when the mood struck her, and while the subject matter veered wildly at times, none of it was ever truly idle chatter. She was missing something here, and she knew it. In the time Emma spent considering her options, the sphere had regenerated to the size of her head, in tandem with Emma’s own passive regeneration. Walking up to it, Emma gave the ball a strong, open handed slap.

[-50 Anima

Anima 150/500]

It shrank again, now the size of an orange.

[Null Zone (Toggle: ON)

-50 Anima

Anima 100/500]

Trying again while under protection from magic rendered the same result, shrinking it still further to perhaps the size of a plum.

[Ephemera (Toggle: ON)]

Now, it was a ghostly plum, a pale blue verging on white.

[-50 Anima

Anima 50/500]

“Goddamnit.”

Emma stared balefully at the grape-sized enemy, unsure how to proceed from here. She needed to proceed and clear the dungeon before everything collapsed on her, quite literally. To do so, the sphere needed to get out of the way, by a method that didn’t also result in her own death, something she would rather avoid for obvious reasons. She didn’t have anything that could manage a non-lethal kill, as paradoxical as the concept sounded, and the ongoing field effect meant that her summons were inaccessible to boot. Unless…

“No way does that work. Right?”

Emma’s eyes had drifted down to the end of the status page, past her combat form entirely to land on her recently acquired Chandler class. For the first time in live combat, Emma switched out of her armoured form to inhabit the homunculus. This went on, until the sphere had recovered mostly to its original size, and then she stuck a hand into the ball, which had recovered enough mass to resemble a grapefruit, finding the insides pleasantly warm but not hot enough to hurt.

[-10 HP]

She scooped out a palmful of silver liquid, feeling a thin cut open up along her bare arm, leading to a negligible amount of bleeding. So far, so good. Placing her hand back into the sphere, Emma smiled.

“It’s pretty clear that both of us are linked, and if one dies, so will the other. But I have two bodies, and you only have one. I’d lose the homunculus, which would be annoying, but it can be replaced. Your life cannot, so let’s compromise. Disable the mirror effect, let me kill you, and I’ll take you with me. Not exactly as you are now, but part of you will endure.”

The sphere did not speak, but Emma waited patiently all the same for an answer, returning to her armoured form in the meanwhile. The ball began to undulate, slowly at first, but building up steam until it was shaking so violently Emma braced for an attack. Then, as suddenly as the outburst had begun, it stilled.

[Field Effect: All For One disabled]

That was an answer, as much any words would be.

—

Practitioner Emma Knight

True Form: Level 15 Damned Apostle

Anima: 500

EXP: 8831/10000

Abilities

Summon Unholy Sword {Epitaph}

Toxovolia: Epitaph can transform into a Bow, firing arrows of ambient anima.

No Pal of Mine: Capture the souls of the worthy, gaining a simulacrum of equal level to the User. Maximum 1 active per 10 levels, rounding up. 10 minute cooldown when defeated. Captured:

The Leech King, Sir Bearington, Earthbound Immortal, Antipode

Oversoul: Instantly possess the body of a living target.

Parallel Lives (Cooldown: 1 minute): Swap places with your active Summon.

Angel of Extinction (Cooldown: 12 hours): Summon an Angel within line of sight. The Angel is invulnerable and departs after 12 seconds, inflicting Instant Death to anyone who saw it.

Return (Cooldown: 24 Hours): Teleport Home. Cooldown resets when Home is in danger.

Traits

Wolf, Ram and Heart (Toggle: OFF): Attacks are imbued with Death magic, significantly increasing damage and carrying a [Level]% chance of inflicting Instant Death.

Ephemera (Toggle: OFF): Become intangible.

Null Zone (Toggle: OFF): All incoming magic fails.

One with Everything (Cooldown: 10 minutes): If Anima would be reduced to 0, stop at 1.

Babble Fish+: You are fluent in every language.

Rorschach's Blot: Attempts to observe you remotely produce nonsensical images to those bearing ill-intent. You will be alerted when observation commences.

Home Is Where the Hearth Is - EXP gains doubled for 1 hour after eating a home-cooked meal.

Inventory - Eden's Echo A ring containing fifty cubic metres of storage space, capable of instant transfer. Living beings are held in stasis and slowly heal. All sapient creatures are less likely to attack the wearer. This item is invisible except to the wearer, who cannot wear other jewellery. Currently contains:

50 Thrones

Victorian Gown (3-piece)

Quests

It’s the Green You Need

Objective: Raise the Potted Hydra until it blooms.

Objective: Convince the Hydra to give Saint a vial of its blood.

Bonus Objective: Form a summoning contract with the Hydra

Reward: A powerful ally from the Age of Myth, Saint’s Divine Item

Bonus Reward: ???

Vae Victis

Objective: Deactivate the gateway beneath Blenheim Palace before it explodes.

Rewards: 25,000 Thrones, Commendation (Order of the Empire, First Class), Season Ticket (The Ghost Train), Residence Permit (Avalon)

Penalty for Failure: Death

Half-Demon Homunculus: Level 5 Chandler

HP: 100

MP: 100

EXP: 810/850

Appearance

Red hair, green eyes, plain complexion.

Traits

I’m a Candle: A modern understanding of non-magical candles.

Noncombustible: High resistance to heat and fire from all sources.

Blood of the Enemy: Blood taken from those you slay may substitute for one reagent when making Candles. Candles made using this trait are Demonic.

Breath Control: You can hold your breath for (Level)*2 minutes without losing focus.

Candle Attributes

Black: Consumes nearby light, leaving impenetrable darkness.

Hallowed: Repels beings of evil alignment or intent.

Soothing: Emits a potent soporific that can put an elephant to sleep.