Isaac's Memoirs- Escape from the Black Flame

Chapter 4- Shattered Glass Approach

Those words rang true in my head, I couldn't win, at least, not in the way I had been fighting. The most I could do from this vantage point was beg for my life. I wasn't going to do that though, if I was to die, I was die a warriors death. I closed my eyes and exhaled calmly, I needed to think rationally, dying was not an option. I heard again the whooshing of air, this time in an arc above my head. I dodged with ease. 

I was again learning his patterns in the midst of battle. Another whoosh to the side and I brought my sword up to block. I kicked out hard and hoped to hit something. No such luck came to me as all I found was air. The sulfur in the arena had far too many footprints to track his movements. Wait! I thought, the sulfur was combustible. 

A side note: I did not know at that point that I was immune to magical fire. The next events were a complete gamble and should be known to be such. I honestly had no idea whether or not this strategy would work and for all intents and purposes, as you shall soon see, I was right to be worried over the success of this plan. 

I used my sword to inch forward, listening for the whoosh, instead, all I got were arrogant remarks. "Coming to the middle to take your death like a man huh?" I remained silent, silent and strong. I fell to one knee in the center of the arena and placed my hand on the ground. I waited. Waited to hear the whooshing noise of his attack. When he did, I made the small explosion on the ground, which in turn whooshed into massive fire. 

"Ack!!!" I heard Emanuel scream in terror. Fire spread out around me and I stood looking for my opponent. There he stood, cracking like glass. Emanuel shattered into a thousand pieces and for a split second, I saw another Emanuel before a third one formed in front of me. There had to be some sort of trick I knew, and I was just too blind to see it. For now, pummeling these illusions were enough for me. 

The new one lasted mere moments against World Breaker as I sliced it right in two. I heard another grunt of pain from a new direction. I spun just in time to see my opponent disappear. The new one posed a slightly larger challenge, as though more magic were dumped into him. He knocked World Breaker from my hand to the side, but it was of little consequence as I smashed this one's nose, shattering him to a million pieces. This time I smelled blood. 

Finally I was learning his true tactic, those clones were directly related to him. They fed from his magic, but were glass cannons, the more magic the more the two were one. He could make a million clones, but he put more magic into the single and used it as a double to hide his attacks. So I would just have to break his mirrors. Destroying the illusions was all I could think about. I turned and smashed another illusion, then walked over and picked up my blade. Emanuel was finished. I flicked the blade up and sliced a final illusion in half before using the smell of blood to locate him. I placed my blade outreached at the invisible opponent, "Shall we end this little game?" Then the smell of blood got even closer, right in my face, "Sure." 

After that, I remember nothing but the sky and being allowed to live.