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JAIME FONTOYA

The reflection transported us to what remained of the library. Most of the shelves were gone and what endured were either rotting or succumbing to termites or both. The only books that survived were the thousands of pages scattered around the room.

Within the library were two mirrors. The first one was right in front of us. The second was on the opposite side of the room where Batta and his fishing rod lurked.

Joji punched our mirror with his left hand, reducing it to sand.

Batta tsked. "You lot love to pair up, huh? It doesn't matter. We'll finish you off all the same."

Our priority target is right in front of us!

"Attack Form." I lowered myself to the ground, extending a leg back before changing my breathing. "Falcon Dive!"

With Sting at hand, I leapt towards Batta so fast and close to the ground that, for a moment, it left him stunned. He snapped out of shock quickly, allowing him to touch his mirror and dodge my attack by travelling through it.

I went to stab him through the mirror, but it shattered into a thousand fragments instead.

Joji shambled to the fragments and turned them to sand before putting a hand on his bicep wound.

"Why are you screaming out your attack before you actually attack?"

"You're a State Jynxist, right? I'll assume that you're familiar with the rule that states giving yourself restrictions make you stronger. Last night, Ilias helped me make a contract with myself. There are three sword styles—attack, defence, and chaos. Along with each style are various forms that are used in different circumstances."

"What condition did you create for yourself?"

"If I announce which form I'm using loudly and clearly before I use it," I gave him an eager grin, "the power of the attack will be twice as strong."

I sheathed Sting and stared at the two swords hanging on my hip. There were supposed to be three but Batta turned Clash into a portal. And since a portal couldn't travel through itself, I had no choice but to leave my main sword behind.

Either way, it was something I didn't mind. Ever since I got Clash, I've relied on it for every situation in favour of its ability. Both Sting and Intermission have been neglected because of it.

This was the perfect opportunity to make it up to them. A swordsman must cherish all his swords after all.

I patted Intermission's hilt. Sorry, because of the rings in my throat, I can't make use of your ability. But don't worry. I'll still use you regardless.

"There's one silver lining to our situation." Joji grimaced as he used fire jynx to cauterize the hole in his arm. "We're finally inside the damn castle and we didn't have to walk into that obvious trap."

The two of us peeked into the hallway. Roaming the further side of the corridor was a man who donned a fuzzy hat with a hawk perched on his shoulder. It was the same bird that attacked us outside.

I pointed to the stairwell on our side of the hall. "We can sprint to that one. Up or down?"

"It makes more sense to go down."

"What about the fuzzy hat guy? I can run to the stairwell just fine, but I'm worried about you."

"This is nothing. I'm a natural runner," Joji chuckled, "over short distances."

On the count of three, we dashed to our destination with me in the lead and Joji not far behind. The fuzzy hat man reacted by pointing in our direction.

"Virtual Insanity!" he screamed out.

Suddenly, we were falling toward our end of the hall. The hawk on his shoulder squawked as icicles began to form on the 'ground'.

I unsheathed Sting, stabbing the wall by phasing through it. Once the sword's position was just right, I slowly solidified the blade, cutting through brick that sparked brilliantly from the friction between stone and steel.

Once it ground to a halt, I stabilized myself from falling by hanging onto the sword's hilt as if it were a fixture on the wall.

Above me, Joji plummeted out of control.

I extended my outer leg as far as I could. "Grab on!"

He spotted me just in time to catch my leg, his weight and momentum almost made me lose my grip.

"Umph!"

"Jaime, you good?"

"Yeah..." I struggled, focusing on the strain of holding up both myself and the old man.

"The direction of gravity has shifted. It must be that guy's ability."

"Guy? I have a name," the fuzzy hat man said. "It's Jay Kay. And it looks like Batta has failed twice. Instead of picking you off one by one, he's dragged in two of you once again. War Machine, let's clean up after him."

Suddenly, the hawk resting on his arm dove down to us, tucking its wings to achieve maximum velocity. It grew an icicle on one of the doorways, snapping it in half and dropping it onto us.

Just as the pointy end fell on my head, Joji reached his hand out, "Glimpse Of Us!", instantly transforming the icicle and drenching us in water.

He drew Intermission for himself. "Let me borrow this."

Joji let out an onslaught of amateur slashes that would've gotten him a punishment of a thousand push-ups from Askeladd. It was the mark of an unworthy swordsman. But the hawk didn't know that and it was enough to scare it. Upon coming across a man violently swinging a blade, War Machine changed directions and flew back to its master.

"We can work with this," I grunted. "If we position ourselves, we can jump down to the stairwell."

"If we mess up, the ice spikes at the end of the hall will pierce us. Turning one icicle into water is one thing. But there are dozens down there and I'm not quick—"

Our combined weight must've been too much for Sting. Without warning, its blade snapped in half, sending us into a freefall once more.

"No! It broke!" I gritted my teeth, focusing in on Jay Kay who was standing proudly on the wall that should've been the normal floor, unaffected by his own gravity-changing ability.

Even if Sting had snapped in half, half of it was still with me and its edge was just as sharp. "Chaos Form." With a quick change of breath, I threw it at Jay Kay. "Gale Blade!"

Since the broken Sting weighed less and was shorter than it should've been, it spun twice as fast. A normal sword throw was already difficult to block. Sting's reduced stature, alongside my restriction, would cut him in half before he even got a chance to move out of the way.

"Shit!" Jay Kay cursed. He pointed at the floor. "Virtual Insanity!"

Before Sting could reach him, gravity returned to normal, changing Sting's arc of motion and sending it clattering on the floor.

"Jaime!" Joji called out, sliding Intermission towards me.

I snatched my third sword off the ground. "Attack Form: Falcon Dive!"

With one leap, I descended upon Jay Kay, ready to slice him in half.

He pointed at the other end of the hallway behind him. "Virtual Insanity."

With the sudden change of gravity, I flew past Jay Kay's head, barely missing my target as I fell past him. The new 'ground' began growing icicles.

As Joji fell, he took off his shirt to use as makeshift gloves. He reached for the wall, catching himself by grabbing onto the other half of Sting's blade that was still embedded within the bricks.

Joji grunted as his palms slit open, sending droplets of blood like rain. "Jaime! Grab your broken sword tightly and don't let go!"

I couldn't read what he was planning, but I trusted him with my life.

I spun to face the 'ceiling', searching for the grip-half of Sting and spotting it free-falling above. I grabbed onto the bottom edges of my cloak and spread my limbs, reducing drag so Sting could fall to me faster.

War Machine tucked its wings and dove at me. It grew another icicle which it broke off and dropped onto a chandelier. Just as my second sword was within grasp, the ceiling light barrelled down, placing itself between us.

Intermission and I got into position. "Defence Form: Crossfire Hurricane!" We cut an X through the chandelier, sending its quartered frame flying downwards.

I sheathed Intermission and grabbed ahold of Sting, gripping it with both hands just as Joji instructed. War Machine hurtled at me but was thwarted when I flashed Sting's still-sharp edge. Instead of striking me as it planned, it maneuvered out of the way before circling below.

"Got it!" I called out above.

Joji made a fist and punched the balde-half he was holding onto. "Glimpse Of Us!"

My falling crescendoed to a stop before Sting began floating. Dragging me along with it, the sword fought gravity and sped upwards.

"My ability is reconstruction and deconstruction," Joji said. "If a sword snaps in half, I can use Glimpse Of Us to repair the two halves back together."

As I flew past Jay Kay, I snapped at him with a kick. He stretched back, dodging the kick itself but was unable to react to the follow-up boot satisfyingly flying into his face.

"Hehehe. Just because my feet can't reach you doesn't mean you're safe."

Jay Kay was thrown off balance and began plummeting the moment both his feet came off the wall.

I see it now. He's unaffected by his own ability. Whatever 'wall' his feet are planted on is the 'ground' for him.

Luckily for Jay Kay, his avian companion reacted in time. It grew an icicle off the wall, catching its master from the fall.

By then, both halves of Sting fixed themselves together. Joji and I were back on square one—hanging off a sword. This time, gravity fell the other way.

"We need to get back in the room Batta transported us in," Joji mentioned. "For some reason, gravity was normal there despite it being on the same floor."

"Do you think his ability only works in the room he's in?"

"There's more. It works in the rooms he can see. The room we spawned in was too far for him to see inside which is why it was normal."

"And he's farther from it. We're safe there."

"Exactly. I can get us there."

I smiled at him. "I see what you mean."

I phased Sting through the wall, sending us falling once more. We passed our spawn room. "Chaos Form: Gale Blade!" I screamed before throwing it in.

I unhooked Sting's scabbard from my hip and let Joji hold on.

"Glimpse Of Us!" he screamed before punching it, sending the scabbard we held onto flying upwards and back into the room.

We let go of the sheath, letting it reunite with its sword.

We were back in a room with normal gravity. With my swords put away and the room free from mirrors, we were completely safe from being ambushed.

Not only that, but this library would be against Jay Kay's favour. He fights people in long hallways and changes gravity to either end of the hall. This would ensure that his opponent could plummet to death.

But a normal room wouldn't be long enough to give him that advantage.

"Jay Kay!" Batta called out from the hall. "What the hell are you doing? Why are you fighting the elf and old man? You and War Machine are supposed to be taking care of that wizard and whip user!"

Jay Kay conversed with the pocket mirror in his hand. "They escaped from me. I was in the middle of finding them when you dropped these two onto my floor."

"You were tricked! The wizard and whip man didn't go to the floor below. They knew you'd go that way. They went to the floor above!"

"Are those two insane? Why are they pressing forward without their allies instead of falling back?"

"Doesn't matter why. That makes it better for us. It ensures that they remain split up."

"What about the elf and old man?"

"You've duelled them on your turf and they managed to land a hit on you. If you keep fighting them, you'll lose. This isn't your fight. Leave them to the doc."

"Alright then. Take us there."

Jay Kay placed his mirror on the floor and leapt through it. The hawk dived after him.

After everything, our battle ended with no side truly winning.

Joji and I slumped to the floor while taking everything in.

"You hear that?" the old man asked. "Ilias and Trebor are pushing forward. They're inside the tomb and used this chance to progress."

"That makes it easy then," I said, resting an arm on my two swords. "Let's hurry up and defeat this 'doc' so we can catch up to them."