Kaino leveled his shortspear and charged straight at Renato.
He held the flaming adamantine halberd in both hands, its point aimed forward and its shaft tucked against his waist. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, he shot across from the other end of the platform.
Two identical images split off from Kaino and charged alongside him. Three Keno Fryces, three flaming halberds, rushed at Renato from three different directions at once.
Their movements matched perfectly, their footfalls fell in the same rhythm, and even their breathing was identical.
The dazzling sight left the spectators unable to tell which was real and which two were illusions.
Renato narrowed his eyes slightly.
So one of those scrolls contained the second-level spell Mirror Image, he quickly concluded.
The Fryce Family certainly had money. Practical Magic Scrolls like these cost a fortune, yet Kaino treated them as mere consumables for a single duel.
Facing three halberd points thrusting at him from different directions, Renato remained unruffled. He lowered his body and moved toward one of the flaming shortspears.
Amid gasps from the audience below, the magically created image touched Renato's armor without doing any damage. Light and shadow passed through his body like a dream.
Through Dragonkind Senses, Renato had already pinpointed the real Keno.
Step forward and slash!
A streak of black flashed past. The black blade traced a horizontal arc through the air, its edge tearing through it with a piercing whistle.
All three images shattered at once. Like reflections on water struck by a stone, the false images shuddered violently, then dissolved into countless tiny motes of light that scattered through the air.
Keno Fryce's real body emerged from the crumbling images. But the young noble's prebattle arrogance was long gone. Clutching his chest, he cried out in pain, utterly