Chapter 670 - Self-Reflection

Zeke shuffled to his left, and he ground his teeth together in frustration as he watched the figure move in the opposite direction.  When he lifted his arm, its movements reflected his.  It was like looking in a macabre mirror, and one Zeke found incredibly annoying.

“You supposed to be my dark reflection or something?” he growled, his shoulders hunched as he prepared to attack. 

“You supposed to be my light reflection or something?” it asked in return, which only furthered Zeke’s irritation. 

Of course, the thing didn’t really look anything like him.  Certainly, the dimensions were mostly the same, and its body was proportionally correct.  However, that was where the similarities ended, because the thing was made all of the same black ice that surrounded them. 

Not for the first time, he wished he had [Hell Geyser] available.  If he did, he would have bathed the thing in fire and rock until only a boiling puddle was left. 

But he only had a couple of skills unlocked, and he didn’t think that would change until he escaped Hell.  Certainly, the divine energy coursing through him had grown even thicker, owing to the rapid progression of the dissolution of Oberon’s cage.  However, no new skills had become available. 

Not that he thought he needed them.

He had come this far without them, and he felt certain that he could achieve his goals with what he had available. 

He knew he was getting ahead of himself, though.  The creature before him – his dark reflection – needed to be destroyed before he could move on.  So, without further ado, he threw himself forward.  The ice creature did the same, and their clash came with a shockwave that sent a tremor through their surroundings.  More importantly, Zeke went flying backwards, tumbling across the ground until he hit the wall on the other side of the chamber.

The damned, frozen within the wall, grasped at him, and he was distressed to find that many of them managed to break his skin with their jagged nails.  He ripped free, recovering his feet just in time to see his counterpart doing the same more than a hundred yards away. 

He rolled his shoulders, and it did too.

“This is going to suck,” he muttered, shaking out his hand.  Shards of ice fell free, but he was largely unharmed.  He knew he could have hit the thing harder, but he’d had an inkling of what was in store. 

Now, he’d had it confirmed.

He approached cautiously, taking a boxer’s stance.  He’d had plenty of experience as a brawler, both before his experiences in Hell and throughout his descent.  In fact, he’d spent whole stretches in the Circle of Violence, fighting through that false Valhalla with nothing but his fists.  So, he knew he could handle himself well enough.

However, he also suspected that the mirror would know all his normal moves.  To get a better gauge of what was going on, he launched a quick combination in its direction.  This time, it didn't mirror his attacks, but rather used its clear knowledge to avoid them. 

The thing moved with perfect assurance, narrowly avoiding each punch before throwing a few of its own attacks.  Zeke saw those coming as well, and he had no issues dodging.  That wasn’t the point, though.  He didn’t so much care if he took a few hits.  In fact, he suspected it would be necessary.  What he really wanted was to establish the thing’s limits.

So, he picked up the pace.

He’d long since passed the constraints of a normal, human body.  By any measure, he’d become a veritable god of battle.  To an outsider, his attacks wouldn’t have been visible, and they came hard and fast, multiple punches blistering the air in the space of each second.  On and on he went, the pace ever increasing until the air atmosphere practically ignited from the friction of his fist’s passing.

Through it all, the reflection managed to dodge, further frustrating Zeke.

Then, finally, he saw the tiniest hitch.  It wasn’t enough to allow Zeke to hit the thing, but it was something different.  Now, he only needed to know why it happened.

He continued on, wracking his brain the entire time for an answer.  But then he realized what it was.

Because of his speed – and a simple lapse of concentration – his fist had gone slightly wider than normal.  Was sloppy technique really the answer he sought?

No.

That didn’t make sense.

If that was the case, he’d have already won.  His technique had never been the tightest, largely because he could rely on his high stats, overpowering skills, and ability to heal himself to push him through just about any situation.  Certainly, he was likely more skilled than anyone on Earth had ever been, but given his credentials, that was barely more than adequate.

So, it wasn’t sloppiness.

Even as he searched for a clue, he let himself go on autopilot.  His blows never ceased – indeed, he could keep it going almost indefinitely, so long as he didn’t use any skills – but he soon found that any room he’d managed to stretch was gone.  He even got hit a few times.

He kicked backwards, breaking the engagement, but the mirror wasn’t going to let him off that easy.  Now that the fight was done, it pressed him – just like he’d have done if he knew how to win the fight.

Then, suddenly, it dawned on him.

It wasn’t sloppiness that buoyed him.  Rather, it was chaos.  He needed to do something unexpected. 

The only problem was that, if he thought of it, then so did the reflection.  He frowned, continuing the fight, though he’d been pushed into defending more than he could attack.  The black ice creature came at him, hard and fast, and the only thing that kept Zeke from being overwhelmed was the fact that he could easily predict what was coming. 

If the reflection frustrated him, then he was on a mission to do the same against it. 

It didn’t work, of course.  He didn’t even think the thing was alive, strictly speaking.  It felt more like a golem.  Yet, there was a spark of something inside of it that he felt separated it from a true automaton. 

On and on the fight went, and hours stretched into days.  Each clash included hundreds of blows.  Some connected, but the vast majority went only inches wide of their mark.  On the few occasions when they did hit one another, it was with the caveat that the attacker would pay the price.  In those instances, they were both knocked free, and when that happened, they normally hit the walls hard enough to create craters.

The damned didn’t survive those impacts.

As the days went by, one after another, those craters became even more numerous.  Soon enough, the walls – once pockmarked with the wailing damned – had been reduced to a series of craters.  None of those pitiful creatures remained.

So, only the sound of fists whistling through the air at unimaginable speeds met Zeke’s ears.

Finally, Zeke tired of the back and forth.  He wanted to end it, but he knew he would only get one real chance to do so.  To that end, he disconnected himself from his habits, one by one.  That little hesitation before he threw a punch?  Gone.  The temptation to grind his teeth before impact?  He ignored it.  Down the list he went, identifying tells and habits until he felt certain that he could become a blank slate.

Then, he erased it all.

His next punch came in at a completely different angle, catching the reflection by surprise.  It tried to dodge – just like Zeke did – but it caught the next punch in the chin.  Even as the impact sent shockwaves through the cavern, the thing’s feet lifted off the ground.

Zeke had no intention of letting his advantage go.

He activated [Shifting Sands]. 

Time stilled, and he stepped forward.  Divine energy roared through his veins as he aimed another punch at the black ice reflection. 

But then, to his immense surprise, it countered [Shifting Sands] with its own use of the same skill.  Divine energy filled the room, clashing and warring, just as Zeke leaped into the air.  A second later, his knee came down on the reflection, driving it into the ground.

It should have shattered.

Every other time he’d used the new version of [Shifting Sands], whatever it was now called, nothing had been capable of standing against him.  And he had access to far more divine energy than ever before, so it should have been that much more powerful.

However, the reflection’s skill countered his – not entirely – but enough to keep it from shattering. 

But that was okay.  Zeke rammed his other knee into its side with world-ending force, then brought his fists to bear.  It raised its hands to guard against his oncoming attacks, and for a moment, it was successful. 

But only for a moment.

Zeke’s fists crashed through its frantic attempts at a block, driving its forearms back into its face.  The sound of cracking ice filled the air as Zeke followed that up with a barrage of punches that absolutely destroyed the creature’s face. 

Then, [Shifting Sands] ran its course, and the divine energy left him.  But the creature was not dead.

And its counter-skill remained active long enough for it to kick him free.  It hit with enough force to atomize a normal person’s body.  For Zeke, it only ruptured most of his organs and launched him skyward until he rammed into the ceiling so hard that the impact sent huge cracks arcing throughout the chamber. 

But it wasn’t enough to kill him.

Zeke used [Hand of Divinity], and as he fell, he aimed another attack at the now-vulnerable reflection.  It tried to move, but the damage had been done.  And now that it’s counter-skill had run its course, it had no defense against what came next.

He slammed into it with all the force he could muster, and his fist finished the job, completely shattering its head.  However, Zeke didn’t stop until the thing had been reduced to icy shards. 

Straddling that pile, he rocked back on his heels, then took a deep breath.  Across the room – directly opposite from the tunnel that had been his entrance – was another door.  It seemed that he still had some way to go. 

So, he picked himself up, let out an exhausted sigh, then strode forward, readying himself for whatever other obstacles the Circle of Treachery could throw in his path.