Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/DASH!/

With immense focus, Dale dashed forward, holding his spear in a stance as he drew in the distance to his opponent.

/Fwoosh!/

His reflection did the same, however, its steps left little to no footmarks on the sand as it ran, making it look much lighter than it likely was.

Dale noticed this detail, but he had little time to think about it as they finally got into range!

/BOOM!/

Without hesitation, he pierced with his spear forward, intending to test his opponent…

"!"

/SLASH!/

But instead of defending, the reflection used its right hand to swipe Dale's spear into the air, breaking his balance completely as it slashed its own spear against his chest brutally.

This was all due to Dale's oversight, as due to his desire to test his opponent, he overestimated his own strength, which was usually higher than his opponents, leading to this awkward situation.

Due to the spear's length and the fact he used his left arm to pierce forward, the reflection was given the chance to parry it up with its right dominant arm, and due to a lever effect, there wasn't any way for him to even remotely compete with it in terms of strength.

At least… If he relied solely on his body.

A single move, that was all it needed to defeat him and throw him off balance.

But of course, this wasn't something that could be executed by anyone, Dale's thrust momentarily broke the sound barrier, and it would be difficult for even himself to precisely put his hand underneath its trajectory and lift it before his opponent had the chance to counter the movement.

After all, if Dale had just an extra moment, he would've pulled his spear while slashing sideways, and the situation would've been reversed.

It was a risky move that required a lot of self-awareness, technique, and most important, courage.

/SLASH!... Stop/

"!... Huh?" Dale exclaimed as he saw the spear stop on the side of his neck

/Silence…/

Obviously, his reflection did not reply to his confusion, standing in place as it held the spear close to Dale's neck.

It was so close he could feel its coldness...

'So… This is how it feels to have Failure pointed at my own neck.'

'The touch of death, the cold metal against my veins.' .

'If this wasn't under my control… I would've died.'

That's right, the only reason the reflection stopped was because Dale unconsciously wanted it to stop.

It was his fear of dying because, at that moment, he thought about everything he had yet to accomplish, forgetting he was in a simulated fight.

He was embarrassed by this behavior of his, but not entirely surprised either.

"I'm still far from becoming a steel-minded warrior." He said as he pushed the spear away from his neck, not feeling comfortable with it so close to his skin

'Without my Skills to help me maintain my cool, losing my composure becomes much easier, especially in such unexpected scenarios.'

'It just makes me realize its value overall, even if one is a Legendary fighter, if they cannot think straight if even for a moment, then they would truly become a Legend, something of the past.'

"... This goes beyond my expectations." He muttered as he looked at his reflection

'It was faint, but I felt Mana around the tip of the spear as well, this wasn't just any attack.'

'While it predicted my movement, reacting in the most beneficial way for itself, it counterattacked my own movement while also preparing in case I retreated.'

'This Mana movement is familiar to me, it's one of the more Advanced techniques I read in a book due to curiosity, I never trained in it but you're telling me my reflection can just do it because it's in its head?'

'A Spear Technique that gathers Mana into the spear's tip and launches it, though explaining it like that would be an oversimplification.'

'I can't do it, I'll up the circulation and maybe explode part of my body or just hurt myself, much less use it in combat.'

'In fact, in the heat of battle, I barely felt the Mana, he was not only using the technique but he was so good at it that he could even cover it.'

"Urg… If that wasn't enough, the reflection was also minding its own breathing, inner Mana circulation, and also performing a movement art to increase its own speed and appear light?"

'I wouldn't be surprised if there were things I couldn't perceive in its display.'

"This must be how those background characters feel whenever they see the MC perform…" Dale said with a chuckle and a scoff as he manifested a seat for him to rest

"..."

He looked at his own reflection, standing in the sand without any reactions or emotions of his own.

"... Was I supposed to be capable of doing this?" He asked himself as he scratched his head

'This is just nuts… But rather eye-opening.'

Despite tasting defeat in such a humiliating way, Dale learned a little in this exchange, it was little but considerate.

Although he made fun of the reflection and himself due to how odd and bizarre this situation was, the fact he was capable of remaining clear-headed and thinking about his loss with an understanding of his abilities regardless of his pride was an achievement in itself, something many failed.

Just look at Fray, he was exactly that kind of talent, albeit it was left to be seen if he changed at all after everything that happened.

"... This isn't enough." He said as he got up from his seat

'The purpose of this Skill is now all clear to me.'

He raised his head to look at his reflection, this time, knowing what to do next.

"This reflection can do everything that I can, but in a more robotic manner."

"It jumps the learning process of mastering a technique and then putting it together effectively with other techniques I have, much less combat experience and knowledge."

"This is the strongest version of myself that I can be right now, and it's impossible for me to ever achieve it."

The reason for that was simple.

The more Dale trained and the more he learned, the stronger the reflection will become.

Even if he stood in this training ground for 10 years to train, every time he achieved new understandings or thought of something new, the reflection would change, in fact, he had already done something he never thought of.

Simply by being able to perform multiple techniques at once, it already did something Dale had never thought about or read anywhere.

He knew it was possible, but it was just something he thought too complicated and above himself to even try.

It was like trying to learn how to run on a tightrope when he had but learned how to stand.

'Maybe the reflection can also learn Skill books? This could be a way for me to practice them instead of consuming the book and filling my Slots.'

'But I'll have to read those books first.'

"To make use of this Skill, I'll have to take it slow."

'I won't be able to learn much if I give it full freedom, I'll only keep losing and end up frustrating myself.'

'So first…'

/Fwoosh…/

The spear in his hands suddenly crumbled back to the sand, and the same happened to the reflection.

"Let's start with the basics, at least in a fist fight my chances of dying instantly decrease... Hopefully I'll have some time to throw in the towel..."

'Also, I don't know if this is possible, but if I can limit it to the level of knowledge within the basic books…'

/Silence…/

Although he was trying his hardest to imagine that, there were no changes to the reflection.

"... I'll have to believe it worked."

'Now, I'll see if I can really control its freedom.'

'Then, I'll see if I can change how it acts.'

Dale thought that if he could make the reflection show its actions in a more clear way, then it would make it easier and simpler for him to catch onto it.

Like making its Mana more visible instead of controlling it to the point of turning it invisible…

Maybe over time, he would reach that point, but for now, Dale needed first to understand how the reflection did it because he couldn't think of anything no matter how much he thought about it.

But just as he was about to fight it again...

"Actually… Do I even need to do it like this?" He thought as he scratched his head

'I'm no coward, I would still fight it eventually.'

'But if I can make my reflection just perform as a Guide, at the very least I would be given some groundwork to improve upon instead of being forced to understand it as a I fight it.'

"Phew, there's much to test still." He said with a smirk as he looked forward

'Now that I understand how this Skill works, the pain of losing some of the Levels and the loot from the Great Devil has vanished.'

'Because the privilege of Level 60 is this Skill, and even though it is permanent, once I Level up, it'll get a cooldown of an entire day.'[1]

"Looks like I'll have to hold on Leveling even more than I already planned to."

'If I can learn even a fraction of its control… Then how strong would I become.'

"Oh! Now that I think about it, there's a way to test that." He said as he looked at the reflection

/Fwoosh…/

With a devious smile, Dale imagined the mature version of the Great Devil, a tall monster with sharp edges and multiple obsidian-like protrusions around its body similar to crystals growing out of its skin.

It possessed multiple pairs of arms and its skin was extremely pale.

Being overall Humanoid in appearance, it possessed no face as half of it was covered by the obsidian-like armor.

For its size, it possessed a rather slender body, it seemed to be more towards the agile side.

/Exhale…/

The Devil silently stood there, towering over both Dale and his reflection.

"..."

'What a fucking monster, I don't even need it to move to understand this is dangerous.'

'Thankfully, we interrupted it from transforming into this, otherwise…'

'Maybe death wouldn't been one of the more merciful outcomes.'

"That's a bit grim, I'm certain we would've been able to deal with it… But not without some costs."

'In any case, it's dead now… It really bit more than it could chew.'

'Now it's nothing more than data for my Skill to use… An undying training dummy for myself.'

"Hum... Should I start slow? Maybe try the Red Wyvern first...?"

'Nah, this seems more fun.'

"Well then, let's start." He said as he smiled evilly

"Kill each other." He proclaimed as he looked at the two

/BOOOOOOOM!/

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Notes

[1] First to reach Level 60 -> The Skill, Self Reflection ???-Star can be activated at any moment, this effect is permanent, however, after Level 60 the Skill receives an activation cooldown of one In-game day

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