Izen had already seen the Infernal King use his flames to destroy one of his Clones. And with everything else that he saw later, it was clear that the flames weren't made using any magic.
That could only mean that they were the real Bloodline abilities of the Infernal King. As much as he didn't want to believe that the Infernal King was a summoned beast, he knew he had to treat him like one. He couldn't leave everything to his Numen which was ineffective against the Infernal King's Flames.
As soon as the Infernal King attacked again, the real Izen took action. This time, he didn't leave everything to luck and cast his strongest Barrier around him and all his clones, one that could especially stop the Infernal Flames.
A Magical Barrier covered all his clones and even the real him, protecting them all from the flames. Even though the Barrier did weaken due to the flames, looking like it was going to break soon, the barrier did manage to survive the initial attack, maybe because the Infernal King didn't go all out, expecting this to be enough.
Even as he stood in the fire, protected by only a barrier, Izen only had a single thought...
'This guy is more of a threat than Gabriel. If I let him stay here, he would destroy all my clones. I need to get him away from here and leave Gabriel to my Clones. He is much more helpless against my Numen, so he should be easy for them to take down and drag back to the city. In the meantime, I'll handle that... Thing."
As soon as the flames stopped, real Izen made a move, appearing right behind the Infernal King.
The Infernal King also sensed the presence, attacking as well.
Izen blocked the attack with a Magical Barrier as a formation circle activated under the two of them. Both of them disappeared from the battlefield.
Real Izen decided to deal with the Infernal King personally, taking down this beast forever. As for Gabriel, he was left alone with Eighteen Izen Clones, back in the same problem.
"Now that I've dragged your friend away, what now?" One of the Clones asked. "He won't be coming back anytime soon. At Least not alive."
Gabriel clenched his fist, understanding what was happening. He was sure that Izen wasn't stupid enough to send a clone after the Internal King. That meant everyone else who was left behind was a clone.
At least now he knew who the real one was, but he still had to face the rest of them, and in his weakened condition.
Gabriel glanced at his hands, slightly thoughtful. "If I could, I wanted to avoid it... But..."
****
[A few days ago...]
The Hundredth Floor was a place that everyone dreamed of reaching. Gabriel finally managed to make this a reality as he stepped on the hundredth floor after sacrificing Cyclix and Novius.
Before stepping on the floor, even he had his own imagination as to what he was going to find. On one hand, he thought he was going to meet more enemies. On the other hand, he expected to find lots of treasures on the top floor... Treasures that were said to hold incredible powers.
He expected a lot, but reality was often disappointed as he realized when he reached the top floor.
Unlike the lower floors, the top floor was much smaller. It had no monsters. It wasn't filled with treasures either. If anything, the top floor of the tower looked slightly identical to the top floor of the tower that he saw in his dream when he lost his consciousness in the Prison of Darkness of Lira.
The only difference was that there was no crack on the door and there were no windows inside the tower.
After seeing this floor, he was convinced of one thing. Both the towers were made by the same people and there was a possibility that there were more of such towers spread out in this world.
The top floor of the Tower was more or less empty. There was only one thing that Gabriel found interesting... There was a ten foot tall mirror in the centre of the hall, showing him his reflection.
The mirror looked very ordinary but there was something strange about it as well. For some reason, the mirror didn't look old at all. The entire hall was filled with dust as if it wasn't cleaned for centuries, but the mirror was still as clean as new.
"Is that the treasure I'm supposed to receive?" Gabriel wondered as he walked closer to the mirror in the centre of the room. "I don't feel any special energy coming from it. It doesn't feel like a Numen at all. Was it a prank?"
When he stood before the talent measuring Mirror of the Academy, even there he could feel magical energy from the mirror, proving that that was Numen. But this Mirror, it had no such energy.
Moreover, he could also see that a part of the mirror was embedded in the ground as if the mirror was placed first and then the flooring was done.
"This Mirror is definitely not something I can take. If I tried taking it, it would break. But other than it, there is nothing here. Were there ever any treasures here?" he wondered, soon remembering that he wasn't the first person to reach here.
"Ah that's right. How could I forget? Cyclix and Novius' real self reached this floor. If this floor had any treasures in the first place, they took it. If not then, then the ones before them."
It was clear to him why there were no treasures here. At least that's what he thought as he placed his hand on the Mirror, checking it.
"They didn't take anything." Just as Gabriel finished thinking out loud, he heard a strange voice echoed in the entire hall as if someone else was speaking.
"Huh?" He raised his head, surprised. "Who is speaking? Show yourself."
"No one took any treasures from this place before. All they took was knowledge... A knowledge that was worth more than any treasure." The voice came again, but Gabriel couldn't find anyone
There was no presence in the hall at all. Was it a Spirit?
"Where are you?" Gabriel asked again.
"Before you," the same voice came again.
Gabriel looked ahead, noticing the mirror before him which was showing his reflection.
"Are you the Mirror?" Gabriel asked, frowning. The mirror was speaking? So it really was no ordinary Mirror? And knowledge worth more than any treasure? What did it mean? There were so many questions in his head.
