“It seems you have an idea?” Master Thales asked.

Briar nodded, and glanced over at Madam Rothema, who wordlessly set up a sound proof barrier. While Briar herself could do as much, a Magi’s power was not to be underestimated.

“Well, it’s rather simple, really. We don’t know who the person is, but we can assume from his actions, that he’s either someone with a great power backing him up, or someone arrogant enough to flaunt the law. I think it’s safe to assume that he’d be a person of some importance-which also means that he is a person bearing great power.”

Briar glanced over at Master Thales.

“It would not be a stretch to point to one of the Magicians Council, or the other Magi. That being said, let’s assume that it’s a Magi. How would we stop a Magi from stealing me away?”

She paused. The room was quiet. “Mind you, each Magi is in possession of countless spells from ages long past and forgotten, a near inexhaustible mana supply; and this one has a god complex.”

Laura raised an eyebrow. “I can understand the first two, but why ‘god complex’?”

“Who else would play around with life like building sandcastles by the shore?” Briar pointed out. “He’s powerful. He’s impregnable. He’s fully capable of leveling kingdoms, and we’re not even certain of the gender at this point. So, how do you stop someone like that?”

“How?” Laura asked.

“Imprisonment.” Grandpa Thur spoke out for the first time. “In the darkest, deepest, most dangerous prison ye can find. Somewhere where, even if he has magic, he can’t use it.”

Briar nodded. “Precisely! The only problem is where to put him.”

“Why is that the only problem?” Laura asked.

“Well, we already know that he’ll be coming after me, so…” Briar shrugged. “It’s pretty obvious that I’m the bait.”

“No, wait! When was it decided that you were the bait!?” Laura asked.

Briar blinked, and widened her golden eyes. “The minute I survived.” Laura fell silent.

“As for where, I think I’ve got an idea.” Grandpa Thur suddenly said. “It’s deep under the earth, a kind of natural prison. For those who are a Magi, it’s pure hell. Since the surrounding mana is too volatile to use, they can’t use spells without causing great harm to the mana channels. The exit is also far too far away to use pure strength to climb out. Moreover, the airspace in open areas is unstable, so even if this person had wings, they’d still end up back down on the ground.”

Briar naturally knew where he was talking about. “The great fault line?” she confirmed. “But I’ve heard that it’s near impossible to find out where it’ll appear next! How can we even get down there safely?”

“Yer brother told you, huh?” The Old Man shrugged. “Did he also mention that he had a way to return there?” The irises of both Thales and Rothema shrunk into pinpoints. Briar was right. It was near impossible to pinpoint where the great fault would show up next.

“You mean…the teleport gate!?” Briar exclaimed.

He nodded. “The very same.”

Master Thales once more opened his mouth. “But, what if this powerful person can use fire magic?”

“He can’t. If he does, he’ll just be blowing himself up with it. I am not kidding. Even a fire dragon wouldn’t spend ten minute down there if he could help it. It’s an apocalypse just waiting to happen.” Grandpa Thur explained.

How come it didn’t feel that way when I was down there? Briar wanted to ask, but of course, she couldn’t-since she wasn’t in her swordsman appearance.

“So, the plan is, we prepare that place, lure him there, and escape before he knows what’s happening?” Briar asked. “Is that even possible?”

“Should be.” Grandpa Thur said. “If I rig the pillars to move after a certain amount of times we use the portal, he won’t be able to go anywhere. At least, not without the key.”

“And how did my brother set it up so that you could return?” Briar asked.

Rien raised her arm. “My bracelet!” She said, with a smile like sunshine.

After that, the details of the plan were easily hashed out by the group.

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“Good! Now let’s finish watching the matches.” Madam Rothema said, glancing at the roster.

“I can’t help but think that we’re forgetting something…” Grandpa Thur muttered.

“Hey, where’s Briar-nii?” Rien asked. “Doesn’t Briar-nii have the same eyes?”

There was a pause as the whole room went silent.

Those, who knew, felt awkward.

Those, who did not know, felt alarmed.

Briar, the center of all this, sighed. It appeared that she really did need to step up her game.

Master Thales stood up. “I’ll go look for him.” He glanced at Briar. “But before that, can we talk?”

Briar nodded and followed him out into the hallway. After a few moments of silence, Thales sighed. “Things are getting rather out of hand, now. If you feel something fishy is happening, then forget about the contest, I want you to throw the match and get as far away as you can. Understand?”

Briar paused, reluctant. But she realized that Thales was saying this for her own good. She sighed. “Very well then. If anything seems odd or suspicious, I will not hesitate to withdraw.”

“Good. I hope you’ve been practicing that new duplication spell of yours, because soon enough, Both Briars will have to meet face to face.” Thales said.

Briar smiled. “Don’t worry, Master Thales, I have everything covered for that.”

“Don’t forget it. Rothema’s looking forwards to the final match tomorrow.” Thales said before waving his hand and walking down the stairway.

Which is another way of saying that you’re looking forward to seeing me beat everyone, hmm? She smiled as she held this thought.

Briar paused at the top. The remaining people were Briar, Naomi, The Minstrel, Laura, and four of the Five Dragon twins. Tomorrow she would have to fight three or four times. That also went for her magician side. If she didn’t manage to split herself in half, things could very easily be revealed.

“Laura’s fine, but the other two might be somewhat of a problem.” Briar muttered and decided to have one more practice session at her secret base in the side of the mountain.

“Briar-nee?” Rien asked from the entrance to Rothema’s viewing room.

“Ah, he already left.” Briar smiled warmly at Rien. “Sorry. Did you have something you wanted to tell him?”

“No.” Rien shook her head, emphatically. “If it’s so dangerous, then don’t you need to stay with the old lady and Laura? If Briar-nee gets taken away when we’re not looking, then it’d be terrible!” She said, waving her arms to emphasize. “Stay where Rothema and Grandpa can see you. Even if the bad guy is a Magi, there’s no way he can fight against two Magi at once, right?”

“Hmm? Rien, your Grandpa is a Magi?” Briar asked. Of course, she had already surmised as such, due to his outrageous amount of skill and mana used while they were setting up the portal. Moreover, anyone who could keep up with Madam Rothema, would have to be at least near the Magi class. But, she had never heard him say his specific class out loud.

“Yup! So, you have no need to worry about anything!” Rien chirruped. “Just stick with us! We’ll protect you!” She dragged Karu by the arm out from where he had been hiding past the doorframe. “Karu will help too!”

Briar smiled. “Why, thank you very much! I feel so relieved now, to have the two of you help to keep me safe. Of course, Madam Rothema and Master Arthur Pendrag also have my thanks.”

Briar followed Rien and Karu back into the room.

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That night, after midnight, Briar was once more practicing in her secret base on the mountainside. Since it was after midnight, the ban on healing her arm was lifted, and she was once more in top shape for the contest.

While usually, it would be bad for her to be out in a place where the mad scientist could potentially easily capture her, Briar wasn’t worried. She knew that Master Thales was hiding out somewhere nearby. He had been tailing her since she left the city walls. Even if she were caught, Master Thales would quickly inform Madam Rothema of the situation.

Never underestimate an irate Magi. They’re older, more experienced, and have far greater power than most people can understand. Moreover, Briar now had two of them backing her up.

While Grandpa Thur might have not cared about her predicament originally, who would willingly give up the equivalent of their cash cow? Since he now had a vested interest in Briar, he could no longer watch from the sidelines either. He would definitely jump in alongside Madam Rothema and shake the entire world upside down in an attempt to find her.

Not that Briar would be complacent. She also had her self-defense needles, as well as a large repertoire of magic spells. Worst case scenario was that she had to take out Thorn, her magic sword. But she’d rather not do that. Anyone who saw Thorn would unmistakably recognize it as a magic weapon. Magic weapons are easily traceable. If anyone digs too far back, they’ll easily dig up Briar’s real identity, which would put her family in danger.

That could never be allowed to happen. Briar’s family was her reverse scale. Anyone trying to take advantage over her using her family would be considered as good as dead.

Briar had a hunch that she could create a dopple-ganger of herself if she used her combination MS/MP ability. It needed a clear image and exact parameters to work. But, creating a being out of naught but MS and MP was simply asking for it.

Dead bodies were out of the question. Live ones had a mind of their own. Briar even considered asking for the help of Yukikage, but decided against it. She didn’t want anything like Yuki accidentally agreeing to marry due to being distracted by fish.

So, instead of a completely solid structure, it would indeed be similar to N*ruto’s K*ge Bunsh*n. Moreover, to give it more stability, Briar decided to only allow it to use Martial Spirit. Memory transference would be nice too… Briar thought as she studied the technique she had put together. But, beggars can’t really be choosers. As long as the doppler did its job, she wouldn’t be able to complain.

Briar stood up and let out a long breath. Everything seemed to be in order. Now all that was left was to test it. She pulled out a full-length mirror to make sure that she caught the full visual details of her male disguise.

Then, Briar stirred up her MS and her MP, staring at her reflection, she began the process by pouring her power into a prepared magic circle.

“My shared appearance. All that I know, you know. All that I thought, you thought. Accept my will, and be my double. Act the way I would act. Do what I would do. Take my place in the short life granted to you. Arise, Doppler-Briar!”

The magic circle on the floor lit up, and slowly rose from the floor. Out of the magic circle, slowly were shown boots that were the same as Briar’s. Then came the same trousers, belt, shirt, and finally a carbon copy of Briar’s face-as it appeared in male form. The magic circle once more grew bright before vanishing completely.

After the magic circle vanished, Briar approached Doppler-Briar. From appearance, it was her twin. Doppler-Briar blinked and then focused on Briar, the irises becoming pinpoints, before returning to normal size.

“Ah, right. Am I to assume that it worked, then?” Doppler-Briar asked, checking itself in the mirror. Since their memories were duplicated, there was no way Doppler-Briar would have any qualms with his duty.

Briar smiled. “Yep! But, after every battle, you’ll need to come to me to recharge the energy you’ll lose, so don’t forget to find me as soon as you’re done.” Briar placed her scarf on her head and instantly became Briar-magician.

“I know.” The Doppler said.

“Let’s go home them.” Briar said, turning to the cave entrance, she stopped.

“Ah, that’s right.” She turned around and smiled. “Welcome back, Nii-san.”