> "A summoned being is more than a tool. It's a reflection of the one who dares to command it." — Summoner's Doctrine, Volume IV
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[Location: Warshade Chamber – Circular Arena of Elemental Logic]
The arena shimmered with rotating biomes—forest firestorms, icy void pockets, and metal plains governed by shifting magnetism. Randomized terrain logic was active.
> Summoner Duel Initiated: Aric Valen vs. Deraz of Spiral Earth Guild Terrain: Triple Shift Mode – (1) Volcanic Jungle, (2) Sky Isles, (3) Mirror Dunes
Aric stood with Caelum and Myra at his side. Deraz arrived cloaked in obsidian flora, flanked by a myth-tier summoner beast, Titanroot Warden, and two mirror clones of himself.
The system chimed:
> Victory Conditions: Disable opposing summoners or claim and hold all three terrain cores for 5 minutes total.
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[Volcanic Jungle Phase]
Trees burned with alchemical fire. Lava slid sideways along gravity-defying roots.
Caelum led, crafting anti-pressure fields. Myra redirected thermal flows.
Aric summoned a new unit: Solus, a phoenix construct of solar data and flame.
Deraz's Titanroot lumbered forward, spewing acid spores. Clones flanked from lava streams.
Aric snapped. "Switch to Glide Mode Delta."
Solus ignited and split into four flame-encoded decoys. Caelum launched a chronoburst—freezing Deraz's mirror clones in slowed loops.
Myra targeted the core node—temporarily converting jungle heat into a thermal dissonance trap.
> Core Secured: Volcanic Jungle – Time Held: 00:00:41
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[Sky Isles Phase]
Floating archipelagos spun slowly above the abyss.
Wind was constant. Gravity was optional.
Deraz switched tactics, commanding his clones to create air-walking branches. The Titanroot Warden adapted by spawning vinewings.
Aric launched Spectral Bindings—a skill fusing Caelum's foresight and Myra's emotional wave harmonics.
Solus combusted mid-air, collapsing into a focused ray that pierced the Titanroot's vinewings.
Myra conjured an anchor of feeling—locking the isles' movement briefly in a field of regret.
They took the Sky Core.
> Core Secured: Sky Isles – Time Held: 00:01:13
Deraz roared. "You're not just summoning creatures… you're crafting ideology!"
Aric smirked. "I told you. We're not here to win. We're here to reshape the rules."
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[Mirror Dunes Phase]
Every step revealed another version of the battlefield.
The real fight... was always one perception away.
Here, Deraz's clones were fully autonomous. Each version of him fought with independent tactics.
Caelum split into two. One held logic; the other, pure unpredictability.
Myra dissolved her form into ambient illusion.
Solus adapted once more—becoming an obsidian phoenix to reflect the dunes' resonance.
A single duel unfolded in eight variations—Aric using multi-threaded command control through the Nexus System.
> Core Secured: Mirror Dunes – Time Held: 00:01:48
> System Alert: Total Core Hold Time Achieved – Duel Complete Victor: Aric Valen – Concord of Bound Realities New Title Earned: Tactician of Tri-Core Symphony
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[Post Duel – Council Chamber Whisper]
Unknown to Aric, Deraz wasn't angry at his loss. He walked into the shadows of the council corridor, eyes glowing blue with Riftseed sigils.
"He's growing too fast," Deraz muttered, voice not his own.
A whisper behind him answered: "Then perhaps… he should grow elsewhere."
The subversion plot continued.
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[End of Chapter 24]