Nouel felt the tremor in his chamber. For a moment he wondered what it had been – but he had no time to think about it.
He stood face to face with his own mirror image. Both of them drew their bows at the same time. Two arrows shot toward each other, collided mid-air and ricocheted away.
Nouel ground his teeth. He reinforced his body with Ventus again, his muscles lightening, his movements speeding up. In a flash he snatched the two arrows that had just collided and lunged forward, driving them straight into his clone's torso.
"One less… You've got to be kidding me."
Even that did little. The corpse kept moving as if the attack were nothing more than a footnote. It grabbed an arrow from Nouel's quiver, tore it free and stabbed at him.
Nouel rolled sharply to the side, feeling the arrow's rush of air past his ear. He drew two more arrows and fired at his clone.
But the double also accelerated with Ventus and dodged the shots as if guided by the same instinct.
"Do me a favor and just die," Nouel growled. "You're already getting on my nerves."
Back to Viktoria's fight.
Okay, Viktoria. Think. How do you beat yourself?
She pressed her lips together, analyzing every movement of her clone.
Her counterpart drove both blades into the ground, tensed its muscles and charged at Viktoria. Dust flared up, the floor splintered beneath its steps. The ensuing cross attack – a pattern Viktoria knew all too well – slammed into her blades.
She blocked, let the pressure slide off and broke the formation with a practiced sidestep.
"Got you now! Cut that splits the world!"
Her blades carved a perfect arc through her clone's body. The torso separated from the lower half, roots tore apart, bones shattered.
"Done!"
Then she saw it.
"…Huh. What's that?"
A green-glimmering crystal jutted from the torso. It was untouched. Roots and pure Sanitas-Aether curled around this core like veins.
"Oh, so that's how it is…" She snorted. "That's your core, huh? Then I know your weak spot now."
Viktoria's confidence shot up. Before the core could fully regenerate, she rushed in again, aiming to strike it with her full strength.
But when she slashed, the core released a sudden Aether wave. The force of its regeneration exploded outward and flung her harshly back. She crashed to the ground and slid a few steps.
"What is that power…"
The corpse was standing again now. And this time it was even more hostile. Sanitas and Noctis mixed in its gaze, the core in its chest pulsing faster.
It attacked, colliding with Viktoria's blades. The constant pressure of her double slowly forced her back. Swords scraped along each other, sparks flew, and finally the blades slammed into her armor. Viktoria's stance broke, she lost her balance and fell.
She caught herself with one hand and kicked her clone away with a powerful strike of her leg. Her fighting spirit was far from broken.
I can do this.
Her thoughts drifted briefly to Alvios. Is he okay? Has he finished his fight already? Sweat ran down her forehead, her breathing heavy.
"As if this cave wasn't bad enough with all the heat and humidity… and then this thing doesn't even get tired," she muttered to herself.
I could use it now… right? Yeah. Why not.
She shifted into a crescent-shaped fighting stance. The air around her noticeably cooled.
"Umbrae… devour the light!"
In an instant, absolute darkness flooded the room. No glimmer remained, no outline. The darkness was so dense it felt like light had never existed.
At the same time she activated another spell. "Mentis, visibare."
Her pupils dilated. In the pitch black, shadowy contours emerged – lines of Aether tracing the outline of her clone. Now she could see, even without any light.
Silently, she moved toward where her clone stood. Unaware and at the mercy of the shadows, it lashed out in every direction with desperate, wild attacks. It stabbed into the floor, kicked up dust, split rock, shattered stones. None of it connected.
When Viktoria was close enough, she played it safe. In case it uses Mentis too…
She squeezed her eyes shut.
"Luminis… grant us light."
A blinding radiance burst from one of her blades, flooding the chamber. The clone was dazzled, even though Viktoria herself saw nothing – she trusted only her position and her instinct.
"World Cutter!"
She tore her blades through her clone in one single, all-encompassing slash – exactly where she guessed the core to be. The twin swords cleaved the body in two halves, right through the pulsing green.
Her clone's body collapsed in on itself.
Viktoria stood there, panting, then dropped to her knees. "I did it… I actually did it… woohoo…"
Her thoughts drifted, barely slowed by her exhausted mind. I wonder how Nouel and Alvios are doing… I hope Raiiko's okay too. That tremor before was really bad…
"I don't know why," she murmured, "but when this is over, I'll ask Alvios if he wants to come back to my homeland wi—"
Zshht.
A treacherous slash from behind cut her down.
Her clone had fully recovered. The body was reassembled, and one of its eyes glowed the same green as the core from before.
Viktoria bit her lip. Of course… Sanitas core. You bastard…
She pushed herself up, gasping and worn out. Her back burned; a huge cut split her armor and the skin beneath. Blood dripped to the floor.
"I thought I could get by without it… but looks like I'll have to get serious."
Viktoria gathered herself for one last, wild push. Her voice sank into a deep, vibrating whisper – a spell only her people could wield.
"Praevaricator vincula."
She let both blades fall.
Her ears shot up, growing longer. Her fingernails extended, turning into tearing claws. Her teeth grew harder, sharper, pushing forward like small fangs from her mouth. Just above her lower back, a tail sprouted, swaying lightly from side to side.
She dropped onto all fours.
The clone, which should have had no emotions, suddenly showed… fear.
With a frozen, ice-cold stare, Viktoria locked onto her counterpart. She hadn't been this angry in a long time.
She tensed her muscles.
Then she unleashed the beast within.