"I admit you are strong, stranger. But I am Sol! Now you will bear witness to my true power. Tremble for your defeat is imminent!"
With those words, Sol's body split into two identical copies of himself. And to my senses, they were both the same. I couldn't make out if one was real or if one was fake.
"This is my true power. My twin mirage can only be overcome if you defeat the real me. Every time you strike the wrong one my power shall grow!"
"The real one, huh? Do you really think I believe that one of you is real and one of you is false?"
"It doesn't matter if you believe it or not. The truth is unaffected by your beliefs."
"Says a being that was created through those very beliefs."
"Go on then. If you are confident that my real body is hidden somewhere else you are free to try and find it."
"When did I ever say that your real body was hidden somewhere else? All I said is that you lied when you said that one of the two bodies was fake."
"What are you saying? I can't have two bodies, can I?"
"Why not? I've been to mirage lake and witnessed the mirage above it. The pinnacle of illusions and mirages is when they become as real as the thing they are modeled after."
He was now growing nervous. He had never imagined that someone would find out. His alleged invincibility relied on the opponent not seeing through his lie.
"Well then Sol, anything you would like to add? If not I will now blow away both your bodies and end this."
"You think it's that easy? Think again! You may have figured out my weakness but unless you hit both of us at the same time you can't damage us. And we won't give you such an opportunity!"
His bodies had been floating in close proximity to one another. Now they immediately brought distance between themselves.
"I can't hit both of you at the same time? I guess we'll see about that. While you were busy making your grand proclamation I prepared a few surprises for you."
As his bodies moved further away they simultaneously caught on fire. How could a being made of fire and light catch on fire? Magic, duh!
The flames burning Sol's bodies were different from his own and they immediately started to eliminate one another.
"What is this?!!"
While Sol had been talking I had sneakily deployed a double domain of light and fire. All the sunlight in the area was under my control and I could make my flames appear wherever the light touched. Up here in the sky, there was no cover, shade, or darkness so escaping would be quite difficult.
Not that I had too high hopes for this first attack. Sol was attributed to light so the damage he received wasn't enough to make him admit defeat.
He also realized the situation rather quickly and moments later no more light touched him. I could try to force the light to touch him and turn this into a raw control fight but that would be too exhausting.
I retracted my domains and deployed another one. Sol was wary of my domains now but even after the domain was up he felt nothing attacking him. Instead, I went on a physical offensive.
I only had one body so I just focused on punching one of them repeatedly. Sol watched in confusion as one of his bodies kept being obliterated by a punch only to reappear and get punched again.
"Don't you see that you can't defeat me like this? You've pummeled that body of mine through half the sky and you still haven't gotten any closer to beating me."
"I think I'm just about done."
I stopped my repeated punching motion and let Sol move his body back a bit.
"What are you done with? Are you giving up?"
"No, but you are about to."
"Nonsense!"
He couldn't say anymore as both his bodies were simultaneously punched in the face. Sol looked outright terrified. He hadn't seen me move but since the dent in his face remained I could tell that the damage had gone through.
"How?!! I didn't see you move! And even if you moved you couldn't have hit both of my bodies simultaneously. No matter how fast you moved there would have been some delay! So how?!!!"
"Quite simple actually. I didn't move."
"Then what... The domain you deployed!"
"Indeed. You are currently standing inside a time and space domain that is filled with what you could call after images of my punches. No matter where you move all I have to do is release the after image in two places."
As Sol heard me reveal the secret behind my attack he immediately froze up. Since I had already released the after image where he stood he thought he would be safe there. A punch to the gut quickly informed him that this assumption was very wrong.
The number of punches I had saved inside this domain was quite something already. However, the time component worked into this spatial construct made it so dangerous. A punch could be released over and over so I would never run out.
Being continually met with a punch wherever he moved sent Sol into a dizzy state that made him lose his confidence in winning. His bodies started to show clear signs of damage and the light and flames dimmed.
He tried to remember the punches of a specific spot and attempted to dodge them but he just ended up getting hit again. I doubted whether his mind still had the capacity to memorize such things. The pressure he was feeling was increasing with every additional punch.
Soon he barely even reacted to the punches anymore and let them hit him. He had given up his futile struggle. Seeing this I stopped releasing punches at him and moved to float opposite him.