"Chill out, me. Whoa!" Lucas dodges a punch thrown at him just barely, the attack almost breaking the sound barrier. The force so powerful, causing the wind to take a second a react, as the supersonic fist cutting through the very air, causing a sonic boom to erupt beside Lucas' face.
Currently, Lucas was engaged in a fight with his doppelganger, the two every so often trading deadly blows, yet seeming to have no effect on the vigor of the two. In fact, it only made the real Lucas all the more excited as he took every hit from the copy excitedly, before paying it back with a fist equally as strong.
The dummies didn't speak, but their facial expressions served as great hints already. Right now, the copy was clashing against Lucas eagerly with an ecstatic expression.
Whenever there was a fist, another came soon after. A kick comes, another goes. This went on for a few minutes until the original Lucas' stamina gradually began to deplete, with the dummy showing no signs of being tired. It still had that same cocky expression it had started showing a few minutes earlier, as if it knew that Lucas would eventually tire out, so it probably planned to hold out for a long time.
"Fuck, don't you get tired, you prick? Shit, I see what you're doing. I'm not done yet, though!" Lucas said as he unleashed another burst of punches, aiming to hit the copy's vital points. Until this point, they were just blindly hitting each other for excitement, but Lucas was running out of time.
"I'll help you out a bit, big brother. Infuriate."
Skill Used: Infuriate Time To Activate: 1,2 seconds Number Of Dummies Affected: 1 (Duration: 30 seconds)
Additional Info: An enhanced version of Enrage. Taking control of the Amgydala, it is forced to exhibit much more extreme emotions that border with anger. Inflicting this spell on an enemy temporarily enrages them. People who have issues controlling their temper are more likely to be affected.
Although the copy didn't speak, it showed expressions. And seeing the instant scowl on his face emerge. the change from arrogant to displeased was immediately seen. Unable to control itself, the copy rushed towards Lucas, disregarding it's original plan from earlier, and instead just blindly dash towards the original. Raising it's fist, the copy began to strike rashly, attempting to strike Lucas down with it's gauntlets.
Lucas, seeing that the fight had been made easier by Kenneth, wasn't very pleased.
"Didn't need you to help, little bro, I wanted to take him on by myself. But since I was still tired, I'll accept your help this time." Lucas says as he deflects a few punches from the copy, every once in a while counterattacking with a punch of his own to the dummy's vital organs.
"Well, you looked like you were going to lose, so I just wanted to help, hehe. I'm pretty sure you've got this, so I'll be sitting here scanning the fight. Maybe it'll be a good idea to ingrain each of my siblings' fighting techniques so we can program the dummies to do this again the next time we come here. Alright then, see ya." Kenneth's voice fades rapidly after that, but Lucas knew that he was still there, as he could feel the mana that wasn't his.
"Heh. Get outta here." (Lucas)
At the same time, while Lucas was fighting the copy, another part of Kenneth's consciousness was inside Lena, helping her out in her battle against her copy.
"This is getting nowhere. When I Blink, she Blinks. Both of us can never find the time to charge up a Light Beam, since we can just Blink towards the other and unleash a hit in."
The same thing went over here on Lena's side. Whenever one used a spell, the other would do the same. This went on in a loop of, "Blink, Light Beam failed, Blink, Light Beam failed," and so on. Lena wasn't able to get much damage in. This whole loop of spells eventually lowered Lena's mana pool drastically, and now she had a limited number of times she could cast her spell before running out of Mana.
One time, Lena wasn't ready for an attack, and was almost hit with a Light Beam, the copy somehow managing to find the time to chant it. Lena's Reflective Bracelet had deflected the attack back towards the copy. The surprised reaction from the copy showed that it was caught off guard by the bracelet, but still managed to dodge it, albeit barely.
"I got you, sis. Illusion: Sweets!"
"What did you say?" Lena asked Kenneth.
"Uh, it's just a spell."
"Really now...."
"Yup."
Over on the copy's side, it's view had changed into a haven for sweets. Surrounded by the pile of sweets, the copy reached out it's hands to grab the chocolate bar that was floating, until it disappeared. The copy, unaware of what just happened, was blasted by a Light Beam that Lena had charged up, instantly blasting apart the copy into particles.
"So.. what DID you do?"
"I'm not going to explain, you might get mad."
What the copy had experienced was akin to a withdrawal symptom. Lena herself was always a lover of sweets, to the point that she was addicted to it. People have been known to experience these things, when they have to go without something that they know will hurt them, but find it hard not to. Take an alcoholic for example. The ones who drink it may or may not know the effects it has on their body. Reducing their usual intake of it can lead to withdrawal symptoms. Lena's addiction to sweets is almost the same. Kenneth took her love for sweets, amplified it, and made her feel like a smoker who hasn't smoked his daily pack, but ten times more intense.
"Explain it....." Lena pleads.
"I'd rather not. See you later bye.." Kenneth's voice fades from her head.
On Catalyn's side.
The two girls, both dressed up in their maid outfits, were staring each other down, occasionally muttering some incoherent phrases about "young master". Kenneth didn't understand a fragment of what they were saying, but it seemed like both of them were aware of what the other was saying.
The battle on Catalyn's side was much more... evasive? Nobody was getting any good hits in. There were a few times when the copy managed to catch Catalyn off guard with a quick maneuver which involved conjuring a portal beside her and striking through it. The portal allowed hits that weren't supposed to... hit, to, well, hit.
"Are you okay, Catalyn? You seem to be having a hard time here." A part of Kenneth's consciousness spoke up.
"Young master.. Catalyn is doing fine, young master doesn't need to.. worry."
"You're definitely not doing fine, but I'll honor your wishes. Call me if you need help, I'll be right here."
Catalyn, having heard her young master's voice, felt more empowered just from hearing it. Kenneth's voice served as her energy potion, every word he said felt like a god's holy teachings, it gave her life. Okay, that might be a bit excessive, but to Catalyn, it really did it feel like that. She was convinced that this young master of hers was someone familiar to her.
Now charged up on Kenneth-ium, she prepared another portal, and once again engaged in a battle with her copy.
"Catalyn will.. defeat you for young master." Channeling her mana, she conjured a portal above the head of the copy. The copy, confused at what she was doing, tilted it's head sideways. Suddenly, the copy's body began to get lifted off the ground like a balloon, that was released from it's owner's grasp.
The copy, realizing what Catalyn was doing, immediately used it's own Gravity Magic to strengthen Krodoa's pull of her towards the ground. This led to the copy being pulled by two forces, the one above pulling her towards the portal, the one below pulling her towards the ground. In an attempt to win the "vertical tug of war", the copy used more of it's mana to make the force below pulling her even stronger. Catalyn couldn't keep up with the suddenly increased pull from below, and figured she would lose if she kept on going. So instead of opposing it, she aided it.
The copy, feeling the pull from above gradually lessening, was celebrating inside, thinking it had beaten the girl in this ordeal. The copy though, hadn't stopped the pull from below, so she was still on the ground. The copy attempted to stand up, yet somehow it couldn't. It wasn't that it couldn't, it was just NOT possible.
"How smart of you. Good job." Kenneth says in Catalyn's mind.
Unable to oppose the copy's pull, Catalyn used the last remaining mana in her to pull the copy down, not up.
The copy, unable to move, was firmly planted on the ground, struggling to move. The praise from Kenneth got Catalyn once again excited. Not having much mana left, Catalyn ended it immediately; one stomp on the copy's head and it had already started disintegrating into particles.
Over in Aurelia's side.
(Keep in mind, all the battles are happening at the same time.)
Aurelia was engaged in a fierce battle with the copy. With the help of the rats from earlier, she was able to get a few hits in, by using Overgrowth on the nearby house plants, which, thank god, were real plants and not made of plastic.
The copy preferred to use seeds to create the plants, unlike Aurelia who'd use the surrounding ones. Reaching it's hand into it's pocket, it took out the seed of a Life Eater, a carnivorous plant that could grow up to ten meters tall, looking similar in appearance to an overgrown Venus Fly Trap from Kenneth's old world.
Immediately the Life Eater began chomping on the rats that were helping Aurelia. Noticing the towering plant eating it's brethren, the rats retreated from the Life Eater, biting off a few leaves from it on the way.
Despite the Life Eater's terrifying appearance, it was a plant that lived and died quickly, but reproduced a lot by scattering it's seeds just before death. Aurelia only needed to use Overgrowth on the Life Eater once, and it was pushed out of it's energetic phase into a plant that was beginning to wither. The leaves began to turn brown, withering and eventually the carnivorous plant disappeared. Just before it's death, numerous seeds poured out from the plant, dispersing around the roots.
The seeds were immediately grown back to their same towering forms through the copy using Overgrowth, and this time there were at least twenty of them, much more than the single Life Eater from earlier, further showing the reproductive capabilities of the plant. (It's like a Hydra, but on steroids.)
Calling upon Krodoa, Aurelia once again asked for it's aid in this battle. Her black eye was now replaced by a golden hue, similar to the it's left counterpart, indicating that the balance between giving and taking in nature was temporarily broken; it was only giving and giving. Various rats and pests began crawling from the holes in the walls and began to gather around Aurelia, until the small army had grown to crowd the whole room's floor.
Commanding the monsters, Aurelia sent them to attack the Life Eaters. This time she had a plan. The Life Eaters, unable to handle the sheer numbers of Aurelia's monsters, were overwhelmed by the slashing and biting of the small beasts. When the plant died, it dispersed a number of seeds on the floor. These were promptly eaten up by the rats. With their stomachs which were designed to digest food easily, the seeds that went down their bodies were quickly taken apart, some being melted by the rats' stomach acids. With the copy being unable to cast Overgrowth on the Life Eater seeds, it was quickly overrun and killed by the pests.
"Great job, Aurelia." Kenneth said to Aurelia.
"Your welcome, my lord. Are the others finished?" Aurelia asked, referring to their other siblings.
"Yeah, Lucas and Lena should be finishing up by now. Catalyn is still fighting, so I'm waiting on her for that. Tyrone is getting cornered on his side though, so you guys should go and help him." (Kenneth)
"Very well. I will go now."
On Tyrone's side.
The dog was fighting with it's canine counterpart, and was losing. The copy seemed smarter and more agile than the original, despite having the same body appearance. It's attacks were faster, so Tyrone was devoting himself fully to dodging the various Earth Spikes that threatened to impale him every time.
"Bark!" Tyrone was having trouble keeping up with the unrelenting attacks of the copy. It's attacks gradually started to go faster, as if it was playing with him. Now it had reached the speed where Tyrone had to sacrifice something to not get hit with a major attack. He would choose to let his skin get slightly pierced if it meant that his legs wouldn't get impaled.
"Tyrone, hold on for a minute. The others will be coming to help." Hearing this, Tyrone instead focused on defense and not on evasion and counterattacking. He conjured Earth walls from the ground and used it to block the spikes. Sensing that the copy was creating spikes below his feet, Tyrone had reinforced every place he stepped on with Earth magic.
"The hell man, that's my dog!" Just in time, Lucas had stepped in and delivered a punch to the copy, knocking it backwards.
Immediately a Light Beam was fired at it, and the copy disintegrated.
The four of the siblings were now gathered. Cheering in victory, they realized that Kenneth wasn't speaking.
Before Lucas had stepped in,
Kenneth had noticed the hundreds of mana signatures surrounding him.
"I'm a support... why go for me?" Kenneth grumbled as he saw the many dummies closing in on him in a circle. The field, which was vast, certainly had many options which Kenneth could take to escape, but he wouldn't be able to outrun his enemies. "Welp, see ya'll later." He says as a portal, one that Catalyn had conjured earlier for escapes, opened up, and he walked through. The portal immediately closed the moment his body passed through, and the dummies were left there, flabbergasted at how the baby had escaped them easily.
"Huh. Catalyn never told me where the portal went. Maybe she should've." Kenneth was placed in the seats, viewing the field directly. He was on the south side of the stadium, directly opposite of where his siblings were. "Fuck, why am I all the way here?" He lamented as he stood up and dragged his body. "Oh, shit." He was too focused on walking that he only placed his eyes on the ground. When he looked up, there were dummies staring at him, probably saying, "Does this guy even know we're right here?"
"Well... I don't have time for you guys, so "Run Amok." Welp, see ya!" Kenneth says as he runs away, his green eyes glowing as he musters his energy to retreat from the horde of dummies.
Skill Used: Run Amok Time To Activate: 12 seconds (Pre-chanted) Number Of Dummies Affected: 82 (Duration: 30 seconds)
Additional Info: A Mental Magic spell that wrecks havoc on enemy allies. This spell induces the enemies in a state where they will continuously attack each other, be they friend or foe. This spell normally takes quite a long time to chant, but in this case, Mr. Kenneth had pre-chanted it.
Kenneth didn't bother to read about his spell as he focused on running away from the horde. He hid himself in a storage room, a dark unlit area, and activated Mind Link. He was in a hurry, he didn't know when the dummies would catch him. Mind Link, the weaker version of Database Link, wasn't as effective as its stronger version, but it could be activated quickly.
"Catalyn, mind sending a portal my way? I'm being chased by some dummies." Kenneth began to explain where he was. "Mind hurrying? they might break down the door quickly."
A portal appears beside him. Kenneth could recognize that blue color and the swirling abyss inside. He jumped in, and immediately, he was sent to the group, and was reunited with his siblings, just as Aurelia had "rescued" the last '☆' dummy.
"All dummies rescued. Mission results." The A.I announces.
Mission Results
Dummies Rescued: 80/80 Skills Used: Database Link (Preemptive), Enhance Phys (M), Enhance Body, (S), Light Beam, Blink, Overgrowth.
Additional Info: Very well done. The mission was completed with five minutes to spare, and all the dummies were rescued.
"Why isn't Catalyn's skills showing up? Maybe it's a glitch in the system. Let me report it." Kenneth says.
"Report received. Reply received. There is no glitch in the system."
"Huh, that's weird. What about your skills, Aurelia? I don't see your calling rats thingy and stuff." Kenneth asks Aurelia in his mind.
"Oh, that? Those aren't skills, my lord. Those come with being the Nature Apostle."
'So like a passive skill? Bah, I don't care. At least we completed it.' Kenneth thinks to himself. "Time to log out, I guess. I'm beat."
"Same, same." His siblings all agree, and they decided to log out.