"Wasn't Nicora with me the whole time?" Feliciara quickly spoke up to support this.
"That's because there was another Nicora just now..."
Cyrae was about to explain, but she saw the intense battle around them suddenly stop.
Galadra, eight-winged Nicora, and Michelle, whose forms were completely blurry before, now became clear in the sky. They could hear them talking again, which meant the barrier was finally gone.
"Damn it! Too bad I wasn't at my best today. You guys caught me off guard..."
The result was no surprise. Michelle was hanging in the air, completely exhausted. She was covered in wounds, and even lost several wings. Her weapon was long gone! But she still wouldn't admit defeat, gritting her teeth.
Eight-winged Nicora and Galadra didn't look great either. Their clothes were torn, and they were breathing hard. They were hurt too, but clearly not as badly as Michelle.
"How about that? Finally tasted how awesome I am, right? I told you I'd make you kneel at my feet and sing 'I Surrender'! Come on, do it now! Sing!"
Even though her own clothes were full of holes, eight-winged Nicora didn't care. She announced their victory, looking very proud.
They didn't seem to notice that not far below them, the six-winged Nicora who arrived later couldn't hold back her curiosity anymore. Full of questions, she shouted:
"Who are you? Why do you look exactly like me? And what's with all the voices? Was that you talking?"
"It's you?"
These words were clearly meant for eight-winged Nicora, but Galadra and Michelle heard them too and looked over.
"So that's what's going on! People who mess with time are all weirdos!"
Suddenly, it seemed like Michelle understood a lot. But surprisingly, she forced herself up and flew towards six-winged Nicora!
"If I kill this weak one, the future you won't exist. Then I'll definitely win!"
"Oh no! Don't do that, things aren't what you imagine...!"
Eight-winged Nicora tried to stop her, but it was too late.
Even though she was badly hurt, Michelle reached Cyrae and six-winged Nicora really fast. Before they could react, she kicked Nicora hard, sending her crashing to the ground.
This attack was clearly full-force. After the dust cleared, they saw a huge crater where six-winged Nicora had landed. They couldn't tell if she was alive or dead.
"What are you trying to do?"
Seeing that Michelle wasn't done and wanted to go finish the job, Feliciara and Cyrae quickly rushed over to block her.
"Get out of my way!"
But Michelle had lost it. She didn't care about these weak angels at all. Without even looking back, she slapped them both away.
But this delay gave eight-winged Nicora and Galadra time to catch up.
Galadra made a light yellow bubble that trapped Michelle inside, stopping her from continuing killing.
"Let me go, you jerks! You only know how to play dirty tricks! If you've got real skills, fight me one-on-one again!"
Michelle was still yelling, not giving up even though she was caught. But she couldn't threaten anyone anymore.
"Huh! What do you mean 'real skills'? Wasn't what I did just now good enough?"
Eight-winged Nicora kicked the bubble hard. "If Galadra hadn't kept stopping me, I would've finished you off with one sword strike!"
The bubble's surface rippled when she kicked it, but it stayed floating in the air, not moving at all.
"Didn't we already explain this? Why don't you ever listen?"
Galadra was calmer. He sighed a little and patiently explained again:
"This Nicora isn't what you think. She's actually..."
But he didn't finish. Everyone noticed something new happening—
A flying ship suddenly appeared in their small space without making any noise.
Anyone could tell right away that this was an Ilandra Dominion Empire ship! But no one expected the empire's ship to show up at a time like this.
Cyrae, lying in the bushes, saw it too. At first, she thought the empire sent a ship for revenge because their base was destroyed. She wondered how the empire's backup arrived so fast.
But after a moment, Galadra's face changed suddenly. He quickly waved his hand, making a foggy shield around himself, eight-winged Nicora, and Michelle. He shouted:
"It's a Beta Shock Bomb! Quick, use all your power to defend!"
"Beta Shock Bomb?"
Cyrae on the ground and eight-winged Nicora both looked confused. They didn't know what to do.
"Hurry! We're running out of time!"
Galadra kept warning them. Cyrae suddenly realized something was wrong. She couldn't escape, so she quickly made several layers of light element shields around herself and her wings.
The next second, a huge explosion happened.
First, there was a bright white flash. Then, big shock waves came down from the sky, pushing Cyrae into the mud. She couldn't move at all.
But that wasn't all. Even though she had put up defenses, Cyrae could clearly feel her light element shields being eaten away where the shock hit her body!
No magic had ever done this before. Soon, the little bit of light element was completely gone, and the huge damage started hitting her body directly...
After what felt like forever, the explosion finally stopped.
Cyrae was completely buried in the soil. The damage from this explosion was really, really bad!
She finally poked her head out of the hole and was shocked to see that the right half of her body, where the shields were destroyed first, was completely gone! Luckily, she was tough enough not to die, and she could use light magic to stop the bleeding and pain for now. Otherwise, she probably would've been screaming in pain.
Of course, as long as she stayed alive and kept her wings, she could probably heal slowly using healing magic!
But the problem was, she was hurt so badly that she couldn't move at all right now. And she had no idea what was going on around her.
As the smoke cleared, Cyrae looked up at the sky again. The place where Galadra had been was empty.
But soon she found eight-winged Nicora and Michelle on the ground not far away.
These two weren't much better off than her. They could barely move, even though their bodies were whole. They were still covered in blood, completely naked and in a terrible state.
Only eight-winged Nicora looked a bit different! Cyrae wasn't sure, but her body seemed to be getting a bit transparent?
"How are you doing over there?"
Cyrae gathered all her strength to call out for help. She didn't care that Michelle was there too. It was clear this bomb attack wasn't Michelle's doing, so she probably didn't need to worry about her for now.
"Cyra? Oh, no..."
Eight-winged Nicora heard her and looked over. When she saw it was Cyrae, she shook her head and suddenly fell to her knees, looking weak.
She looked like she was in trouble too, but she still managed to keep talking to Cyrae.
"I might not make it either! Because of the explosion, Galadra can't keep his power in the main world anymore. His mind has gone back to the Cycle of Rebirth, so I probably can't stay here much longer! But don't worry, there should be other people around here who can help you!"
As she finished talking, eight-winged Nicora's body became more and more transparent. In a moment, she disappeared completely, leaving only Michelle, who was still moaning softly nearby.
"Huh? What's going on? Other people? What other people?"
Cyrae was totally confused now. So many weird things happened so fast that she couldn't figure out what was really important.
She looked around again and realized that the problem with space seemed to be gone. A big area of trees nearby had been blown up by the explosion, lying all over the place. In the distance, she saw a group of empire soldiers with guns, along with the flying ship, slowly coming towards them.
These soldiers and the ship stopped when they reached Michelle. It was clear she was their target! Then a voice suddenly came from the empire ship above.
"Michelle, remember me?"
"Fernando? It's you! So you're with the empire. What are you trying to do now?"
Michelle clearly knew this voice. But before she could do anything else, a big net fell from the sky and caught her. Then she was slowly lifted up and taken to the bottom of the ship.