Sera's expressionless mask stared out from the reflection on Castiel's helmet. She barely had a moment to pull out her sword and jump away from the Executioner's falling body.

As she moved away, her reflection came alive and jumped away from Castiel's body too. A pair of curved silver blades appeared in her hands, then suddenly burst into cleansing golden flames.

Both Seras landed on a nearby branch, then brandished their swords and ran at each other.

From the outside, neither woman had any differentiating factors. Their moves had the exact same speed and strength. They matched each other's attacks perfectly, never letting the opponent get the upper hand.

They both had the same repertoire of abilities, which should've made certain neither could win nor lose. However, one side wasn't playing fairly...

The real Sera stabbed forward with her right sword, while blocking both of her replica's attacks with her left. The thrust went wide as her copy spun out of the way, while continuing to apply pressure on her left hand.

Sera fell on one knee, as she could barely hold back her replica's sword. She came close to death, yet below her mask a wide cunning grin spread across her face as a light chuckle echoed from her lips.

Her replica was just out of her right sword's reach, yet Sera still tried slashing her legs. The fake Sera didn't even react, since she knew the attack won't reach her... That's when she felt the skin, muscles and bones split in her legs while doubling over...

At the tip of Sera's silvery sword, a shadowy extension dripped with her copy's blood. It extended her weapon far enough to reach the copy's legs, and cut them both off.

In reality, Sera's sword couldn't have penetrated the fake one's armor, since it had the same properties as the Angel's own. It distributed any blow all across the body, vastly diminishing its force.

However, since Faith never signed the Contract, nobody could damage her, while her own attacks couldn't be blocked. Any armor would become vulnerable to her shadows, regardless of its protective capabilities or abilities.

But this alone wouldn't have made Sera's plan work. The real Sera would've dodged that blow with ease, yet this fake copy didn't even react, which begged the question... How intelligent was she compared to the actual Sera?

She already knew the answer, since Purity revealed it along with the ability's name... Mimic Maker...

It copied a person to their tiniest physical detail. Their abilities, fighting prowess and Items all got copied onto the Mimic. But there was also a great flaw with these creations... They couldn't think critically. In fact, one might argue they couldn't think at all!

For example, the Mimic while had the capabilities to react when Sera attacked, she had no knowledge about Faith. She never expected the blade to grow longer and pierce her armor.

The Mimic fell on her back, a gasp of pain echoing from her helmet. The real Sera didn't wait a single moment to jump to her feet and behead the copy without mercy.

In that moment, multiple wingbeats reached Sera's ear from behind. An annoyed sigh whistled through her clenched teeth as she turned around and saw four more Mimics flying in her direction.

The ability Mimic Maker worked by establishing a connection between Castiel's mirror-like surfaces and the target of his ability. After the connection was established, he could make however many copies he desired.

This didn't make the fight more difficult necessarily, but she had to be a lot more careful. If any of the Mimics touched her, then her chances of victory would vastly diminish.

The quadruple fake Seras launched themselves at the real Angel. They each brandished their duel-wielded curved silvery swords, and attacked from different directions.

Usually, Sera would also take to the sky, since her maneuverability outmatched most of her opponents. However, when fighting multiple copies of herself, it would only make the fight much harder.

Instead, she crouched under the first assailant, sidestepped the second, parried the third and finally, she threw a faint at the fourth. Her burning swords cut through the air, dragging a dark shadow in their path.

The Mimic deflected Sera's attack with one weapon, then counterattacked. Sera purposefully left herself open, so the Mimic wouldn't expect the shadowy blades cutting through her sword, armor and body.

They cut through her in an 'X' pattern, quartering her body at her stomach. The bleeding bits fell over the branch's edge, then burst into tiny, reflective crystals.

The other Mimics, like emotionless robots, didn't even bat an eye at the death of their sister. Instead, they landed all around Sera and attacked with incredible coordination.

Their movements perfect matched each other, but with enough latency to make blocking, parrying, deflecting or evading impossible.

However, Sera didn't even plan on defending against the slashes and thrusts. Instead, she crouched down and then spun around with outstretched arms.

Faith's shadows appeared around her blade, while vines caught each of her copies' feet. Her slash cut them down, then she jumped to her feet and began beheading each before they could've regenerated.

Sadly, by the time she finished with these four, another dozen Mimics flew in her direction. A frustrated growl echoed from Sera's lips before jumping off the branch.

"Faith, Bea, take care of the Mimics... We're switching to Plan B..." she sent the message straight into her friends' brains, while spreading her wings and flying towards Castiel.

Behind her, pained groans, screams and explosions echoed, but that wasn't Sera's problem anymore. Her only job now was to kill Castiel using any means necessary.

Plan A entailed using Bea and Faith's presence with reservation, so the spectators wouldn't notice the cheating, but they were fairly certain it wouldn't work against someone as cunning and powerful as Castiel.

This is way Sera created Plan B... No reservations, only victory!

The only downside was that while Faith and Bea fought, they couldn't watch over the entire forest. This meant Sera lost her eyes and ears, which could locate Castiel immediately.

It took her a few moments, during which another couple dozen Mimics tried ambushing Sera, but with at least they led her to Castiel's position.

This time, Sera didn't hold back in the slightest...

She flew towards Castiel at immense speed, her silver, metallic wings accelerating her until she moved faster than most creatures could see.

From her wings, near invisible Angelic Metal particles detached. They glinted when a few were lit by the scattered rays of sunshine.

Her swords also grew longer and thicker, while the flames dancing along its surface became hotter than the sun.

Sweat dripped from Sera's face as her armor distributed the enormous heat all over her skin. Even holding it without the armor wouldn't have caused issues, just made her feel uncomfortable.

She flew close to the ground though, causing the grass to burst aflame and the earth to melt. Luckily, she flew so fast they didn't have time to vaporize and accidentally set off the chain reaction behind her.

A mad laugh echoed from Sera's lips as she came in sight of Castiel. The Executioner was surrounded by a dozen Mimics, yet the real Angel didn't care as she hit the group like a missile.

The Angelic Metal particles floating in the air became unstable as Sera slammed into the ground next to Castiel.

Within about a two hundred meter radius, everything other than the tree became vaporized from the giant explosion... Well, everything except the Mimics, Castiel and the real Sera...

However, the fiery storm created a perfect opportunity for Bea to use her vines and kill every single Mimic near Castiel. By the time the fire dissipated, only the Executioner and Sera were left flying. Since the ground disappeared, there was nowhere left to stand on.

Castiel's crystalline armor looked disheveled, yet the man behind it looked as proud as ever. He floated with a straight back, his wings absently beating the air every now and then.

Sera didn't look much better either. The explosion broke her body into pieces, but the armor held her together enough to regenerate. Physically, she was fine, but the mental fatigue of the fight had already begun clouding her mind.

She took a deep breath and re-summoned her swords, which vaporized in the explosion. Her opponent did the same, yet he seemed unsure while flying towards Sera.

He raised the polearm to deliver a vertical strike, but Sera noticed a hesitation in his movements, which left him open. She flew into him, using her swords to create deep gashes along his body.

The silvery blades weren't on fire, so the wounds didn't cauterize. Blood flowed down his armor, dripping into the dark abyss below.

The gashes healed a moment later, and his armor repaired itself as well. In a fight against Stellars, these wounds had no meaning. Anything none lethal could heal near immediately, except maybe limb loss, but those weren't permanent either.

As they fought, Sera kept blocking Castiel's Copied Strikes, while delivering minor wounds. Her focus was perfect, but the Executioner had millennia worth of experience on her.

They matched each other's prowess perfectly, which created a long, arduous fight, where neither rose to victory.

Castiel tried summoning a few more Mimics, but the shadows killed them faster than they could interfere with their duel.

After close to a second passed, Castiel finally had enough. He flew through the foliage above the treeline. Here, neither Faith nor Bea could help without making it too obvious... With this move, Castiel forced Sera's hand...

The Angel flew after the Executioner. He could hear his chuckle from behind the helmet as Sera thrust her swords forward.

Castiel easily parried both weapons, but he didn't expect Sera to release the weapons and continue flying in his direction. Before he knew it, both of Sera's arms were wrapped around his neck in a chokehold.

Her armor's density began rapidly increasing, which sent both angels tumbling towards the ground.

The Executioner knew entering the forest again was a death sentence, so he used another ability, and suddenly both angels disappeared.

The crowd shouted in confusion, while all of Sera's friends took a sharp intake of breath. They knew this was a possibility, but there were many unknowns surrounding this power, which even Purity didn't fully understand.

Bea and Faith both stood at the forest's edge, watching the spot where Sera and Castiel had disappeared from. Deep worry was etched on both women's faces, as a feeling of uselessness settled within their hearts.

They couldn't help Sera anymore. She was left to her own devices to win the fight against Castiel.

No cheating or knowledge could help her anymore, and as the seconds passed, everyone awaited the winner... Who'll leave the Hall of Mirrors alive...