CHAPTER 46: LYRA V. ISOBEL I

Lyra called bullshit. Isobel’s cast time was three seconds. It was always three seconds! Either this current version of Isobel was secretly the strongest they’d ever faced, or Isobel used a cheap trick to blind Lloyd.

"Analyze and adapt..."

She’d learned this lesson from Mr. Shaw very early into their training together. It was the mantra he lived by: Analyze and Adapt. Right now, while things were still blurry, it was the only way for her to gain footing in the battle.

"She must’ve started casting that Blindness Spell before the countdown. That way, it would be ready for when the battle kicked off."

Trusting her intuition, Lyra gathered aura around her and used her signature ability, the one she’d trained so hard to perfect: Time Manipulation.

Ten seconds. It was the most she could comfortably do without expending too much aura. Lyra cursed her limitation as the world rewound around her. If she was at full strength, a hop of ten seconds would be nothing. Hell, a hop of a few months would be nothing!

"Get in position!" Mileena shouted, eyes eager as she raised a hand over her head.

"Lloyd!" I whispered. "She’s gonna blind you. Be ready!"

"Shit," Lloyd cursed. "What happened after?"

"No clue. I hopped the second it happened."

"Ready?!" Mileena shouted again, hand straight and stiff over her head.

"That’s alright. Rush her in my place. I’ll just have to trust my instincts for a while. If she’s as crafty as you say she is, she might be trying to use your time travel against you."

That... shit. He was right. Forcing Lyra to repeatedly turn the clock back was the kind of play she’d expect out of the Demon Queen.

"Got it. Call me if you need–"

"Go!"

Once again, Isobel blinded Lloyd, the Spell looking like a wispy black cloud, which only covered the top half of his head. Trusting Lloyd could handle it, she kicked off towards Lyra, kicking up debris with her charge.

"Leaving Lloyd behind? How careless of you. Are you sure he’s your ally?" Isobel taunted.

Lyra ignored the provocation, charging an Eldritch Blast in her right hand as Isobel backstepped with aura-infused steps. She practically danced across the battlefield, though she wasn’t just running from Lyra. No, Isobel was summoning clones of herself. Perfect, illusory clones that each gathered aura around her. Five, to be exact.

Like afterimages, the clones were persistent in Lyra’s vision. No matter where she went or looked, the clones were there, and the swell of aura they gathered increased in size. Lyra focused on the main Isobel the entire time, desperate to close the distance. If she wanted to win this, she needed to close the–

"Fire!" The clones shouted in unison.

Before she had time to react, the clones fired charged beams of aura just like the one she’d blasted those Goblins with all the way back during their first Quest together. Despite the clones being illusory, the blast itself was very real, and very painful. The beams collided with a loud bang that kicked up a puff of debris about Lyra.

Isobel didn’t let up, though. As she attempted to regain her footing, Isobel shot thin beams of purple aura through the cloud, piercing Lyra through the left shoulder and right thigh. She fell to her knees, bleeding and in pain, unable to gather herself.

When the dust finally cleared, Isobel was surrounded by a sea of Isobel clones. It had to be at least a hundred. Just like the others, they each charged that same powerful beam attack.

"Why waste your energy?" Lyra asked, tone mocking. "You know I’m just going to turn time back.

"I know," one of the Isobel clones spoke. "But that doesn’t make this any less fun."

"Fun? Don’t tell me you’re only enjoying this because I implied you were weak that one time."

"I’d love to tell you that I’m not that petty," the clone mused. "But I’d be lying."

Just as she said she would, Lyra turned time back the instant the clones shot that beam attack, which left her chasing Isobel across the battlefield while the five illusory clones prepared to shoot her that first time. Ready for the attack now, Isobel formed a shell of aura about her body just before impact, which was just strong enough to withstand the attack from the illusory clones.

Isobel winced at that, but she recovered quickly. She shot thin beams of aura at Lyra like pistol rounds. Lyra deflected one, but the next was too strong to counter in such a way, and it pierced her damn hand! Once again forced to travel back in time, she adjusted her strategy, dodging the attacks while closing the distance between herself and Isobel even more.

"Don’t think I’ll let you get close!" Isobel challenged as she charged a stronger beam from her fingers.

"I know you won’t let me. That’s not how this works!" Lyra retorted, sidestepping the last beam and seizing Isobel by her wrist, holding her in place. Isobel immediately pressed two fingers to Lyra’s forehead, but the girl already had a palm on Isobel’s side. One move, and she’d have an Eldritch Blast through the stomach.

Lyra had spent a bit more aura than she would’ve liked by this point. She wasn’t exactly tired, but she didn’t have many more ten-second bursts left in her. Judging by the look on her face, Isobel must’ve expected this.

"How many times did I make you hop back in time, I wonder?" Isobel asked, eyes confident.

"Does it matter? The fight’s over. I can undo anything you do here. You can’t."

"Oh? Are you sure? I could attack you from behind with a clone. I’m sure you’ve experienced something like that a few times now. You must’ve, considering you guarded against my earlier clone attack."

Lyra refused to answer, which, in itself, was answer enough for Isobel. She smiled triumphantly, which caused a surprising amount of anger to well up in Lyra.