"Look at you. How could I die at the hands of this pitiful girl?"

The blurry outline of Andila, Kamala's daughter, spat insults after insults toward her in a room that looked like the room she was forced to live in when she was young.

"..."

All this time, Kamala completely ignored her mother's words. At no point did she felt the need to get angry, or to even care about her.

She simply crossed her arms, and looked at the woman that looked and sounded like her mother.

'My mother is dead. This is a farce, and a worthless one at that. Why is my own mind showing me familiar places at this point?'

Kamala had grown up since then. Physically, for sure. But it was only recently that her mind grew stronger as well.

"Oh! Please say a fucking word! Are you going to ignore me until you too perish? I'm not that stupid, and so do you. If you have just a ounce of what made me this great as my daughter, you understand the situation."

'I do. It doesn't mean anything to me. I still won't answer you.'

Her piercing stare stayed on the ghostly figure, with no words escaping her mouth.

"This is ridiculous. Not only have you disrespected me by piercing my body with your wretched form, but you stubbornly refuse to talk to your own mother! What have I done to birth such awful woman?"

Andila began to lament her own life, as if it still mattered.

'Being a narcissistic and cruel bitch is what made me end your life. The fact that even in my head it cannot be registered is proof enough that you were the biggest fool I have ever known.'

While doing a strong disagreeing movement with her head, she also rolled her eyes and sighed.

'I wish I wasn't stuck with her, but at least I have the patience to do so. What I'm worried about is...'

She looked at her hands and felt her magic slowly drain from her body. Internally, Kamala knew that she was still pumping an enormous amount of magic to maintain the whirlwind barrier, even unconscious.

"Well, fine. If I can't do it, she will."

"She?"

Kamala's gaze returned on the ghostly shape and frowned.

The ghost of Andila slowly vanished, as the surrounding shifted to a new room.

*sniff*

The smell of burning wood, and an incredible heat. She knew all too well.

"Yes! Yes! This will do!"

Andila's voice echoed more vividly in her ears, as if she was really here. Kamala looked in front of her, and recognized the exact place, instant, and actions that happened in this very room.

The burning garden where Kamala ended the live of a crazy and corrupted Andila. Her body was still pierced, her back toward her daughter, and missing her right arm.

Surprisingly, blood wasn't pouring out of her wounds, as if she had been long drained if every last drop of it.

"This is the perfect place! Get to work, my daughter!"

Hearing her name come out of that woman's month aggravated Kamala's mood in an instant.

'Right. I don't care if she dies again, let me shut that mouth for good.'

She was about to approach the moving corpse of her mother, but stopped when she noticed a round shadow forming next to Andila.

'What's that thing?'

Her guard instantly went up, as she remembered the teaching she received from Orion before her fight against Ivan, the Apostle ruling over the now destroyed Kaios.

The shadow slowly stretched upward until it formed a vaguely recognizable shape.

'Is that... me?'

As she thought, the shadow slowly revealed its shape. A being that could be called Kamala's twin if she had one appeared and smiled at her.

Two Kamala looked at each other, one was in a terrible mood, the other was smiling like a maniac.

'What is this whole thing? A challenge? A test? What is it for?'

Many questions filled her head, but no answer came to her.

"Kamala, avenge your mother."

"Yes, mother."

The other Kamala readied herself before pushing on her legs to run toward the real Kamala.

'I guess I have no choice. Let's get this done, so that I can return to the real world and finish what I've started.'

"I have no time for your tomfoolery. Fuck off."

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Multiple spikes of sand formed on her right arm, like a flower. Like a rapier, she pierced her clone, successfully ripping one of its arms off of its body, before looking at her own arm.

'Huh?'

Her arm fell off on the ground.

She clenched her teeth hard and stopped the cry from escaping her mouth. She grabbed her shoulder and staggered a few steps back.

'That hurt! Wait...'

Her arm was still there. It was still attached as if nothing had happened.

'An illusion?'

The clone appeared once again in front of Kamala, uninjured.

'It's fine. So am I... Though, I am sure I've felt the hit connect.'

One last time, she looked at her arm.

'I should just try something just to confirm it.'

Removing the sand spikes from her arm, she aimed at the clone with her other arm and fired big but sharp stones at it.

The stone pierced the chest and stomach of the clone, who exploded into a puddle of shadowy substance.

*Cough*

"Aaaah!"

The real Kamala saw four holes in her chest and stomach that weren't there a before the attack. She grabbed her body and endured the horrible pain, until the effect vanished and she returned to normal again.

"You like it? How does it feel? Good I hope. AAAAHAHA~"

Andila began to laugh maniacally. Her red left eye, which was the only eye she could show thanks to being skewered on the wall front first, gleamed a dangerous crimson.

'Shut it...'

Kamala nodded after straightening her body.

'The pain is gone. As I thought, this is an illusion. Whatever I do to that clone, it ends up happening to me too. How do I deal with it?'

The puddle began to shake, before creating the fake Kamala again.

'I don't want to, but I will have to try many times. It will... hurt a lot.'

With her teeth clenched as hard as she could, she swiped her hand and fired a blade of condensed wind toward the neck of the false Kamala.

*Slice*

The sound of flesh being sliced echoed, and with it, the intense pain of her head being removed from her body.

In horror, she opened her eyes, only to see the back of her knees, while the puddle of shadowy liquid had already began to form a new clone. When she blinked, her head had returned to its rightful place.

*GASP*

"Hah! Fuck!"

She frantically patted her neck and nape to make sure this truly had been an illusion.

'I won't do that again! Never again! I did the worst first, so now I don't have to try it anymore.'

With a terrifying stare, she readied herself for the long torture session.

...

"..."

Kamala sliced the right leg and right arm of the clone, and ignored her own pain. She was beginning to get accustomed to the pain.

'How many times have I killed it...'

Her eyes were losing focus, her mind was tired, and her body couldn't endure more of the illusionary torture.

'I think that was... two hundred and twenty... two?'

She felt her body fall forward in slow motion.

'Is it... over?'

But in a last attempt to fight back, her right foot strongly resisted, making her recover a little bit of mental strength.

'I still have... a job to do!'

"Are you ready to give up, daughter? Give in, be free!"

Kamala smiled with a tired smile and spat toward Andila.

"You wish. To make me give up is to ask me to forgive your actions. Never!"

She looked at the clone who was very, very slowly approaching her.

'This is going nowhere. I've been practically killing myself for who knows how long to no avail.'

'I need to think. If brute forcing doesn't work, then it means the solution is trickier to find. Think Kamala, think.'

With so little energy left, she had little faith in achieving anything.

Tired, Kamala dragged her feet left. The shadow suddenly began to move at the same speed as her, toward its left.

'Huh?'

Kamala wanted to facepalm herself so bad for not noticing, but she couldn't.

'That's... Orion will laugh at me for that.'

Ashamed, she placed her left arm in front of her.

"Engulf everything."

A pillar of sand erupted under the shadow. When the pillar stopped, the clone had been completely trapped into a pile of sand, making it unable to move anywhere.

The real Kamala moved right, watching the shadowy Kamala try too, unsuccessful.

'Should be fine now. I really don't want to experience that again, but here goes nothing.'

With her other hand, she fired another wind slash at the clone's neck. It sliced through perfectly, and Kamala watched its head fly backward and explode into a puddle of still shadow.

*Slice*

She heard a wind blade strike at the place she stood before, and touched her neck.

'I was right. Whatever happens to the clone is mirrored. If I'm not in the 'mirror', I won't get hit. Stopping its movement and moving away was the right answer.'

"Y-You! You stupid woman! Why did you not give up! Why do you keep opposing me?!"

"You're dead. Who gives a damn about you anymore? Besides me, no one remembers you, so you should be thanking ME for not forgetting."

While answering the illusion of Andila that her mind created, she glanced toward the shadow. It was completely dry, like a stain on the ground.

As the fire burned around her, Kamala remembered the feeling of her own power.

An earth magic capable of creating the strongest tomb of sand, and a wind capable of invoking the most powerful hurricane. That was her power.

Something finally snapped inside her heart. A pain she never managed to get rid off.

"I... have no regrets about killing you. I am not as pure as many think I am."

"Of course you aren't. You? Pure? Disgusting!"

She smiled at her mother's words, knowing that the real Andila would probably say the exact same if she had still been alive.

"That clone... it never attacked me."

"I have no reason to answer your capricious needs. Go try your questions on someone else. Now, leave me alone."

"No."

"What?!"

Kamala shook her head strongly. She was tired, but still had the strength to finish what she had started.

"I'm getting rid of you for good."

Sand began to converge on her, forming a suit of armor made of rocks and sand. A rocky mask with a shattered corner showing her right eye formed on her face. The sand tightly covered her body like a suit, while the rocks covered her vitals.

Her arms and legs suddenly released a continuous flow of air that made her levitate off the ground. To finish her transformation, a mixed crown of wind and earth magic appeared behind her head.

The wind formed a crown, while the sand formed inwards spikes focusing toward the center.

"I feel... complete. What a strange feeling."

She looked at her hands, who were covered by thin layer of sand. Her mind began to imagine uses for the sand, and as such, it complied.

'Spike.'

Her arm morphed to a long spike like javelin.

'Axe?'

The javelin changed to a rather large axe, but smaller than the one Eric used.

She began to discover the range of creativity she had at her disposal, be it earth magic, or wind. Though, it had a very big problem.

'I don't think I'll be able to hold this form for more than a few minutes. Since I'm tired, I feel like I'm at the limit already.'

Part of the transformation stopped. The mask crumbled to dust, and the levitating effect of the wind vanished.

"Alright. Time to say goodbye for good mother. At least, I'll thank you for helping me recovering my strength."

"Do whatever..."

Without hesitation, Kamala slashed the head of Andila off of its body, and destroyed the whole place.

A few seconds later, she recovered consciousness.

...

"Kamala! Finally!"

The sand covering her dropped in a very dramatic fashion, releasing her and Stella at the same time.

"I'm fine. I..."

She blinked a few time to adjust to the light, until she noticed Florian in front of her.

"Oh, Florian. You came to help the fairies too?"

"I did."

When he confirmed, a voice suddenly caught their attention.

"The shield is breaking! Orion, you don't have much time!"

Dramia shouted as loud as she could. A few meters above the ground, she looked far in the distance, above the village.

There, a bright, yet dark light was being released.

'Don't... lose... control...'

Orion was about to throw every ounce of magic energy at the village in an attempt to save it.