Corvanye stood about fifty feet from Argyle, both lit by a light that cast long shadows on the end of the train yard and caught a halo of rain in a white flare around it. He had somehow kept pace with the monk up to this point, dispatching countless clones, surviving multiple rounds with him and disarming Argyle twice. They were both still for a moment, just breathing and staring each other down. Argyle had blood all over his hands and neck and was soaked with it down his robe, turning most of it black. Corvayne had hit him with what should have been a lethal blow to the neck, but it seemed like the monk healed like Corvayne did. Perhaps he was stalling to get better.
Corvayne was stalling to try to shake off exhaustion. Every trick he had pulled to stay alive and keep his friends safe had cost him. He locked eyes with Argyle as the man started to circle. Corvayne knew he was moving to try to get the light directly at his back. So Corvayne picked up a rock, and tossed it up as he started to circle.
“You had better hurry up and kill me, boy. I've still got plenty of clones left, and I know those two you were with are hurt and weak. I know that Anastasia is somewhere on this islands as well.”
“They said you only could make seven clones. I see that's bullshit.” Corvayne tried not to look at the light. Pretend to be stupid, and your enemy will make openings for you.
Argyle smiled. “I had a lot of time on my hands here.”
He was a few steps from having the bright light right at his back. So Corvayne pretended to wince while he used [Expert Toss] to flick the rock at the light. He felt Argyle behind him to his left, so he used [Cross Skill: Flows Like Water] to cut to the side, flicking the whip out as darkness fell. He used a shadow hand to pick up a stone as he walked and threw it to the side, Argyle leaping for the sound with both hands and tumbling as Corvayne channeled gravity, making himself lighter so that he could creep along the train track.
“Rat, hiding in the dark. It won't work.” Argyle put a hand in his robe then pulled it out, the limb starting to glow blue. Corvayne snapped his whip out, cracking it as it slammed into Argyle's arm. He could see that it grazed him, and the man used his robe to push the corrosive glob off.
Argyle vanished and this time Corvayne's shadows couldn't tell where he was. Corvayne spun, then spotted Argyle bending down further down the rail he was on. Corvanye saw the man's plan a little late, as Argyle ripped the track upwards, pulling it from the ground and tripping Corvayne as the ground jerked under him. Argyle started running towards him as Corvayne started to stand. He couldn't get out of the way of the monk kicking him and connecting with Corvayne's shoulder.
The blow sent him flying, but with a sustained gravity adjustment he landed feet first atop a boxcar. When Argyle popped up near him, Corvayne used gravity on the whip, then snapped the extra heavy weapon out. The head flew the full 40 feet this time, catching Argyle's hand which he put in front of his face. There was a hideous scream and even from full distance the acrid smell of the acid working carried to him. Corvayne's momentary triumph didn't last as Argyle rushed to the train car he was on. Corvayne didn't have time to react as Argyle just shoulder tackled it, knocking the car onto two wheels and flinging Corvayne off, hitting the gravel with his back.
He saw the monk appear standing above him, and Corvayne tucked his knees then kicked, catching Argyle's chest and flinging the surprised monk into another car further down, denting it. There were slams of metal as the empty car rocked from getting hit so hard, and Corvayne stood. He only had a moment to sense danger as a burnt figure with a steel beam tried to brain him. Corvayne dropped his head under the swing then punched out with his hand holding the whip, blasting the clone into a pile of garbage. He didn't see Argyle. Not good! He turned and head down sprinted back to the open area, nearly running into a pair of clones with staves. He managed to skid to a stop as both vanished. He used gravity and sprang up into the air, flicking the whip down at a clone destroying it, as well as pushing him to fall behind the other one. The potion showed it's value, as he was able to catch the steel coming at him and leverage the attack into [Judo Throw], creating a small crater with the remains of the garbage used to make the clone.
A moment later he threw his arms up and and felt one break as Argyle, likely the real one, slammed into him with a steel stave. Corvayne went rolling, arm slamming on the ground a few times and lancing intense pain up his limb. He gritted his teeth, stood, and stepped into Argyle's next attack, dropping the whip into a shadow hand as he braced himself with Gravity, grabbing the monk's elbow before he could bring the staff down and pushing upwards, unbalancing him into a stumble. Corvayne took a step with him and just slugged the monk in the face, smashing Argyle's nose, causing the monk to further stumble. He readied his snake headed whip but another clone literally dove to take the hit, fading into scraps of cloth as the serpent head blasted through him. Argyle slammed something on the ground and a forest exploded between them.
Corvayne turned and ran, knowing that he needed to see when Argyle vanished or he'd get ambushed. A pair of Argyles was running beside him, neither real due to being uninjured. Corvayne snapped the whip at one, then had the other clip him on his good shoulder with a staff blow. Frustratingly, the clone stopped time to retreat before Corvayne's whip hit him, the image laughing. More voices joined him, two clones climbing the hill, one stepping out of the tower on the building overlooking the train yard, and three more walking down the tracks.
“What a load of crud that ability is.” Corvayne muttered to himself, trying to gauge where he could break through one handed. No, if he tried to run, they'd have plenty of time to find Lady Blood Claw and Nyxion.
The clones started to run at him, and Corvayne set himself for one that would let him cut to the outside of the train yard between the last row of parked boxcars and the hill down to apartments. He met one clone that teleported right in front of him and with his extra strength he was able to whip and pull the staff swinging clone into his upraised knee, which didn't dismiss the clone but made it fall to the ground, clutching the tender spot he hit it at. Another clone threw it's stave at him, hitting his bad arm and nearly blacking him out, the pain blurring his vision a moment with tears. He blinked them away and used his gravity power to pick up speed, catching the clone who wasn't expecting him to arrive as fast as he did with a single boosted whip strike that seemed to break the figure's neck, returning him to a tattered beach towel.
Corvayne huffed, running boots the only thing keeping his legs in rhythm. A pair of clones appeared in front of him, including one missing an arm. He spun but behind him were three more, and down the hill he saw a pair. He heard laughing from a boxcar.
“Better! This is much better. I haven't had to HUNT someone like this before.” The real Argyle was sitting with arms folded, smugly watching Corvayne as he whirled his head at the circle of enemies.
“Unlike you, I can afford to lose a few friends.” the monk added.
He snapped his fingers and the circle started to close. Corvayne closed his eyes a moment, breathing in and out. As he was thinking about some way to not trade his injured friends for a few piles of garbage, there was a sweet sound, one that made him smile. The twang of a bow.
An arrow slammed into the side of a clone, staggering it. The clones turned, just as a pair of fiery projectiles burrowed into a different clone. Corvayne faced both the images still coming at him and did his best to roll out of the way as they swung, his injured arm and shoulder throbbing with pain. Argyle himself stood up.
“What idiots would-”
A battle cry rang out and a man in armor with two spiked maces jumped behind a clone and smashed both weapons into it's back. Corvayne caught a glimpse of a blurry figure and felt new energy as he snapped his whip at one of the clones, even as the other near him raised it's staff over his head. There was a satisfying crunching noise as the blur buried a pair of daggers into the clone's back, [Backstab] scattering trash all over as the clone exploded.
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Corvayne whipped a clone trying to intercept a figure that looked like a rat in robes squeaking in either terror or a battle cry as it charged at Corvayne with glowing white hands.
“[Greater Healing!]”
The little rat hands found his arm and he felt his pain fading away.
Argyle screamed as he leapt into the battle, teleporting at Corvayne. “What the FUCK!?”
Corvayne ducked under Argyle's swing, switching his whip for spear as he used his enhanced strength to pin Argyle's weapon to the ground. He smiled at the furious monk. “I see your clones and raise you friends I never met.”
Hari appeared behind Argyle, both hands on a steel rod overhead that she brought down so hard it made her feet leave the ground. The monk vanished, leaving his weapon behind. Hari pointed.
“Corvanye get him!”
As she spoke, he had to turn and disarm another clone, this one trying to use a stop sign as a sort of battle axe. He spun and elbowed it, strength fading a little as he didn't demateralize it. “Hari! I can't tell you how much I love you right now.”
“Tell me!” She faded back into the shadows and teleported to a clone locked in melee with her party leader, knife darting out. “We'll be fine, GO!”
He hesitated, then ran up to her and kissed her, then turned and ran down the tracks after Argyle.
There were still trains running, and Corvayne saw one run by before he got up on the pair of tracks the ramp out of the train yard had lead to. He saw the monk moving further along the track, just barely visible as a blue light flickering in the rain. For a while it was just running in the rain on the tracks. Argyle neared the end of the island before he hopped onto a station platform then jumped off the side to land on the stairs back down to Old Town. They were not far from the bridge out of town so Corvayne wondered if the goal was to escape, or was Argyle trying to bait him into a trap?
Corvayne shrugged to himself and followed, taking the same shortcut using gravity, taking steps two at a time as he saw Argyle fall in with a pair of clones on the street.
Down on street level started running after Argyle. The monk saw him following after teleporting and looked annoyed, one of his clones peeling off to intercept. Instead of moving directly to attack, the clone placed itself in Corvayne's path, steel rod at ready. He flicked the whip out and the clone parried, the snake's head leaving steaming goo on the steel rod. Corvayne ducked under an attack, but the clone didn't step forward, instead moving to make sure Corvayne couldn't circle around it. Another exchange where the clone gave a little ground but kept him at bay sparked realization in Corvayne: The clone was stalling him!
Corvayne moved in close, the figure backing up and parrying again as Corvayne flicked the unpowered whip. A few strikes and the monk tried to grab the whip, which grew a serpents head and bit him then recoiled. The figure started howling, the voice not sounding quite right as it fell over clutching it's hand.
He didn't bother to check if it was dead, running around the fallen form. He guessed that the monk was heading to the community center. Another two clones ran from side streets, unarmed but reaching for him. Corvayne once more had to stop and flick his whip, the first using a teleport to try to get behind him and grab him. Corvayne danced away from the first and tried to step around the second, which lurched at him. This pair in particular looked half-finished, the clothes weird pink and green colors and the skin tone off. He clamped down on getting annoyed and started fighting the pair, letting his whip's reach do the work for him. When one teleported close to him, he used [Flow Like Water] to move past them, the clones setting up to hit him out of an expected [Juxtapose] and thus both getting struck by the whip. Even without poison on it, they staggered and Corvayne used the opening to switch to his fire-breathing dagger and ram it into one.
He spun as he activated the weapon, a swirl of fire following the knife's path as he slashed the jaw of the other clone, igniting him and destroying both. He put the knife back in it's sheath and took his whip back from the shadowy hands.
He sprinted down Copper Mill. A pair of blocks ahead he could see Argyle running for the community center. Gary was trying to guard the door, but Argyle didn't even slow as he just caught the shaft of Gary's polearm and slammed him into a wall, then strode past.
Corvayne sprinted as fast as his aching lungs allowed him, nearly overshooting the door. Inside, Gary was groaning in pain so probably not dead, but he could hear shouting. Corvayne saw the door to the gym was broken open, and ran inside. Mister I was firing arrows at Argyle, who had been hit once and was engulfed in insects. Wick was behind Mister I, flinging a spell at a clone climbing the stage. Argyle waved away the swam and vanished, then appeared next to Mister I, who used his bow to shift the staff jab into the ground then kicked Argyle square between the legs. Sadly, Mister I didn't seem to be as tough as Argyle, and hopped back, clutching his foot. Argyle stepped forward as Mister I stumbled.
Corvayne was sure Mister I was dead. He couldn't get there fast enough, an insect swarmed clone was in his way trying to grab him. Corvayne whipped the figure's feet and dropped him, stepping around the swarm, trying to will himself to get to Mister I. Wick was turning to fire a bolt at Argyle, which seemed to do nothing as he lifted the steel rod above Mister I.
Seru stepped in front of Mister I, and raised her hands above her head. The monk laughed and then slammed his staff down on her as she yelled and braced herself.
It looked almost gentle as her hand touched the staff before she shoved it to the side. Corvayne felt his mouth open as the lethal blow diverted to shatter the stage by her side. She balled her fist and slammed it into Argyle's gut, her power activating as the blow blasted the monk off his feet and into the air, slamming into the brick wall and wedging him there. Corvayne used the moment that the clones seemed to be stunned to dispatch the two of them in the room.
Argyle fell to the ground then vanished. Corvayne dove for Wick, pushing her out of the way as Argyle's staff bounced off his armor, prompting a burst of water that slowed the blow enough to not kill him outright but leaving him sore all over. Wick lifted a hand with her wand and Corvayne rolled off her to see a jade bolt connect with Argyle's gut and fling him back. Corvayne started to stand as Argyle took a step then stopped, looking confused. He swatted away another [Disrupt] bolt, so Corvayne used the moment to flick his whip out, catching the monk off guard and connecting with his collarbone.
He narrowed his eyes. “Hmm... something you're doing is blocking me?”
Wick fired another jade bolt. Argyle used his staff to deflect it, the attack jerking the weapon back but not disarming him. Mister I lined up another arrow, and Seru had her fists up.
Argyle just laughed, striding forward. Corvayne whipped at him, but the monk reached into his robe and flicked his finger four times. Corvayne felt something nearly knock him over. He saw he had a giant green spike growing from his arm and ripped the bamboo shoot off. He saw Mister I had been caught by a bamboo spike from the floor that pierced his hand. Seru was on the ground, clutching her leg and hyperventilating as a piece of bamboo had struck through it. Wick had a gash on her cheek but threw the seed away.
Wick fired another bolt, and Argyle just caught it in his palm, doing no obvious damage. He ignored Icariii and Seru as he strode forward to Corvayne and Wick, his smile not touching his eyes.
“Anastasia... Corvayne. You two... if I kill you both, recover the core, I win.”
Wick snarled. “That's not even my real name you asshole!”
Corvayne snapped his whip at Argyle, forcing the monk to put his now dented steel bar in the way of the serpent head. “What makes you think this is going to be any different then our fight before?” he spoke while stepping back, glancing at the door out to the hallway.
Argyle hurled a pouch at Corvayne and Corvayne quickly used [Cross Skill: Storm Thrust] with his whip, diverting the bag sideways as it exploded in a green patch of bamboo spikes, knocking over the chalkboard and damaging curtains on the stage. A little slower and it would have skewered him.
“You've been fighting mostly my cast off, low effort doubles. Now that I have eyes on you, I don't really need to watch the spaceport or portals, do I?”
Corvayne took another step back to the door. It could be a bluff, but it made sense. Some of the images had been far too weak compared to fighting the real deal.
Corvayne whipped the ground, using [Cross Skill: Thresh] to lay down a wave of shadows that Argyle just strode through. Wick fired another bolt, this one much smaller. Argyle didn't even block the attack, the magic doing little more then ruffling his robe. Corvayne could see Mister I had freed himself and was helping Seru. Corvayne met his eyes and nodded.
Argyle sprinted forward then, jabbing at Corvayne with his mangled stave. Corvayne drew his fire breathing dagger and stepped past the stave, but Argyle was quick enough to bring the weapon back that Corvayne had to use [Cross Skill: Juxtapose] to not trip, putting him at a point where he couldn't bring his dagger around to jab or burn Argyle. The monk swung his staff backhanded, forcing Corvayne back. Corvayne used that motion to turn to the door that Wick was pushing open, and together they ran out into the hall. As they reached the front door of the community center, he heard Argyle laughing.
“That's right you two! Run while you can! I've got friends on the way!”