Meera didn't wait for Aksha to make the first move. She raised a hand and launched Petrifying Surge from one hand and a Mirror Shard Barrage from the other. But her enemy was quick to counter both her skills. Aksha launched a poisonous sludge from both hands.

Petrifying Surge solidified the poison wave that spewed from Aksha's right hand, and her Mirror Shard Barrage crashed against the wave spewing from the other hand, littering the area with mirror shards.

While their powers clashed, Meera sent out a blast of tiny mirror shards from her armor, giving her and the witch more than enough jump points.

Kalrina took the opportunity to fall on the distracted Aksha's back. But just before she could stick the unsuspecting sorceresses in the back, Aksha turned and gripped Kalrina's arm.

The witch screamed and teleported to safety before Aksha could do anything more. Kalrina winced and gripped her arm, which had boils in the shape of a hand.

It was clear to Meera that she should keep her distance from the poisonous woman, and there were more of them coming. She used Mirror Wing to pull off two level 2 chakrams from her back and hurled them at top speed at Aksha.

The sorceress only had time enough to look up before the chakrams slashed her throat. And just like that the threat was no more.

"Let's see you come back from that!" Meera exclaimed, and a little too soon.

Aksha's whole form devolved into a vaporous green sludge that killed everything it touched. A moment later, she reformed perfectly fine.

"Oh, this is going to get annoying real fast," Meera mused.

"Why do you think I've been running from her for the better part of a year," Kalrina countered.

Aksha wasn't interested in their banter. She had her eyes set on the chakrams. "Those are some nice-looking bracelets. Give me two of them, and you're free to go."

"Now, which sorceress offered the same deal?" Meera looked quizzically at Kalrina.

"Yes, but unlike her, I kept my word," the witch replied. "Though, they would look lovely on Aksha."

Meera got the message. She took off one regular chakram and flew it to Aksha, who squinted at the weapon and then back at Meera, trying to understand the game being played here.

She must have used Identify on the weapon, as her eyes widened for a brief moment. She smiled. "Keep it. I like to take my trophies after beating and capturing my targets."

"Captured?" Meera raised an eyebrow. "Not dead?"

"Oh no," Kalrina said. "She has to bring me in to face 'justice,' and you are…well, you're bait for your brother and a rodent they'll experiment on."

The rodent comment brought back memories of Cinders, a wise rat she had met long ago. Without whom, she would've never escaped the Cave of Wraiths.

Meera drew a deep breath. "Alright, witch, let's make sure this sorceress of rebirth doesn't come back this time."

Kalrina grinned. "I thought you would never say those beautiful words."

But before they could move, Aksha stomped her foot and unleashed a poison wave. The wave grew as it came for them, threatening to drown them in poison. Meera raised three Tower Shields and sent them forward, but they were ineffective. The shields went right through the wave, not stopping it in the least.

"Let me take this one, dearie," Kalrina said.

She extended her hands, and an uncountable number of mirror shards crystallized from them. The shards connected to form a massive wall that brushed against the topmost branches, dwarfing Aksha's poison wave.

The mirror wall slammed into the wave and then curled around it to capture it entirely into a mirror ball. Kalrina grunted and sent the ball rolling off into the distance, where it shattered against a boulder, dousing the area with the sickly green, sizzling poison with noxious vapor coming off it.

Meera had to consciously hold her jaw in place, or it would drop to the floor, and she didn't want to give the witch any indication that she was impressed.

Meera huffed. "I could've done that too."

Kalrina chuckled. "I'm sure you could've if you had the skill for it."

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Meera pointed at Aksha without looking at the sorceress and placed a Death Mark on her—a dark skull tattoo formed on her forehead before dissipating.

Aksha tilted her head. "You have the Death Mark skill?"

Meera frowned a little. "How do you know about this?"

It was Kalrina who answered. "She's a connoisseur of skills. She spends all her time reading about them in the library. That is when she's not running around trying to hunt some poor wench like me."

Aksha retaliated by shooting poison bullets from her fingers. Meera and Kalrina both teleported to safety. Then they must've had the same thought as they teleported behind Aksha. Kalrina had a long punching dagger in her hand, while Meera had her level 2 chakram.

They both punched the enemy sorceress in the back with their respective weapons. The weapons had mildly penetrated her clothes when Aksha whipped around lightning-fast. Her hands dripped with her sickly green poison. She lunged for Meera and Kalrina.

A drop of poison fell on Meera's arm and sizzled but couldn't penetrate her armor. She used Mirror Step and jumped to safety in the nick of time. Aksha thrust her hands in the air as she roared. Tiny droplets of poison blasted out of her. A few pelted Meera before she could raise a mirror shield. Kalrina cried out as the poison burned holes in her clothes and seared her skin. She raised a shield and fell to her knees, trembling in pain.

Aksha didn't give them a moment to recover as she exploded towards them. She went around their shields in the blink of an eye. Meera activated Mirror Blast as soon as the sorceress was clear of their shields. The mirror shards pelted the poisonous woman. There was only one that left a bloody scratch on her cheek. After that, she turned into poison to absorb the rest.

Meera squinted her eyes slightly. The first one had hit her. This meant that her poisonous body was not a passive skill. She had to activate it consciously. If Meera could take her by surprise, she could end this fight.

The witch had taken a sip of her Health potion, which must've done the trick, as she sighed in relief. Now, if only there were some way to communicate Aksha's weakness to the witch without the sorceress knowing they had found out about her game.

With no other option, Meera said, "You better take a few steps back, witch."

Kalrina frowned at first but nodded and teleported away. Meera inhaled deeply and activated Smoke Eclipse.

She released a dark smoke from her mouth, covering the area around her. Aksha's self-confident look morphed into a frown as the smoke came for her. She jumped back but was slow enough that the smoke engulfed her. Aksha coughed as she breathed in the choking smoke.

While the sorceress coughed to catch her breath, Meera activated Spectral Dominion, called forth two shadow warriors, and sent them after their hunter. Smoke eclipse would power up her shadow warriors, who were nearly invisible in this smoke, and she could see through the smoke.

Aksha was still coughing her lungs out, trying to find a way out of the smoke, when Meera's warriors fell on her. One slashed at her, and she must've seen something as she raised an arm in defense, which formed an acidic shield. But the shadow warrior's Shadowsteel blade cut right through the shield and her arm.

As expected, Aksha had turned her arm into acid, so her warrior's blade did no damage, but she didn't have long as the other shadow warrior swung at her—this one she didn't see coming at all. The Shadowsteel blade took Aksha's arm off at the shoulder.

Now she let out a bloodcurdling scream as blood leaked in droves from her stump. Meera couldn't help but grin at how strong and deadly her warriors became in this smoke. After all, Smoke Eclipse was supposed to enhance her shadow-affinity-related skills.

They went in for the kill, but Meera heard footsteps coming from behind Aksha.

Oh no…

They had run out of time. Aksha's daughters, or rather her clones, burst into the smoke with their shields raised and surrounding their mother. The shadow warriors cut down two instantly, but their sacrifices protected the original Aksha.

Another clone burst into the smoke, coughing and hacking her lungs out, but guided the original Aksha out of the smoke. Meera commanded her shadow warriors to go after the sorceresses. Meera tried to extend the range of smoke by casting another Smoke Eclipse, but she was unsuccessful in capturing them. She had to raise a Mirror Tower Shield to protect herself from poison bullets that came for her.

She dispelled her smoke, and her heart dropped. The daughters had caught up to them, and they did not look happy at the maiming of their mother. But Meera was sure they could reattach the arm easily, so it wasn't like it was something to take personally.

Kalrina was preparing something like a big, round, spiky shield. "Get back here!" she snapped at Meera.

She teleported by the witch's side, and Kalrina smirked. "Time to end this prolonged fight and move on with our lives."

Kalrina whistled, and the daughters all snapped their heads to her. She blew them a kiss, and the spiky shield began spinning and shooting out mirror shards like a Gatling gun. Kalrina laughed maniacally as the shards, like jagged daggers made of mirrors, showered the daughters. The clones covered their mother as the impromptu Gatling gun ripped their bodies to shreds.

Kalrina had one final laugh before she pulled a bewildered Meera by the arm, and they ran off into the woods. Kalrina's Gatling gun continued to spray the poison sorceresses.

"Why didn't you do this against the dragon?" Meera shouted over the noise of the screams.

Kalrina shrugged. "But I did something even better then."

She was right on that front. Meera noted that this witch wasn't as weak as she had thought. Seeing that Gatling gun made her wish she had chosen the Reflectomancy skill, which let her create any shape out of mirrors.

The screams died down, and Kalrina had done a number on the Daughters of Aksha, but they were not finished. About a half dozen of them sprinted after them, leaving their hurt comrades behind.

"This way!" Kalrina shouted.

Meera wasn't sure how she could even tell which direction to go. There were just trees all around. One of the daughters launched a poison spear at them. Meera intercepted it on a Tower Shield, as Kalrina seemed too focused on ensuring they were headed in the right direction.

Kalrina made a sharp right and ran straight through a tree. Meera's eyes widened, and she followed, but as soon as she was through the tree, something closed around her ankle and pulled her up.

She banged her head against the ground as she was violently pulled up and promptly passed out.