The crowd that had gathered to watch now easily numbered over a hundred, and the chatter had grown quite loud. Half the spectators were cheering on their fearless leader and her team, while the other half loudly wondered about the four mysterious strangers who were seemingly able to keep up with them.
“One hell of a crowd we’ve drawn. Let’s give ‘em a show worth watching, right, guys?” Saki glanced back at us as she spoke, and we both nodded in assent.
‘Suzume is a cryomancer and Hikari is a pyrokineticist, but I haven’t entirely figured out Hana yet.’ Saki said to my mind as our teams stared each other down, daring the other to make the first move. ‘It seems like a defensive version of my power. Their attacks don’t seem exceptionally strong, but they all have an iron defence. Even if you hit ‘em with all your might, they barely budge.’
Saki’s words clicked a lightbulb in my head. That was why I could knock Kyouma around as much as I wanted, but Hana moved so much less than me when I landed on her shield. Kyouma was outside of her ability’s passive range, so she was unaffected by it.
‘Any noticeable weak points?’ I asked.
‘None that I could identify. Like I said, they have an iron defence. Hana’s an impenetrable wall, and the twins have incredible awareness and reactions. They shut down any move we make.’
‘Any move, huh?’
Though I had already used invisibility and shadow clones, my magic power store still seemed to have plenty to spare. And I had an idea of how to use it.
‘When I give a signal, go for Hana. Tell Mai the same thing. You’ll know the signal when you see it.’ I projected that thought to Saki, and as soon as I heard ‘got it’ back I focused every neuron in my mind on one huge magical ability.
Over a hundred shadow clones appeared around us, taking the forms of myself, Saki and Mai. At least, in the eyes of our opponents. Instead of real clones, I was projecting the image into their minds. It was far more taxing, but it allowed the three of us to attack with our view unobstructed.
As soon as I could confirm that I had cast my ability properly, I clapped my hands together, triggering the ‘attack’ of the clones.
Recognising that as the signal, Mai and Saki both quickly moved into position and prepared to throw everything they had at Hana.
Mai and I once again approached from the flanks, while Saki attacked head on. With the twins confusedly firing off fire and ice at the illusions, we had enough time to launch a brutal three way strike on Hana.
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Saki moved in first, her heavy slash with the katana blocked by Hana’s shield. This was within my calculations: between the overwhelming number of illusions and the frontal attack from Saki, Hana would have no way to protect her flanks from myself and Mai.
Seizing the opportunity, I closed the distance instantly and threw a high side kick toward Hana’s face.
Much to my surprise, however, I found my foot connecting with wood and air instead of flesh and bone. Hana had moved her shield toward me with such timing and precision as to redirect my kick and completely knock me off balance. Before I had a chance to correct myself, she threw her shield arm behind herself and swept my leg, grounding me and blocking the incoming attack from Mai at the same time.
I threw myself to my feet in time to witness her block yet another strike from Saki before deftly dodging backwards to avoid a follow up from Mai. I tried to punish the movement by low kicking her in the back of the legs, but she pivoted and blocked the strike before shoulder barging me in the gut and knocking me backwards.
As I stumbled away from her, I looked straight into the face of her corinthian helmet and noticed something that made no sense at first glance
‘She has her eyes closed… Saki, that’s it! Her power must let her protect herself against threats without seeing them!’
‘How do we fight someone like that?’
‘All we can do is overwhelm her. Any ideas?’
‘Overwhelm her… I think I have a plan. I’m gonna ask Nao for some help, as soon as Hana moves her shield to protect from above, follow these instructions.’
Saki laid out a plan that sounded promising, to which I assented and waited to carry out.
Not three seconds later, Nao descended from above and swooped down toward Hana, kicking off her raised shield with such might that Hana almost crumbled on the spot. With our cue triggered, Mai and I once again moved in on Hana and unleashed simultaneous low kicks into opposite legs.
She was unable to defend against both attacks at once, causing her to buckle and momentarily lose her guard. Mai and I took that moment to grab her shield and forcibly remove it from her grasp, leaving her wide open to attack. Just as she had planned, Saki dashed toward Hana in one swift movement and struck her square in the chest with the imitation sword. Hana was sent to the ground hard, sliding back several metres to the feet of the twins who were still being overwhelmed by my illusions.
“Hana, no! Dammit all! Suzume it’s time.”
“I’m with you, Hikari.”
“No! Get down!” I was blindsided by Mai tackling me to the ground, but a mere tenth of a second later I understood why.
”「SIBLING RIVALRY!」”
Every one of my illusions was shattered in an instant by an enormous ring of ice and fire originating from the twins. Mai’s dive tackle was enough to keep her and myself low enough to dodge the attack, but Saki was not lucky, being struck directly by both elements before she had any time to react.
“Ng! Fuck!” The impact of the ice and fire caused Saki to grunt in pain, but both dissipated instantly: the twins were holding back so as not to actually hurt us.
Still, the rules of the spar were clear: both Hana and Saki were out. And worst of all…
“Apologies, comrades, did I miss anything?”
“Actually, you’re just in time. Let’s show ‘em who’s boss.”
Kyouma, who had remained out of the line of fire after wearing herself out with her finisher, had now returned to the fray.
The fight was nearing it’s climax.