Till Shen awakens, they have to keep four demons busy or defeat them with lots of energy to spare. If they fall below a certain threshold of energy, they will succumb to Sandman’s nightmares and turn into more victims Shen would have to save. They’d also turn into liabilities that need to be protected, meaning victory would be even further out of reach. Until Shen awakens, if he ever does awaken, they’ll have to hold out.

However, there’s one demon they have to kill before Sandman’s defeat. Nine has been encountered before. Several have fallen due to its symbiotic relationship with Moment of Birth. Moment of Birth creates perfect copies of any victim lured into its grasp. Though they cannot recover, they’ll likely be reborn until MoB is defeated. Powerful Dream Catchers that don’t make use of gadgets are most likely to be killed by their copies. No one is experienced in defeating themselves, yet Mirage is confident she can deal with it. Meanwhile, Nikolay, Schmidt, and Bell will keep the remaining two demons busy.

“So it’s practically one vs two times nine, huh?” she asks herself. Not only will she have to defeat herself nine times, but if nine has any cards up its sleeve, she likely won’t have enough energy to defend herself. Either way, she’ll have to get herself back to Calypso to be under his protection or hope they can keep the others busy long enough to escape this space.

“I’m at a disadvantage, but so is this Fusion if we assume that it only has nine lives to share. It can’t summon minions to wear us down, and its nine lives are shared by all demons. Its powers are limited and I can take myself on.”

She’s never had to fight herself, but she’s aware of her own weaknesses. Her staff is used to bewitch enemies but also becomes a halberd when necessary. She’s faced with a mage as powerful as herself. A pointy hat with a starry pattern covering one of her eyes, crescent moon earrings, a tool belt full of gadgets, a plain sleeve covering her right arm, a plain skirt, striped leggings, steel-plated boots with hidden blades waiting to spring out, and a denim jacket… This modern witch is Mirage’s replica.

“It's already switched into battle mode. Riveting.”

They both rush toward each other. The copy seems a lot less refined as it makes its first attempt at harming Mirage. Using a simple spell meant to stun the original, it ends up being stunned instead. With ease, Mirage decapitates the copy.

“First lesson I’ve learned during some of my early days… Whoever has a lesser shield of spiritual power may fall victim to their own attacks with added ferocity. I wish I could use this demon as a test dummy…”

She awaits her next trial. Will her copy learn with each revival, or will it flail about trying to tear Mirage apart with little to no success?

Its second iteration appears and attempts to slash away at a perfectly still Mirage’s left arm. Perhaps engaging in close-quarters combat ought to bring about a greater victory. Suddenly, its head comes off as Mirage somehow appears slightly to the left of where the copy had attacked.

“Creating mirages to obfuscate my location is tiresome, but if I keep them mostly still and use them in short proximity to myself, I should be fine,” she thinks simply flaunting her current superiority. Mirage should be going after Nine and MoB, yet insists on selfishly testing herself.

“Other than Bell, everyone’s more durable than I am. And Bell is under the protection of Schmidt. Maybe I can subjugate Nine and MoB before Shen wakes up?”

The third iteration appears more calculated than ever before. It’s keeping its distance, scanning for irregularities. Just two deaths are already putting it at a level where it’s trying to use logic to defeat Mirage. Slowly pacing around each other in circles, they wait for someone to make their first move. Though she’d love to test her limits in this battle, she cannot afford to waste her time. This Fusion will recover along with the extra lives spent on Mirage. Sandman will return after being slain with enough time. In a battle of attrition, Dream Catchers cannot fare well against demons. They may be superhuman, but they’re still human.

This time, Mirage is the one engaging in combat, expecting to be hit. She swings at her copy, watching it leap into the air as it prepares to strike Mirage. One lone thrust bounces off of Mirage’s forehead. Not even a cut is to be seen on her forehead as she cuts down her copy.

“Spiritual power… I shouldn’t make use of it too often. Since it can sense where I am positioned and can differentiate between me and my mirages, I don’t have to make use of them. I can preserve some of my energy…”

Before she can spot the fourth iteration, Mirage slashes away at air. The blades of grass surrounding her weren’t as fortunate. Her copy is now circling around her just waiting for an opening. It recklessly fires off wind blades invisible to most Dream Catchers. After blocking a handful of them, Mirage surmises that they’re likely incredibly sharp but also as tall as the gap between her knees and her ankles.

“I also would take out my opponent’s legs. Mincing entire parts of them to nothing sounds like an effective but costly strategy. You can’t just hold the leftovers together either to sew them back on by regeneration. Though I likely could only exert that kind of regenerative might just once per battle.”

She’s seen some companions with fast enough regeneration that they can attach a severed arm just by holding onto it for a few seconds. There are rumors of those with enough regenerative prowess that an arm in the process of being severed would regenerate along the blade’s path as if it hadn’t ever been cut.

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Her clone is starting to become more sluggish as it’s relentless attacks are wearing it down. It’s working with the same amount of stamina Mirage bears. Though you do exert energy blocking attacks, with enough knowledge and wisdom minimal effort is needed to spot the weakness of a spell, an attack, or whatever may follow. One thrust into the clone’s direction puts a bullet-sized hole right between its eyes.

“That was just the fourth iteration. I’ll face ten of them and I fear by iteration 8 I may actually die… I should dispose of the next few iterations as quickly as possible.”

Before it could even approach Mirage, she delivers a devastating fireball that instantly vaporizes it. Cutting these interactions down to the bare minimum ought to be the best way to handle such a foe. She wonders if she’ll have energy for any more battles after dealing with this obstacle.

This time however a whirlwind is shielding her target. She could wait until it’s exhausted, but it has learned how to maintain attacks with minimal stamina wasted. Mirage would have to wait for a few minutes or continously spam fireballs to cook it but she has neither the time or stamina to put up with it for a few more battles.

“It’s taking advantage of my lack of time and my limited stamina. Unlike that thing I cannot return from the dead and I likely don’t have allies coming to my aid any time soon. I could crush it with the earth underneath its feet but then I’d face four more iterations privy to that trick. My magic has limits as do my spells. Will it evolve past my limits before I can defeat it? Can it do that?”

Mirage attempts to constrict her copy with its own whirlwind and beheads it with an air slash. She’s running out of spells and has to get more innovative with them. Since the rain isn’t made of water, she has no dominion over it either. With only four more useable spells up her sleeve, one of which she can’t make use of in battle, she’ll have to invent something new.

The seventh iteration arrives with a mighty display of control over its halberd. With elegance yet haste, the two of them display a wonderful showcase of clashing blades and stirred air. Their clash comes to a halt the moment they both graze each other on their right cheeks.

“Its first hit! There’s no doubt that I can’t defeat it alone!”

They both hold onto their opponent’s halberd struggling in a battle of attrition that could only be determined by luck. If they were standing on a more slanted spot, whoever had the better footing would win. Wind blades are clashing between them as the remains of their wind attacks lightly graze each other creating more cuts and scratches along their bodies.

“The rain isn’t particularly painful and a little numbing. It halts my regeneration as my body fights off the many little instances of acid trickling along. But my copy is unaffected because it’s a part of the Fusion, the master of this domain. I can continue wearing myself out with slashes, kill it, and be defeated by its next iteration, or I can reveal another spell…”

Mirage attempts to read its mind but is met with emptiness. No thoughts are swirling through this being. It’s just a copy working off of instict. Since that spell turned out to be useless, she uses her next best option of unrevealed spells. With a fireball she separates the two of them and follows with a spell that locks an opponents movements as long as they are in ‘view’. A windslash swiftly decapitates it as Mirage begins to run low on stamina.

There’s only little more in her to manifest more spells.

As the third to last iteration approaches with the same vigor its last iteration held, she lifts the dirt beneath its feet and trips it before following up with a fireball swiftly blocked by another fireball. Unfortunately, like her stunning spell, the spell that locks you in place can be blocked. Though the caster won’t have to deal with being struck by their own spell, it is wasted stamina that can be dispelled with little to no stamina.

Once again, they’re stuck between a flurry of blades. Mirage takes the defensive as her copy attacks. Blocking blocks is all she can do as deflecting them will only render her in another standoff between windslashes. She’s also exhausted enough from fighting that she’s beginning to physically struggle. As such, she releases her last spell and begins to float. Mirage holds onto its halberd and whips the copy into the air. Without its weapon and an angle that makes it difficult to fire off spells that could hit its target, Mirage slices it in half.

The next iteration is on its final extra life. As long as Mirage is capable to invent a spell which doesn’t waste too much stamina, she’ll triumph over her enemy. Inventing a new move on the fly isn’t impressive. Many have and many will create some kind of out when faced with death. For Dream Catchers facing death over and over again is the norm. Only veterans with their fear of death lulled and exausted will struggle with invention.

Unfortunately, though weak, Mirage is one of these veterans. Other than float, none of the spells she’s using right now are spells of her own. When she first became a Dream Catcher just a few years ago, she had a mentor to learn from. Losing her meant losing her source of new spells.

“But where did those spells come from? Someone had to have invented them!”

Her mentor was a veteran just as old as she is now. She often echoed the sentiment of your spells being stifled by your imagination and believed reality to be subjective. With these thoughts in mind and the belief to stun her opponent, she casts lightning just as it flies towards her. Stunned, it is taken apart by a windslash exhausting its extra lives.

Mirage too is exhausted as she falls unable to keep up her ability to float. Just now, her copy evolved past her limitations meaning whatever is in her arsenal is now even deadlier. With her entirety in view, the copy locks Mirage’s movements as she’s grown too exhausted to block attacks.

“This is it? I’m sure my master would be disappointed in me…” she tells herself as she closes her eyes. Mirage is prepared for this battle to end accepting the outcome that would occur despite their hard work.

Suddenly, Shen appears behind Mirage wielding some sort of gun preparing to fire. With its focus broken, Mirage is free to move as she pleases. Kicking up some dirt with her spell, she blocks its vision and swiftly decapitates it. Shen’s image disappears revealing that she deceived her copy.

“You can read my mind but only if I’m not guarding it. Had you copied my mannerisms as well, you would have won,” she tells the demons up ahead cowering in fear.

Several hands of varying ages attempt to strike her only to be struck down by her mighty blade. Nine’s unsightly form is that of a floating eye. It’s always facing whoever is approaching it with the same shape or look as the eyes of the observer. Moment of Birth is just a massive crib made entirely of flesh and bones that towers over others. With just one windslash, both are defeated declaring Mirage victorious.

“I’ll take these Devil Seeds out of this domain. I can’t contribute any longer anyway.”