DILEmma

Mia returned back to her room and opened her restroom door.

As expected,Queen Aries still lay unconscious,the same way she had left her.

She pulled out two stones from a corner and quickly crushed a thart flower,soaked it in water and used the water to dab on her head while chanting a forgetting spell..

Mia carried her on her shoulder and reappeared at a hidden corner she new close to the imperial garden.

She carefully placed her on the ground as her head dropped to one side.

After placing her crown on her head, Mia gazed at her for a while.

"I don't know what you are but you certainly are not the kind of person people think you are....goodness knows what hides behind that pretty face".

Mia reappeared at her room sitting on her bed as she felt magic energy course through her.

Her thoughts drifted to Ramses,if a child at that age had begun controlling magic energy,what would become of him when he gets older.

Whatever the child was she was certain there was more to him than what meets the eye.

He was different from them in a way,she felt aside being a curse, perhaps he was also a blessing.

Mia shoved off the thought and climbed into bed.

She would sleep early today,she had earned it and perhaps the heavens would bless her with a dream of her beloved.

*********************************

The clones charged at her all at once with a deafening battle cry.

Kaugra whipped and whipped,as the injured ones disappeared,more reappeared.

She dodged and whipped at the swords aiming at her but they were too many,they kept coming for her.

Each clone was as skilled In combat as the Emperor's Knight, dodging the turns of the whip while avoiding it's spikes.

It only made fighting them more difficult for her.

The figures,now two that stood in the darkness on a tree close by watched expectantly,their eyes moving in every direction Kaugra went.

"We should help her"Dark said not taking his eyes off the battlefield.

"No!she needs to learn and become stronger... perhaps an injury or severe cut to her skin would help...I am sure her father would think the same way".

In no distant time, Kaugra had cuts all over.

She was getting exausted from dodging and swinging her whip continuously for a long time now.

The clones attacks were endless and they kept coming.

Kaugra briefly looked in the direction her companions were,her eyes communicating a plea for backup,but she got none.

Panting heavily,she summoned a tornado,blowing the clones away,some hit the trees and disappeared while others summersaulted back to their feet and charged at her doubling and replacing the ones that had disappeared earlier.

She had to find the real knight,that was the only way of defeating them...as long as the real knight remained unharmed,there was no way she could win.

Kaugra swung her whip at five clones at once at her left and right side and they disappeared.

"Not here!"she muttered,"where is he?"

Just then she felt a presence behind her and turned to attack.

"There you are!"she said triumphantly as she turned to swing her whip at knight now in front of her while dodging rear sword attacks.

The knight disappeared.

"It wasn't him!"

Before she turned another had appeared behind her, sinking his sword into her side.

She groaned in pain as blood rushed out of the spot.

She placed a hand on it, panting heavily.

"Didn't your father also teach you to concentrate in battle rather than talk...I adjure you to be a good listener rather than a talkative"The clones chorused.

"Don't you dare speak of my father that way"

The clones laughed.

"I dare you princess... now come at me!"

"If you would tell me which is you....gladly!"

"What do you mean?....they are all me!"

The clones laughed,their laughter resonating in the air.

The noise bothered dark as he turned to the demon beside him.

"Are they not too loud?"

The demon shooked his head with a smirk.

"Kaugra's messed with the air around this place...those outside this area cannot hear a sound from here...more so, he's in her time loop, only person's few distance away can see what's going on in it"

Dark felt satisfied,he continued watching,from what he saw,the winner of the fight had already been decided.

Even he couldn't figure out the real Gerald from here either but he was certain the demon next to him knew exactly where he was.

The clones charged at her again before she summoned another tornado.

This time they didn't let themselves get blown away.

Simultaneously,the instinctively brought out the dagger Gerald had taken from the armoury and sunk it into the ground to prevent being blown away.

They began crawling towards her, pinning their daggers into the ground as they charged against the wind.

They were starting to piss her off.

When the tornado faded,they stood upright and charged again, yelling out a battle cry.

They cut and stabbed her multiple times with their swords and knives as she barely dodged their attacks,they were just too many and they kept coming.

Kaugra bled from various places on her skin,as her injuries slowly closed up,more blood was inflicted.

She swung her whip in a weak attempt to fend them off but something gripped it at it's edge.

The real Gerald, because clones would disappear when a wound was inflicted.

Kaugra craned her neck to see as her view was obstructed by the clones in front.

Her wings protruded and she ascended to get a better view.

She looked down at her hands and her whip was gone,she looked down at the hundreds of clones and the one holding the whip had mingled with the rest of them.

She couldn't find her death whip.

All the clones ascended simultaneously to cover and grab her in air.

But then a purple light shone engulfed by a mighty wind which pushed them backwards as Kaugra transformed.

Her companions stared aloft at the beast before them.

They had never seen her transform into a full takeover form.

She had transformed into a red brown she-devil beast with curling horns protruding from her head,blood shot eyes and fangs five times that of a wolf's.

It's longed red hair and long tail dangled in the evening wind with huge black wings big enough to hold her body weight as she was now ten times bigger,sixteen feet tall, now a monster.

The clones chorused in laughter.

"So at last you transform...then we should at least fight monster with monster!"

Rays of light beamed from every corner as the clones transformed into a green and black beast with horns protruding from its head,some vanishing to create enough space for the others to transform as they had now gotten bigger.

Dark and his companion watched astonished.

They had never seen anything like it.

A demon's clones transformed into a takeover like the original.

"How on earth!"Dark gasped"Where did this knight get all these magic energy from?this should be almost impossible for a higher tier..who can barely transform ten clones...but this knight there are dozens of takeovers at once_never seen anything like this before!"

His companion hissed and folded his had while resting his back against the tree trunk.

"He's not the Emperor's knight for nothing...A first class knight and the only known middle tier in that rank,that's a rank for generals that explains why he's respected among them... clearly he focused more on developing his bloodline gift than his elementals at the same time ensuring none of his abilities lacked behind in skill...he does live up to his title".

From above Kaugra starred at the dozens of bloodshot eyes targeting her.

The frightening sight weakened her legs,they were too many.

Why didn't her companions want to help her.

The next moment,some ascended, gripping her wings and legs as they pushed her to the ground.

Kaugra growled in pain as her back forcefully hit the forest ground.

Some held her down while two beasts planted their claws in her chest.

She roared in pain as they continuously dugged through her flesh with their claws, scratching bothhee face and body.

Kaugra felt herself growing unconscious.

"I want the heart!"one said.

"I want the head"said the other.

They both aimed for her chest in attempt to pull out her heart while others hammered her down with punches.

Suddenly, Gerald saw a flash of lightening in the sky from where he hid in the woods, healing himself while controlling the clones.

He dodged it but barely.

Had it hit him he would have been a goner.

Dodging it set him off balance as he staggered backward and raised his head to see his attacker,his jaw dropped.

"King Maxmillian!!"