The fight was a nightmare of inverted instincts.
Sierra shot at her duplicate. It evaded using the same uncanny reflexes she possessed shooting back and compelling her to roll exactly as she would have. Morgan exchanged strikes with his replica every feint anticipated every counterstrike flawlessly replicated. Celeste attempted to send out soothing energy only to have it met by a opposing surge of stale briny power from her twin.
Tania confronted a methodical version of herself with lifeless eyes mirroring her every move, with an identical gun.
But the true horror was Cassiathon's duel.
His double battled with the exactness his father had required yet lacked any of the restraint. It handled the energies not as a turbulent inner turmoil but as a smooth fearsome weapon. A blade of death, in one moment a lash of thorn-sprouts the next. It embodied what Valentina pledged: strength.. It was prevailing.
Cassiathon halted a rot-infused punch the force dulling his arm. He attempted to cut the doubles control line but found none—it was a construct a concept made tangible. He couldn't extract its intent for it lacked any. It was simply an operation.
"Do you understand?" its voice resonated, a reflection of his own. "Emotion is a defect. Connection is a weakness. I represent what you might become. Pure. Whole."
It launched a strike—a surge of grey demise succeeded by a lance of violet genesis. Cassiathon raised a shield yet it was a chaotic uncertain barrier and it fractured under the assault. He was hurled backward sliding along the gleaming floor.
He watched Morgan collapse, dazed from a timed strike. Sierra was trapped. Celeste was kneeling, overcome. Tania was unarmed with her doubles weapon pointed at her temple.
Over him loomed the mirror-Cassiathon. "You're defeated because it matters to you which image shatters."
At that instant, overwhelmed by defeat Cassiathon realized. Valentina had erred. The duplicate had erred. It wasn't emotion that caused his weakness. It was the conflict, between feeling and authority that sparked doubt.
He was not required to pick an option.
He had to come to terms, with the contradiction.
He ceased attempting to merge the energies. He gave up on managing the conflict. He allowed the freezing chill and the raging blaze to reside inside him alongside each other not combined, but as instruments, within the same set.
He gazed upon the this flawless unified armament.. He perceived its vulnerability. It was an item. Fixed.
He was a living story.
He lifted himself up. Toward his double he did not call forth a shield or sword. Instead he sent out a question. An aura of raw, tangled, identity.
The duplicate, designed for fighting lacked any reaction, to existential uncertainty. It hesitated, its smooth assault breaking down.
In that moment of uncertainty Cassiathon refrained from striking the double.
He assaulted the mirror it originated from.
A narrow concentrated beam of energy aimed not at the construct itself but at the mirrored barrier, behind it. The polished surface didn't shatter; it perished, shifting to a matte, grey.
The link was broken. The mirror-Cassiathon quivered, its shape faltering and faded away into specks of light and darkness.
Observing his action the others imitated him. Sierra fired at the mirrors located behind her double. Morgan destroyed his using a blast. Celeste channeled her power into the glass overwhelming its vibration. Tania grabbed her pistol. Fired a bullet into her duplicates reflection.
Gradually the structures faded away, from existence.
The atrium bore marks of decay, with grey areas staining its walls. The holographic stars overhead twinkled intermittently.
Valentinas voice emerged from a speaker, less refined carrying a tone of newfound respect. "You didn't challenge the reflection. You confronted the origin of the illusion. A… sideways approach. The Queen will find this very intriguing."
A door hissed open on the far side of the chamber. "The exit. Our conversation is over. For now. Remember this lesson, Cassiathon Abysswalker. Your greatest strength is also your greatest vulnerability. And we now know exactly how to exploit it."