The sparkling particles quickly blanketed the ground like snow and piled up to my ankles. From my experiences playing outside in the winter, this would’ve been enough to make a snow mound—in other words, certainly enough for me now.
“Time to stop them.”
I took a deep breath to steel myself. Stopping an argument sounded simple enough, but when the ones arguing were two enraged dragons? This quickly escalated into a life-threatening endeavor. I had to get my head in the game before making any moves.
“Are you okay?” Paithon asked.
“Yeah... I’m good.” I slowly nodded before starting with a spell: “Covenant Summoning: Liam!”
Another me appeared.
“Hmm... Is that an original spell of yours?”
“Oh, you can tell? I just revised it from a preexisting spell, though.”
She nodded. “It’s more well-made than the average spell.”
“Oh. I’m glad to hear that.”
Covenant Summoning was an upgraded version of Contract Summoning, a spell I’d frequently used back when I first learned magic. Contract Summoning created a clone of the selected target, but it wasn’t quite as strong as the original. Meanwhile, in exchange for cutting the spell’s duration in half, the new version’s clone now drew from the same pool of stamina and power as the original.
Notably, because this spell allowed the clone to use the original’s strength, I couldn’t just summon others’ clones willy-nilly like I used to with Contract Summoning. In actual practice, Covenant Summoning was a spell exclusively for summoning my own clone.
My clone and I looked at each other and nodded.
“I’ll take Lardon,” I said.
“Dyphon’s mine, then,” said my clone.
We were essentially one and the same, so no more words were needed.
“Another World!”
Our voices overlapped as we simultaneously cast a spell each to craft a pocket space. Our plan was to split Lardon and Dyphon into separate spaces and deal with them individually.
However, the portals were quickly thrashed amid the chaos of the dragons’ battle. Just the subsequent blasts—not even direct attacks—were enough to shatter our spells.
“Wow... That’s crazy.”
“What do we do? Our spells didn’t even come close to touching them.”
“Hmm... Guess we gotta use that next.”
“Right.”
With identical nods, we began to stock up on more mana from Another Dimension. Once that was done, we chanted an aria to further boost our mana before finally casting another spell.
“Time Stop!”
This spell had been tried and tested on the dragons—I already knew that it worked on them. Amid the frozen world, we finally captured Lardon and Dyphon into our alternate spaces.
When time unfroze, they were both gone, leaving only the wintry landscape in their wake.
“I’ll head to Lardon,” I said.
“And I’ll take Dyphon,” said my clone.
With that, we jumped into our respective pocket dimensions.
Another World grew in proportion to the caster’s mana. In the beginning, this space could only hold a small house, but now there was more than enough room for Lardon to run wild.
Instantly, our gazes locked.
Seize the initiative!
I couldn’t afford to give up the first strike to Lardon in battle. Time Stop had granted me the perfect opportunity—I couldn’t waste it.
“Amelia Emilia Claudia... Atomic Blast!”
This was the most powerful singular spell in my arsenal, yet Lardon leisurely turned her gaze to the approaching attack. Slowly, she opened her mouth, then unleashed what looked like a ball of pure power.
That’s no ordinary fireball. It looks more like...highly condensed light!
Our attacks clashed, shaking the entire space.
“Urgh!”
I managed to stay rooted against the initial blast, but the subsequent shock waves were a completely different story. They were fully loaded with the mana that had shattered and dispersed from our attacks.
I couldn’t put up a barrier so soon after that huge spell. The most I could manage was crossing my arms in front of me. The mana that was blasted alongside the shock waves was so dense that it slashed my skin like tangible blades, littering my arms with countless little cuts.
Mana residue leaving physical cuts?! But there was no time to be shocked. I hurriedly mustered my mana to prepare for the next incoming attack—
“Contending with my full power, hmm? I would expect no less from you.”
I froze. “Huh...?”
Lardon sounded...incredibly calm. Almost as if she hadn’t just been wildly fighting Dyphon to the death just moments ago.
I looked up, shocked and agape.
Though Lardon was in her dragon form, I could see a clear smirk on her face. Finally, she returned to her human form.
“Have you...calmed down?”
“Hmph. You underestimate me.” She approached me with leisurely steps, then flicked my forehead with only as much force as you’d expect from such a small hand. “I am not so foolish as to involve an innocent for no reason. She is the only one I wish to kill. With her out of my sight, of course I would calm down.”
“O-Oh... Er... Sorry, then.” I guess it was pretty rude of me to assume that she was just running wild like an unintelligent beast. “Wait, so... You were just defending yourself because I attacked first?”
“Yes.”
“Ack! I’m really, really sorry!”
“I do not mind,” Lardon said, and she seemed to mean it.
Now that Lardon was back to normal, my nerves also wound down, and I finally noticed something strange about my body. “Huh...?”
“What is it?”
Actually, nothing had changed—and that was the weird part.
“My mana hasn’t decreased,” I muttered. “I used Covenant Summoning, so I was expecting for each of us to use half of my mana...but the other half is untouched.”
Weird. Dyphon is as strong as Lardon. How could my clone have dealt with her without using any mana...?
Lardon shrugged. “I’m not surprised.”
“What?”
“She wishes to bear your offspring. Why would she raise a hand against you?”
“Oh...”
Well, that would certainly explain it. Dyphon must’ve settled down immediately—and since she was in her human form unlike Lardon, my clone must’ve noticed right away.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. All’s well that ends well. Now, all that’s left is to collect those crystals outside!