Chapter 16 - Chapter 16: Growth

"Is this the end…?"

Shielding their eyes from the white light, it dimmed, and the colors returned back to their normal state.

However, the area, to a few kilometers away, had been completely flattened to the ground. Not to talk of damaged houses—everything had been flattened like paper.

From afar, every Quasi-Spirit, or at the very least, the Quasi-Spirits currently left in this region, gathered at the rooftop they'd perched upon.

Ayame, Isami, Tonami, Sheri, Inui, Yui.

In the first place, coming to the Tenth Region was like passing yourself a death sentence, and unlike other regions, it was even more deserted.

"It's our victory… but the war is not over."

"Yeah, my ears have been buzzing for a while now, heh!"

"I agree, let's hurry up and take care of the rest."

"Lessening the burden. I'm in."

"Eh? Eh? What is going on?"

The Quasi-Spirits having said that, each equipped their . As they all turned their attention backwards.

Approaching was a multitude of dolls, with seven leading the charge. They all resembled False Proxy, but this time they noticed something even weirder.

"Ha! How nice of you to equal our numbers! Let's goooooooo!"

Isami was the first, shouting that, gripping her long Japanese sword, dashing in front.

To meet that, a doll which also equipped itself with the same sword she held met her mid-air with a CLANG!

From there, multitudes of slashes resounded while the remaining dolls approached the group behind.

"Sagakure Yui-san, please protect the deadweight-san."

"Who are you calling a deadweight!"

"The rest of you. Pick opponents other than the that mirrors yours."

Hearing that, they blinked, but looking at the dolls again, they seemed to understand. They all nodded.

"All righty then! I'll take the chakram one!"

"Ditto. I'll take the magnifying glass one."

"Leave the longbow to me."

"Then I'll take the kunai-holding one."

Sheri picked the doll that held the chakram weapon which mirrored Tonami's.

Tonami also picked the one which mirrored Sheri's .

Sagakure Yui picked the one which mirrored Ayame's, and Ayame, naturally, picked the one that mirrored Yui's.

Yume, being left out, already knew what to do.

Each were an obvious counter to each other, and looking at their weapons which mirrored the rest, it meant they must use at the very least the same abilities as the originals.

In her case, then—

"I'll handle the remaining ones."

She might not win, however, she is confident in holding them back. At least, long enough till he's ready.

Isami, who was on the frontline of the battle, couldn't even care less about whether the doll in front of her was a replica or not.

She believed in her own strength, especially after seeing that fight. Was she discouraged? No, if anything, she felt more vigor.

Definitely, to get stronger, she must defeat herself.

What better opponent to fight than the one being in front of her?

Certainly, with the shards of Sephirah Crystal the Doll Master has collected, it was very much possible to reuse it to create similar dolls.

Even though the ability wasn't exactly the same, the power alone should be close by.

However, even then, Doll Master underestimated them. Not that the Doll Master didn't inherently make her dolls stronger.

She simply forgot the fact that these people were not dolls but actual people capable of growing.

While it was not a significant or exponential boost in growth, seeing true strength has inspired the same, and Isami did it.

—DRINK!

Forcefully raising her reiryoku, she dismissed her reiryokuken, putting everything into her .

All her reiryoku… into a slash.

Not just the flurry of slashes, but one focused into one single point.

A slash that bypassed the boundary of one's reiryokuken. Thinking about it, it seems to be a little overpowered.

However, bypassing one's reiryokuken is one thing, but bypassing the defence of one's Astral Dress is another.

The slash isn't powerful enough to break a reiryokuken, but simply bypasses it. But against dolls like this, it was more than enough.

No. Even against her fellow Quasi-Spirits, bypassing their reiryokuken alone would give her the edge in any fight.

What it boils down to is whether they now have the durability to tank said slash after it bypasses their omnipotent boundary.

"Hah! I thank you!"

Isami said that after getting hit by the doll that mirrored her. Tsuan did the same, so why couldn't she..?

She thought as she dodged another flurry of slashes. One especially, which was a slash aimed from above to cut her down in an arc, was dodged by her jumping back slightly.

Dodging the slash by several inches, she didn't wait a second longer. She swung her sword.

TRUE SLASH:

THREAD THAT CROSSES THE BOUNDARY.

—ANGUSTAVIA.

So was what it was.

The world inverted. For a brief moment, the world appeared uneven as though one side were tilted upwards and the other left below.

A line passed from Isami's line of attack, dividing the opponent in half, going further back till it disappeared.

The doll was cut in two.

"It's my win. Faker!"

On the other side, the rest too fought back against the dolls, gaining the upper hand against them. It could be said that these dolls met their match.

Under normal terms, if they had chosen otherwise, they would have had a hard time gaining the upper hand; however, it was no longer a problem.

"You can't get away."

Ayame muttered, pointing towards what would look to be an empty space in front of her, pulling the bowstrings of her , then firing it.

"In the end, an imitation is just an imitation."

"Even if you use the shards of Sephirah Crystals to model them after us, then, try again next time."

She said that, flicking her hair to the back.

The golden light that shot out from her arrow pressed the air, lodging into something invisible that staggered in the air.

Like a blanket which was uncovering, the invisible doll slowly appeared as it then fell below to the ground.

Same was with the rest; they each easily handled their mirrors.

Tonami defeated hers by setting traps all over the battlefield using a variation of something that worked like a minefield.

On the flip side, her opponent, who could manipulate flame, made her use it to her advantage.

'Though we are not especially close, however, I've seen enough to know how your powers work, so it must be the same for you, right?'

"Nyahahahaha!"

With hands on hips, the small girl laughed in that same cheerful demeanour of hers.

As for her opponent, they'd long been reduced to dust. The dust visibly scattered into thin air along with the weapon.

However, her tone seemed to rub some of them the wrong way, Tonami and Ayame to be precise.

"For someone who loses her nerves in front of Him, what a pretty bold statement."

"Geh!"

"Haha! Let her rejoice. It's only natural. Anyone would think twice after being killed by Him."

Well, he was the only one who had the powers to do that, so they pretty much were getting used to it.

"Ooooou~ Good job, Yui-san."

"Hmph. Easily."

Empty clapped as the ninja in front of her easily disarmed her opponent who was positioned afar.

With an that could not only camouflage and misdirect every sensory attempt, it however, oddly worked well on the doll.

But that was not the main issue.

"Uhh! I appreciate that you guys are enthusiastic! But I need fucking help over here!"

Inui Yume, who had boldly declared, was to no one's surprise having a little bit of a rough time.

Blocking an attack from one, and just in time to dodge another surprise attack, she said that, somersaulting above the dolls mid-air.

Of course, it was a feat to last this long against two opponents whose powers had been enhanced with Sephirah Shards.

It can be said that she alone singlehandedly held back two quasi-spirits, which in itself was a feat she wouldn't have been able to do until her defeat.

"Right."

There was that one too. Ayame at the far end thought that with a nod before taking aim.

"Isami."

"On it!"

"—!"

Taking aim, and releasing her hands from the bowstring, the golden spiral light from her bow shot forth towards the dolls.

However, something happened.

That spiral light that had been shot suddenly burst into several, yet smaller, spirals of light.

Despite being small, the powers of each smaller spiral themselves hadn't diminished.

Kkk Rrr!

Releasing a whirr sound, they turned around, noticing it. However, as the one on the left tried to dodge—

At its escape route, Isami was already there.

"You can't escape anymore!"

Just like Isami thought, she and Ayame were made for each other.

That earlier shot was to divide one from the other, by narrowing its escape route.

Fooling even the dolls themselves to think the attack was meant to separate the two—not knowing it was to corner one.

Sheri and Tonami would assist Inui to take care of the last, but even then, that in itself was overkill.

TRUE SLASH:

—ANGUSTAVIA

Once again, the world inverted, with a slash that made the world appear uneven. Then, as the world mended itself, the doll had been cut.

"Kya~! As expected! I am the strongest!"

"Just who… who on earth gave that idiot that ability."

Ayame asked, brows twitching, borderline about to swear. She had better observation prowess than most, so she could see it.

At Isami's current state, only a few in the Tenth Region could actually dodge that slash, and even then, they could be counted on one finger.

It annoyed her that her rival had gotten a headstart, but if anything, it raised a competitive spirit in her she would never admit to.

"We're becoming perverts each day, aren't we?"

Sheri muttered that, charging her magnifying glass with the sunlight around while Tonami guarded her.

But then, hearing her partner's words, she paused, tilting her head to the sides.

"Even Isami-chan has joined them."

'Ahh, that, huh?'

Well, even if they fought themselves now, the result would be drastically different.

Not including Him, it would be Tsuan, then Isami next.

Since Tsuan had shown strength that far surpasses what any of them have now, then it's possible.

"Well, as long as you strive for it—"

"It's almost done!!!!"

Cutting Tonami's words short was Sheri, who had a different smile than usual, holding her magnifying glass to the sides.

Eh?

Tonami glanced back, feeling a prickly feeling on her skin. What was going on? She thought.

Just as she turned, she saw Sheri holding her magnifying glass upward with a darkened expression and a shaky, dark smile.

'Wait–'

Her had obviously been charged to its maximum capacity, so why was she still continuing…

"Wait, it can't be, you fool!"

LASER CANNON!

—IGNITION!

A blinding white light. A dome of blinding white light, covering approximately a kilometer, happened.

However, strangely, no one was harmed other than a doll which had been reduced to cinders.