Chapter 7: Clone Magic
A/N: Yo! I have a question for you guys! Would you prefer longer waits for longer chapters, or me to continue my one upload every day schedule?
I'd just like to say thank you for the support on this fic. I didn't expect it to do as well as it has been doing, but here we are. Thanks so much for everything! Your support motivates me to surpass my limits :)
"Alright guys! It's time for Lars' first mission!" Dorothy chirped playfully, with energy far surpassing that of anyone in the room. Her multi-coloured eyes gleamed with anticipation. The rest of the Coral Peacocks did not look too happy (they were used to their captain's antics). Lars, however, perked up slightly at the mention of doing something Magic-Knight like.
"So, who's going with me?" Lars asked tentatively. After all, he wasn't exactly a fan of the idea of going on a mission on his own. He might run into a wild Frida! Lars chuckled at that thought (he was quite the joker, if he said so himself).
Dorothy smiled. "You, Oda and Yul will be going on the mission. Sharya and Theresa, I have a different task for you two."
"Hell yeah!" Yul said, smashing his fists together. They made a strange clanging sound.
Oda, however, was slightly less enthusiastic. "Come on boss, I've been warping people around for the past few days! Couldn't you at least give me a break?"
Dorothy thought about this, then smiled. "Sharya, you'll go instead."
Sharya smiled back. A chance to show off what she could do!
"Now, for details about the mission! You'll be going to a village on the outskirts of the Common Realm! It's called Lire Village, and it's quite a scenic place!" The captain's expression turned serious. "However, there have been some magical beasts disturbing the mining industry of the people there. Your job is to find, defeat and subjugate them. Make sure they don't cause trouble for the people there again."
The two more experienced magic knights who she addressed nodded. Lars, however, was quite unsure. He tentatively raised his hand.
"Boss, I have a question. I don't really have a form of combat except my Mind Magic, and my attack spells really aren't that strong. How am I supposed to get around this?"
Dorothy smiled, and said cryptically, "Figure it out." She threw him his Coral Peacocks robe, and he caught it.
Still thinking about the captain's words, Lars nodded. He couldn't rely on others to fix his problems.
He would have to do it himself.
The group arrived at Lire Village. It was quite a quaint little town, with many roof and stone houses, put in rows upon rows, like a uniform line of schoolchildren. At the furthermost point of the village was the town hall, the "headmaster" of the village, and that was where they were headed now.
"So, Sharya… What's your magic attribute?" Lars asked, his expression betraying no malice. The blue haired girl smiled.
"I use Copy Magic," she said after a while, "but not the type that you're thinking of. My Copy Magic allows me to make duplicates of quite literally anything. Let me show you."
She stopped, and raised her hands. "Copy Magic: Doppelgänger Blitz!"
Multiple Sharya's appeared in front of Lars. One smiled cheekily, and explained, "This is a spell that allows me to create multiple clones of myself, completely identical!"
"And all of them are literally me! They all have the same mannerisms." another added.
"In a battle scenario, if I make enough of them, it can very easily overwhelm the opponent!" a third added.
The clones dissipated, leaving only a singular Sharya. She stated, "But that's not really effective in combat as a standalone thing. That's why I prefer this thing." She held up a fan. It was mostly made out of metal, with a leather handle thing. She folded the fan, and it turned into a dagger
Lars, taking all this information in, said, "Then it's not really Copy Magic, is it. More like… Clone Magic."
"I like that name!" Sharya said with vigour, and they shared a fist bump.
They entered the town hall. The mayor, a wiry man who was simply dressed, got up and greeted them eagerly. His half moon spectacles hung dangerously off of his nose, and his long hair made it look like he hadn't slept in days. "So, you're the Magic Knights that the Coral Peacock captain sent," he said in a nasally voice. "Welcome to our quaint little town. I hope you don't find it too quiet."
Lars laughed politely. "No, no, not at all. In fact, quiet is just how I like it… helps me think."
The mayor laughed at his small comment, then continued his speech, pushing his spectacles up his nose. "Well, some troublesome mole-bears have been causing disruption to our mining. I'd like you to go stop them…please?" he said, that last note coming out in a squeak.
Lars, who had become wary of the mayor's panicked mannerisms, dismissed his concerns. "Don't worry, Mr Mayor. We'll handle it," he said, rushing on his broom and heading outside. Sharya and Yul, who's blood had been rushing at the mention of a battle, followed suit. The mayor waved them off, and suddenly collapsed after they were out of sight. A figure stepped out of the shadows.
"You did your job, Mr Mayor," he sneered, looking down on him with utter disgust. "Now let the puppet master handle this. What a fool."
The mole-bears, upon first look, were gentle giants. They lumbered around, doing nothing but thinking. One mole bear was around 9 metres tall, his lower half completely obscured by the ground, making him look around 7 metres. On the surface, he looked like a normal bear, except their eyes were quite weird and round. For some reason unknown to every researcher who had studied them Their innate Earth Magic meant that they could travel through the ground without doing too much harm to the environment. They were hybrids, something that shouldn't have been possible, but a beautiful flaw of nature to a man of science like Lars. So why, you ask, were they so disruptive to the mining process of the people living there?
The short answer was their disruptive eating habits. These mole bears were not carnivorous. They were not omnivorous. They were not even herbivorous. They just ate all the ore this small little village needed to sustain their way of life. Lars didn't really think a lot could be done about that, but he had a duty to the good people of this village, and he would uphold that duty for as long as he lived.
"Steel Magic: Iron Fist!"
"Clone Magic: Doppelganger Blitz!"
Multiple Yul Bishops, ten or eleven to be exact, came out of the sky, each one squarely landing a sledgehammer fist on the top of each mole-bear's head. They had used a spell Sharya had cloned from someone's grimoire, a Bounce Magic spell, to be exact, to launch Yul up into the air, then Sharya had cloned him using her Doppelganger Blitz spell, and this was how this attack came to fruition.
"Sharya, a lot of your innate attack methods work best in one on one situations, so we'll need you to work as support." Lars had said earlier. Sharya, remembering this, followed closely behind Lars, but kept a distance away so that she could "work her magic", in her own words.
Yeah, she had really dry humour.
The mole badgers, now infuriated, turned towards Lars, who was out in the open like a sitting duck. One of them launched a slow moving shockwave towards him, which he quite easily dodged.
"Time to try out one of my new toys," Lars said with a smile. "Mind Magic: Splitting Headache!"
A pink stake, small but noticeable, that seemed to have ancient letters written on it, appeared inside each mole-bear's head. It began to emit high frequency mind-waves directly into their (small) brains. Their limited capacity for thought amplified the effect, so each one roared in pain as the spell took effect. A first mole bear slumped over, then another, then another, until there were eventually only 5 mole bears remaining.
And the remaining ones were very angry.
One launched an even larger shockwave at Lars. He reacted quickly.
"Mind Magic: Infinite Thought Shield!"
The shockwave struck the barrier, but it dissipated. Lars yelled out to Yul. "Yul! Now it's your turn! Time for the second phase!"
The Yul's nodded. They planted their calloused hands into the ground.
"Steel+Clone Combination Magic: Iron Curtain!"
A large wall of iron appeared in front of each mole-bear, blocking them off, preventing them from advancing further. Now, something about Lars' Mind Magic: Subjugation, was that for it to work completely, he needed complex instructions, and he needed time to think of complex instructions. Luckily, the stakes were not only releasing the high frequency mind-waves, but also draining the creatures' own mind energy and reducing their capacity for individual thought.
Short answer: they would keep walking into Yul's wall while Lars did his thing.
"Mind Magic: Subjugation!"
The mole bears were very, very still. Lars spoke his instructions.
"Relocate yourselves to the Northern Side of the Kingdom. There's lots of ore there, I'm sure you guys will love it.
All 10 mole bears, including the ones who were knocked out, formed a straight line and then headed towards what would later become known as the Mole-Bear District.
Lars high-fived both Sharya and Yul. "COME ONNNNN!" they both screamed, jubilation on their faces.
As the two more senior Magic Knights celebrated, Lars thought about the day's events. He couldn't shake the feeling he had when he saw the mayor's face. Slowly, he replayed their interaction in his mind. Why did the mayor look like he was in pain?
"Guys…something's not right."
"What do you mean something's not right?" Yul yelled, still high on adrenaline. "We came to a solution, and we completed the mission! What's there to worry about-"
They heard a clapping sound, almost sinister.
A young man stood at the edge of the battlefield, his appearance reflecting a quiet yet unnerving confidence. He was of average height, with lean, wiry muscles that spoke of precision and control rather than brute strength. His pale complexion was made even more striking by the dark, shoulder-length hair that framed his face, falling in soft waves. His eyes, a sharp, calculating green, gave the impression of constantly analysing everything around him, as if he saw people not as individuals but as pieces on a board waiting to be manipulated.
His outfit was both practical and theatrical—a deep burgundy coat with gold embroidery that draped down to his knees, swirling dramatically when he moved. Underneath, he wore a black tunic and trousers that allowed for easy movement, and black leather gloves that clung tightly to his hands, hiding faint, arcane markings along his fingers—runes that powered his magic. His long, thin fingers twitched with subtle movements, almost as if invisible strings ran from them to the air around him.
In his hand, he held a grimoire with a dark cover, the sigil of a puppet's strings etched into its surface. Around him, small wooden figures, shaped like miniature knights and beasts, hovered in the air, each controlled by an invisible thread of mana. His Puppet Magic gave him total control over these figures, manipulating them as extensions of his own will, a subtle grin playing at his lips as he orchestrated their movements with the grace of a master puppeteer.
He approached our heroes, and said in a thick (scottish) accent:
"Well done lads! Now this is the time where you bow to my presence." He swished his wrist.
"Puppet Magic: Flesh Puppet!"
Strings appeared over Sharya, and penetrated her, converging around her spine. She went limp, then stood to attention and walked beside the puppet master.
An indignant Lars roared, "What have you done to her?" Sharya's blue eyes, which were normally full of life, now betrayed no emotion.
The Puppet Master smirked.
"She's mine now."