Akin to staring at himself from a shining mirror, the mimic copied his every move without any kind of delay.

It became apparent that winning would require a different approach than the battles he had fought so far.

Outsmarting a foe that could essentially guess and adapt to his every battle style was nigh impossible.

"To confuse your enemy, first confuse yourself." Michael chuckled, a quote he had heard somewhere ringing in his mind, somehow fitting the situation perfectly.

He didn’t hesitate for even a moment before charging in.

The mimic responded, meeting him head-on.

Coming face-to-face without the intervention of a third party, Michael used Parallel Sight.

Just as he expected, the technique proved useless.

The mimic had so many potential moves that the space between them lit up. Since Michael himself was fundamentally capable of executing any kind of attack, the same was true for his copy.

Turning off the legendary technique, Michael probed the mimic for any sign of weakness.

Sadly, strength, agility, flexibility, and reaction time for both parties were essentially identical.

"The hard way is this." Michael mused. Taking the lead, he began to guide their duel away from the other battles.

Like a predator on a hunt, he searched for the slightest misstep in the mimic’s movements that he could capitalize on.

Unsurprisingly, his copy had the same goal in mind.

Meanwhile, the other Lords were locked in their own duels. Knowing themselves better than anyone else, they alone understood the danger the mimics posed to their lives.

Persephone’s laughter echoed, darkness surging from her feet, swallowing the surface of the star gradually. Her replica deployed the same strategy.

Conjuring a lethal scythe, Persephone kicked the lower part of the weapon and rested it on her shoulder in one fluid motion.

She observed her copy with curiosity. The attention to detail was immaculate. However, rather than bearing her bottomless dark eyes, the mimic shone in light due to its nature.

"Pity you weren’t able to mirror my charm..." Persephone giggled, leaving mist in her wake. "Let’s see if at least you got the correct color on the inside!"

Ironically, those who got it the easiest were the weakest members of the group, the only Absolute Lords, Eliza and Elina.

Due to the blood bond they shared, each sister knew the other’s battle style to a tee. That, coupled with their close proximity before the start of the chaotic battle, gave them the opportunity to swap targets.

Elina faced the icy powers of Eliza’s mimic, while Eliza faced the light-based power of Elina’s replica.

To preserve their advantage, the two sisters had separated from each other. If they allowed the two mimics to team up, their advantage would ultimately be rendered useless.

Wounds marked their bodies, while every injury the mimics sustained was healed in a flash.

Undoubtedly, the biggest threat the mimics posed was that on top of the copied powers they possessed, they were capable of mending any sustained damage instantly, just like any other light-born creature.

Even if a Lord were to launch a suicidal attack intended to bring down its counterpart, the chances of success were close to null.

"I am sorry, Sister..." Elina murmured a quiet prayer, disturbed by what she was about to do. Even if this was just an imitation of her sister, it did not feel right to end it.

Her figure blurred, moving like thunder.

Shattering the ice obstacles along the way, Elina flanked her sister’s mimic, striking at the spot where the human heart would normally be located.

Because of the nature of imitation, the mimics had developed their cores in that area. As such, once the strike connected, the mimic shattered.

Simultaneously, Eliza conjured an icy pillar, condensing her power into a single point. The speed with which she sent it flying broke the sound barrier multiple times over. Surging forward, it struck right into the chest of her sister’s mimic.

In the same breath, the two replicas fractured, cracks running along their bodies before crumbling into shimmering particles.

The two Absolute Lords exchanged glances.

Understanding that they had been the first to defeat their challengers, they were about to intervene in the ongoing duels, eager to tilt the battlefield in their team’s advantage.

However, to their dismay, their bodies began to glow with immaculate light.

Although they had cheated, their mimics had indeed been defeated. With the trial completed, they were deemed worthy to proceed to the Core Ring of the Light Kingdom and were about to be teleported.

"No!" They shouted in unison, desperation in their voices, unwilling to leave their teammates behind and be transported into an even more hostile encounter alone.

Sadly, they had no say in the matter. They vanished from the gravity-distorted place a second later.

While the two had managed to emerge victorious, Supreme Lord Rosalie was having an especially hard time.

Her mimic moved with fluidity and grace, yet she herself was weighed down by a lack of faith. An uncertainty she had never experienced, even as a Supreme Lord, until she arrived at the Sun in search of MSAP-8.

It was a doubt that had silently taken root in the recesses of her mind, growing without her even realizing it.

"What is happening to me?!" She cursed quietly under her breath. If she was fighting merely a copy of herself, why was she losing so badly?!

The last thing Rosalie expected was for her mimic to answer in her voice.

"Michael surely wouldn’t be struggling this much."

Rosalie’s breath hitched. Despite her strength and experience, the man had repeatedly won Nicole’s favor.

As a member of the Bloody Rose, she could understand it... Michael was a man, and by all accounts, he should have been far beneath her.

So why did Nicole side with him so often? It should have been the other way around! 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Rosalie knew enough of Nicole’s upbringing to be certain: Nicole hated the Emperor. That hatred, by all logic, should extend to all men... or so Rosalie’s past had taught her to believe.

It wasn’t fair. She had joined the Bloody Rose, a faction led by another of the Cursed Children, and yet—

The mimic’s remark had caused the uncertainty within Rosalie to reach boiling levels. Even if it lasted for barely a second, the mimic didn’t hesitate, driving its arm through the Lord’s chest.

Coughing blood, Rosalie gazed at the limb piercing her body.

"No..." She murmured in a shaky voice.

Back to Michael, who moved with his mimic hot on his trail, searching for any advantage to gain.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, his vision spotting a familiar creature bearing six tails, locked into a battle of her own.

The fox!