The Simulacrum

"Gah! What the hell!?"

I'm not going to lie, if I were launched like that, I probably couldn't have shrugged it off the way Josh just did. Though again, if it were me, I wouldn't have gotten hit by such a well-telegraphed attack to begin with, but that was a completely different topic altogether.

Anyhow, Josh was already back in the game before the dust and debris could even settle. He jumped out of the same hole he just punched into the building's façade, and he flashed his Celestial wings for a moment to break his fall… only to very nearly get batted away once more when Marzanna rushed him.

She must've considered him the biggest threat at the moment, most likely thanks to a combination of his Celestial powers and lugging a sword around. Her movements weren't especially refined when compared to the Knights or the Eastern Draconians, but she was fast as heck, and her blows with her quarterstaff staggered Josh even while blocking.

It took Elly a couple of seconds to catch up to them to join the scuffle, a short yet long time that allowed me to take a better look at the arch-mage. She was, in simple terms, rejuvenated. Not to the degree of Sahi's body-switcheroo, but she easily looked at least thirty years younger and considerably more athletic than before. In fact, under her torn and burned robes and dress, she was wearing the same kind of tank top as the elite muscle mages of her school, which… made a whole lot of sense, actually.

"Josh, switch!" the princess yelled as she closed in on the two, and as if they practised it beforehand, the guy slipped under an incoming sweeping blow and allowed Elly to take his place. She raised her fists and settled into a posture that resembled a boxer's stance, yet when Marzanna tried to step out of her range, instead of a punch, Elly dodged to the side while simultaneously taking a swipe at the arch-mage's foot with her tail.

It didn't hit, but it forced Marzanna into a full retreat. That seemed fine at the surface, but when Elly tried to follow after her to keep up the pressure, she immediately hit a transparent ward that the arch-mage hastily conjured in front of her.

"Not this again!" my draconic girlfriend groaned as she balled up her fists again and shattered the magical barrier with a powerful uppercut, only to reel back when Marzanna… hit her on the head… with her staff…

…

"Bloody sunova—!"

My angry exclamation turned into a pained hiss, forcing me back to my body for a moment.

"{Young knight! You should stop this and rest before…}"

"It's just my head. I'll live," I muttered as I used my free hand to massage my aching temple.

In my moment of outrage, I very nearly Phased over, which kind of explained why future-me put the restriction on me in the first place. The backlash ended up worsening my headache, but that wasn't important. That old bint just bonked my girlfriend's head with a stick. Nobody bloody bonks my girlfriend with a stick and gets away with it!

Exhaling hard, I quickly focused my attention on the Purple Zone again and found that in the few seconds while I was gone, the duel between Elly and Marzanna had somehow moved to one of the nearby roofs. Despite not having the same finesse as a 'real' close combat specialist, the buffed-up arch-mage had the physical specs to match my princess in her fully Draconian transformed state, which was already troubling, but she also kept casually throwing down barriers and those force-waves to keep her off balance. They were also taunting each other nonstop, but as much as I appreciated the fine art of mid-combat banter, there were more important things to focus on at the moment.

Such as what Josh was doing during all of this instead of making sure my girlfriend's head remained un-bonked.

"How much time do you need?" was the first thing I heard as soon as I moved my point of view back to the square, and Josh's inquiry was met with an exasperated harrumph from Deus.

"I told you, I need her to stand still for at least a few seconds, but it doesn't matter!" The two of them were huddled together, along with Ammy, who descended from the air and was currently fidgeting by the childhood friend duo's side. "I made the Empyrean Fetters to restrain that bastard Bel, so I reinforced the spell against magical interference, not brute force! Even if I manage to catch her in it again, it would only hold her for a few seconds."

"That's a problem…" the guy muttered and turned to the class rep. "What about you?"

"… You can't restrain people with fireballs."

Her completely deadpan response made the guy's face twitch, but he somehow managed to rein in his temper and asked, "Don't you have any other spells? Like, a stone prison, or freezing her in a block of ice, or we can just have Petra sit on her, or something!"

"I… didn't have the time to master many spells yet, okay? I only just became able to cast properly, you know?" the class rep argued back, but after readjusting her glasses (which were, predictably enough, the only part of her original outfit that wasn't vaporised by her transformation) she resolutely stated, "I'll ask Grimmy."

"Please do that." Josh turned around and faced the rooftop where the muscly arch-mage and my girlfriend were still locked in a cat-and-mouse style battle, and he gestured at the Celestial girl by his side. "I'll go and back up Elly. Look after Ammy."

"Don't order me around, Boy," Deus barked back, sounding genuinely offended… only to then immediately add, "At least say 'please'," in a voice that sounded more sulky than anything else.

"… Please look after Ammy?"

"Fine, if you insist," Deus grumbled and turned to the class rep. "Come, Companion! Let's thin the herd of these fools!"

She gestured at the battle between the Magi, golems, Celestials, and the outliers of our little posse still battling it out in the square, and the class rep's eyes lit up at once.

"I… can help with that!" Ammy exclaimed, her inner pyromaniac showing once again, but my point of view was already being dragged along with Josh as he flew into the air and dived at Marzanna.

While all of that was going on, I quickly glanced at the other combatants in the square, but as much as I would've loved to just marvel at Sahi swinging a whole-ass golem around like a giant bludgeon, I had more to check in with Judy, and just in time, as she was getting visibly impatient.

"Chief, if you're still here, say something, or I'll get mad."

"I'm here."

After the customary five-second lag, she let out a shallow breath and looked up and to her left. Once again, that wasn't from where I was watching, but it didn't matter.

"You can't just say something like that and then not answer when I ask."

"… Something like what?"/"Is Brother back?"

My response overlapped with Penny's question, but my dear assistant raised a finger to quiet her, and then she glared at the sky.

When she opened her mouth again, she uttered "It's just my head. I'll live," in a faux-baritone voice, and it took me a second to connect the dots.

"That was a terrible impression of me, but more importantly, I was talking to Cal. I jury-rigged this transmission, so it's picking up everything I'm saying."

"What's with your head then?"

"Long story. I'll explain after this whole kerfuffle is over." Pausing for a second, I glanced down at the battlefield and asked, "Was that all you've prepared for catching Marzanna?"

She responded with a guileless, "Yes."

"… Okay, so how are you planning to beat her now?"

"We don't need to. We've already won." She quickly understood my stumped silence and explained, "We successfully forced her out into the open, and reinforcements are already on the way. It would've been cleaner if we could capture her, but so long as Elly and Joshua can keep her busy, we'll be—"

Before she could finish that sentence, there was a big explosion, and when I looked over, I could see the princess tumbling through the air before suddenly spreading her draconic wings wide and coming to a stop, followed by a roar and a burst of red dragonflame aimed at the crumbling building where she was fighting just a second ago.

"Please hold for a moment." Judy raised a finger again, but this time she tapped it on her glasses. "Eurasian Kestrel, this is Eagle's Nest. What's the situation, over?"

She listened attentively, and I was just about to glance over when Judy abruptly turned to my sisters.

"They require backup."

"On it!" Penny exclaimed eagerly and picked up the claymore propped against a nearby metal box (probably an air conditioner unit) and immediately jumped off the building.

Snowy was considerably less enthused.

"But if we leave, who's guarding you?"

"We're far away from the hot zone, and nobody has noticed us so far. I'll be fine."

My Abyssal sister was still visibly hesitant, but at last she showed her wings through her Magiformer and took to the air. It was only then that I asked, "What exactly is the situation?"

"Joshua says Lord Marzanna is getting faster and stronger over time, and they have a hard time keeping her occupied. She's also moving towards Amelia. Should I tell Angeline and Deus to evacuate her?"

"You're the mission control, so I leave it up to you, but if you want to hold her down, shouldn't you just send in Sahi? Her floaty hands should have the best compatibility against her."

"I don't want to overplay our hand," Judy told me frankly and tapped her glasses again. By the looks of it, she was looking at battle through the eyes of the others. "If she decides to escape before the net is closed, it would set our schedule back, and we can't afford that."

"Yes, so just capture her." My advice was met with silent disapproval, so I insisted. "Come on, Dormouse. She bonked our princess with a stick. We can't take that lying down."

"While I agree in principle, it's not so simple, and…" Her eyes opened a bit wider, and she hastily grabbed her glasses, "Look out, Western Barn Owl. The building is collapsing! Take Secretary Bird and retreat towards Western Marsh Harrier, over."

While she was talking, I pivoted my point of view to get a better view of the situation down in the square, and I just caught a glimpse of Marzanna sending Penny flying. My sister did a complicated somersault while in the air and lunged back at her as soon as she landed, her rush seemingly coordinated with Josh and Elly. The two of them were also swooping in like a well-oiled machine, only for all three to get staggered by another one of the arch-mage's omnidirectional mana waves.

Marzanna rushed forth, but she moved past Penny without touching a hair on her head and aimed at Ammy and Angie. The girls were retreating towards the street dominated by Sahi and Pascal, but the arch-mage was much faster and caught up with them in an instant.

"Just fly!"

I was startled by the exasperated bark coming from my side, and I could see Judy holding her forehead in her palm. At the same time, following her instruction, both Ammy and Angie rose into the air. In the class rep's case, it was less 'powered flight' and more 'clumsy floating', but the Celestial girl grabbed hold of her by the armpits and dragged her out of the arch-mage's reach.

They weren't out of the frying pan just yet, as Marzanna flourished her staff and leapt after them. She could've unquestionably grabbed Ammy's ankle, if not for a telephone-pole-sized icicle sniping her out of the air and flinging her into an office building at the other end of the square. It was followed by three more, and then a final, even bigger ice spear that exploded on impact and covered the vicinity in a sheet of ice and snow.

Thanks to Snowy's timely intervention, Angie and the class rep managed to safely land on the top of a nearby restaurant, but the lull in the combat was short-lived. There was a loud crack, followed by a rumbling noise, and half of one of the giant ice spears flew out of the ravaged building, landing smack dab where the fountain used to be.

"Lord Marzanna appears to be more dangerous than expected," Judy noted with a detached voice that couldn't hide her apprehension.

"That's an arch-mage for you, I guess."

Judy nodded along, and after a long beat, she looked up and to the left, this time actually managing to very nearly face me.

"I'm open to suggestions."

"I already told you to throw Sahi at her, but if you want something more… Give me a second."

If I were present, I was confident I could take Marzanna down no problem, Phasing or no Phasing. Not because of my gear or my sixth sense or even my fighting skills, but because the way she was glowing like a bloody Christmas tree told me she was under the effect of a whole smorgasbord of spells and/or magical effects, and those never fared well against my phantom limbs. Unfortunately, I wasn't there, so it was impossible to resolve the battle that way.

Let's look at this objectively: If Judy were to be believed, the cavalry was already on the way, so the gang only needed to buy some time and not let Marzanna escape until then. Beating her up for the whole head-bonking thing was an secondary objective, but one I didn't want to skip. As for Marzanna's abilities, she was essentially hulking out, getting stronger and more resilient the more she was hit, yet still able to cast her crowd control spells.

Next, let's look at this Doylistically: What kind of antagonist was she? That was an important question to ask here, because it affected how the scenario expected Josh and company to deal with her. Road-bump antagonists could be used to showcase the main characters' strength, but since she's been flinging Josh around like a ragdoll and no-selling everyone's attacks for a while now, that probably wasn't her archetype. She wasn't important enough to be a main antagonist, and she didn't have enough personal connection with our group to be a rival antagonist, which meant she was most likely a 'threshold'.

I wasn't sure if it was official trope terminology, but a 'threshold antagonist' was someone who was overwhelmingly more powerful than the heroes and served as an insurmountable obstacle. Marzanna being so implacable certainly gave me that impression, so for the time being, I assumed she fell into this category.

If so, that meant there were only three ways she would be taken down: a third party joining the fray and taking her down, the protagonist breaking their limits to overcome them, or the antagonist's weakness getting exploited in a clever way. The first option was off the table, not only because I couldn't Phase over, but because that trope was already used when Josh first lost to Sahi and I had to bail him out. The second option was a possibility, so maybe if Josh kept getting flung around some more, he would get a power-up or something. It wasn't likely, but it could happen.

It was also out of my hands, so I decided to focus on the third option. Based on Marzanna's and our little posse's power sets, were there any clever ways they could use to overcome her? As far as I could tell, the arch-mage's spells did three things: she rejuvenated her body (possibly as a temporary power-up), piled a metric ton of physical enhancements on herself, and she was instantly regenerating all injuries on the spot. All of those fell into the purview of the Restoration School of magic, so it made sense.

Let's extrapolate from there. I knew from experience that keeping up that many physical enhancements wasn't easy. It's why the original Knight equipment had this awkward ramping up period and could only maintain peak performance for a while before it would start causing mana-burns. It was precisely the reason whyI gave the Uniformers lower but more stable power output when I made them, and why I always kept manually fiddling with the Leoformer's enchantments when I was fighting. If her enhancements worked similarly, they had to be putting serious strain on her, so I imagined she was regenerating so fast as a kind of 'required secondary superpower' to keep her body from imploding on itself.

Something like that required constant maintenance and lots of magic power. Of course, since she was a Magi, so long as there were suitable Ley-lines in the area, she had an effectively infinite supply of mana, but…

"Dormouse?"

"Yes?"

"Ask the class rep if she can use Grimmy to shift the output of the Mana Wells, so that the Ley-lines here become inaccessible." Thɪs chapter is updated by ɴovelfire.net

Judy looked doubtful, but she relayed my words faithfully, only to then slightly grimace and tell me, "She said it was the most ludicrous idea she had ever heard in her life and told me that you're a bad influence on my common sense."

"Ouch. I presume that was a no, then. Too bad."

Okay, so that wasn't going to work. How else could Josh and company find and exploit the weakness of her powers then? Cleverly, too. That was important. The solution had to be something that was out-of-the-box yet made Watsonian sense in retrospect, and something they had access to right now.

Dragonflame? It could break magic, but it was too brute-force to be a 'clever' solution.

What about Penny's anti-magic attribute as the Unicorn Knight? Nah, it only applied to her, and she had no way to force it onto Marzanna.

Maybe some kind of counter-spell Ammy or Sahi could cast then? Something that disrupted or reversed the arch-mage's spells. They were acting on the Astral Body, so maybe something like…

"Goddamit..."

If I could, I would've facepalmed right now. As expected, it was one of those solutions that were right out in the open, and you just never noticed them because they were too obvious.

"Chief? Do you have another idea?"

"Yes, actually. Please tell Angie to heal her."

My words were met with confounded silence.

"Can you be more specific? Heal who? Nobody's seriously injured."

"I meant Marzanna." The previous confusion quickly turned into skepticism, so I earnestly added, "Trust me, it'll make sense in a moment."

My dear assistant subtly rolled her eyes but still relayed my instructions, and after some back-and-forth, I was surprised (and mildly pleased) to hear a throaty, hollow cry coming from the direction of the square, audible from a whole block away.

"That… was loud," I noted with mild schadenfreude. "I'll go take a closer look. I'll get back to you once everything's wrapped up."

Judy only let out a grunt in acknowledgement, clearly busy with directing the others. I let her do her job, and Far Glanced over to the square, ready to observe the final confrontation unfold and the head-bonker to get her well-deserved comeuppance.