Chapter 98 - Dungeon - VI
"CRACKLE!!!!"
The entire dome floor froze in an instant. The feet of every mercury clone locked into ice that erupted violently from Aeloria's palms. The sound of freezing was so intense it made even the air tremble.
Before the clones could react, the ice shattered with a dry snap, followed by a deafening explosion. The frozen surface crumbled into millions of fine particles that hung in the air like silver snow.
The mercury Aelorias paused, watching him with expressions that mixed curiosity and something disturbingly human. For a brief moment, they seemed to hesitate.
Then they advanced.
But they'd barely taken a few steps when metallic blood began gushing from their noses, mouths, eyes, and ears. Their silver skins cracked like porcelain under pressure, micro-fissures spreading rapidly until they became grotesque fractures. Some clones didn't even fall, they simply disintegrated into glowing puddles where they stood.
"One thing I noticed," Aeloria spat, retreating as he raised a new ice shield. "You've got a very clear limit on what you can copy. If you're so damn powerful, then copy this technique, you metal bastards!"
The entire dome's atmosphere turned into a freezing mist. The air we exhaled came out in white vapors, but strangely, the cold didn't affect us.
Meanwhile, Dorian's clones, still locked in fierce combat with him, began showing the same symptoms, cracks, leaks, spasmodic movements.
Dorian seized the momentary chaos to cleave one clone from collarbone to hip. The mercury creature disintegrated with a shrill shriek.
"Finally!" he gasped, rolling away from three others trying to flank him.