The Other gasped, feeling a pain in her gut. A moment later, Noble's dagger seemed to flick in and out of existence before slipping between where the two folds of the cape met.
Blood poured out of the wound before Noble twisted the knife to make the action come into being.
The copy looked at her with wide eyes as Noble nodded somberly.
"As I told you, it's a paradox."
The Fang pressed deeper into the gap, sending a new wave of pain into the Other.
The copy opened her mouth, but instead of words, crimson trickled from her lips. Noble wanted desperately to look away. But she forced herself to watch the horrific scene.
It was very different than watching her life flash before her eyes. Noble had experienced that on more than one occasion. There was no looking back on old times of both victories and mistakes. There was only this moment, full of the Other's emptiness.
Noble had expected a myriad of emotions: relief, vengeance, or even sadness for the loss of life.
Instead, she felt nothing…Nothing.
The life that should never have been faded from existence at the end of her blade. Noble felt the Other lose control of her flight. The copy's muscles relaxed as the relic sword fell from her hand and tumbled to the ground.
The torso became heavy as it hung off the blade, and it fell a moment later as it was pulled away.
Down the Other fell, her uncomprehending face looking up at the heavens. In the end, Noble couldn't let her fall. Using her levitation, the floating Master slowed the Other Noble and set her gently on the ground.
The cape billowed out around her, no longer bound to the creature's form. A moment later, black mist took the place of the reflection's marred visage.
The Other was no more.
"Your Nightmare is over," she said automatically before catching herself.
Even with the whispered announcement by the Spell, it was hard to remember that the being who had looked like her was not human.
Noble was still in a Nightmare of her own. And the people of her cohort still needed her. Without another word, she levitated the abandoned cape from the ground and draped it on her shoulders. Settling her eyes into a deep violet, Noble followed the trail of smouldering stone.
This side of Bastion had been formed and reformed countless times since the moon had risen. The hundreds of earthquakes from titanic collisions and the columns of fire melting magic stone had all but obliterated any signs of the ruins of the palace. Given enough time, the hill would be turned to dust or melted completely into the lake.
However, the Remnant had no intention of letting the battle continue that long. He would obliterate the pesky humans just like he had so many before them.
After the brush with the lake, the Prince had taken a moment to find the two water-walking warriors. They got to him first, keeping open the wounds which the imposter had inflicted.
Blood oozed from the gashes. The Dragon had slashed at the intruders, chasing them from his back in an attempt to crush them.
The men had made a valiant effort before retreating. They had not left unscathed. Aether's shining armor was full of cracks, and Roan had switched to his secondary suit after the plate on his back had been stripped off by the Dragon's teeth. That had been too close a call!
The men were battered inside and out, yet somehow they had been able to hold on and keep fighting.
At this particular moment, Aether had wrapped the Dragon's mouth with a stream of starlight. But like his last few attempts in this most recent skirmish, they lacked the substance needed to keep the Prince at bay.
Snapping the starlight to bits, the fire breather chased the men between his legs with an immolating ball of flame.
Aether brushed some soot from his shoulder as he avoided being trampled on. He shook his head at Roan with an ambivalent expression.
"I don't know about you, but this creature's breath leaves much to be desired."
Roan ducked under the stumpy tail as they came out the other side. They jumped out of the way when the dragon tried to sit on them. "I'm not sure this end is an improvement," he huffed. "How's your essence?"
Aether threw a stream of pale light at the Dragon's behind, causing it to roar. "The night sky refuels my essence. But I am getting low. I need to figure this out soon."
"We need to figure this out…" Roan corrected him.
The pair realized suddenly that their feet were no longer on the ground. A friendly voice called out to them.
"Need a lift?"
"Bel!" Roan's heart swelled at the sight of his cohort member. "I see you got back the cape?"
"The Other wasn't using it anymore. How's the dragon problem?" Noble looked down at the Prince.
He had missed the men rising into the air and was still stomping on the ground to find where they were hiding.
"He is more persistent than a mule," Aether sighed. "And that's being generous."
"My lightning is pretty useless against that crown of his, and Aether is struggling to restrain the beast."
"He slips out before I can get a good grip." Aether aimed his power at the ground.
Streams of starlight wrapped around the dragon, but they were broken by the mighty beast before they could fully take hold.
Noble couldn't even give them weight before they dissipated from existence. She frowned.
They really needed Flint. He would have found some crazy way to freeze the ground and hold the Dragon in place, or have used his relic stone to give the dragon a taste of his own flame.
'Flint…' Noble felt her soul sigh. She pushed away the anguish that threatened to grip her. He would not want her to buckle, and she could not let him down now.
Pushing away unhelpful thoughts, Noble shook her head.
'Focus. We need to back up and look at this objectively…'
'Did somebody ask for backup?' A voice entered Noble's head.
'Helie?' Child of Promise realized that even though she had dismissed her helmet, her communication Memory was still tucked behind her ear.
Helie had seen Noble and Flint use the Memories many times. She had taken it from Syrce to pass along a message of her own.
'We have made it somewhere safe. Your echo reached the river and flew us right over.'
Noble had no idea that her echo could usurp her power like that, but it made some sense. She had given him a command, and so he had used the resources available to him to fulfill the order.
Helie continued. 'We are safe now. And I'm ready for battle…'
'You cannot leave Syrce!' Noble trusted Helios to keep the Saint safe, but he would not be able to administer any first aid if the need arose.
'You misunderstand. I don't need to go anywhere. I can do what I need from right here.'
Helie explained quickly, and Noble was able to relay the information to the men. Within seconds, they had formed a new plan.
With a nod of understanding, the warriors dove through the sky.
They had a dragon to slay.