"Hmmm, seems Klaire is quickly growing to an absurd level, but she doesn't seem to be struggling with the addiction they mentioned before. Do you have any thoughts on that Equinox?"

"Purely hypothetical of course, but I imagine that the divinity Carl forcibly generates is as unique as the paradoxical energy he does. like the difference between the straight liquor and mixed you had me try at your bar."

Lillim broke into laughter. "I must say, we were all a little surprised how taken you were with that Old Earth Sangria. Dragon-kin typically prefer liquor such as rums and sake, maybe it's the Aspect in you that sways you that direction, I've never had the pleasure of drinking with one. Anyway, I'm about ready for the finale of this tournament."

Lillim had been continuously trying to pinpoint Equinox in his position in the chessboard layout of realms and get a read on his movement patterns, knowing that she would need to play a small game of cat and mouse to actually catch him.

The biggest issue, which she knew with a strange brand of narcissism, would be dealing with the opposite copy of herself. Just as she would expect of an opposite version of herself, the other her was proving an expert at erasing her presence.

"I suppose I could give up on the notion of avoiding the fake, I have never been particularly good at guiding myself to my destination, preferring to enjoy the adventure that comes with getting lost..." Lillim sighed. "...She will find me in a heartbeat I imagine, so fine. Take your best shot."

Lillim gave in to the rules of Equinox's ability and moved according to her plan, warping through three realms before what she saw as an inevitability occurs and she suffered five deep gashes to her waist.

Her counterpart's claws tearing through her with a distinct lack of lethal precision, which made the original more than a little annoyed.

As she finally came to a halt at the end of her path, she turned in preparation for her counterpart's follow through, but kept moving when she didn't appear. She even began to second guess her evaluation of her double's abilities when she had all-but cornered her prey.

Then in the midst of what should have been her final move, she was interrupted as the double appeared and skewered her precisely through six body cavities simultaneously. "Again!? You dare disgrace me by showing mercy!?"

"She is your opposite, remember? She would never purposely take a life, no matter the situation, and have you forgotten the fact this isn't a life-or-death battle?"

Lillim suddenly realised that her double, what she viewed as a rather insulting facsimile, had indeed made her forget that fact. "Thank you for the reminder, I suppose I should start viewing her in shortcomings as a complimenting contrast rather than a mirror."

As Lillim projected aura in a way to neatly push herself off of the claws, an Equinox suddenly appeared and unleashed the same attack he had used against Cocytus, whilst the other abducted the other Lillim.

When the orbs finally struck, she couldn't help but be impressed as they did a fairly hefty amount of damage to her. Her flesh had been burned away in several areas and some of her claws had been cracked, but she was more concerned with the abduction of her counterpart.

"Why oh why did you abduct her..." Lillim sang as she ran a finger along her seared flesh. "...Could it be she would heal me and make your efforts meaningless?..."

Equinox grunted, then unleashed a desperate barrage to try and buy as much time as he possibly could. He knew though that it was a flawed and ultimately meaningless effort in the face of her being aware of his presence.

As suspected, when his power ran dry and the space finally cleared, he saw Lillim standing unphased behind a fully formed barrier. "...A worthy effort from one so young, take pride, if you were both here some of it might have reached me."

"High praise indeed, I'm sorry for not being more worthy of it. I wish I could have been more than light exercise for you."

"Come now, light exercise for me puts you in the upper echelons of all those I have faced. What I don't understand, is why didn't you just leave me wandering the stairs? If you had never spoken nor interacted with me, it would have kept me distracted far longer."

"The other you has been opposing this whole tournament and trying to break free even though it would cease to exist in that instant, it was never going to last long."

---Carl's "Fight"---

"Is it just me or are you all really angry with me!?" Carl shouted the question as he was constantly fighting off a dozen of his aunts at any given instant and on top of that, he had all of the strongest ones to contend with as well.

"Of course we are!..." The daughter of Lillim spoke from a point in the crowd which Carl couldn't identify, but then he listened to them each take turns listing various gripes they had with them.

Most of the issues were ones which he had heard from Clarisse and the others he had trained with, but he was a bit surprised to hear how many of them were also upset that he hadn't challenged any of them outside of Lillim's training sessions.

He continued to fight them off as he listened to their complaints. Fighting to them, was simply their way of speaking, which was a fact he knew well. By neglecting to challenge them, he had essentially been giving the impression that he didn't want to connect with them on even a basic level.

Not only that, but he also hadn't even taken the time to keep them up to date on their lives and progress through Lillim and everything they did know had been passed down the grapevine by sisters which spent time around haven.

Carl was quickly realising how his mum Leanna's relationship with her family had become so atrophied in what was a relatively short time from one particular sentiment however. "...Seriously two thousand years and we still haven't heard the story of how Lady Kyubi joined your family in the end!"

"Yeah! Last thing we heard was Mum's story about how she beat the fox and swore her to secrecy on her feelings!"

"Okay, time-out!..." Carl's awkward declaration was honoured and followed by an even more awkward apology for neglecting his family. The scene left the rest of those who were supposed to be assisting him but had either been disqualified, ignored or sitting out for other reasons, incredibly amused.

"You know I kind of feel bad for Carl sometimes, but realising he literally has thousands of relatives that get angry if he doesn't keep in touch regularly. I mean, I think he needs more guy time, it can't be healthy trying to keep that many people happy." Gillian said as he sat next to Blanc on one side.

"Yeah, I agree..." Blanc sighed and then stood up. "...You know what, fine, you can see the awesome army of possessed automatons or whatever the hell it was..."

Blanc shook his head as he was suddenly faced with the fact it wasn't just the technophile, Slysse and Gillian excited for the show as Gillian shouted out to Tiamuteal and Carl that it was happening and they both got excited too.

"...Thanks for that Gil, there goes any chance of surprising them."

Blanc immediately got to work on merging with the first automaton as the battle shifted around and Carl moved to protect him and forced them to put aside their desire to leave Gillian out of it.

As Gillian immediately got excited at the chance to fight back to back with the other two again, it was a moment that showed him exactly how far they had all come. Fighting thousands of The Carrion was one thing, but fighting the daughters of Lillim on such a level was a feat few could boast.

It wasn't lost on the other two either, they were also feeling slightly nostalgic, which inspired Carl to demonstrate how he had made the most of his inversion since that was what had led to their hive dive the last time they fought like this.

The battle that ensued was brilliant and dazzling to behold, blinding flashes cascading through what was still a number of daughters tens of thousands strong, but thinning out considerably as Carl started fighting in earnest with a bled of his form changes that he hadn't tried before working in concert with his use of his soul-form to blind and disorient.

Every punch was causing damage to multiple daughters as he targeted the strongest in reach and they in turn caused collateral as they collided with those around them. It hadn't excited his notice how happy they were to have a sincere match with him either.

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