'Divine-Tier weapons should be able to work on her'

That was Rey's line of logic when he glared at The Oracle, his heart racing as he thought of alternatives to apply to the situation.

If it came down to it, he could just brace the storm and throw himself into the fight. However, at this point, he decided to be a lot more disengaged from the fight.

All to win.

~WHOOOSH!~

Several blades rushed towards The Oracle, their golden edges shimmering brightly as they sparked with ethereal energy.

One second, they were rushing towards her, and the next they had all scattered off.

'A-ah' Rey's eyes widened at the sight, his senses struggling to comprehend what had just happened in that split-second.

'D-did she just deflect all of them?'

It took some time to fully process the information, but after Rey closely watched The Oracle and filled in the blanks in his head, he arrived at the most possible explanation.

'When they were arriving, she dodged and grabbed one of the blades and used that to deflect the others.' He could see her wielding what resembled his Divine Weapon, but it was now covered in white.

"You should give up now, Rey Skylar. There is no possibility of victory for you in this fight."

"We'll see about that" Rey summoned a weapon to his hand as well, swinging it to swiftly grow accustomed to its feel.

He felt its power run through him, and its brilliant properties complemented his prowess. Summoning several other weapons around him, he charged forward alongside the several blades that currently charged towards The Oracle.

"Useless"As she swung her hand, ready to do away with the several blades that charged towards her in multiple directions, Rey switched places with one of those blades and raised his own blade to parry her strike.

The result was unfortunate.

~BOOOOOOOOM!~

He was sent flying across the hall, his entire body unable to support the weight of her swing.

"Gahh!"

It seemed The Oracle was right. There really was no way he could match up to her in terms of Skills and Stats.

"Huu"

Rey quickly rose to his feet, vanishing right back to where he stood before.

'I'm getting desperate here, but I can't allow myself to do too much' He reasoned within himself, his eyes still on The Oracle.

'Hey, Emil separate from me for a moment.'

~Okay, Master!~

That very moment, the Symbiote Slime rose out of Rey's body and fell on the ground beside him. Her slimy, semi-liquid body bounced slightly as the lights around seemed to reflect on her oily sheen.

~GLUP!~

'Transform to me.'

~Alright, Master~

In no time at all, Emil became Rey and she resembled him to the utmost of details. At this point, two Reys stood side by side with practically no distinctions.

Oh, but there was

'I'm the only one who can use [Doppel], but everything else is the same. She has all my current Stats, even now that I'm being buffed.'

Yes, with Emil separated from him, he would lose about half of his Base Stats, but he currently found himself at a disadvantage at the moment.

'There's just more strength in numbers.'

He would have called Ater, but his communication device didn't seem to be functioning at all. Even if he could reach him, Rey didn't think there was a way Ater would be able to get to this pocket dimension.

'In the end, it's just me and Esme' He inhaled deeply, readying himself for another round of the fight once again.

~What's the plan, Master?~

Upon hearing that, he shrugged and smiled like a madman. "I don't know yet!"

~WHOOOSH!~

In a trail of crackling energy and blinding light, the two of them raced towards The Oracle, who wielded the sole white blade as she watched the two close in on her.

Rey took the forefront, while Emil went for her right flank.

Despite being outnumbered, The Oracle didn't look bothered at all. Her composure only seemed to intensify as they neared her.

~WHHUUUUUUMMM!~

A sudden blizzardan amalgamation of wind, ice, and several charges of lightningsuddenly manifested from the sleight of her hand.

Its purpose was clear: to obstruct Rey and Emil from reaching her very quickly and coherently.

Unfortunately for her, she was dealing with Reywhose Domain, despite being limited only to his immediate surroundings, was more than enough to protect him from the storm.

As for Emil, she simply used [Consume] to take in the storm and increase her chargeincreasing her speed with the additional Mana at an astronomical rate.

"Hm?"

Before The Oracle realized it, the two had completely closed in on her with full intent.

~SWISH!~

Rey swung his golden blade, but it was easily blocked by The Oracle. Emil dashed right behind her, though, her arms turning into a sharp blade as she thrust it towards The Oracle.

Another burst of Magic swole from her at that point, but Emil swallowed all of the Mana and pressed on, determined to pierce the target.

Realizing the futility of using Magic rather quickly, The Oracle used her superior strength to throw Rey aside and use the blade to counter Emil in a timely manner.

~CLANG!~

It worked, but the cost was her diversion from Rey.

Rey used his [Perfect Domain Of The Divine] to switch zones, easily returning to the position he had occupied while clashing with The Oracle. With her back now turned on him, he considered it to be the perfect time to strike.

But

~WHUUUUM!~

In an instant, several spikes rose from the ground and pierced Rey with their golden, sturdy forms.

There was a blank look on his face through it all, though.

After all he wasn't Rey.

All along, he was Emil, and the one who seemed to be Emil was Rey.

~SLOOOP!~

In that decisive moment, Emil returned to Rey, further improving his Stats right as The Oracle still blocked his strike.

The increase in strength was abysmal when compared to the relatively endless power that she could draw from.

But, a sudden shift in the balance was more than enough to allow Rey to twist his bodyalmost as if folding paperand close the gap between him and The Oracle once again.

He let go of his blade and simply charged bare-handed towards her.

Her eyes remained composed, and her blank face continued to stare at him as he charged toward her with everything he had. Then, right as he was about to touch her, he felt a certain pressure that prevented him from reaching her.

"Does this seem familiar?" Her voice suddenly echoed in the air, causing his eyes to bulge even more than before.

Before he could say anything, he saw a blur and the next thing he felt was a kick on his face that sent him flying backwards.

His body bounced on the clear floor, until enough distance was covered, before finally sliding for a few more seconds and stopping.

"Your Zone Layering Technique that you use with your Domain Control. Did you think I wouldn't be able to do it too? You can Appraise me, so you should know that I have that ability as well."

Rey gritted his teeth as he slowly rose to his feet.

"You thought you could obtain the advantage with your combat prowess, hoping that would somewhat make up for the difference in our Stats, but failed to consider the possibility that I could be familiar with your moves."

It wasn't that Rey didn't consider the possibility. Even now, as he breathed heavily, he was not overly surprised by her sudden display of expertise.

'I considered the possibility, but decided to operate on the assumption of their nonexistence.'

The reason for doing that was simple. If he entertained the possibility of her being a skilled combatant, then all of his efforts were going to be inevitably futile.

'There's no way to win!'

Rey still didn't know what her [Clairvoyance] Skill was all about, which presented a big problem for him.

'I can try using variations of abilities and techniques to see which will land or not, but I'm running out of time.' He narrowed his eyes as he watched The Oracle.

Rey had to constantly spend Mana trying to erect the [Perfect Domain Of The Divine] around himself so that The Oracle wouldn't banish him from her world. The moment his Mana hit rock bottom, that would be the end.

'Emil's [Consume] Skill has been exposed, so I doubt she'll use Magic to fight us again.'

Rey went through a few other simulations in his head, but he found himself coming short in many instances. Perhaps he wasn't used to fighting very intelligent enemies who also had the raw power to back them up.

'She's stronger and smarter than I am. There really shouldn't be a way to win'

However, Rey had one trick up his sleeveone that he didn't want to use for so long due to how dangerous it would make the fight.

Right now, though, he had no other choice in the matter.

'I have to use [Perfect Divine Ray].'

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Thanks for reading!

Do you think Rey has a chance at all in this fight? Be honest here