Tali holds out her hand, focusing outwards on it. She may not have been on the best terms with Kaelen anymore, and neither of them had dealt with any of what had happened over the past week and a half since their talk, but Kaelen did want her to learn to Fabricate at least a few good weapons. So he used his Sigil to give her an endless supply of certain weapons for her to Blaze, even though they didn't give Luminosity due to being made with a Sigil, and learn so that she could easily Fabricate and Blaze them. Talyndra Vaelric Fabricated a spear and thrusted it straight toward Lady Mirror's chest.

  She hadn't paid attention to everything Kaelen had said the numerous times he had begun trying to explain everything he knew about Sigils and his theories on all of the particular innerworkings. But she had made sure to pay attention to the main bits, especially Kaelen's last theory, the one he made the day before. She knew she had to have some kind of understanding over exactly how Sigils could or couldn't work if she wanted to take down Lady Mirror by herself. She wasn't as strong as Kaelen, so knowing the exact inner workings of the opponent's Sigil was necessary if she wanted to win. And she had to win here.

  His final theory wasn't the greatest as there was no way to know how much Luminosity the opponent had when creating their Sigil. But one thing was certain, the stronger a Sigil, the more exceptions it would have according to Kaelen. And with the experience he had, having had fought five Sigil users including herself, she was inclined to believe him. So when Lady Mirror summoned a spear and thrust it toward Tali, the two spears colliding and stopping as they hit each other, she knew her ability was strong. And if it was strong, it had exceptions. She just had to find them.

  -Abel-

  The biggest problem he was running into was exactly that. He had been running for what felt like five hundred years.

  "We can't keep running forever."

  Agreed. For one it would start expending the hard-earned Lux they had built up over the past week in preparation for this if they did.

  "So we have to stop running and fight this monster head on."

  No more running then.

  "We only have so long to find something to fight back. It wouldn't be much longer until Lady Shape catches up with us."

  We have to think fast. What kind of weapon could attack an area so large that it couldn't be dodged?

  -Tali-

  Tali started by fabricating a dagger, cutting the rope Ela was tied to, picking her up and running away.

  Lady Mirror: Running? Is that all you're capable of Tali?

  Tali put Ela down in front of the door she had come in from, turning to face Lady Mirror and firing a bow and arrow upon Fabricating one. She Blazed her spear, to get back the spent Luminosity. She hadn't noticed when specifically, but Lady Mirror had gotten a bow and shot an arrow, the two colliding into each other. From what she could tell, the primary ability of the Sigil of Mirrors was to exactly copy someone else's attack. Tali paused, waiting.

  Tali: Not going to fire at me?

  Lady Mirror: I don't need to.

  Tali: Or attack me in any way?

  And it seemed that was the only ability. If it wasn't, Lady Mirror would've attacked her by now. One upside was that it seemed the copied attack had to be exact and could only block things because of that. She had tried both medium ranged and long ranged attacks and neither had worked, and she didn't want to risk a short range attack just in case the specifics of the ability changed in short range. She'd have to find a loop-hole within medium or long range.

  No. She'd have to risk it. She dashed at Lady Mirror, Blazing her bow and Fabricating a pair of daggers, lunging at Lady Mirror. And as she had come to expect, Lady Mirror had blocked it with a pair of daggers of her own. She jumped away from Lady Mirror, Blazing her daggers. She'd have to think of something else then. As Kaelen had mentioned with Sister Spark, perhaps the ability only activated under circumstances, in Sister Spark's case it was when her weapon collided with something. That idea was her one good lead. But if there was a required activation circumstance she had no idea what it could be.

  It wasn't impossible that Lady Mirror could only copy specific attacks, like specific weapons or attacks aimed at specific body parts, but if it was some minute detail like that Tali had no hope of ever finding the activation requirement, and she suspected something as almost all encompassing as "you can only be hit if some strikes your left-upper shoulder with a fork" was the kind of ability that would require far more Luminosity than Lady Mirror had when her Sigil was made. Hopefully.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  She'd have to figure out something else that made sense. Another potential activation requirement that was more general than her previous idea. Perhaps the attack had to be head on, a mirror can't reflect something behind itself after all. She began to run around the room, trying to get to the point where she was behind Lady Mirror, only for Lady Mirror to continuously turn as well. That had to be it! Why else would Lady Mirror always be facing her?

  She jumped in closer, Fabricating a sword and swiping at Lady Mirror, who parried with her own sword, Tali disengaged and dashed round to Lady Mirror's back, quickly thrusting the sword into her back. -Only for the sword's tip to be met with another. At some point Lady Mirror had managed to turn around and use her Sigil. That or her Sigil didn't care about direction, an answer she suspected was more likely.

  It seemed that no matter what she did, her attacks were always mirrored. There was no way for her to attack Lady Mirror, there just wasn't. At this point there was no reason to even bother trying to attack her. She'd just be flailing the weapon about for no real reason. She'd just have to give up on beating Lady Mirror. -Until she had noticed, there was a fresh cut along Lady Mirror's forearm, and Tali's sword was dripping blood.

  -Kaelen-

  "Something not bound by physical space, or just really large. That's what we need."

  If only he could summon the sun. -Or... Or fire... Fire? Could he summon fire with his ability? He knew it was a destructive force, but was that enough for his Sigil?

  "You'll have to try anyway."

  He held his hands out, and they lit on fire. -Small problem. He didn't know how to make the fire leave his hands. He knew how to burn stuff best, sure, but to actually get it off of his hands? No clue.

  "Oh well. It's close enough. You'll just have to improvise."

  Apply it to wooden weapons and start slicing. He'd just have to hope he found out how to set Lady Shape on fire as he went along. Until then, a burning axe or scythe would do. So he summoned and applied fire to both. So Kaelen began to try and cut at the monster that used to be Lady Shape. It wasn't working. It still wasn't working, and the monster was too close this time. He wasn't able to resist and she grabbed him with her hand and tossed him into her mouth and began to chew.

  [Notice: Status effect gained]

  [Burning, Tier I]

  [Health Points: 350/350 (-1) -> 349/350]

  Damn. We really will have to be fast about this.

  "Don't forget, we can't go dying here."

  -Tali-

  She could hurt her. Now she just had to find out how she did it.

  Lady Mirror: -You.

  Tali: Something wrong, Lady Mirror?

  Lady Mirror: You cut me. I'm done here.

  Tali: You're not going anywhere.

  Lady Mirror: But you are.

  The wall to their side burst open, as if it were rock, a giant twisted human form came tumbling in, carrying very small burn scars. Then she saw smoke beginning to come out of the creature's mouth as Kaelen jumped out, covered in bruises and cuts. What had happened to him?

  Tali: Kaelen? What happened to you?

  Kaelen: I could ask you the same thing. Any hope with Sister-

  Lady Mirror: Lady.

  Kaelen: Sister Mirror's ability?

  Tali: I managed to hurt her, that's about it.

  Kaelen: That bad?

  Tali: That bad. What is that thing?

  Kaelen: That's Lady Shape.

  Tali: So Shape as in-

  Kaelen: The physical shape of herself and the rooms around her.

  Lady Mirror: Lady Shape. We're swapping. I've had enough with this wench.

  Lady Shape's form shrunk back into her normal one.

  Lady Shape: How unfortunate. I was enjoying playing with my food.

  Lady Mirror: Tough.

  Kaelen: Hey Tali?

  Tali: Yes?

  Kaelen: You good for a two on two?

  Tali: I'm up for it if you are. Just be careful of my sister over there.

  Kaelen turned and clearly saw Ela behind them, nodding at her when he turned back.

  Lady Mirror: We are not fighting together.

  Kaelen: I'd like to see you try and separate us again.

  Lady Mirror: *sigh* Fine. Then I suppose round two begins.