The twisted grin on its face unsettled Northern. He grimaced darkly as they soared high into the embrace of the sky.
With a swift motion, he pushed the creature away and unleashed [Echo], following up with an overwhelming impact release that sent the monster hurtling further into the atmosphere.
He rolled in the air from his own impact and stabilized in a heartbeat. Within moments, multiple clones popped into existence around him, all hovering in the vast expanse of Lithia's night sky.
The real Northern vanished among the identical floating copies.
Each clone wore the same dark grimace as the original.
Northern suspected the Abysmal Belial had silently communicated with the Devilish Belial the instant it broke free from its bound hands.
'Their connection to the environment must be linked to their bound hands.'
It had to be. At first glance, he thought the bindings were part of their creation, until he took a deeper, more careful look.
He barely had time to understand the purpose of the bound hands before the Devilish Belial battling the Abyss Tyrant somehow broke free from it.
Drawing on his monster knowledge, Northern concluded the creature had interacted with the environment long enough to unlock a portion of its abilities beyond the rift—abilities clearly connected to its bound hands.
The real problem was that the crafty bastard immediately shared this knowledge with the Abysmal Belial, giving it a lifeline. Now Northern couldn't destroy the damn monster before it adapted to the environment, all thanks to the Devilish Belial.
This realization soured his expression like bitter fruit.
Yet he wasn't truly worried. The Abysmal Belial posed no real threat to him. Plus, Nebulous Lord stood ready nearby.
The true danger—the source of Northern's concern—was the hand that remained forever stuck since the rift first appeared.
That was the real threat. Northern had never faced a Leviathan before. He kept The Crimson Lord in reserve because of it, but still doubted if that would suffice. He simply didn't know what it would take to kill a Leviathan.
More so, there was the evacuation and everything connected to why this Blockade started in the first place. With all the commotion, Northern couldn't be certain if Dante and his military personnel had already been alerted.
Or if spies lurked in Lithia, watching silently.
'Spies or not... it changes nothing.'
Few people knew the actual plan or the purpose of the strange rift. Any spies had scarce information to report to their masters.
And by the time they pieced together the puzzle, it would be too late. Most people didn't even recognize Northern. He was primarily known by Ascendant Zion, Sage Mack, and Paragon Raizel.
So there was nothing tangible to report to the military and Lieutenant Dante wouldn't know he was the one.
'As long as he is not somewhere here himself…'
A terrifying shriek tore through the atmosphere, making the very air tremble. Northern snapped his attention toward the Abysmal abomination. Across the sky, hundreds of his duplicates responded identically.
All eyes turned to the source of the bone-chilling sound.
'I hope this isn't too much...'
Northern's cloning differed from others, especially now with [One True Self]. Each clone carried a substantial portion of his power. Of course, he controlled exactly how much strength they wielded.
Certain limitations existed—the more clones he summoned, the smaller the power slice each received.
He already had one clone holding fifty percent. So these hundred clones, excluding himself, shared only the remaining fifty percent among themselves.
This fifty percent encompassed his total power: not just talents, but everything related to Chaos, Void, his physical form, and all attributes.
The unique aspect of this EX cloning ability was that each duplicate shared his cognitive abilities in a pseudo-active state.
Northern could easily enter the mind of any clone and control their actions. Yet they could also think and act independently as versions of himself—capable of volatility and growth.
That growth potential unnerved him somewhat. Northern pondered how it would feel if multiple versions of himself existed out there, growing stronger and making their own impact on the world.
'I definitely should try that someday.'
He braced himself as the Belial plummeted from the sky with frightening velocity.
Before it could crash into the crowd of floating clones, something black streaked through the air like midnight lightning and collided with the creature mid-descent. The impact unleashed a fearsome shockwave that rippled outward, distorting the very fabric of space around them.
Northern watched in awe as Nebulous Lord matched the monster's strength, locking hands with the Abysmal Belial.
But the creature had four hands, while Nebulous Lord had just two...
As this thought crossed Northern's mind, his eyes widened in shock.
Two additional hands sprouted from beneath Nebulous Lord's normal ones, seizing the Abysmal Belial's remaining limbs before they could strike.
Another pair of arms emerged from Nebulous Lord's shoulder region, his skin rippling like black liquid as the new limbs stretched outward.
Without hesitation, Nebulous Lord hammered the Abysmal abomination mercilessly.
Each blow produced a thunderous, sickening sound that filled the skies with a hollow, malevolent sense of dread.
The battle seemed painfully one-sided as Nebulous Lord brutalized the creature.
Down in Lithia, people shivered as the terrifying sounds echoed from above, chilling them to their very cores.
But Northern was far from pleased.
'That bastard isn't taking any damage...'
The battering sounds grew louder and more thunderous—a primal rhythm that spoke of Nebulous Lord's mounting frustration as the monster refused to buckle under his relentless assault.
Nebulous Lord retracted the two hands from his shoulders for a brief respite. In that fleeting moment, the eyes of the Abysmal Abomination gleamed with twisted malice. With sudden ferocity, it wrenched one of its hands free from Nebulous Lord's grasp.
Nebulous Lord's grip was so unyielding that the monster tore the arm from the shoulder joint with its desperate force. Yet even then, the iron hold didn't release.
Northern's face drained of color as he watched Nebulous Lord's arm get torn off with such shocking ease.
He felt wounded. Like a child watching his new toy break before his eyes.
'That's it. Enough watching. This bastard is definitely going to pay for damages!'