Priya's nervousness didn't change the accuracy of her shot. Fired straight and true, it landed on Van Hollen's chest, perfectly square. However…
The clone dissipated into a puff of Godsfall.
Priya's expression changed. That was impossible. She was certain that that was the main body.
Before she could calm her thoughts again, Van Hollen was already rushing forward, the two remaining clones he had come with splitting into two.
"One of them is the main body!" Priya called out. "He can switch positions, be careful!"
Priya bit down on her own tongue hard. She knew she was putting a target on her back by constantly speaking out like this, but if she didn't, the panic that ensued would be too much.
No matter how many of the clones she killed, Van Hollen would never panic because he not only seemed to be a veteran in combat, but he also only had to manage his emotions and his alone.
But Priya had to manage the emotions of everyone here, none of whom had combat experience in the slightest. If she didn't take command, no one would. All she could hope was that Zade would do far better at taking out the downstream clones now that he wasn't injured or taken off guard.
Priya aimed her gun again, but she felt resistance coming from Eumada.
"You have to stay still!"
"You're bringing him toward us!" Eumada practically shrieked. "This isn't what you promised!"
Priya cursed.
Their group was being occupied by the large number of weak clones. They might have been weak and fell easily, but there were also too many of them, and each one could be lethal if you ignored them for too long.
The main body and the strongest clone had taken a dive into the chaos, circling around and keeping an eye on Priya as the latter pivoted around, dragging Eumada along as she constantly kept her gun aimed at the main Van Hollen.
But if Eumada kept resisting, not only would it give Van Hollen a chance to get much closer without being put off by the gun, even if she did find the perfect opportunity to fire, she wouldn't be able to use it.
There were several things that she had already deduced from observing Van Hollen that made everything especially frustrating.
The first was that he was exceptionally adept at close combat and didn't seem to be using any weapons at all. A combination of his skills and sudden clone fusions was usually how he killed with overwhelming might.
The second was that when he split off clones, they were only about 20% the strength of the body they came from.
The third was that every clone split divided Van Hollen's Godsfall reserves by the same exact 10% count.
The fourth was that the clothing that duplicated along with a split clone was all there just for show.
Almost.
That was because there was another way for Van Hollen to deal with clothes, and that was by leaving them with a treasure to wear themselves.
On the ground where Van Hollen's first clone had disappeared, there was a body armor left behind, one that Priya's Godsfall Steel bullet had managed to penetrate—but only just barely.
The problem, then, was obvious. If this was an armor that Van Hollen had been able to give to a mere clone, then how much better was the armor his real body was wearing?
The only thing that had confused Priya before was how he had managed it.
During his battle with Zade, Van Hollen fused and unfused several times, but there was never an obvious moment where he lost articles of clothing.
At first, Priya thought of two possibilities. Either Van Hollen had done the swap from an angle she couldn't see through the stairwell, or his main body had long left before she arrived and the entire time Zade was just fighting with a clone and clones of it.
But after misfiring just now, Priya realized there was actually another possibility.
Zarek had mentioned it before, but Talents weren't rigid constructs. They often had secondary and tertiary abilities that were tacked on for convenience so that the laws worked properly.
Malik, for example, had a homing ability. But that likewise came with the ability to sense Zarek from a far-off distance. The latter didn't seem to have anything to do with the former, but it existed nonetheless because it was an obvious downstream effect.
By extension, if Van Hollen's ability came with the ability to freely fuse and split with his clones, then it was potentially a secondary downstream effect that he could freely switch between them. But what was the tertiary downstream effect of that?
Could it possibly be that he could freely swap his clothing too?
If he could just swap like this, it was as good as a teleportation ability, which also meant that when Priya fired this bullet, it would have to go through whatever body armor he was wearing.
She would likely only get one shot at it, and if Eumada's hardening ability wasn't active, she wasn't sure if her energy infusion ability would be enough.
Ultimately, her Talent right now was all about energy absorption; the ability to strengthen bullets was practically a tertiary downstream effect for her too.
But Eumada was pulling against her arms so much that she couldn't even aim properly, let alone get the middle-aged woman calm enough to actually activate her ability.
Priya grit her teeth hard and let Eumada's palm go. The middle-aged woman stumbled back and fell to her ass before scrambling up to her feet and rushing for the door.
There was no time for Priya to care or deal with her. The moment Van Hollen sensed the problem, he had rushed Priya—but by the same token, Priya felt his main clone coming from her back at the same time. She was suddenly dealing with two powerhouses in the midst of the chaos and had no idea who to shoot at first.
What if he swapped again? If she killed the main body, would all the clones disappear at the same time? Were her senses even correct in the first place? Or had she targeted the wrong clone from the very beginning?
Self-doubt, hesitation, a crippling fear of death—they all weighed down on her at the same time, and she found herself gripped by indecision and yet even more harmed by a lack of time.
She bit down on her tongue hard. Van Hollen had already slipped through the chaos, shrugging off attempts to stop him. Both he and his clone were practically just three strides from both her front and back, and only accelerating as the space between them cleared.
Priya spun, her eyes turning sharp as she aimed at one of them and one of them alone.
Van Hollen's eyes narrowed, not expecting such a decisive decision, and yet still immediately making one of his own.
Priya fired just as a fist slammed into her back. The clone that had been in front of her suddenly fused with the main body, and Van Hollen's strength exploded along her spine, nearly snapping it in two.
However… Van Hollen wasn't the only one with armor, and bullets weren't the only thing Priya could pour Godsfall into.
Van Hollen's wrist broke against Priya's back, and she was sent spiraling forward. Even so, as she skidded along the bloodied ground, she managed to twist just enough to aim her gun back.
She unloaded the entire clip, her fingers moving so fast they practically blurred.