"What???" Like Lucien, Mira also notices Marie's fake expression and gets surprised. It is evident that she has a plan and that everything that has happened seems to be part of that plan.
Even Lust doesn't know what to expect from Marie. She didn't seem to possess any surprising features, but now she looks somehow mysterious.
Lucien continues swimming towards her and her mother using half his agility, which is still extremely fast. He knows Marie has planned something, but he doesn't have much time to make his move, precisely twenty-three seconds.
*Burble*
The water shakes with the flaps of his wings, and he arrives in front of the mother-daughter pair almost instantly. He extends his hand towards Angela to eliminate the most tired member of the team first.
"No!" But Marie was already waiting for that and also extends her hand forward, creating a barrier of ice, which looks like glass.
Lucien also expected her to make some movement, but her barrier surprises him by its beauty, despite it not looking really tough.
"It's a pity..." He thinks aloud as he doesn't want to break such a beautiful barrier, but he can't waste time.
He prepares to punch the barrier, and at the same time, he notices Marie's supposed shadow pull Angela's shadow away. He can only suppose that because as the two shadows move away, other shadows stay in place before moving in the other direction, leaving more shadows behind.
[An illusion??] Lust exclaims in Lucien's mind in surprise.
*BAM* *SMASH*
Lucien breaks through the barrier and sees many versions of Marie pulling Angela in different directions. He can't help but smile with a proud expression. "Water clones."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})'Hahaha…' Lust laughs in Lucien's mind. 'This girl has good tricks up her sleeve, but such simple clones are unlikely to fool people from high realms.'
[I'm confused, though.] He comments honestly, not knowing who the true versions of Marie and Angela are.
Lust doesn't need to try very hard to see through that trick with her special senses. And she is surprised again to realize that both the real Marie and Angela are going in opposite directions with clones.
Then she talks to him mentally. 'She knows I could tell you where she is…'
'And she also knows I wouldn't do something like that.' He quickly responds, making it clear that doing that isn't an option.
'Twenty seconds.' Lust talks about how much time he has left to catch the girls. Despite talking to her, everything is done at high speed, and not a second is wasted.
But Lucien really doesn't know what to do. There are dozens of clones of the girls, and he can only think of attacking them all at full speed, but he could only do that when facing real enemies.
Without being able to attack the girls or use his real speed, Lucien can only think about closing his eyes and using the soul contract to find the real Marie and Angela. However, that wouldn't be productive either as there are no enemies who could do the same during real combats.
He wonders about that as fast as his mind can, and before two seconds have passed, he finds a way and talks to Lust. 'Her scent!'
'Yep,' Lust quickly replies. 'People who master clone abilities could replicate their scent, but I don't think Marie is at that level yet, so even holding your senses by half, you should find her by her scent easily.'
Lucien wastes no time and closes his eyes to use his smell sense better, still containing it halfway. As they are underwater, it's harder for anyone who isn't from some water race to detect scents, but he has no trouble finding Angela and Marie's familiar fragrances.
"Oh..." He smiles as he realizes they are going in opposite directions, about half a mile from him already.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Despite Angela standing closer due to being more tired, Lucien doesn't think twice about going after Marie as she is clearly the leader of the trio, not due to her strength but her intelligence.
*Burble*
Lucien swirls the water around as he flaps his wings and swims toward Marie. She quickly notices his movements and uses her clones to try to obstruct his path; however, he passes through them easily.
Angela also notices that Lucien is going after Marie and stops. She couldn't help but feel both proud of her daughter and also disappointed that she couldn't help Maire. As that is like a simulated battle, Angela imagines that one day her daughter cold be sacrificing for her in that way, and it should be her job as a mother.
[Marie...] A gentle sparkle passes through Angela's eyes as she sees Lucien reaching the supposedly real Marie.
[WHAT???] Lucien is shocked when he holds Marie's arm, and her body breaks like the other clones, but this time, leaving clothes in his hands, Marie's real clothes.
'Hahahaha...' Lust starts laughing in Lucien's mind. 'I could have told it to you, but I confess, your expression now is quite comic.'
If Angela could hear Lust's words, she would agree that Lucien's current expression is very funny. But she is also surprised as she didn't know that Marie had put her real clothes on a clone to trick him.
Marie really wants to stop and brag about how her plan worked, but she keeps hiding among the clones and acting like them so as not to be discovered.
Lucien's puzzled expression is quickly replaced by a proud smile. Though her trick was simple, it fooled someone with keen senses like his.
He looks around at the other clones and notices Angela standing over half a mile away from him; his time is running out, and he should at least try to catch her; however, he can't help but want to catch Marie first.
"Hahahaha..." He starts laughing out loud, making his voice echo throughout the whole place as he holds Marie's clothes. "You really fooled me, my dear… I must say, I underestimated your brilliant mind."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Even though she knows she must keep swimming away from Lucien to have a real chance of not getting caught before time is up, Marie can't help but look back and smile due to that compliment.
But she quickly regrets that when she notices Lucien looking right at her. She also fell for a trick. [DAMN!!!]
Lucien knew Marie's pride would expose her, so he quickly swims toward her. She is almost a mile away from him, but he closes that distance quickly due to her not being that fast.
She tries to swim as fast as possible, but her agility is not on par with her intelligence. She also tries to obstruct Lucien's path with clones and even make such clones flee, trying to trick him again.
But nothing stops Lucien, and just as she feels he's about to catch up with her, she smiles, proud of all she's done. "You catc-"
Lucien extends his hand to take Marie's arm, but he immediately turns when he notices someone else's presence. Despite being focused on her, he was also attentive to the other girls, but in the end, Lena's movement still surprises him.
"No!!" Lena exclaims as she jumps into Lucien's arms to allow Marie to escape.
"What??!?" Marie looks back, very confused. Like Lucien, she didn't believe her sister would really sacrifice herself for her.
"Hey!" He laughs as he hugs Lena.
"Hey, you." She giggles while kissing him.
Lucien understands well why she did that to save Marie, but he still teases her. "Shouldn't you try to run away?"
"And let Marie be the only one getting compliments?" Lena smiles.
Marie's mind tells her to keep swimming away from them, but some inner force makes her stop and look at her sister with an upset expression. "So it was just to stand out???"
"..." Lena doesn't say anything and just looks at her sister with a stubborn expression. She can't tell how much she loves and wants to protect Marie.
But Lucien can feel that due to the connection with the girls. He can clearly see how loyal the sisters are to each other despite all that competitiveness.
He also notices how bad Angela feels right now. She sees her daughters sacrificing themselves to save each other and herself, which makes her feel like she's failed as a mother.
That should just be a simple sparring session to demonstrate their current power. But simple actions can arouse powerful feelings in the girls' hearts.
Lena has been captured; the game is over for her. But Angela and Marie can still win and earn that reward so Lena can enjoy it with them.
But Marie seems to have given up on running away, and Angela feels she has to do something; now it's her turn to protect her daughters.
[But what could I do???] She feels the need to do something, but she doesn't know what she could do with her current energy.
That powerful desire fills her heart and spreads through her whole body. Despite being close to her limits, her body has been recovering incredibly fast due to the kisses she received from Lucien.
And along with his demonic energy, he also gave her some of the mix of demonic energies he generated with the other Sins, something that stimulates Angela's desires even more.
[I need to help my daughters... I need to do anything!] She swims towards them, pushing her body over the limit again.
But no matter how powerful her will is, she still doesn't know what to do to stop Lucien from catching Marie and her, finishing the game.
As she swims towards him, she looks at Mira; in fact, their eyes meet, and Angela can't help but feel jealous. [If only I was as powerful as her... if I had an amazing soul weapon like hers...]
Angela didn't know much about soul weapons before, but now she understands how amazing such tools can be. She also knows that she could have one based on her own will.
So that's what she does; she wishes to have a soul weapon like Mira's with all her body and soul. She knows it's not easy for people to awaken soul weapons so easily, but that's the only thing she can think of right now.
And it's really not that simple for anyone to do that. But Angela has several demonic energies within her body, motivating her desires, mainly Lucien's energy, which enhances all other energies; she also had her soul empowered by him; and most importantly, she has a great need for power right now.
Without realizing it, she has a perfect opportunity to awaken the soul weapon, and that's what happens. So many triggers motivate her soul, and from within it, comes the power she needs.
She can't see it as Lucien does, but the gate within her soul opens, and an instinctive force grows within Angela's body.
She stops about two hundred meters from Lucien and looks at her hands with a confused expression. She feels incredible power running through her body and instinctively understands what is happening.
Mira, who's been paying attention to Angela since she started swimming toward Lucien, also notices what's happening. She still remembers what that moment was like for her and recognizes the gleam in Angela's eyes. "She did it..."
Lucien also notices that something is up and looks at Angela. She looks at her hands, which begin to glow blue, then surprising everyone, a mysterious object appears, floating above her fingers.
Unlike Mira's perfect globe, Angela's soul weapon is an object that looks like a three-pointed star, despite its edges being curved; It looks like it's made of blue marble and shines with beautiful light.
"A catalyst!" Lust quickly materializes her body and comments. "Unbelievable, she actually awakened a catalyst like Mira!"
Lucien smiles at Angela. He is very happy and proud of her, despite knowing that she is about to attack him with that soul weapon. "Nice, my dear."
"Hehe..." Angela giggles, while Marie and Lena can only envy their mother.
