The light reshaped its body; its limbs grew, became stronger, and gradually it grew, its appearance adopting a new image, something that strangely resembled its commander.
Tia was impressed by this transformation; it wasn't a simple copy of appearance, it was a perfect clone of Commander Koboldt.
Every stat and ability had been mimicked in this transformation.
The transforming reptile sped towards the bridge, each step menacingly closer than the last.
Tia didn't have time to think of an elaborate strategy, so she improvised in the heat of the moment.
Her bats flew extremely close to the clone, each "approach" generating more electrical currents with the same power that had been exterminating scouts one after another.
But to the mage's surprise, the lightning caused almost no damage. Each spark created by the interaction of the lightning with the skin left no deep wounds.
Its armor was resistant, which left Tia at a clear tactical disadvantage. But that wasn't the only trick the commander could pull off.
Tia coordinated one of the bats toward the clone's flank. Her intention was to strike the clone's face and disorient it, but reality proved different than expected.
The clone responded by attacking with a powerful right jab.
Her hand was enveloped in a magenta magical energy that moved like fire. A powerful blow that pushed away and nearly disabled the bat.
The spell on her fist had the effect of neutralizing mana patterns at a low frequency. It could affect a spell, but not very severely.
That thing was approaching, both fists covered in magical energy, its nostrils exhaling condensed air that almost combusted upon exposure to the atmosphere.
Tia moved her bats between her enemy, each ray darkening the scaly skin further, but they didn't even have the power to pierce the first layer of tissue.
The clone responded with attacks similar to the first, its devastating power becoming evident, almost obliterating the bats.
"Problems, Aunt?" Raiziquer asked after landing another arrow before she could reach them.
"Stay still!" was all she said, her bats moving once more, three of them aimed to clash head-on with the clone.
The middle bat overloaded with lightning, increasing its lethality but decreasing its range. The two flanking bats did almost the opposite, their lightning extending farther than normal.
The middle bat's attack was too strong to be protected by just one hand; the clone had to use both arms to contain the attack, which refused to stop. The energy was too great to be neutralized, creating a stalemate that the clone could not easily overcome.
But the bat wasn't doing much either. Despite the high level of the attack, it couldn't penetrate the clone's defense. The commander's body, even copied, was too resistant.
The fat softened the impact, the muscles withstood the blow like steel plates. Sharp scales took advantage of the organic tissues they enveloped to use the enemy's strength against them, a strategy that manifested in superficial but numerous cuts.
A good defense, a difficult one to overcome… but not impossible.
The two flanking bats released concentrated beams of lightning, creating a constant stream of attacks on a specific point on the clone's arms.
The beams were barely effective, all they managed to do was slightly darken the clone's scaly skin, but it served its purpose.
The clone, tired of being trapped, put more force and pressure into overcoming the bat, his feet firmly planted on the ground, putting maximum strength into overcoming the shaped spell.
With each step he got closer to the bridge. His violent momentum intensified more and more, and this was the cue for Tia to act.
The last two bats that were not attacking circled in the sky, gaining power, preparing an attack.
In a double swoop, the two descended from the sky at high speed, Miranda's arms biting off the clone.
Everything happened quickly; the last two bats unleashed all their energy on the parts of the arms where the flankers maintained a constant attack.
The flankers' beams weren't meant to injure, but to weaken resistance and facilitate the attack of the last two.
The blow was devastating; both arms were violently torn off, thus freeing the middle bat to continue its attack, piercing the copy's defense and creating a substantial, but not lethal, hole.
This attack didn't pierce the commander's torso, only opening the slightly larger new hole between his chest and stomach.
It wasn't enough to kill the commander, but it was enough to deactivate the body copy spell.
The light radiating from the clone began to fade slowly, its image vanishing like a mirage, leaving only the collapsing body of the reptilian soldier.
Tia raised her chin with a superior smile. But it didn't last long.
This was only the first attack. Now that the copy was eliminated, she could focus on the original commander, and the sight terrified her.
More soldiers surrounded the commander, each offering all their energy to him, and all received the same spell; their weak and fragile bodies were becoming an almost perfect imitation of their general.
A small army of copies of the commander was being formed, each carrying the same power as the one who would be the best fighter among them. Every unique aspect representing his superiority, everything that places him so high in the hierarchy of his species and group. All of this copied and replicated in the bodies of each soldier under his command.
Tia showed a rare expression on her face; it was despair, but it was silent. Her face was pale, her eyes significantly open, her mouth in a state where it seemed to be receiving no commands from the brain, as if it had decided that there were more important things to concentrate on.
A faint shadow covered her face, normally indifferent to everything around her.
"Raiziquer," his voice came out as a whisper, seemingly hiding his true state of mind, "it's no longer possible to protect this side!"