As Chitra absorbed the information imparted by her spirit guardian, the Divine butterfly held the horned mutant at bay.
Whenever the horned mutant launched an attack on Chitra, the Divine butterfly would emerge to thwart the assault. The energy blasts from the Divine butterfly were usually sufficient to repel the horned mutant's advances.
The ample energy within the underground hall enabled the Divine butterfly to execute energy attacks effortlessly, without strain. Without this abundance of energy, the Divine butterfly's presence in the real world would have been significantly shortened.
Had this not been the case, its real-world manifestation would have been greatly curtailed.
After a while, the horned mutant recognized the futility of its onslaught. As long as the Divine butterfly protected Chitra, the horned mutant realized it could not approach her. Consequently, it altered its course of action and commenced a direct assault on the spirit guardian.
The Divine butterfly welcomed these attacks, effortlessly evading them while showcasing a variety of its abilities.
The horned mutant found itself unable to make contact with the ethereal form of the Divine butterfly fluttering in the sky.
Kain and Alex observed this battle with profound interest. To them, witnessing a conflict of this magnitude was an exceedingly rare opportunity.
The appearance of the spirit guardian was a seldom-seen event in the realm of reality. Tier 5 warriors summoned spirit guardians primarily due to their incapacity to manage the present circumstances. Summoning a spirit guardian was a choice reserved for situations where victory seemed unattainable without their aid.
This was because summoning a spirit guardian carried its own set of caveats and potential consequences.
Firstly, the act of summoning required a substantial amount of energy. Furthermore, once summoned, ensuring the spirit guardian's assistance was not always guaranteed. Not all spirit guardians possessed the amiable disposition of the Divine butterfly.
Secondly, upon the conclusion of the summoning period, the summoner would experience an immediate weakening, rendering them temporarily as feeble as a tier 4 warrior. Such an outcome was undesirable for any tier 5 warrior.
Hence, instances, where a tier 5 warrior had to resort to summoning their spirit guardian for aid, were exceedingly rare.
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Kain, driven by a sense of amusement, commanded the horned mutant to eliminate the Divine butterfly, even though he was fully aware of the impossibility of such a task. It was common knowledge that no one could vanquish a spirit guardian.
Despite its utmost efforts to carry out the directive, the horned mutant found itself incapable of even making contact with the Divine butterfly's form. This failure provoked a profound fury within the creature.
As it launched its assaults against the Divine butterfly, a perplexing phenomenon unfolded. Two manifestations of the spirit guardian materialized before the horned mutant, creating a state of bewilderment. Upon selecting one of these apparitions and initiating an attack, the chosen embodiment of the Divine butterfly would distort and vanish right before its eyes.
Persistently, the horned mutant made repeated attempts to assail the spirit guardian. However, on every occasion, the form it had singled out for attack dissolved before any strike could land. This inexplicable occurrence left the onlookers baffled.
Even Alex and Kain were perplexed by this ability. They were both looking at the body of the Divine butterfly with mana vision. Two bodies were indistinguishable from each other even while using mana vision to observe.
"Is this an illusion skill?" Alex posed the question, not expecting an answer.
"I doubt it," Kain responded.
"But how can identical bodies manifest simultaneously in different locations?" Alex mused.
"It could be a form of clone skill. The spirit guardian might have divided its essence into two to deceive the mutant," Kain came forth with his analysis.
"But that wouldn't account for the sudden disappearance of the chosen body upon the mutant's random attack. Creating a clone only to dissolve it would be wasteful in terms of energy," Alex reasoned.
Kain shared Alex's perplexity.
Alex, however, continued his deduction. "Unless it had foreknowledge of which clone the mutant would target." He exclaimed, a realization dawning upon him.
The Divine butterfly was known to possess the power of glimpsing into the future. It stood to reason that it could anticipate the mutant's initial attack. Thus, it could generate a significantly weaker clone solely to deceive the horned mutant.
Consequently, the authentic form, brimming with energy, coexisted alongside a feeble duplicate constructed from a negligible energy reserve.
The inferior clone would invariably be the target of the horned mutant's assault.
"Damn, this game was rigged from the very beginning," Alex exclaimed in realization.
Upon hearing Alex's deduction, Kain too came to the same conclusion. Now the reason behind his struggles against the white-robed man became evident. This adversary possessed not only formidable strength but also an uncanny level of intelligence for a warrior.
Doubts began to creep into Kain's mind. Was this white-robed figure genuinely a warrior?
"It seems like the spirit guardian is taunting you with its tricks. The mutant you created seems too stupid to handle intelligent beings. Was its immense strength the only trick it has up its sleeve?" Alex mocked Kain.
"Hr…" Kain snorted in response. He slapped his cane on the ground sending a pulse of mana towards the horned mutant.
Just like a trained dog, after receiving the message through the mana pulse, the horned mutant changed its strategy.
With the new strategy, the horned mutant began its attack.
The Divine butterfly always created a clone just five seconds before the attack would reach it. Kain saw this pattern when he analysed the movement of the divine butterfly.
Why was it always the same? Why was it five seconds?
It might have something to do with the way the Divine butterfly was dodging the attack. Kain realised this from his observation. So, he ordered the mutant to attack with a new strategy in mind.
Initially, viewing the spirit guardian as an unbeatable being clouded his judgement. But once he started to analyse everything carefully and methodically. Similar to how he treated his research on mutants, everything became clear to him.
The tricks of the mutant began to unravel before him. Kain's confidence rose and a wide smile was plastered on his face while thinking of his greatness. In his mind, he was the most intelligent person alive at that time.
Like a bullet, the horned mutant launched itself towards the Divine butterfly. Even this time, it randomly selected one of the bodies of the divine butterfly as its target.
"SWISH!" The air pressure erupted as its palm thrust into the chest of the Divine butterfly.
"Swoosh..." Yet again, akin to the previous instance, it was a mere clone.
However, the assault didn't cease there.
"Five seconds," Kain enunciated, providing a clue to Alex with a knowing smile.
In the interim between the horned mutant's successive attacks, a realization crossed Kain's mind. The Divine butterfly's ability to evade an attack hinged on a five-second interval, which seemed to be its limit for foreseeing future events. Kain's pride swelled as the horned mutant's palm approached the alternate form of the Divine butterfly suspended in the air.
Just as the horned mutant's strike landed upon the other manifestation of the Divine butterfly, it fragmented like an illusory mirage, vanishing as if it had never existed.
A spontaneous laughter burst from Alex's lips at that very moment, mirroring the absurdity of the situation.
Simultaneously, Kain's confident smile crumbled into oblivion.
The five-second assumption proved fallible. The carefully constructed stratagems Kain had devised to combat the Divine butterfly dissolved into mere fiction. Reality underscored the horned mutant's utter incapacity to make contact with the ethereal form of the Divine butterfly.
Seizing on the revelation implied by "five seconds," Alex, having discerned its significance, spoke up with a playful grin.
"It appears your hypothesis wasn't accurate," he remarked to Kain.
Unperturbed by Kain's lack of enthusiasm, Alex continued, unfurling a more audacious theory.
"Shall I present you with an even more outlandish notion? Do you know what uncertainty is?"
"Huh?" Kain's countenance displayed a mix of bemusement and intrigue.
Amusement danced in Alex's eyes as he pressed on, elucidating his conjecture.
"The clones that confronted the horned mutant weren't mere illusions; they were genuine manifestations, each representing a distinct position the Divine butterfly could have occupied. Upon your decision to launch an attack, the Divine Butterfly shifted its position to an alternative location where it would remain unscathed.
"The moment the decision has been made, the location of the Divine butterfly became firm. Usually, it took the horned beast five seconds to make that decision. But not the other way around.
"So, it could always dodge the attack without much problem. It was a rigged game from the start. And obviously, in front of a being that could see the future, you lost." Alex rubbed it in and gloated with the last sentence.
"You can never touch it unless you target her." Alex gave the clue while pointing at Chitra who was immersed in absorbing the information. Tears were falling from her eyes as she absorbed the information.
But due to Alex's words, the interest of Kain and the horned mutant was once again directed towards her.
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