After that, the copy of Isabella kicks her in the stomach. Next, with the pommel of her sword, she hits Isabella's face, almost sending her teeth flying and leaving a purple mark.
Then the copy grabs her by her leather light armor, looks her in the face, and says: "You are nothing, Isabella. You aren't worthy of being the heiress of the Skylion family, even though you had resigned your position."
The copy throws Isabella against a tall shelf, breaking it, and Isabella quickly gets up and runs, trying to grab back her sword.
But the copy will not let her do it. Even if Isabella has used two movement techniques, the copy reacts faster and intercepts her, grabbing her head and stomping it into the floor.
Only to say afterwards: "You are not even worthy of being the daughter of Cecilia and Johan! Poor your mom. She was really good with you, taught you everything she knew, only for you to fail to do it. Even your father's teaching was wasted on you!"
Subsequently, she drags Isabella through the floor. Isabella tries enduring the pain, but she can't help letting out a small sound of pain: "Ah!"
The copy, smiling at her, says: "This hurts you? Oh, the crying girl wants her mommy and daddy."
Then she throws Isabella against a statue. Isabella reacts even before the impact, using the Sky Lion's Wind Armor technique, partially avoiding hitting the statue.
Even so, she feels a hit in the back, again letting out another sound of pain: "Argh."
The copy uses the Sky Lion's Charge. Isabella remembers her practice with Feicui Long and evades it by sliding through her copy's legs.
Then she starts to run to her sword. The copy, with wind wings, pursues her and quickly grabs her by the hair. Isabella kicks her copy, but the copy also grabs her leg.
After this, the copy slams down Isabella against the floor and takes her by the neck and begins to strangle her, while she starts speaking again: "This is the woman who wants to marry a god? Bff, what a sad sight, a broken woman with a broken god. I'm going to marry him and make him my tool to conquer the original Skylion family's territory of this continent. No, I will conquer this universe."
Isabella is angered by hearing this and kicks her in the abdomen, covered by cyan energy and wind.
The copy blocks the attack with her wind armor and increases the strength.
Isabella starts turning red. Seeing this, the copy says: "Are you angry? He is going to be mine, my little puppet. I'm the only one worthy of him, not a failure like you."
Isabella, fully enraged, kicks her again, but this time is different. She squeezes some words out of her mouth, saying: "WIND IMPACT."
The kick resembles a technique too similar to another technique she has seen sometime in the past.
The copy is launched into the air. Isabella runs to her sword. When she is almost grabbing it, she says: "Don't you dare to mention him, vile copy of me, I'll kill you!"
But something shocks her, as she feels an arm grab her hand, the same arm that is supposed to grab the sword.
Her copy says: "You surprise me, you completed a new technique in the middle of combat, out of pure rage, but that's all."
The copy launches Isabella into the air and says: "You don't see your situation, Isabella. You are a failure in everything you do. You failed to be a worthy heiress, you failed to be a worthy disciple, failed to learn the family techniques, failed to awaken your bloodline, failed to make a man fall in love with you."
Then the copy continues: "You are a disappointment. You can only disappoint all the people who trust in you, your party, your friend, your family, your fiancé. Why are you still fighting? There's nothing you can do to me. I'm you, but better in everything."
After saying that, the copy grabs Isabella's sword: "Failure after failure, disappointment after disappointment, what is the point in that life of yours? Are you truly happy living that life?"
Isabella sees this and opens her eyes as the copy is taking the sword from the ground.
The copy continues her diatribe: "Aren't you tired of being the mockery of destiny? Aren't you tired of the cruel jokes of this life?"
Then the copy adds: "So, let me free you, let me liberate you from your cage, ISABELLA, from your charge. This cruel life is not something that should be supported. Your grandfather, your family, all of your ancestors who died a terrible death and had a cruel fate. Let me end everything here with you!"
Subsequently, pointing the sword at Isabella, the copy starts chanting a technique: "Oh winds, oh winds, my loyal subordinate, come, come, your queen is calling you! Come to bring destruction and death to the endless enemies, devastating and obliterating my enemies in the trail of your way! Sky Lion's Tornado!"
But nothing happens. No, something does happen. The sword in the hand of the copy releases a spark, burning the hand of the copy, making her say: "Dammit, this trash can't recognize me even if I am a perfect copy."
Seeing this, Isabella extends her hands in that direction, and the sword that fell behind the copy starts to move, until Isabella screams: "COME TO ME, LIONESS EMPRESS OF THE NORTH!"
The sword quickly answers the call of her legitimate owner, cutting the copy in the side by accident on its way.
Although this may seem like a comeback, and in part it is, Isabella knows she is at a disadvantage. Not only is she more injured than her copy, but also her mental state is worse, much worse.
She has always been living with these insecurities, trying to ignore them, but in the deepest part of her mind and her dreams, they always come back and torment her life.
After recovering the sword and landing carefully, Isabella goes on the offensive. Because of her injuries, she needs to defeat her or at least take the lead.
The copy angrily confronts her attacks and says: "You think because you recovered your sword, now you can take me out? That's a dream, Isabella. You don't have what's necessary to do it. You're weak, a failure, trash, only a mere nuisance to me."
Isabella tries to ignore it, to ignore all the copy is saying or is going to say in the future, so she continues her attacks. The clash of swords continues, and continues, again and again.
…
The fight continues for an hour, Isabella and the copy clash their swords, sending each one backward.
Isabella takes a breath of air and starts sending Sky Lion's Slash, one after another. The copy does the same.
The copy says: "Enough, Isabella! Don't you see? You are only prolonging your suffering, hurting yourself and hurting me with your futile resistance."
Isabella runs and clashes her sword with the copy. The sound of metal clashing starts to ring out again, and the copy then questions Isabella: "Why?! Why, Isabella?! Why do you do this to yourself? Why do you keep fighting? Don't you see you're hurt? Don't you see you're broken?"
The copy, furious, hits so strongly that she almost disarms Isabella again and says: "Is it for your family? That bad family, the same who despises you? Don't you remember how the other members of the Sky Lion family, the ones in the other towns and villages, see you? How the little brother that you protected so much treats you? Or how your other younger brother, the one who replaced you in the heiress position, mocks you in front of you?!"
The copy again hits the sword and adds: "Even your mother and father, who love you so much, see you with pity and sorrow."
Isabella tries to reply: "No... it's not like..."
But gets interrupted by another attack, and the voice of the copy sounds: "Don't try to deny it! You saw it with your own eyes! I remember how you cried, night after night! Why did you have to endure that pain?! Why did you have to carry that load on your back?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAVE THIS UNGRATEFUL FAMILY?!"
Isabella begins again to lose ground, and the copy continues her ruthless attacks, physical, energy, and psychological ones.
She says: "Or is it because of your friends? The same ones who abandoned you after your fiancé used you? The same ones who slept with your fiancé and even knew his vile plan? The same ones who only joined your party because your disguise attracted them? Or the ones who used your position to improve their family's status in the barony and the town?!"
Isabella elevates her sword and hits back, only to say next: "Andrea has no fault in that, don't involve her in this thing!"
The copy replies: "Those friends aren't worthy of you, of your kindness! Why defend them?!"
Isabella, to help herself in the fight, starts using Wind Impact and Wind Clash, the copies she creates in the middle of the battle are based on Feicui Long's techniques. The copy can't use the techniques; her knowledge obtained from Isabella is only the one from before the fight.
The copy knows Isabella's fighting style, so she can pair her predictions with Isabella's current advantage. While they are fighting, none of them can see a figure of a man in the back of the room, a man with platinum hair and red eyes, watching them and smiling.
Then the copy begins to speak again: "Or is it because of that lover of yours?! At least Garret pretended to be in love with you, that man doesn't even love you!"
Isabella quickly denies it: "No, that is not true!"
The copy refutes Isabella's response: "Stop trying to deny the truth! You know it, you know that man doesn't return your love and your displays of affection! He doesn't even try to pretend, doesn't even call you love, honey, or sweetie, only calls you Isabella or my wife, as if you were only an object to him!"
After saying that, the copy hits Isabella with the strongest attack, both physical and psychological, sending her backwards, and then the copy sends a Sky Lion Tempest.
If it weren't for Isabella using her Wind Armor technique, Wind Cape, and using the wind to cover herself, she could have died from this attack, but she is now too injured to continue the fight. She almost falls, only able to sustain herself thanks to her sword.
The copy again starts speaking: "Aren't you tired, Isabella, of this sad life, of this torture? The world, the universe, and existence itself hate us only because we are human, because we exist. They hate our Sky Lion family, they don't even recognize us as living beings, so why make the effort to continue, Isabella?"
The copy makes a pause and then continues: "Why don't you surrender? So we can finally rest in peace... Why don't you let me go?... I'm tired, Isabella, I'm tired of fighting, tired of existing, tired of living, tired of this hurt in my chest, tired of seeing you cry and cry, calling for me and you don't hear me, tired of this heavy load called the Sky Lion family, being the heiress of the Great Lion God Unbeatable."
The copy takes another pause and continues her speech briefly: "This existence loves hurting both of us. There's nothing of value for us in this life, so let's go, Isabella, let us both die."
The copy runs to kill Isabella...
Isabella can only see how she approaches, with her words hitting her soul and heart. She knows the copy has reason, always has been in the right. All of this is futile. Why is she keeping fighting so hard? Why is she hurting herself to help others? If even her family doesn't care, who cares about her? This world, this universe, this existence doesn't care about her and doesn't recognize her...
While thinking this, she remembers some words, the words of one man, a man that cried while hugging her. Even though that man can't express or feel love for her, he cries. A god cries for losing her.
This is the only one that recognizes her. No, she is wrong. Her father, who supports her in everything, accepts everything to help her recover her confidence and even tries to defy her mother to let her love a man. But also her mother, although she is a bit overprotective, only wants the best for her. That's why she accepted her resigning from being the heiress.
Also, her grandma and her grandpa from her father's side, and the grandma from her mother's side love her so much, even comforting her after being discarded like trash. Even her great uncle treats her like his granddaughter. Even her brothers, although one of them genuinely despises her, the one who took the heir's place, the other who has now grown up treats her well and with love. Her sisters also love her.
Although Freja only joined the party for being in love with her, their connection and the party's connection is not fake. Also, Andrea suffers much only for not saying her the truth, so the copy is wrong. She has so much left in this world, she can't die...
She can't die, for her ancestors, for her family, for her friends, for Feicui Long, but also for not letting this cruel existence win. She is going to teach existence that she is never going to kneel to the whims of destiny, to the whims of this existence. SHE'S A LION, SHE IS A LIONESS, SHE IS THE WIFE OF FEICUI LONG. MORE IMPORTANTLY, SHE IS ISABELLA SKYLION.
A burning hot heat comes from her body, a brilliant light is wrapping her with the warm embrace of a mother. She begins to recover visibly, even her sword starts changing. The head, with its maws wide open from which the blade emerges, moves away from that position, leaving the blade behind, and turns to face forward.
Isabella, quickly before the copy can react, says screaming: "OH PROUD LION, YOU WHO RISE HIGH IN THE HEAVENS, YOU WHO WALK AMONG GODS AND DRAGONS, SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND SHOW THE MORTALS YOUR MAJESTIC GLORY. REMIND THEM WITH YOUR MIGHTY ROAR WHY YOU ARE THE ONE WHO RULES THE SKIES, TRUE ROAR OF THE SKY LION!"
The mighty image of a lioness with white fur and some patches of platinum fur, like the one on the tail, with two big pure white wings, with claws and eyes of the same platinum color. The imposing image lets out a roar at full power, this makes the copy freeze for a moment.
Which Isabella takes advantage of, and with the little energy she has left, she uses a new skill: "Flashing Wind!"
This pushes Isabella so fast that she almost loses balance, but she quickly reacts and makes her final attack: "I'm the lion in the sky, the one who destroys the enemies of what is good. Fear me, sinful creatures, because my power pierces hell and the abyss, piercing your worthless bodies. Sky Wind Perforator!"
The sword of Isabella pierces the chest of the copy. Then Isabella looks at her face, the copy doesn't seem angry, on the contrary, the copy seems pleased.
The copy opens her mouth, letting out a cough of blood. She sees Isabella and says: "You, Isabella, I knew you could do it. I always believed in you, because I have always seen you."
Isabella also is not angry with her copy, on the contrary, she is sad, even letting out tears, and says: "You... why did you do this?"
The copy smiles and says: "Because I knew, if I didn't do it, you would never see what is in front of you..."
Isabella, crying harder, says: "But you didn't have to go through this pain..."
The copy laughs a little bit, "Hahaha," and then adds: "You know who I am, right? I'm you, Isabella. I grew with you, from a baby to a girl to a woman. I really hate seeing you cry..."
Then the copy wipes some of Isabella's tears. Isabella says: "Of course, I know you're part of me, but I also know the secret you're hiding."
The copy laughs a little louder: "Hahaha, then there's no point in hiding it. I'm proud of you, Isabella, as a part of you and as your grandfather. Seeing you grow well makes me so proud. But also... thanks for letting your grandfather complete his last wish, so don't cry, my little Isabella. Now I can finally go to reincarnation..."
Isabella bursts into tears and hugs the copy, saying while crying: "Grandpa, grandpa, I love you too, I love you too..."
Then the body of the copy starts to disintegrate into specks of light. Two parts separate: one forms a lion, like the one behind Isabella, the other part forms an old man. The lion enters the body of Isabella, and the old man caresses her head. Then a light carries his soul away.
Isabella can only cry, because she loses her grandfather again...
...
After a few minutes, a series of claps are heard from the back of the room. A man with platinum silver hair and ruby eyes approaches Isabella.