"Duplicate Mia!"
Blake's eyes flicked toward Jack when the card in his hand glowed white. The distraction lasted less than a second, but it was more than enough.
Mia lunged. Her sword caught the light and flashed, aiming for Blake's chest.
Flames burst from his arms, snapping into whips that curled around her blade. The backlash cracked the air like a cannon. Heat exploded, throwing her across the asphalt. She tumbled until her back struck hard, her sword spinning away with a metallic clang.
Blake's grin widened. He raised one molten claw, fire bleeding off its edge. "Pathetic, Fencer."
Then suddenly, the sound of steel cutting fire split the night.
One of his flaming arms shredded apart, sparks scattering. He jerked back in shock.
A figure dropped from the smoke, landing between him and the fallen Mia.
Jack blinked hard through the haze.
It was Mia, or someone who resembles her. Her uniform bore the same scorch marks, her face carried the same dirt and blood, but her posture was straight, blade lifted without a tremor. She looked unhurt, steady in a way the real Mia no longer was.
The injured Mia coughed and forced herself upright on an elbow. Her voice cracked. "Who… who are you?"
The newcomer's tone was flat, mechanical. "Not you. I'm a duplicate."
Jack's throat tightened at the word. Duplicate.
Blake's burned grin split wider as he turned towards Jack's direction. "So this is your Miracle, boy? Copies?"
Jack did not respond. He has no idea what's going on.
The madman in flames barked out a jagged laugh. "What a dumb trick. You think more bodies will save you?"
The laughter deepened, echoing until it filled the night.
The battlefield itself seemed to respond. Every flame, from burning scraps of wreckage, pools of fire eating at the asphalt, even the embers drifting on the wind, pulled inward. They bent toward Blake as if dragged by gravity.
The air warped with heat. The ground trembled.
The fire rushed into him, climbing over his arms and shoulders, then spilling upward like molten armor. The blaze wrapped around his body, thickening, spreading, growing larger and larger.
Within moments the scattered flames had fused into a giant stitched from fire, its veins glowing red, its claws burning white-hot. Its hollow eyes lit like furnaces.
Blake stood at its center, visible through the translucent inferno, suspended in the monster's chest like a heart of living flame. His grin glared through the fire, wild and jagged.
"This is what a real Miracle looks like!" his voice thundered, layered by the roar of the flames. "Come burn with me!"
Jack pressed back against a tree, every breath searing his lungs. His clothes clung to his skin with sweat.
The duplicate's gaze stayed fixed on the giant. "We can kill it. With Star Blade mode."
The real Mia staggered to her feet, clutching her side. "I tried already. I don't have the stamina left."
"Then I will," the duplicate said. "I'm only a shadow. It doesn't matter if I drain all my stamina."
She didn't wait for a reply. "Distract him. I'll finish it."
Mia gritted her teeth, nodding once. "You'd better finish him."
She sprinted.
"Hellfire's Arteries!" Blake's roar rattled windows.
Tendrils erupted from the giant's body, a storm of molten chains lashing in every direction. Each strike cracked the pavement, glowing fissures spreading underfoot.
Mia dashed through them, her sword a blur of steel. She severed one whip, ducked beneath another, then parried a third as sparks showered across her. Each cut cost her breath, her body pushed beyond its limit.
Blake's hysterical laughter rolled from inside the giant. "That's it, Fencers! Dance for me!"
More flame tendrils burst forth, writhing like serpents. They lashed from the ground, from the giant's shoulders, even from the cracks in its chest.
The duplicate Mia kept pace, her sword stretching longer, glowing brighter with each clash. She hacked down whips that slipped past the real Mia, carving paths through the chaos. Each strike was perfect, efficient, unhesitating.
But the giant's storm pressed harder. Even together, the two Mias began to falter. Their swings slowed, their defenses strained.
Jack's pulse thundered in his ears. If they kept this up, they would collapse. They need a distraction.
He pushed off from cover without thinking and started running towards the chaos. Fire slammed down around him, the heat searing his skin, but he didn't stop.
He lifted his hand high, a square of light gleaming in his palm.
Blake froze. His molten eyes widened, the giant itself halting as he stared. "Another card…?" His voice cracked with disbelief. "Another Miracle?!"
The tendrils shuddered in mid-air, the entire giant hesitating.
Jack shouted with every shred of his voice. "Heavenly Falling Sword!"
For one frozen instant, it worked. Blake's head tilted skyward, as if expecting divine judgment. His snarl faltered.
Then his gaze dropped back down.
The light was nothing but a phone screen, brightness cranked to full.
Blake's face twisted with rage. "You miserable little insect. You tricked me with a smartphone?"
Every whip convulsed, converging on Jack with murderous intent.
"Now!" Mia's cry rang across the battlefield.
Her sword blazed white. She darted forward, severing the storm of tendrils in one sweeping arc. Sparks exploded outward, a wall of light cutting through the heat.
Her voice thundered with the strike. "Star Slash!"
Blake snarled from within the giant, his manic laughter cracking apart. "It won't matter! I'll grow more..."
The night sky tore open.
Mia's duplicate dropped from above, her blade enormous, blazing like a white plasma rod. Tendrils lashed upward to intercept, but she cleaved through them mid-fall, arcs of light burning trails across the night. Sparks rained as she drove closer, her momentum unstoppable.
Her voice rang clear and final.
"Star Slash Alpha!"
The sword crashed down, splitting the giant's skull in a single devastating strike. Flames unraveled, bursting into an ocean of embers. The night lit like dawn come too soon.
Jack shielded his face against the glare, heat tearing at his skin. His lungs dragged in smoke, his hand still gripping the useless phone.
When the smoke cleared, he lowered his arm and stared.
Mia's duplicate stood in a sea of dying flames, her blade still burning bright. Every movement radiated absolute precision, every line of her form etched in the dull fire glow.
Jack's breath stuck in his throat.
She wasn't just a copy.
She was a miracle.
And she had carved a monster in half.