My Soul card is a Reaper-Chapter 1009: Dreams of the Past: The Reaper’s counterattack

The clones stood over them, unscathed.

The originals had been lost.

And their own reflections had won.

As Rael's breath came in ragged gasps, he felt the cold steel of his own scythe press against his throat. Clone-Rael's expression remained unreadable, yet there was something eerie in his empty stare. "How weak," he muttered.

Eon, still trapped in the loop, fought to break free. She focused her energy, trying every variation of movement, but no matter what she did, she was flung back to the start. The laughter of her doppelgänger echoed in her mind. "You're just a shadow of what I am," clone-Eon taunted, watching her struggle. "Your hesitation makes you weak."

Rael didn't seem to be done yet, despite his body condition. He tried to get up but then his clone stretched the scythe above his head, and unleashed another soul skill without any hesitation.

"Soul skill: Rain of Death."

A dark cloud formed above everyone's heads and the black rain started falling. The first black droplets began to fall, sizzling against the ruins. The clones stepped back, unaffected, while Rael and Eon remained exposed to the merciless downpour.

"Argh…"

Rael bit back a scream as the corrosive rain burned his wounds, sapping his strength even further.

Meanwhile, inside the time loop;

Eon grabbed her brother and jumped back while twisting the hourglass mid-air, trying to unleash the soul skill before her clone.

Suddenly, she started to feel extreme pain all over her body. She couldn't launch the skill and plopped to the ground, rolling on the ground while screaming in pain. Rael, the figure generated from the figment of her imagination, rushed to her and shielded her body from his counterpart's energy slash.

Rael's back was cut down and blood streamed down like a river. Yet, his attention was on Eon. "Eon… Eon… wake up… what's happening… Eon…"

"Argh…" Eon felt like her body was thrown into a pool of acid. She looked fine, but she was feeling the pain of the aftereffects happening to her real body.

"Brother, help me…" As Eon stretched her hand, pleading for help, Rael grabbed her hand and poured his soul energy into her mindscape.

Suddenly, both of their bodies were enveloped by a blinding flash of light and flew to each other.

Cracks started appearing in the surroundings as if there was a barrier around.

The Time Loop cracked. Her body jolted forward into the reality. Just as she regained movement and immediately pushed her soul energy outward, creating a barrier around her and her brother in order to block the Black Rain, clone-Eon also moved forward, ready with her hourglass.

But this time, Eon acted faster.

"Soul skill: Chrono Rewind."

A desperate move, but not one that would reset the entire battlefield. Only Rael to roughly a couple of minutes ago.

Rael found his wounds healed, and his soul energy returned, although the cooldown timer for the used soul skills wasn't reset. He was standing tens of meters away, outside the range of the black rain.

"Eon…"

Rael saw Eon was protecting herself from the black rain. He became serious. His eyes once again turned pitch black. The Clone-Rael ignored Eon and charged forward, freeing her from the black rain. "Soul skill: Slice of Death."

"Soul Absorption."

Both skills were unleashed at the same time.

A dense arc of energy shot through Rael's shoulder, the force blasting him tens of meters. Blood splattered onto the ruined ground. However, at the same time, soul energy left the clone rapidly and was absorbed into Rael's body.

"It's useless," Clone-Rael said coldly as his soul energy almost became empty in no time. "Your best efforts mean nothing."

"Soul Absorption."

Rael gasped, as the soul energy in his body seeped away and started returning to his clone instead.

"Prepare to die…" The clone raised the scythe, enveloped by its soul energy.

Just as it was about to swing, the time was frozen in the surroundings.

The hourglass was floating above Eon and the white sands of time rapidly fell onto the other side.

Eon rose up and charged forward through the black rain, which was frozen in time, sliding down to reach her brother and grabbing his hand by the time everything around was unfrozen.

Eon's clone smirked. "It is useless." She flicked her wrist, twisting the hourglass, and was about to unleash the soul skill, Chrono Rewind, but before it was launched onto them, the siblings were enveloped by the glow, followed by a blinding flash of light.

When the light disappeared, Eon and Rael were no more. Instead, there was a specter standing before their eyes with an hourglass floating around and carrying the death scythe in his hand.

The clones seemed taken aback by the transformation, their brows furrowed seriously.

The Reaper looked at the clones and spoke. "I don't remember giving you permission to use my powers."

*Snap*

With a simple snap from the Reaper's skeletal finger, the death scythe and the hourglass summoned by the clones disappeared on their own.

The clones of Eon and Rael exchanged their glances and charged forward. The Reaper casually swung down the scythe, releasing six arcs of death energy in different directions.

They were launched at the incoming clones at a speed that they couldn't evade them.

Both clones blasted away hundreds of meters and crashed to the ground. The Reaper slowly floated in the air and turned into a blur, reaching them in almost an instant. "Return to your form, Doppelganger. Or else, I will erase your existence for good."

The clones suddenly transformed into a mass of dark energy, flying back for a bit and merging to form a gooey dark slime. The creature trembled in fear, staring at the specter.

The Reaper stretched his skeletal hand, conjuring concentrated energy of death, giving a sure death to anyone touched by the attack. "So, will you order it to return, or should I send it to nothingness, Marduk?" He spoke aloud.

It was at this moment a voice echoed in the surroundings. "Doppelganger, return."

The gooey slime-looking creature transformed into specks of light and disappeared as soon as the order was given. And then, a staircase to the sky appeared before the Reaper. At the end, there was a giant door. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The Reaper silently stared at the door for a while before dismissing the weapons and letting out a sigh. "Well, the kids should be the ones to face that being sitting on the other side of that door."

The blinding flash of light enveloped the Reaper for a moment and the siblings separated, lying unconscious on the ground.