“We’re going to Boston first,” I said, as Abelino and I walked towards the portal. “It’s unlikely your clone stayed in Fayette City. I know someone who can help find your clone. I want to get this done as quickly as possible, too.”

Abelino nodded.

I contacted Uman in advance, so when we teleported in to Boston City, and arrived in the Hermes Whispers office, he was waiting for us.

Uman led me into a well-decorated office, where a teenage boy with greasy black hair was waiting for us. The boy was wearing nice clothes though—E-rank Magician’s Robes.

“This is Fredrick,” Uman said, gesturing to the boy. “Fredrick’s class is a Seeker. He’s the one on the case looking for your sister,” Uman said, nodding towards me. “He’s been jumping around various cities, but so far, no sign of her.”

I nodded towards Fredrick. I was a little leery of shaking hands, after the incident with General Scott.

“I have another job,” I said. “Hopefully a fast one. We are tracking this man’s clone.”

Fredrick looked surprised. “A clone? I didn’t know that’s was possible. Well, that’ll be easy. Just a few drops of blood.”

I nodded towards Abelino, and he silently drew a dagger and sliced open his left palm.

Uman caught three drops of blood in a mug that he pulled out from his Interdimensional Pouch, then he passed the mug to Fredrick.

“This man has many clones in the South American Zone,” I said. “But we are looking for any clones in North America.”

“South America? I didn’t know people had broken through the Zone barrier! Did they kill the Zone Lord?”

Fredrick asked the questions as he took the mug, but Uman gave him a pointed look, and he quieted down. Frederick took out a tome, similar to the one Alex used, and chanted over the petri dish for several minutes.

Abelino shifted impatiently.

Just a few minutes later, Fredrick spoke up again. “There are two clones,” he said, triumphantly. “One mostly south, and one Southwest.”

Uman laid a very large map of the United states down on the table in front of us, and Abelino traced two lines in pencil, starting in Boston continuing in a straight line, one through Texas, and one through Florida.

“Fayette’s Region, and Amarillo?” Uman asked.

“Probably,” Fredrick responded.

“We’ll have to try the same thing at Rebirth City,” Uman said. “To verify the clone’s location.”

It wouldn’t do to leave the capital city of the Zone named “The Crucible.” So the ex-Crucible members had settled on Rebirth City as the rebranded title of the Colorado city.

Uman had somehow retained his bedroom and an office space in Rebirth City. It was a surprise to me, that he still had some level of influence in the city, since he had opted out of joining Daybreak. The four of us—Abelino, Uman, Fredrick, and myself—stood in his office, with the same map spread out on the table.

Fredrick drew two lines, originating from Rebirth City, pointing out towards the location of Abelino’s clone.

“Fayette City in North Carolina, and Redson Town, in Texas,” Uman supplied. “You said the clone went directly to Fayette City?” I nodded.

“Then Fayette City is likely a trap. Redson Town could be an ambush, too, but that seems less likely. Go for Redson Town, first.”

I nodded at that logic.

“The nearest city near Redson Town is Amarillo. Fortunately, lots of people travel from Rebirth City to Amarillo City. You should be able to sneak in without too much trouble.”

The traveling was stressful and tedious, especially considering there was a war going on against the monsters outside of every city we visited. Abelino and I had to travel from Rebirth City to Amarillo City, and then from Amarillo City to Redson Town. I equipped my own Alias Ring, and Abelino gave me a mask that changed the shape of my face significantly, making me look older and slightly overweight.

Hearing the din of battle as I walked, disguised, through Redson, Texas, made me second-guess Dawnbreaker’s decision.

Wouldn’t it be better to wait until after this monster tide, before starting what could be a war against what was left of the government?

Of course, the government barely existed anymore—from the best I could piece together, it was the military that was running things anyway, there had been some kind of silent coup a while back. Nothing obvious—the President was still alive and well—but it was clear if you looked at who were the Town Mayors and City Lords (members of the Armed Forces). It was also clear that they were calling themselves the Armed Forces block. Not the US Government.

When the apocalypse strikes, democracy is the first luxury to disappear.

Walking through Redson Town, there were no ominous red flags that suggested that a mind-controlling member of the Mentalist Cooperative was here.

Maybe I was making a mountain out of a mole-hill. If this was a surgical strike, then maybe there was no need to see this as a declaration of war…

I followed Abelino into a nearby inn. He paid for a room without saying a word, and I followed him up the steps into the private room.

The moment Abelino started shimmering, I turned around.

I was under no delusions about his power. If this Abelino could make more than a dozen copies of himself, then I didn’t stand a chance in hell fighting him.

I figured I could at least give him the privacy to clone himself without prying eyes on him.

“I am ready,” Abelino said, just a minute later.

I turned, and saw twelve men in front of me. I was initially surprised, that they all looked different. One wore familiar D-rank armor, but the rest wore E-rank armor. Then I realized that it was probably a face mask, or some other covert item.

They started talking rapidly to each other in Spanish. Fortunately, thanks to the skill I had gained from the Imperial Scouts, I could still understand.

“One stays hidden. Two, Three, Four, and Five charge the building with Jarek. Six scouts. Everyone else secures the perimeter.”

I saw the various Abelino clones nodding their heads.

I glanced at the Abelino decked out in C-ranked armor. “What building? How do you know where to go?”

“When a clone fades, it chooses which version of me it wants to rejoin,” Abelino said. “I created a clone, and had it fade. When it faded, it sensed the direction of the remaining clones. Come with me.” Abelino led me out of the room, and when I turned around, I saw the other clones letting themselves out through the window.

We walked through the streets of Redson Town again, until we came upon a nondescript house. It was a Schema-built sturdy log cabin, like most other houses in the area. The only thing distinguishing it from the average house around it was that there was a faint Mana Shield surrounding it.

Abelino grabbed my shoulder. “You must deal the killing blow with your spirit sword. The clone must not rejoin with the other controlled clones, or this will all be for naught. If you give him the time, he will fade himself, and that part of my spirit will not die.”

“Understood,” I said.

For a second, we probably looked suspicious. I stood in the street in front of the house with the first Abelino.

Spread around the house—including crouching behind the fences of nearby houses—were other Abelinos. There was even someone on the rooftop of a nearby house, as well.

I could see a few passers-by stop walking and take out their Communication Amulets.

But our suspicious behavior only lasted a second.

Then, in a synchronized strike, four Abelino clones rushed up to the house and struck the windows of the house.

As I saw them strike, I put 100 mana into Agility, drew Ghost Biter, and rushed towards the door, with an activated E-rank Personal Mana Shield and a full set of equipment, and the Abelino clones hot on my heels.

The purpose of attacking the windows wasn’t to break through the windows—it was to quickly and efficiently deplete the Mana Shield surrounding the house.

The house’s Mana Shield shattered the moment the four Abelinos made their synchronized attack, and then I kicked the door down and rushed inside.

The house was small, with a kitchen, living room and dining room combined, and a bedroom off to the side.

The evil Abelino clone stood about ten feet away from me, in the living room.

As I entered the door, I immediately knew something was wrong. Mana Sensing functioned in 360 degrees, not just line-of-sight.

Which meant I could sense the surge of mana above my head, burgeoning out towards me.

I dove towards the clone in the living room, but even with over 100 Agility, I couldn’t outpace the mana explosion that had started above me from the moment I opened the door.

They were ready for us.

To my surprise, the mana enveloped my whole body without the slightest feeling of pain, reminiscent of a shield around me. It didn’t even activate my personal Mana Shield that was already surrounding my body

The mana made no effort to stop my movement towards Abelino, who was waiting with a drawn sword.

Samantha said.

Before I could ask what that meant, the mind-controlled Abelino clone attacked me. It looked like every movement he made was fast-forwarded. One minute, he was standing by a sofa, and the next, his blade was sliding towards my right wrist.

I didn’t even have time to add points to Physical Defense when his blade shattered my E-rank Personal Mana Shield at my wrist with a loud crack.

I raised Ghost Biter and backed away, back towards the door, but Abelino was faster than I was. His second strike sliced directly through my Bloodied Battle Robes, and then through my wrist.

“Fuck!” I shouted in shock, glancing at the stump of my wrist in front of me. I had been through my share of painful experiences, in the last week. But this topped the list.

Samantha shouted in my brain. In my pain, I hadn’t noticed that the combat shadow was already out the door, back at the street.