Chapter 264.

  Hatori watched as a flamboyantly dressed man emerged from the trees. His eyes were different colors, and he was carrying the baton of an orchestral instructor.

  "Your senses are quite impressive!" He said as a compliment. "I used to know someone who was just like you. He taught me how to sense as well."

  "Clearly." Said Hatori. He is surprised at how completely this guy hid himself from his senses. Only someone who is an expert in the art of magical sensing can do that.

  "It shouldn't be so surprising though." Said Hatori. "I met a group. Your alternate was part of that group. In my experience, people with significant power are the only ones who get multiple alternates. Others are lucky enough if they encounter just one."

  "Probably. Though I won't know about it much." Said the man.

  "Now, mind telling me why are you following me?" Asked Hatori, deciding to get to the point directly. Things are heating up. He does not have much time to dally around anymore.

  "I sense something interesting about you. quite a collection you've got there, isn't it?" He said in reply.

  A moment later, Hatori said. "You also have one."

  "Maybe. But do you think I'll surrender my possession so easily?" He asked.

  "Of course not." Said Hatori, easily dismissing the illusion cast upon him. 'He did that merely with his voice. He must have some real talent then.' He thought.

  Hatori replied with multiple fireballs, which homed in the position of his enemy, who was impolite to not introduce himself. Personally, this narrator thinks it is the fault of the author, for trying to keep things needlessly mysterious. Readers know already who this is... Ahem.

  The opponent tapped his feet in a rhythm, and a guizer of water explodes from the ground. It doused the fire immediately. Deciding to go on the offence, the baton disappears, and the damaru of all instruments took its place. The alternate grabbed it from its handle, and with a flick of his wrist, started to play a rhythm.

  When the world started to spin, Hatori realized it was another illusion. But when he broke through it and found himself nearly eaten by carnivorous trees, he realized something else. 'A multi-layered one!'

  He shut down all his senses, and used his pure magic senses. He started to tap his own feet, which actually made the forest come alive. The trees start to dance, and assault the alternate. The Damaru stopped playing, and the illusion was broken. Once everything calmed down, the alternate walked out of the rearranged forest.

  "You can play the same game, it seems." He said in amazement.

  "Sure. Tell me something. What is your goal?" Asked Hatori. "Why do you want to collect all these fragments?"

  "I don't have any particular goal." He said to him in reply. "As long as I can kill the gods, I am happy."

  "Then why are you fighting me?" Asked Hatori. "I am no god. You should join me. Together, we will collect all the fragments, kill anyone who gets in our way, and of course, eradicate all the gods across the universe."

  "You seem like an honest man." Said the alternate. "Sure. As a good faith, here." He took out the fragment and threw it to Hatori.

  Hatori caught it and put it in the storage. "I think it is a start of wonderful relationship. Don't you think, Shin?"

  "You know my name?" He asked in surprise.

  "Of course." They start to walk away from this freshly rearranged forest. "We raised hell together."

  Shin realized from the tone that there were many regrettable memories with his alternate. "Where are we going, Hatori?" He asked. 'Too can play that game.' He thought.

  Hatori chuckled. 'It seems our destinies are entangled with each other, no matter where we are.' Thinks Hatori to himself. "We need to track down some pests." Was his reply.

  Hatori and his group arrived in a different reality. "I can sense the fragment. It is not moving yet." Said Hatori.

  "Does that mean we won't have to fight?" Asked Raven.

  "Let's get there before coming to any conclusions." Suggested James.

  They walked in the direction where they sensed their target. By this time, everyone has gotten good enough to sense these broken jewels, but unlike Hatori, their range is limited. Shin is the only one who can sense across realities like him. Hatori is also annoyed that none of them are picking up flying.

  "Some sorcerers you are." He said to them with a sneer.

  Having gotten used to his behavior over the years, none of them reacted to his insult.

  "Wait..." Said Hatori and Shin together, before a large explosion occurred. Hatori shielded everyone with a large golden shield, while Samay watched in worry.

  "Dammit. I hate it when that happens to us. Not when I do it to my enemies though." Grumbled Raven.

  An ambush starting with an explosion is the best thing in his book. It disorients and terrifies the opponents, kills off several fighters right from the get-go, and provides initiative to the attacking side.

  Luckily for them, Hatori shielded them, so they were not injured. They are also very experienced at this point, so they are not running around like headless chickens. However, the disorientation is the same, and Hatori is the only one who is not affected, likely because of his sound-related modifications.

  'I should have listened to him.' Thought Raven and Josh were together.

  "Heads up." Said Hatori, warning them of another attack.

  A large number of yantras marched up to them and started to attack them. A tall figure watches this attack taking place from behind the army, though Hatori recognized the face.

  "Dammit James, why are you betraying us?" He asked the person next to him.

  "I am not." James rubbed his forehead. Why must he be accused of the crimes of his alternate?

  "If it is an army you want, an army you'll get!" Said Hatori. With a puff of smoke, a large squad of battle-ready yantras appears above Hatori, ready to attack from the air.

  Once the bombardment began, the alternate James released his own air battlers, and Hatori responded by releasing his own foot soldiers. "Dammit. The numbers are not on our side." He turns to James. "Where are your machines?"

  "Not here. I couldn’t prepare them on time." Said James.

  "Curses! We have to fight the hoard ourselves then." Said Raven.

  "You do that, I'll handle their controller." Said Hatori. "If you are done early, then join me."

  "That's a good plan." Said Josh, agreeing with the strategy, before they jumped into the battle.

  Hatori flew up in the air and attacked James from his higher possession. His army is too busy to attack the open target in the air, as the four mages are proving to be too much for the magical robots to handle on their own. Thus, the alternate is stuck dealing with his flying opponent on his own.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He dodged the shower of fist-size flames, followed by the large block of ice which exploded for some reason. "How are you doing that?"

  "Magic," Hatori replied from the air. "You have the fragment, don't you? You managed to hid from my sensing. Impressive."

  "It will be more impressive when I kill you." He said in a cold tone, before taking flight himself.

  "See? See? Even he understands the importance of flight. You lazy asses are not working hard enough!" Said Hatori to his friends, who are still dealing with the army. It might be easy to battle these yantras, but their numbers are large so it is taking them a while to eradicate the army and come and help him.

  "You should pay more attention to your surroundings." Said the alternate of James in a chiding tone, before his hand extended and grabbed Hatori.

  Hatori is dragged closer to him, and the alternate punches him and launches him into the sky. He smiled afterward. He forgot how satisfying punching someone can feel. But his smile is wiped off of his face when several million volts of electricity are streamed through his body.

  He crashed on the ground, unable to stay flying. His body kept sparking after that large shock. "Like it? I designed it myself." Said Hatori, landing close to him, not affected by the punch at all. "Quite a nifty machine you are. But that is the problem with machines."

  He picked the alternate up. "Their motions are limited and precise. Once the system is disrupted, they stop working." Hatori shook his head. "You don't have any redundant systems either. Such a shame. I'll make sure my own friend does not make the same mistakes. But then again, he is not a machine like you."

  "The hell do you know?" James disassembles into multiple parts, and these parts take the shape of sharp-looking blades. They pierce Hatori but shatter on contact.

  "More than you at least." Said Hatori. "Time to end this."

  Another shock, more powerful and containing more electricity than the previous one later, the alternate James stopped moving. The army of magical machines in the air crashed on the ground. The ones on the land stopped moving altogether.

  Hatori sensed the fragment, and he unraveled the storage dimension where the alternate of James stored the broken jewel. "Guys, I have our target. Let's leave."

  Unknown to everyone in the group, two people are watching them from the shadows. "Phew. It took us a while to track these pests." said the alternate Hatori.

  "Should we attack them?" Asked the alternate Shin.

  "Not yet. Let's wait. Let them exhaust themselves. Once they let their guard down, then we will pounce upon them." Hatori said to his partner.

  "Quite an impressive army he has." Commented Shin, once the alternate brought out the yantras.

  "I know. I've been the victim of his attack before." Said Hatori.

  They saw Hatori bring out his own machine army to battle the larger one. They witnessed the battle between the two alternates. Just when Hatori declared his success, the duo of alternates moved and pounced upon them exactly according to their plan.

  "What the hell? Where did you come from?" Asked Josh, before a strong gust of wind tossed him aside like he was nothing.

  James and Raven are caught off guard, and they do not have any time to cast their destructive battle spells before they are knocked out after seeing the world spinning.

  Josh, who was not put aside so easily comes with a Tsunami of water, but the alternate Shin put his hand on the water, and conducted the sound waves through the liquid, assaulting Josh who half way sank in his own conjured water. After he loses consciousness, he dropped in the water completely.

  The alternate quickly brushed aside the layer of illusions, though he quickly reacted with his own music once a haunting melody started to play on the battlefield. Shin, part of Hatori's group loses his focus. He couldn't play the right notes so his magic is disrupted. Taking advantage of this chance, the alternate appears before him in a display of speed and knocks him out with a punch to his head.

  He started to flex his hand after doing so. "What a hard head." He smirked. "But nothing else can be expected from me after all."

  While the alternate Shin is dismantling the group, Hatori is busy dealing with his own alternate. Both of them decide to reach for their strongest magic: the lightning. Unfortunately, it turns out that they are equal in the art.

  So, the alternate Hatori decides to change the battle. He brought out a small drum which was hanging from his neck, and he started to play a beat with the wooden stick in his hand.

  The illusion could not get a grasp on Hatori's mind. "Looks like you've got quite a paranoid mind." Said the alternate. "You keep slipping through my hands like water."

  Hatori responded by clapping in a rhythm of his own, which resulted in an earthquake. The alternate jumped away, but when he landed on the ground, he sank in the ground up to his waist. "The hell?"

  "I might not be an expert in the magic of music, but I've picked up some tricks from the best one." The ground turns into a pit filled with oil, and the alternate Hatori drops inside with a plop. "Have fun."

  The alternate Hatori was worried for a moment, before watching his partner standing behind his opponent. He then hears the haunting melody prepared by Shin for this exact enemy. He extracted himself from the pit, while the music continued to play. Hatori the alternate feels nostalgia after listening to the theme.

  'No wonder they played it all the time. It is such a powerful piece of music.' He thought to himself.

  Hatori, who is an alternate, but the protagonist of this story, swayed on his feet. He shrugged off the illusions created by his alternate, but this is no illusion. It is affecting his mind purely through music. His mind is getting tangled up, like two mixed-up lines in braille. Or various programming languages getting mixed up in his head. He falls backward after he can think no more.

  Shin makes a move to retrieve him, but Samay intervenes. They all teleport away, while the duo look on. "Should we go after them?" Asked Shin.

  "Nah, let them run. We got what we wanted." Said Hatori. "Let's leave them for a while, shall we?"

  "Sure. Whatever you say. I would need to prepare myself when we face them again. Same tricks won't work on them twice." Said Shin.

  "Don't you worry about a thing." Said Hatori, while punching a hole in the fabric of reality. "They won't know what hit them next time either."

  Meanwhile, on a magical duplicate of Earth, everything is running smoothly. The market has just opened up in the City of Throne, and the city is starting its activity after the dawn of the sun.

  Until a large explosion takes place right in the center of the market, and the peace is shattered. Men march out of the portal and quickly establish their control over the market area. The police are not ready for this military invasion. Another man walks out of the portal, watching the proceeding events with great interest.