Multiversal Livestreaming System : I Can Copy My Viewers Skills-Chapter 86: A Dangerous Game of Tag

Celestia clapped her hands together sharply.

A pulse of authority surged through the air as the space between her and Elaric stretched...

The catacombs warped unnaturally, expanding as if reality itself were being pulled apart at the seams.

What was once a few meters widened into dozens!

Elaric raised an eyebrow, amused.

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She was trying to create distance... Desperately.

She couldn't let him close nor could she allow him to touch her... or the puppets she controlled.

Because if he did…

Then Elaric would begin analyzing the mana pathways she used to jump from vessel to vessel.

He would isolate the core resonance frequency, track its repeating pattern...

And from there, trace it back to her real body.

No. That cannot happen.

'I can't risk it as of now.'

She thought grimly.

'It's best to retreat.'

She reached inward, focusing on the connection tethering her consciousness to the corpses.

She willed the link to sever—

But instead of fading... the thread thickened!

A sudden surge of mana shot through the link, like vines wrapping tighter around her mind.

Her eyes widened in alarm.

The connection between her and the puppets had grown stronger.

Elaric smiled, slow and deliberate. His voice was as casual as if he were lecturing a student.

"You see, Celestia… Your puppets are extensions of your will, projected through a specific mana wavelength. Ordinarily, it's a one-way current."

He gestured absently to the air, like tracing patterns on an invisible blackboard.

"But I introduced an artificial mana loop into the field... a reverse-cascade of my own understanding."

"Essentially, I reflected your signature frequency back into the tether, with enough matching data to cause sympathetic resonance."

His smile widened.

"You tried to sever it. But because my understanding aligned with your intent before your decision was complete... the link stabilized instead. Now, you're reinforcing the connection from both ends."

Celestia's breath caught.

If she didn't act fast, he wouldn't just trace the mana back to her.

He could invert the connection... extract memories, locations, thoughts!

She'd be exposed!

Without waiting another second, she snapped her fingers.

Her puppets sprang to life and scattered in all directions... Through the tunnels, broken archways, decaying stairwells.

A flurry of movement, like a nest of birds suddenly taking flight.

A calculated spread.

He couldn't follow all of them!

But Elaric didn't move.

He simply watched, his hands folded behind his back, eyes reflecting cold amusement...

Like a man watching dominos fall in slow motion.

And then—

They stopped.

Every puppet froze mid-motion.

One, halfway up a staircase.

Another, buried within a crumbling hallway.

Several others, caught mid-lunge... arms outstretched, weapons raised, expressions blank.

Still as death.

"Dead bodies aren't supposed to move after all."

Elaric's voice echoed softly through the distorted space, almost absentminded.

As if what he said was just an afterthought… not a declaration of control.

Celestia's eyes narrowed.

'I see now…'

She thought grimly.

'The reason he kept talking, explaining everything so deliberately… it wasn't for my benefit. It was bait. He was forcing me and my puppets to linger in place long enough for him to analyze them...'

This time, Elaric said nothing.

He simply reached a hand toward the nearest puppet, his gaze calm, focused.

Though he still couldn't move as Celestia took away his ability to walk due to her Authority....

But he didn't need to.

He could just bring the puppet to him.

Mana twisted around his fingers as the nearest puppet was drawn forward.

Slowly... Obediently....

Its hands rose, inches away from Elaric's own.

Then—

Its appearance changed.

The puppet's flesh warped and reshaped into a woman with long black hair, silver and red eyes glowing with faint amusement.

Celestia had switched places with her puppet!

Elaric's eyes widened slightly.

He tried to pull back, to avoid contact—

But it was too late!

Their hands touched.

And in that instant—

BOOM!

A violent blast erupted from Elaric's side.

Chunks of his shoulder and stomach tore free in an instant, scattering through the air like splattered glass.

The force sent him stumbling sideways, his expression still composed, but his body clearly damaged.

Celestia raised her hand to finish it.

But Elaric's remaining arm shot forward...

Grabbing her by the shoulder!

"Like this?"

He said evenly.

Then her arms detonated.

Both limbs exploded into shards of blood and bone, launching her backward across the hall.

She crashed into a cracked wall with a sickening crunch, her "body" slumping from the impact.

Celestia coughed violently.

Blood spilled from her lips as she forced herself to sit upright.

She locked eyes with Elaric and managed a weak, sardonic smile.

"Indeed… you really do counter my abilities far too well."

Elaric tilted his head slightly, expression unreadable.

"Counter? Surely you jest. I personally think it's just because you're not using your authority very well."

Celestia chuckled dryly through the pain.

"Oh? And what makes you so sure I'm not simply faking it? To keep you from truly understanding me?"

She smirked despite the blood trailing from her mouth.

"After all, if you did understand me so well… you wouldn't be struggling this much just to find me."

Elaric wasn't fazed. He blinked slowly, then gave a faint smile.

"You're right. But it doesn't matter."

His eyes gleamed.

"I'll find your true body. Sooner or later."

Celestia's expression didn't change.

"Hm. I wonder…"

She said softly.

"Between you and him, who exactly will find me first?"

Elaric paused.

"Him?"

He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Who—"

He didn't finish the question.

Because in that moment, his own blood turned on him.

The crimson liquid pouring from his wounds suddenly twisted, curling unnaturally.

Dozens of blades formed from the flowing red, each one gleaming with a sharpened edge.

Then—

Shlick!

They pierced through him all at once!

His eyes widened as blood-forged spears tore through his chest, arms, and legs...

Puncturing his body from every angle like a storm of invisible swords!

Celestia wiped the blood from her mouth as she stood shakily.

"The Omnipotence."

Elaric, still impaled, glanced upward toward the stairway that overlooked the chamber.

A man stood there.

Tall and broad-shouldered.

Clad in lightweight black armor lined with faint silver veins.

His face was stern and resolute.

Adam.

And behind him...

A looming, monstrous, its grotesque limbs folded in submission was Xel'Shaar...

The corrupted floor boss of the catacombs.

The creature followed behind Adam like a chained beast, its grotesque eyes lowered in deference.

A floor boss… obeying a Stream Hunter.

Elaric's eyes rose in interest.

Celestia turned her head slightly, recognizing the shadow of a grin on Adam's face.

Leila had sent him the message.

She had warned him that Celestia was here.

And more importantly… that he was here too.

The man from the node!

The one in her vision!

Adam's fist clenched as he raised a single hand into the air.

The blood around both Celestia and Elaric began to spiral, reacting to his presence.

It twisted into dozens of crimson blades... sharp and merciless that swirled around them like a storm.

Then—

They fell.

A chorus of slicing steel filled the chamber as the blades rained down.

Shlick. Shlick. Shlick!

Blood sprayed in every direction as both Celestia and Elaric were cut down, their already injured bodies torn further into fragments by the merciless crimson edge.

The catacombs fell silent.

Adam slowly lowered his hand.