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Even with soul-empowerment, the decoy armors probably hadn't worked for the same reason that the walls from earlier hadn't. Because Banda wasn't just using vision and soul sense in order to track him.

It was aura, almost certainly. The armors had soul power added to them but not aura, and Banda could sense the difference.

So if he wanted such a tactic to work, he'd have to start pressing his aura into his work, as well.

If only he knew how to do that. Or if it was even possible to begin with. Pauline would probably know.

Agh, they were getting close to the city. To civilians. He couldn't keep going this way with Banda hot on his heels.

He swooped right, gradual and curving, aiming to turn back toward Warrenhold.

Red smoke began to materialize ahead of him in large pockets. They were simple enough to avoid, but they were getting closer each time. Hector understood. Banda was trying to predict where he would be and materialize a deadly cloud right on top of him.

He had to mix up his movements, then. Be unpredictable. Flying in a straight line wasn't smart, but zigzagging everywhere also meant that the four clones chasing after him could catch up more easily. If they just flew straight, they'd have less distance to travel, comparatively.

Not good. His own chaotic movements made it even harder for him to aim his counterattacks. And he very much needed to be more precise with those, not less. It seemed like Banda was barely hindered by the flurry of molten cubes.

Time to change it up, then. No more flurry. Just concentrate and aim. The Amir-10 was mostly regenerated now, so he could take this risk. The closest clone was the best target.

Hector focused. Zeroed in on what the Scarf and Banda's aura were telling him.

The laser beams, exploding javelins, and angry red clouds grew suddenly more furious during the few seconds he eased up on his counterattack. Hector had to spin around and fly backwards so that he could protect himself with the Amir-10.

But he had it. The clone was clear.

He loosed a molten cube right at it, as fast he could make it fly.

It clobbered the clone through the torso. Smoke and fire exploded on impact.

That looked good, but Hector didn't get the opportunity to assess the aftermath, because there were still three more clones to go. He focused on the next closest target as he readied another cube.

But the clones were changing up their tactics now, too. Serpentine movements. Making it harder to aim.

So they were wary of eating another attack like the last one, then. That was good, but this sure wasn't. Damn clones were weaving into each other's flight paths, trying to disorient him even more.