Where's the real you
Just as he settled into his hiding spot, time resumed its normal flow. The cave erupted into chaos. The Vasto Lorde's white blade-like arms sliced through the clone in front of her, causing it to burst into a bunch of white butterflies. The unexpected sight momentarily stunned her, her grey eyes widening in surprise.
Kiyota held his breath, his heart pounding so loudly he was sure it would give away his position. He watched intently from behind the rocks, praying his hastily concocted plan would work.
The pink-haired Vasto Lorde whirled around, her gaze darting between the two remaining clones. Her face turned sour in a mix of confusion and anger as she felt the overwhelming spiritual pressure radiating from them.
"What is this trickery?" she hissed, her voice echoing off the cave walls. "Why are there two of you?"
The clones remained silent, their confident smiles never wavering. The air in the cave grew thick with tension as the Vasto Lorde's eyes narrowed, assessing the situation.
Suddenly, she lunged at one of the clones with her blade-arms pointed towards it. But as she tried to impale, the clone simply side-stepped with speed, its smile growing wider.
"Too slow," it said, its voice an exact replica of Kiyota's.
The Vasto Lorde snarled in frustration, spinning to face the other clone. "What are you?" she demanded. "How did you become so powerful in mere seconds?"
Kiyota watched from his hiding spot.
'It's working.' he thought to himself.
Suddenly, one of Kiyota's clones rushed towards the Vasto Lorde, its hand crackling a Chidori. The pink-haired hollow's eyes widened in surprise as she frantically dodged the clone's lightning-fast attacks, her blade-arms whirling in a desperate defence.
"What kind of technique is this?" she hissed, narrowly avoiding another strike.
Meanwhile, the other clone remained leaning against the wall, its smile never wavering. The Vasto Lorde's eyes darted between the two clones, trying to make sense of the situation.
Realising she was being overwhelmed with the amount of spiritual pressure, the Vasto Lorde quickly began to charge a cero, the energy gathering at her fingertip. Her plan was clear to Kiyota. Obliterate the entire cave and everything in it.
But before she could release the devastating attack, the previous standing clone shot forward with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, it was behind her, its Chidori-covered claws pressed against her neck.
The Vasto Lorde froze, feeling the blue lightning against her skin. For a moment, Kiyota's clone had her pinned.
Then, unexpectedly, the vasto lorde laughed.
"You fell right into my trap," she said.
In a lightning-fast move, she spun around and impaled the clone with her blade-arm. Instead of blood, the clone burst into a flurry of white butterflies, dissipating into the air.
Kiyota, still hidden behind the rocks, felt his heart skip a beat.
'That would have been me.' he thought, realising his bluff had been called.
The Vasto Lorde stood in the centre of the cave, surrounded by the fluttering white butterflies, her eyes scanning the area.
"Where's the real you?" she called out, looking at the last clone.
The clone simply shrugged, its confident smile not wavering.
"Don't play games with me," the Vasto lorde snapped. "I'm not an idiot. I know there's only one of you. This is some sort of cloning ability. But then where's your real body? You're hiding somewhere close, aren't you?"
The clone didn't answer, simply watching her.
'Shit,' Kiyota thought, feeling his heart beating faster. 'I don't think I can pull off another trick without revealing myself.'
The pink-haired Vasto lorde took a deep breath, seeming to calm herself. She turned to the last clone.
"Fine, if you won't reveal yourself, I'll find you myself," she said, her tone was cold.
Suddenly, she lunged towards the clone with immense speed, her blade-arms extended and pointed at the clone's face. Kiyota getting more anxious as he carefully directed his clone to dodging the Vasto Lorde's attacks as if they were dancing. Kiyota could almost eat the frustration radiating from the pink-haired hollow as she failed to land a hit. Kiyota focused all his concentration on his clone. He visualised the cero forming in its hands, pouring reiatsu and imagination into making the illusion look and feel as real as possible.
As the imaginary cero grew, the cave seemed to turn brighter becauses of the attack, and for a moment, even Kiyota almost believed it was real. The Vasto Lorde's reaction was everything he had hoped for. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she faced the giant cero the would most likely injure her. she realised she couldn't dodge such a massive attack in the confined space of the cave.
"Impossible." She said, her voice barely a whisper.
Kiyota tried his best not to laugh as his illusion took full effect and cero was fired, the cave walls crumbling. She felt burning pain as the illusory attack seemed to blow off her hand, the pain feeling real. He watched as the Vasto Lorde stumble backwards in imaginary pain, clutching at an arm that wasn't really injured.
To her shock, her usually rapid regeneration seemed to be working at a snail's pace. Her cutoff hand was reforming, but far too slowly to be of any use in the fight and likely to take a day.
Kiyota's heart was racing as he watched the Vasto Lorde stumble backward, still caught in his illusion. He could feel sweat beading on his forehead, his muscles tense with anticipation. This was his chance, perhaps his only chance, to turn the tables.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Kiyota emerged from behind the rocks. He stepped out slowly his eyes never leaving the Vasto Lorde. As he moved, he poured his concentration into creating more illusions to appear aswell.
Suddenly, more clones of himself began to appear. They seemed to materialise from thin air, stepping out from behind other rocks, corners of the cave. Some even descended from the ceiling like spiders.
Each clone of Kiyota had overwhelming spiritual pressure, filling the cave with a suffocating feeling. The air grew thick and heavy, making it hard to breathe for the pink haired vasto lorde.
The female Vasto Lorde's eyes went from one Kiyota to another. Her eyes showed confusion and growing fear and Kiyota was sure under the mask too.
The Vasto Lorde's legs began to shake. Her breathing became slow. Finally, unable to withstand the overwhelming presence of so many Kiyota's, she fell to her knees.
Kiyota felt a surge of relief, but he forced himself to remain calm. He knew one slip in concentration, and his carefully crafted illusion could shatter.
He stepped forward, projecting an aura of calm control.
"Now." Kiyota said, his tone calm.