The true Fauna and Lamphrey stepped over the rubble they'd strewn across the battlefield, watching as their doppelgangers rose steadily, hatred filling their bulging eyes.

"Hold up!" Tara shouted before the battle got re-started in earnest. "How do you really know these are the real ones? This Fauna right here seems way too 'switched on'."

Fauna turned to Tara as though she'd struck her hard in the face. Lamphrey emitted a small, gravely sound that could have been laughter.

"Tara – I mean – how can I prove that I'm real? You really don't recognize me?"

"I agree. Come on, Tara, surely you know friend from foe."

The Minxit ignored Klax's words, and squinted at the Hopla with a curious glint in her eye.

"When Ethan came home with Rachneros' form, and you got plastered and fell in his lap, what did you ask him to do?"

The entire battle seemed to grind to a standstill. Everyone, including the dopplers it seemed, was interested in the answer to this question.

"T-Tara, don't make me –"

"Say it or put 'em up, doppleganger!"

"I – I asked him to pet me, alright!"

She shouted it with the power of a Thaumaturge, and the blush that filled her face was such that the clones thought she was casting some crimson-soaked spell.

Tara simply smiled as her Hopla friend shook with embarrassment.

"Yup," she said. "That's her, alright. That blush is the stuff of legends."

"A wise Minxit indeed," Lamphrey nodded, much to Fauna's chagrin. "But we have more pressing matters to attend to now, do we not?"

Everyone turned to the bemused faces of their dark foes, who were charging up another spell barrage to wipe them out in one fell blow.

"They're coordinated," Klax said. "They attack as one, each covering the others' back. Offence and defense, both at once. Unless we work together, there's no way we can take them down."

Fauna and Lamphrey cast a sidelong glance at each other.

"Luckily," Lamphrey began.

"We've learned to get in sync," Fauna finished.

Tara and Klax just blinked and shared a look of bewilderment.

"Enough of this – nonsense!" the Fauna clone shrieked. "Die! Die! Die! DIE!"

"Ready for this?" Klax growled.

The team had zero hesitation in their reply:

"Ready!"

"Ethan might not be here, but that doesn't mean we can't still kick butt. Let's show these copycats what real Hybrids of Sanctum can do!"

Klax then dashed forward. His bare feet were silent against the marble tiles, and the wraps covering his fists and forearms glowed faintly from the spiritual energy coursing through them. He planted a foot and spun into a roundhouse kick aimed at the false Lamphrey's side before she could launch her attack. It connected with a dull crack, but the clone barely flinched. Instead, it hissed and formed a swirling, dreamlike aura around its torso to soften the impact. Klax grimaced—fighting a shape-shifting dream mage was never simple. Still, he pressed the attack. He brought a quick series of punches toward the creature's midsection, seeking to keep it occupied while Fauna and Tara moved in.

Fauna stood behind Klax for just a moment, chanting something low under her breath. She reached out a hand, and swirling gusts of wind responded to her command. With deft motions of her fingers, and without any Wildglance surge to distract her, she guided a concentrated gale that roared down the hallway. The wind struck both clones, flaring their robes and twisting their hair about their faces. It bought Klax a moment to dart away before the clones could retaliate, and gave Tara an opening to dart in from the side.

"Time for some payback!"

Tara exploited the opening with surgical precision. She dashed past Klax's flank, her daggers glinting silver in the flickering torchlight. The false Fauna let out a furious shriek as Tara's blades sang across the air. Steel met an invisible barrier of summoned ice, but Tara's speed was enough to slip one dagger past the conjured frost. A thin slash opened across the clone's upper arm. Dark fluid, tinged with unnatural energy, spattered the floor. The doppelganger snarled, eyes blazing with the same seething anger as the real Fauna's in her rarest moments of rage.

Meanwhile, Lamphrey murmured a low incantation. Her voice dripped with the subdued power of a dream realm, and faint tendrils of smoke-like energy wreathed her hands. Oneiromancy seldom manifested as blunt force. Instead, it slipped through the cracks of consciousness, weaving illusions and warping the enemy's perceptions. Lamphrey's mastery let her craft cunning illusions or inflict nightmares with pinpoint accuracy. She aimed these subtle manipulations at the false Lamphrey, hoping to corrode its concentration and disrupt any synergy between the clones.

It was working. The false Lamphrey staggered, eyes clouding over with swirling visions. Its left hand, raised to cast a spell, trembled uncertainly in midair. Unfortunately, the false Fauna noticed the effect and unleashed a piercing, crackling bolt of electric energy at Lamphrey's flank. The real dream mage barely erected a shimmering shield in time. Sparks slammed into the intangible barrier, skittering off to slice jagged patterns in the stone walls. Even so, the force of the impact sent Lamphrey stumbling backward into Fauna, and both of them slammed into a dusty pillar.

"Keep moving!" Fauna called, pressing a hand to her rib where pain flared. She refused to let a single blow discourage her. She'd been through worse in this place. Clutching her staff, she channeled raw elemental power. Fire flickered along the staff's length, dancing with explosive potential. She launched a stream of intense flame that forced the clones to break formation and scramble for cover. A swirl of cinders singed the edges of their clothes, and the corridor filled with acrid smoke.

"We need to push them back!" Klax shouted over the roar of flames. The false Fauna's eyes narrowed, and a wave of crackling ice shot across the ground in response, threatening to freeze everyone's feet in place. Klax leapt high, pivoting in midair, while Tara flipped back onto a narrow ledge of stone. Their agility saved them from the freezing slick, but Fauna and Lamphrey were forced to conjure protective barriers.

Seeing their chance, the real party pressed the attack. Tara dove forward, her daggers glinting as she sought weak points in the clones' defenses. Klax moved behind her, fists hammering in concert with her strikes. Fauna shifted the flame in her hands to scorching wind, whipping the heated air in a vortex around the clones' legs. At the same time, Lamphrey wove illusions that flickered behind the clones' eyes, making them see triple copies of the real heroes, each one attacking from a different angle.

The chaos forced the clones to retreat deeper into the castle. They crashed through a narrow archway into a new chamber, where the stench of formaldehyde and the glimmer of steel instruments revealed Dr. Haylock's twisted experiments. Rows of dissection tables sat amid half-assembled creatures under flickering gaslights. Jars of murky fluid lined shelves on the far wall, each container holding a chunk of something indescribable. The horrifying setting did nothing to deter the clones, who recovered enough to unleash a torrent of ice shards from above, peppering the real party with razor-sharp crystals.

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Fauna ducked behind a table, wincing as ice rained down and pinged off the steel surfaces. She glanced at Lamphrey, who crouched low beside her. "How's your dream magic holding up?"

Lamphrey drew in a measured breath. "Good enough to keep them second-guessing. But they're powerful, especially when they combine elemental attacks with that dream-sorcery mimicry."

"So we split them up again," Fauna said, glancing at Tara and Klax. The monk and rogue were pinned on the other side of the chamber, forced to dodge or knock away the steady hail of ice. "If we can keep them from coordinating, we have a chance."

Lamphrey nodded. "I shall create a distraction. Then may we strike together."

While Klax and Tara continued to occupy the clones, Lamphrey began chanting softly. The dreamlike power that formed in her hands glowed a faint blue. She launched it across the room in a spiraling pattern, the ethereal energy leaving trails in the air. The false Lamphrey, sensing a rival dream-weave, snarled and flicked a wrist. A barrage of shimmering illusions erupted midroom, illusions that looked like ghostly serpents slithering toward Lamphrey's spell.

"Now, Fauna," Lamphrey hissed, fighting to maintain her focus as the illusions snapped at her conjured dream magic. Fauna stood, staff at the ready. She mustered a surge of earthen strength and thrust it forward. Pillars of rock erupted beneath the clones' feet, almost toppling them as the ground shifted violently. The false Fauna lost balance and crashed into a nearby dissection table, scattering organ jars and scalpels in all directions.

Klax moved in like lightning, taking advantage of the confusion. He lunged, landing a sequence of precise blows to the false Lamphrey's torso. Each strike carried the momentum of his entire body, culminating in a powerful elbow to the clone's jaw. The doppelganger swayed, but a moment later, it retaliated with a wave of hallucinatory energy. Klax's expression went slack, and he staggered backward, eyes wide as if confronting unseen terrors.

Tara sprinted across the room, sliding beneath a dissection table to avoid jagged ice spears from the false Fauna. With a swift flick of her wrist, she hurled a dagger at the clone's exposed shoulder. It struck true, forcing the doppelganger to pause its bombardment. In that brief reprieve, Tara vaulted onto the table and then launched herself straight at Klax. She grabbed him by the front of his tunic and slapped him across the face to snap him out of the illusion.

"Focus!" she shouted. "We've still got a fight to finish!"

Klax blinked, the horror draining from his gaze. He took a deep breath, nodded his thanks, and sprang back into action. The false Lamphrey twisted its fingers, conjuring swirling illusions behind them. A horde of dream-spawned shapes—spiders, snakes, multi-eyed abominations—rushed forth. Tara and Klax carved through the illusions with martial prowess. Though intangible, these nightmares could still induce paralyzing fear if allowed to sink into one's mind. The two fought side by side, stepping in tandem like a practiced dance routine, each covering the other's blind spots.

Meanwhile, Fauna and Lamphrey advanced on the false Fauna, who had pried Tara's dagger from its shoulder and was now conjuring a crackling storm of electricity. The air snapped with static, and a foul scent of ozone permeated the chamber. Fauna slammed the butt of her staff on the floor, summoning a shield of swirling winds around herself and Lamphrey. Lightning forked against the barrier, but Fauna's concentration held firm.

"I'll slip behind her illusions," Lamphrey murmured, eyes half-lidded in a meditative focus. Her voice sank into a dreamlike cadence. Threads of intangible haze began to swirl around her, and she seemed almost translucent for a moment. The false Fauna tried to track her, but Lamphrey's figure flickered into a half-real silhouette. As if stepping through a veil, Lamphrey reemerged behind the clone, channeling a fracturing dream energy into her hand. She pressed that hand into the false Fauna's back, releasing a pulse of disorienting illusions that made the doppelganger cry out in pain and confusion.

"Nicely done," Fauna said, unleashing another blast of scorching flame to drive the clone backward. Unable to gather its bearings in time, the false Fauna stumbled into a reinforced steel door that led to the next chamber. With a burst of Fauna's wind magic, it crashed straight through.

The party followed, chasing the injured clone. They found themselves in a wide laboratory crammed with large cylindrical tanks, each hosting grotesque silhouettes suspended in greenish fluid. Dim lights flickered overhead, revealing half-formed beasts, spidery limbs, and lumps of flesh pressed against the tank walls. A chilling hush fell over the room as the false Lamphrey sprang inside, reuniting with its counterpart. The clones stood together, panting with malevolent fury. Both had taken damage, but their resilience was evident in the dark glow of the energies swirling around them.

"You can't keep up this defense forever," Tara hissed, daggers raised.

"Neither can we," Lamphrey said quietly. "Focus."

Fauna, her staff gleaming, began chanting a potent elemental incantation. Veins of power shimmered along her forearms. Across from her, the false Fauna raised its hands in a mirror image, conjuring a swirling gale laden with sparks of electricity. Lamphrey tightened her grip on her own arcane focus, weaving silent illusions that wreathed the clone's magic in partial confusion. Despite these efforts, the false Fauna sent a volley of lightning at Fauna, forcing her to dodge aside. The bolt impacted a nearby tank, shattering the glass and spilling pungent fluid and twisted biological matter across the floor.

Klax and Tara pressed the attack on the false Lamphrey, who responded with waves of hypnotic illusions and swirling dream tendrils. Klax leapt from tank to tank, bounding effortlessly as if each heavy container were a stepping stone. Though the illusions nipped at his consciousness, his monk's discipline let him stave off the worst of the mental assaults. Each of his kicks and punches connected with the clone's warding illusions, chipping away at them bit by bit. Tara, crouched low, circled behind and slashed at the doppelganger's legs, forcing the creature to split its attention between two agile attackers.

Suddenly, the false Lamphrey exhaled a breathy incantation that made the entire room seem to twist. Tara felt her vision spin and black spots dance in her periphery. She gritted her teeth, shaking off the disorientation, while Klax took the opportunity to deliver a decisive strike against the clone's ribs. A crack echoed. The doppelganger hissed in pain, eyes flashing.

Over on Fauna's side, swirling winds and flames clashed with crackling lightning and icy shards. The two Faunas looked like mirror images in a savage waltz, neither giving ground without a fight. The real Fauna, however, gained the upper hand as Lamphrey lent subtle illusions to distract the clone's aim. A barrage of flaming orbs whizzed through the chamber, forcing the false Fauna to shield its face. One of the orbs struck home, igniting part of the doppelganger's robe. It shrieked, clawing at the flames as it stumbled back.

Sensing victory, Fauna conjured a gust of wind that knocked the clone off its feet, sending it sliding across the floor toward the false Lamphrey. Tara and Klax pressured that second doppelganger, slowly herding it across the slippery mess of shattered glass and fluid. Soon, both clones found themselves back to back in front of a bank of broken tanks. Their chests rose and fell in ragged fury, eyes darting to find any gap in the heroes' formation.

"They're cornered," Tara growled, breathing hard. She and Klax stood on one side, daggers and fists ready. Fauna and Lamphrey approached from the other.

"All that power," Lamphrey said softly, "and it is about to go to waste. As it always does."

"Can you ever say a sentence that isn't cryptic as hell?" Tara scoffed.

"You get used to it," Fauna groaned.

"Just don't underestimate them," Klax warned, taking a fighting stance. "They'll make a final stand."

As the words left his mouth, the clones raised their hands, conjuring a combined spell. One half crackled with black lightning; the other glowed with swirling illusions. The energies twisted together, forming a chaotic orb that pulsed like a diseased heart. The entire chamber filled with unearthly vibrations, glass tubes rattling and iron supports groaning.

"Now!" Tara shouted, pivoting to dive away from the swirling orb. Klax leapt, flipping behind a broken table for cover. At the same time, Fauna and Lamphrey moved in tandem, each focusing their specialized magic. Fauna's staff glowed with raw elemental might—fire, wind, and the latent potential of stone all merging in a flickering display. Lamphrey's eyes glazed with dream-lit intensity, illusions coalescing in ghostly spirals around her arms.

Together, they thrust their hands forward. Fauna unleashed a scorching tempest of flame and heated air so intense that the very stone beneath them seemed to tremble. Lamphrey layered on a potent dream-burst, a wave of mental disruption woven through the physical torrent. The combined force crashed into the doppelgangers' swirling orb, colliding in a thunderous explosion. Lightning spat in every direction, striking the walls and ceiling, while shards of illusions broke apart into shimmering fragments.

The clones struggled to maintain their footing as the cataclysmic energy overwhelmed them. The swirling orb collapsed in on itself, then detonated. A wave of concussive force rocked the entire laboratory, knocking glass shards and fluid in every direction. The false Fauna and false Lamphrey screamed in unison, their voices echoing like distorted reflections of the real pair.

And the party of the Sanctum hybrids finally allowed themselves a moment of respite. Around them, the room was a decimated husk of what it once had been, with cages, test tubes, and other organic experiments all broken and dashed against the floor. In the cloud of dust and echoes before them, the party heard nothing but silence.

"Is…is it over?"

Tara's voice echoed down the room.

And just as Klax was about to congratulate the team, a pair of lambent green eyes shone in the dark.

Something big, and singularly fearsome, was rising from the column of smoke where the two hybrid clones once stood.

"What…is that..?"

Klax's question hung in the air, but Lamphrey and Fauna tensed up, readying their staves.

Because this fight wasn't over yet.

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