Paradoxical Paper Tigers

“What a rush.” The same thought echoed through all of their minds. Lore had never felt this sort of power. Sixty two entities now sharing the same body. The Reaper levitated over the battlefield, lowering themselves towards the ground. The other army gathered opposite them. Thoughts that weren’t theirs whirred through their head, entire conversations playing out so close yet so far away. It was certainly different. Normally, when merged, it was almost as if there were three people trying to drive using the same steering wheel but this time, Lore had both of their hands firmly on the wheel and everyone else was just the background noise of their engine. The opposite army was growing exponentially as more and more of their troops poured out of the sudden flashes of white light. They must have had at least twice as many people as Lore had and that number was still growing. “We can take them.” Lore thought aloud. They received a resonating cheer as their partners tried to ready themselves for the unknown. The flashes ceased on the oppositions side of the hill. Their army now totalled thrice the one Lore had originally had and nearly four times as large as the new army Crait had gathered. At the head of the enemy line, six figures; two of them, Lore recognised. Crait had nothing to show on his face. In his left hand he held someone Lore hadn’t expected to see. Undulia’s armour caught The Reaper’s light as she paraded closer to the middle ground between the two armies.
“Is this all?” She scoffed. “You expect to win with a Cornerstone and that army?” She shook her head then looked to her Crait, audacity slathered across her face. “We could give you some more time if you wanted? Build a proper army?”
“To be perfectly frank, we didn’t even want to be here.” The Reaper spoke with a quiet harmony of voices. “We’ll fight if we have to but, personally, I’d prefer if we didn’t.” Undulia wasn’t going to take that. She swung at The Reaper or at least tried to as Crait caught her fist.
“Come now darling.” He spoke coldly, “No need to lose your head. Victory will be ours by the day’s end.” The whole time his facial expression remained a frozen neutral. The Reaper followed them with their eyes as they returned to the head of their army.
Crait and Undulia linked their hands with their four cornerstones. Energy flowed from the edges, towards the centre. Falling like dominoes, The Cornerstones melted into one another. Both Crait and Undulia formed into their own Reapers before coming together as one. Two glowing emissaries crowned the two armies behind them. A hush fell over the universe. Had a tree fallen on the opposite side of the planet, it was conceivable they would have heard it. Breathing and wind were the only distraction. Both sides stood in apprehension as they waited for their leaders to begin their charge. The foot soldiers knew in their hearts of hearts that the battle wouldn’t be decided by them but by the two aetheric beings that led them. The perfect blue sky clouded over and from those clouds, a face formed. It looked similar to how Lore had imagined Reality to look. The nose was thinner than they had expected and the ears certainly larger but apart from that, the cloud met their expectations.
“Mortal Armies, you are gathered here today to decide once and for all who has kept the best universe. Representing my Brother, his child, Time and its champion, Lore.” He left a pause for an imaginary audience to boo or cheer. “And representing me, my beloved children and their champion, Crait.” Hands appeared from the base of his cloud. “Begin.”
And so they did. Reaper charged against Reaper. The oppositions Reaper did not meet their expectations. They had been expecting Crait’s face to be flying towards them but instead, Undulia raged ahead. Although bathed in a golden glow, the fury of her cheeks shone through, staining her face. Lore took the tackle, causing both of them to fly back at extreme speeds. They waited a moment before attempting to redirect the energy. With a strain, they slowed time around themselves only, stopping mid-fall and hurled Undulia back in the direction from which they came. It was an impressive feat but it wasn’t without its problems. The energy required to slow and throw another Reaper weakened them significantly. Thankfully, they were hovering close to the ground as their fatigue forced them to discard a handful of their clones. The weakened clones fell the few feet to the floor and watched as The Reaper returned to the fray without them. The battlefield had become a bloodbath without their guardian. Crait and their men had fought valiantly but, without Lore to distract The Reaper, they were more than outnumbered. Lore’s Reaper planted their feet in the air. Reality sharded below their soles; white fissures, like cracks in glass, illuminated with a faint lilac glow. From their frozen feet, a green glow ascended. It was subtle at first but grew in its potency as it climbed. Lore strained to lift their arms as they grew with even greater energy. Their right leg scraped backwards, further damaging reality as they raised their arms further. They waited until they couldn’t withstand the quaking any further before plunging their fists into the cracked surface below. Shattering the floor, a tidal wave of green light flowed from them followed shortly by a second wave of clones as the remainder of the fifty two fell to the ground. The wave collided with the unconscious bodies below, reanimating them. They could have ended it there and then but they chose to heal their troops, this confused Undulia. She knew what she had to do but still, she went for the logical strike. Seeing Lore weakened, she exploited that. Glowing brighter than Lore was, and certainly in better shape, she charged once more. A brisk uppercut launched Lore through Reality’s cloud and towards the stratosphere. Normally not an issue but this time, their body just wanted it to end. The mind willing but the flesh protested.
“Time’s calling it there. I win.” Reality pulled Lore to the ground and separated them.
“I’m not calling it there.” Time echoed. “In fact, I wanted to make things more interesting…” It smiled. “Best of three. You can finally build the army you wanted and I can have a word with my disappointment of a champion.” Reality nodded in thought.
“Fine.” And with that, his army withdrew leaving Lore and their associates once again alone.
“Seriously? They were only unconscious. You should have easily won that; I can’t believe you. Only you could lose a match I had rigged in your favour.”
“Rigged?” Lore tried to stand but their legs felt like jelly.
“I had my cousins tell them to play to lose. Put Uncle in his place and he’d piss off.” Time shook its head. “They didn’t even have real weapons.” Time faded from the reality, leaving Lore and their army alone to lie in their sweat and defeat. If at First.