Chapter 24 : Lincoln (Present)

Satisfied he had confused his opponent, he spoke, "A shadow manipulator huh? No wonder you chose the canyon, there are mountains and hills of many different sizes, it gives you a great advantage." Lincoln's voice sounded from behind Crescent. He quickly turned around and was met by a blast of energy that sent him flying backwards.

Crescent hit the ground and grunted. "Smart." He commented with a hungry grin, as shadows enveloped him, making him completely invisible. Energy blasts still came towards him, he then screamed and deflected them all by his shadows. He looked at his body and saw that he wasn't invisible anymore, as there was light shining at him. He then looked up to see a huge ball of red energy lighting up the whole area, "What a cheap trick." He commented and placed his palm on the ground.

His shadow then merged to the remaining shadows on the walls of the canyon. The shadows then all gathered in one place and shot upwards in the shape of a spike. The huge spike made of shadows then divided into many smaller ones and disintegrated the energy ball into millions of particles, darkening the canyon to what it once was again.

Crescent then found Lincoln levitating in midair. Feeling lighter he shot towards his opponent; energy blades fused into both his arms. "Of course, you can fly." Crescent snicked. He then moved his arms as if creating something and dashed towards Lincoln, holding what seemed like an invisible sword.

They collided.

Lincoln's blades pushed on an invisible force but in reality, it was a shadow of a blade battling the shadow of Lincoln's energy blades. Looking down it seemed like a normal battle, it was just the shadows of two people engaged in sword combat. But when he looked up, he was just swinging at an invisible sword. It was an impressive ability, but it had many weaknesses. For one, the only way Crescent can inflict damage on Lincoln was to hurt Lincoln's shadow. But that was a strength of the shadow manipulator's ability because there was no way Lincoln could hide his shadow and any amount of armour, he wears will be useless as his shadow can just be impaled through anyway.

This indeed was a deadly ability.

A wave of spikes shot towards Lincoln from the ground and he quickly flipped to his side, only for another wave to come at where he was landing. He thought fast and disappeared, leaving red energy traces behind. He then reappeared on top of Crescent and went in for a kick at his head, but his movements were restricted once again. Lincoln then created clones and made them go in for the kick the same way.

That's when Lincoln learned something.

Only two of the clone's movements were stopped, while the third one successfully landed its kick, sending the shadow manipulator flying towards the wall of the canyon, only for his fall to be cushioned by his shadows. Another weakness. Lincoln thought to himself with a smirk.

He then dashed towards Crescent with his clones and relied on close combat. All of his clones had charged fists as attacked with Lincoln, and all Crescent could do was stop three of their attacks, leaving the last one to successfully land the hit.

Lincoln kept repeating this process and planned to do so until his opponent got tired, leaving him to deal a final blow and ending the match. The clones went in for another attack while Lincoln disappeared and reappeared on top of his opponent, he then dove downwards with an energy blade on his arm while his clones were caught in Crescent's shadows.

However, it was then that Lincoln realized he was lucky to have sent the clones first this time. Before he could attack, the clones held by Crescent's shadows were all stabbed and disintegrated immediately. Lincoln's eyes went wide as he disappeared before he could come into contact with the spikes that stabbed his clones.

Lincoln reappeared in front of his opponent and it was then when he saw how Crescent was able to hold three people at once. Under him were three sets of hands, and when Crescent's shadows merged with other shadows those hands were merged into whole bodies. It was almost as if they were clones, shadow clones to be precise.

So, Crescent has two extra clones, including his own shadow, in his control, and he can change them into whatever form he desired, swords, spikes or even a set of hands. Lincoln moved to attack and gasped.

He couldn't move.

He forced his head down and saw Crescent's shadows had merged with that of the canyon which then extended his range to merge with Lincoln's too. "Shadow Paralysis," Crescent spoke. "Unfortunately, with this range, I can't do anything else. I may as well close off my distance and take you out that way. But then you have those annoying clones that you can create even without moving." Crescent said with an annoyed look.

It was then that Lincoln got an idea.

Crescent stared at Lincoln, wondering what his next move would be. It was then that he heard the footsteps of someone running behind him. He quickly turned around and caught Lincoln's shadow, completely restricting his movements. Another clone followed suit and was captured once again.

"Where's another?! Don't tell me you're wearing out already!" Crescent mocked and laughed as sweat dripped from his brow. Holding three people's shadow at once tired him a lot, not to mention the other was far away. He didn't know how much longer he could continue doing this.

"I'm right here," Lincoln announced from much further away. Crescent turned to look at him, "But you're just a clone." He said and laughed. "You think so? My clones don't have the luxury of talking." Lincoln replied. "What?!" He yelled and then all the Lincolns, he had paralyzed, disintegrated.

"How is that possible?! I was sure I caught the real you when I extended my shadows!" Crescent said, confusion tinged in his voice. The real Lincoln smirked, "Yes, you did indeed catch me. But I had long escaped from it." He spoke.

"How?!" Crescent questioned.

Lincoln's way of teleporting around wasn't exactly teleportation. Lincoln was able to exchange places between his registered energy if they were in his pane of vision. So, he figured if he exchanged places with a clone that matched his shadow and form, he would be able to escape Crescent's restraints. He called this move Substitution.

Lincoln smirked in response as five clones appeared on every side of Crescent. "No..." He said and knelt weakly. "You want to give up now?" Lincoln asked trying his best to hide how weak he was after creating the last batch of clones.

The ones surrounding Crescent only had nature energy in them, so Lincoln gambled on the fact that he'll feel intimidated and forfeit.

Crescent chuckled, "Very well then Lincoln Blaze. You have won." He spoke.

"Good," Lincoln said and disintegrated his clones. He was glad he did not have to hit his overdrive mode. But then again, maybe that mode was not necessary after all, like Aytrex said, Lincoln just had to be creative. Energy manipulation is an ability of creation, and with the right creations and floor plans, Lincoln may be able to fight at his maximum potential.

Crescent smiled; he didn't know this feeling he had in him. It wasn't embarrassment; no, it was pride. He was proud of being the first alvan to officially battle with this man, the first cyber wielder, the first energy manipulator on Earth. The pride of being that person overwhelmed him, and of course, he'd have felt better if he won, but seeing how powerful this human was and how much trouble Crescent had given him, he felt proud.

He had nothing but respect for this human. Crescent decided he'll stick around longer and support Lincoln in his quest.

"Congrats," Aytrex said as he teleported to where they lingered. "Thanks," Lincoln said with a weak smile. "So, what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Aytrex asked. "Gonna spend it with my family."