[aeriolewinters]

Thing that makes me think this, is she claims she has to help them/save them, but she can't do that in Defensive form.

Spoiler for Spoiler:

So why didn't the copy return to her? If it was indeed a clone made for that purpose, wouldn't Kanade undeploy it after use?

I would like to think that this is indeed the work of the higher being, Kanade's intent was initially to save them, so I would discount any theory pointing to Kanade intentionally attacking Yurippe.