Azura smiled as the academy finally came into view. Reign was the one flying, wouldnât do for everyone to find out he could turn into a dragon now after all. That and flying was a lot harder than he gave it credit for. Knowing the physics of it only took you so far, and he was lucky Reign was with him to even out the kinks. Of course they couldnât actually land by the academy, they didnât want to risk being attacked by the defensive magic. So they landed a good ways before the town just to make sure not to cause any outcry.
They landed in the grassy plain, and Reign swiftly shrunk down to his normal size. âLetâs hurry up, I am rather eager to be able to sleep properly, after spending so much time sleeping in the spirit world.â He rolled his eyes at the dragon, but nevertheless walked towards the academy. He was excited to be back too, though for very different reasons. He wondered how his friends were doing, and how much his copies had learned. He was willing to bet that thanks to his new body he would be able to handle the information transfer much better, no flesh and blood to rupture, he was a being of magic now.
Still for some reason he had an ominous feeling. A vague sense that something was incredibly wrong. Yet nothing happened, that didnât stop him from getting more and more uneasy though. Rather it made the feeling worse and worse. Even when he got to the gates and saw guards sectioned there as normal the feeling didnât wane. He showed his student emblem and after a quick check was allowed in without problem.
The town was exactly how it should be, not a person out of place. Everyone seemed content as usual. He continued to walk forward cautiously, just waiting for the pin to drop. Once again nothing happened as he made it all the way past the academy gates. He looked around the courtyard, but still didnât see anything unnatural. âWait Azura, it's a trap!â He jumped back as a beautiful knife stabbed into the ground in front of him. He had an odd feeling he had seen the knife before, but couldnât place it.
âI suppose that was to be expected, you are my original after all.â He glanced up in shock to see his copies. The one who had thrown the knife was holding the other one by the back of his armor, unconscious. The knife disappeared from in front of him and reappeared in his copyâs hand. âOr you were. Iâll be taking over as the real one now.â His eyes widened as the knife gouged into the other copyâs neck, and the copyâs body began to turn into blood red particles, and got absorbed into the glowing red jewel of the dagger. His eyes widened in shock. He had never even thought of killing himself, copy or otherwise, or at least never would have actually gone through with it. Moreover, something was definitely up, because there was no memory transference.
âWhat the hell are you doing!â He couldnât dispel the copy, no matter how much he tried, he could barely even feel the connection now. What happened while he was gone?! This had never happened before, and it shouldnât happen. He had conditioned himself to be fine if he ever found out he was the copy, and it didnât seem like the other copy went off that deep end. As if that wasnât bad enough that dagger gave off an incredibly dangerous vibe. He got the feeling he couldnât afford to get so much as a graze from that thing. âWhatâs going on!â Hopefully Cynthia was still in his head.
âExactly as I said. Youâre far too soft. Yet you wonder why you canât beat father, and why people keep messing with you. Itâs because you donât give any real consequences. Just look at what Iâve accomplished. The princess wonât be messing with you anymore, and that elf girl was too scared to pick the fight she promised.â Of course not, elves were especially sensitive to curses, and that dagger was so thick with curses he could feel it from here. That thing should be locked away for no one to ever see it again.
âPerhaps I could afford to be a bit more aggressive, but that doesnât mean I should turn into the very monsters Iâm trying to fight.â His copy rolled his eyes. He wasnât expecting the copy to charge him right off the bat, and reacted a millisecond slower than he normally would, but that didnât mean he took the hit. The dagger had less range, and the copy had to retreat when he swung his sword.
âItâs hard to believe I was ever so naive. You know, itâs a pretty interesting experience. I know full well the dagger is affecting me, I even know how itâs doing it, but this way has proven to be much more effective in dealing with things. The princess didnât even try to retaliate, and has even taken our sister in under her protection. As a shield against me no doubt, but the end result is the same. Our sister is safe, and the princess will be far more careful with us in the future.â His eyes widened. That? Wasnât that the scenario in his vision? It was so fuzzy, it was overtaken so quickly by the vivid landscape of Avalon.
He didnât have the time to try and remember, as his copy once again went on the offensive. They traded blows, the sword and knife clanged into each other repeatedly. Despite the fact the dagger was smaller and should have less leverage, their attacks were about equal in power, and they were locked in a dangerous stalemate. Their dance of death accelerated more and more as they each got used to the slight differences in his fighting style that had grown from 2 months of different experiences.
âWe donât know, your copy went berserk, and used some kind of enchantment to trap us in our rooms. I was only even able to contact you, because Luna's familiar was able to open a connection through the spirit world that you apparently have an unnaturally strong connection with.â He could feel the question in her tone, but they both knew now wasnât the time to answer it. As much as he needed to stay focused on the fight, he thought this might just be what he needed to get the edge over his copy.
He slammed his shield into the dagger knocking it off its course, and thrust his sword at his copy who nimbly dodged back, pulled out his bow and fired all in one smooth motion. Normally heâd block with a wall of something, but he couldnât afford even a split second loss of visibility here, so he jumped back and countered it with a shot of his own. âI know youâve never really done this before, but is it possible you could send me an image of the enchantment? I might be able to walk you through breaking it.â
âTch, so youâve grown some too huh. Well thatâs to be expected I suppose.â His eyes widened as blood red arrows if mana began firing at him in quick succession. He matched the fire rate with his blue mana arrows, and was forced to use mana to hold his ground, as the hundreds of magic arrows caused miniature explosions all throughout the courtyard. How was his copy even doing this? There was no way he would have been able to pull something like this off before unleashing his dragon core.
âJust what is that damn dagger?!â His only consolation was that his copy looked just as roughed up by the constant explosions as he was. Eventually the rain of arrows stopped on both sides, as they both charged up a much more powerful shot. Magic circles extended from both sides meeting in the middle, silver and black fighting for dominance of the middle circle. They both fired a supercharged arrow that got bigger and more powerful each circle it went through. Blue and red met once more, black and silver spiraling around the attacks respectively. The explosion was massive, blowing him and his copy both away, and turning the entire academy to rubble.
He flew back with the incredible force of the explosion, launched clear across the town before hitting the ground so hard he bounced, and continued to skid across the planes. As he thought, they werenât in the real world at all right now, but they werenât in the spirit world either. What was going on? He was pulled from his thoughts as the image of an elaborate seal entered his mind. âWell, youâve certainly been busy havenât you.â He turned and used his shield to block the stab from his copy.
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âI had hoped youâd be a bit more affected by the academy being destroyed and your friends all dying.â As if he would fall for something like that, the principal and Kaiser at the very least were more than strong enough to withstand an attack like that, and since neither were here to interfere with the fight it was safe to say there was no one around at all.
âMaybe Iâm not as naive as you thought.â It felt beyond weird bantering with himself, especially while sending instructions to Cynthia to clear out the wards his copy had left. Thankfully his copy was arrogant enough to banter back allowing him to stall so he didnât have to fight and help Cynthia at the same time.
âMore competent maybe, but not any less naive. Iâll admit I didnât think a dip in a pool would be able to put you on par with 2 months of training and prep. Even still, I donât think Iâll lose. You asked me what this dagger was right? Well Iâll tell you.â His copy disappeared, and he spun rapidly and used his sword to repel the dagger aimed for his throat. âItâs death and power incarnate.â He groaned.
âYou did not just say that with a straight face?â He couldnât believe a copy of his would say something so cliche bad guy, as âdeath and power incarnate.â The dance of death restarted as they rapidly switched between offense and defense, every attack met with a parry, and every counter dodged or blocked.
The copy laughed. âYouâd be surprised how well lines like that actually work when you look menacing enough.â That was fair enough, he supposed. If his father said something like that, most people would probably piss their pants, he just wasnât really the type that could pull off menacing. Or at least he hadnât thought so.
âWe did it! Now what?â Cynthia was out, he had a bit of trouble concentrating in the middle of his fight to the death with himself, but he was able to tell her to get the others without losing focus on the fight. He parried the dagger again, but this time there was far more force in it, and his sword was blown back throwing him off balance, he quickly manifested his tail and knocked the 2nd strike from the dagger away from his torso before the tail dispersed again. His copy jumped back in surprise and he took a deep breath to calm himself. That had been far too close.
âWell thatâs new. I guess the pool helped you gain control of our sealed half. No wonder youâve been able to fight on par with me. Of course I still have it sealed, so if I unleashed it I will be the stronger of the 2 of usâ That was true, it honestly wasnât even in question, but that came with consequences too.
âYou donât know enough about it, you wonât be able to control yourself anymore, and Iâm willing to bet with that cursed dagger youâre holding youâll simply burn all your mana on an uncontrolled rampage.â The fact his copy didnât release the seal was all he needed to know he was right. Unfortunately that didnât give him the edge so much as leave them on more or less even terms.
âNo need to act so high and mighty, Iâm not exactly the only one here with a handicap.â True enough. He couldnât exactly make any copies when he didnât know what this one had done to the other he had left behind.
âIâve heard of people being their own worst enemies, but somehow I donât think this is what that phrase means.â It worked to his advantage that he pretty much always incorporated quips and trash talk into his fighting, because it meant his copy wouldnât be able to immediately peg him as stalling for time.
âAt least it wonât be father who kills you.â His eyes narrowed, that was a low blow, and it took more effort than he cared to admit to not let it get to him. He had honestly expected his copy to start attacking him again by now. What was he-. He desperately jumped to the side, as soon as he realized the dagger was no longer in his copyâs hand. The move served to save his life, but also left him off balance for the next exchange as his copy leapt forward grabbing the dagger out of the air to continue his attack. He desperately fended off his copyâs savage assault, which was much harder to do without the proper footing.
The next time their blades clashed he released a bunch of mana through his sword creating an explosion to separate him from his copy. This was a much weaker one then the one that had blown up the academy building, so they were only knocked back a few feet this time, but that was more than enough for him to regain his footing. He went on the offensive this time, once again entering a stalemate with his copy. âThis whole space is pretty impressive, what did you repurpose the set up the school had for pocket dimensions? This isnât something weâd be able to do on our own in only a couple of months.â Special dagger or not.
âDoes it matter? My answer wonât change anything, either you die here and it doesnât matter, or I die and you will know anyway.â His copy made a good point, but he would be lying if he wasnât curious. Not that he had time to focus on that between fighting for his life, and the occasional progress notice from Cynthia. His friends were almost free, but that would still have them in the actual school, not whatever pocket dimension this death match was in.
âSure, but Iâd rather not be stuck here for a couple days while I assimilate your memories.â It wouldnât take him that long anymore, but his copy didnât know that, and his real goal was to find a way to bring his friends here. Not that he expected the copy to actually take the bait anyway.
âDonât worry, you wonât live that long anyway.â His opponent renewed his assault again, but it was a bit different now, it was clear both were tiring. They had been fighting nonstop for several minutes, and at a pace much faster than normal people could follow, and neither had been exactly conserving mana. This worked in his favor though, because the longer they fought the more clear it became that his copy was tiring faster than he was. To be honest that was more worrying than it was helpful. If his copy got desperate enough the seal would definitely be removed, and while a mindless rampage was less dangerous than a controlled one, the difference in power would easily make up for the lack of control in terms of damage.
âWhy even bother with all this anyway? Either way weâre essentially just going to become one being. Whether you win or lose here changes nothing.â Well that was the theory anyway, he couldnât say he had ever put it to the test.
âIf youâre so sure why donât you just lay down and die?â His copy abandoned his shield in favor of attacking with sword and knife at the same time. He shifted his stance to be even more defensive, especially since this wasnât an attack pattern he was even remotely familiar with. Honestly it was more like Katyâs than his own.
âBecause we know if you die, Iâll get your memories, we donât know if the opposite is true.â That was honestly the only reason. If he knew for sure his memories would carry over heâd just die, because the result would be the same there was no point fighting. It was that very mentality that made his copies so willing to lose their lives in the first place after all.
âItâs not the same. You know as well as I do, that memories arenât enough. You wonât have the strength to follow through, like I do. The curse wonât affect you as heavily because youâre a complete soul, while I am only an echo of one.â That was one hell of a curse apparently, it even managed to get his copy to actively worry about resisting it.
âIf you kill me my soul would just form around your echo anyway.â He was pretty sure at least. He couldnât say he was absolutely certain of that either. Their flurry of blades continued as they both carefully made sure not to let the other get so much as a glancing blow. He was thankful for his plentiful spars with Katy, or he definitely would have been cut at least once, and he still didnât know what the consequences of that might be.
His eyes widened as his copy didnât block or dodge his thrust, and his sword buried itself deep into the copy. He detached his vambrace from the blades in his copyâs chest, but didnât get back quite fast enough as the dagger grazed his cheek. âFine, have my memories, that cut should help you understand.â He didnât even register as the copy disappeared as his eyes glazed over. Unable to comprehend a faint sound in his head, like someone calling to him, but they were so far away. Beyond his reach as always.