Within the blackness of the void, which was contained within Ran's own mind, he fought himself.
They fought round after round, and as time passed by like fleeting clouds, they could not get an advantage over each other. After all, how can one deal with another who has exactly the same strengths and weaknesses?
Well, as cliche and overused as it sounds, indeed, one just had to surpass their previous self. Of course, there was more nuance, but that was the gist of it.
And the fight so far pretty much went down like this. Not only did they not have any advantage over each other, they were even doing the same moves at the same time.
At one point, as their swords crossed and latched onto each other, their other hands were busy using sharp strings of soul juice to tangle their ankles. And because they pulled the sword and strings in opposite directions, the both of them spun like prize wheels.
Not only that, the force used to pull the strings caused them to completely slice through the ankle, sending a pair of right feet flying out into the void.
This was only one instance. In reality, pretty much every other move would send some part of them flying, whether it be an entire limb, or a single finger. Now of course, normally, such amounts of mutilation would indeed cause excruciating pain, especially so since if it involved the mind and soul.
But we all know that Ran's soul can't feel pain, except mental anguish, so he was free to explore and enjoy this area of life. By now, there were small piles of duplicate body parts and pieces of flesh everywhere. This was because he could heal himself with his sigil, along with not bothering to take back the energy stored in the parts; there was no holding back in this fight.
It even got a little dicey one time as the both of them suddenly struck each other's neck, almost causing them to completely detach. If the little that remained connecting the tissue wasn't there as well as healing the site of injury, then this fight would have already been over.
But as time passed by, the battle got more complicated.
Since their swordsmanship, which was mainly derived from their sword's teeth, was meant to flow endlessly as well as leverage their opponents strength and momentum, the fight was more akin to a complex, amorphous dance that encompassed all three dimensions.
However, it was more than that. There were actually two battles happening. One outside, and one inside. With their sigils, they could also transfer their soul juice into their enemies bodies as long as they were within its barrier, just as they had done before.
They were constantly summoning balls that, upon entering the body, would spring out with sharp strings that would strangle the brain. The both of them would just barely counter it in time before their brains got strangled and cut into pieces, and this happened as they fought with their swords.
Sometimes, they would engage in ranged attacks as well. They would throw capsules at each other, and when they blew up, beads flew out from within.
The beads, containing the properties of their sigil, would allow for the transfer of the condensed kinetic energy of their attacks, acting as invisible sword crescents. And with dozens of beads floating in all directions, the attack could come from any direction. Dodging wouldn't be a good idea as the chance that the attack missing would accidentally hit another bead and reentering the cycle, while not high, is not slim either.
In reality, all of this was happening at the same and more, but in the end, something was bound to change—it had to.
The change occurred in… the doppelganger.
Yep, the copy, relatively speaking, had surpassed the original.
And this came in the form of two swords.
Usually, the both of them had their sword on one hand, and something else in their right hand. It was either a ball to strangle their brain, or a capsule to release the beads.
But at this moment, the doppelganger had summoned a mirror replica of his sword onto his right hand.
This was completely original as Ran had never even gestured in the vicinity of that idea. This startled him and by the time he tried to retreat from the strike, it was too late.
He backflipped a few meters away, but he was missing his right arm this time.
As the arm fell with a flopping sound, and hearing it, the doppelganger smirked. He looked at both his swords and the more he looked, the brighter his expression became.
"Wow, I have to say, I'm quite surprised. You really are something else, you know that? Even your own, supposedly unchanging and previous, copy can surpass you. That's… not something you see everyday, or ever, for that matter."
Indeed, this type of trope never really includes this kind of outcome, and this even shocked the doppelganger. This was why he was speaking instead of fighting, besides the utter shock he felt, he just wanted to better understand what happened. Of course, he knew what happened as he was the one to bring about this outcome in the first place, but that didn't change the ridiculousness of it all.
Ran could be said to be even more shocked as he looked at the two swords and his regrowing arm repeatedly.
After his arm grew back, which was within a second, he summoned a mirror sword as well and felt it. He had indeed never thought of doing something like this, probably because he always fought with his real sword instead of a soul juice replica, so having another of it never came to mind.
"Huh. Well, at this point, I don't even know why I'm so surprised anymore. But, this is far from enough…"
Well… technically, if the doppelganger hadn't suddenly started yapping away, there was a chance Ran would've died, though nothing is certain. But, let's not tell him that, okay?
And now, equipped for swords between the two of them, they pounced at each other like two cats vying for territory.
Let the second act, begin.