Under the influence of an illusion-inducing gas, Ran had now been fighting his doppelganger for about an hour.
They both worked tirelessly trying to one-up each other, but the results were… let's just say they were unsatisfactory. And after all this time, they eventually came to realize their own inadequacies.
For one, they realized that they had originally relied too much on the power their fetal organ carried, which wasn't, technically, a bad thing. On top of that, after using all their techniques in succession as well as mixing their ideas, they saw just how weak it all was. By that I mean their sigil; it had no successive attack, or any attack for that matter, strong enough to deal with an enemy in an instant. A trump card—they had none.
And actually, they knew this all along. It was why they had never made rune formations for their sigil; they were under this impression that it had practically zero direct attack strength. And… they were right for the most part. As it stands right now, as well as their connection to and knowledge of their sigil, they were unable to even fathom a potential move that would classify as an attack, let alone a trump card capable of instant victory.
In reality, the only thing that would have truly been capable of deciding this stalemate so far was the use of the soul avatar skill. However, the fact they used it at the same time had eliminated the threat it posed.
And so, here we are.
So far, since the last chapter, there was only one other instance where it got a little dicey between the both of them.
The doppelganger had abruptly used strings to tie up Ran's limbs as they were engaged in a duel of swords. Having been restricted, Ran wanted to instinctually struggle out of it, but his momentum was stolen and he was successfully bound.
By the time he mobilized his juice, causing his two swords to stretch out like bladed tentacles, one to protect his head and the other to cut the strings, it was too late. The doppelganger's swords had already descended. One of them clashed with the sword protecting Ran's head, while the other was free to divide Ran in half.
Crashing onto the floor with two thuds, Ran immediately healed himself and grew a new lower half, but the doppelganger still wasn't having any of it. He tried to strike again, so Ran resorted to hastily throw one of his swords. It was tougher than the strings so it took a second to deal with it, and Ran took the opportunity. He used his other sword to cut the doppelganger's feet at the ankles, causing him to topple to the floor like a chopped-down tree.
But by the time he finished healing himself and stood up, the doppelganger had done the same and stood up.
And now it was back to square one.
"So… what do we do now? It's so boring now, I don't want to fight anymore."
The doppelganger had a solemn face as he suddenly spoke to Ran a few feet away without attacking.
"I know right!? Fighting is cool and all, but it's been an hour! We've been on the edge this entire time, and I'm starting to feel sore."
Indeed, edging a few times was satisfying, but for an hour straight? That's just torture. Not to mention there was still no climax. At this point, the both of them almost wished to die just to reach the peak… okay that was a bit of an exaggeration, but the sentiment was still there.
So, how do they go from here? What could possibly end this nightmare? They had nothing else that could decide victory in one move, so without one they will just end up where they are now—frustrated.
To answer this question, and to your satisfaction as well, I had to dig deep. And while I don't have an entire chaotic world inside my head like Ran, I do have a dusty drawer full of old underwear and used socks I can rummage through.
So, what I came up with was—well, let's just see shall we?
…
"Then, do you know what else to do? Should we just play a game until the gas wears off?"
"What?! There's a time limit? Also, what gas?"
Ran looked at his doppelganger in surprise, unsure of what to make of what he said.
"The gas that was released by the runes on the wall. You know, after you stepped into the tower's trap? It's what's causing this illusion, and obviously, it'll run its course in your body until it's completely diffused into it. Then, the illusion will end and you can go back to the real world. Of course until then, it'll feel like a long time here."
"Wait, what do you mean it'll feel like a long time?"
"What do I mean? Well, outside, it's only been like five seconds."
"Five seconds!? But we've been fighting for like an hour! It'll be days at least then before we feel it waning in here."
Rans face was getting more and more somber as he considered his own words. It was already a feat for him to not go crazy in here, and that was because the doppelganger was here to accompany him, but being in here for several days at least?
"Don't worry. That's only considering the gas itself. Your friends are more likely to get out first and help you get rid of it. Especially someone like Ann, this should be no problem for someone like her."
"But… I really don't want to stay here much longer."
"Yeah, me neither."
They tacitly agreed to want to leave, but still didn't know how until the doppelganger came up with a solution.
"I know!"
"You know?"
"Yeah. How about we just decide the battle with one move? And we won't heal either."
Ran was, honestly speaking, completely open to it. He really just wanted to leave this black void.
"Then, to make it more interesting, how about we reflect for a while so we can come up with the best move? That'll make it much easier for the both of us."
Rans proposal made the doppelganger think for a small amount of time before agreeing. If they want to determine a winner, then using something the two of them hadn't seen yet was vital.
They then agreed to sit and meditate for about half an hour to come up with something new.
…
The following half an hour was completely silent as two identical people sat cross-legged and delved into their minds. All their recent memories were dredged up for inspiration, and only a few points of interest were immediately identified.
When their time was up, and they got up, they were already preparing their moves. They were only about ten feet from each other, and their eyes were locked together. They knew this was the end.
They even said their goodbyes to each other as only one would be standing in the end…
They stared at each other for a bit before loudly counting up to three. When they shouted up to three, they went at each other as two distinct sounds ringing out one after the other.
The first sound was a splatter and crack and the second was akin to loud thumping.
And in that instant, the winner had been decided.
They were now in front of each other, but only one of them had their arm up their skull. And surprise surprise, it was the doppelganger. Now, I will acknowledge the sweet potential of the doppelganger winning and taking over his body, so know that I see you.
But, how did Ran win? It was quite simple really; it all came down to their move.
You see, the first sound, the splattering and cracking, was actually just the doppelganger's lower jaw partially exploding at the sides, leaving it crooked and unhinged. This was the result of his move.
You see, once more, in front of him was a set of human soul jaws; that explains it all. Back when Ran was fighting those bloodthirsty piranha, he had transferred their skills before making them self-destruct. So, of course he would remember it's composition, but it's compatibility was horrible considering the differences between a human and a fish.
The doppelganger tried to tweak it, and it helped, otherwise his entire head would explode. In the end, actually, this could be considered a success. The soul jaws were still there, dazzling, and they even snipped off a bit of Rans nose. In reality, the only thing that stopped the doppelganger was Ran's move.
And that was, whether you guessed it or not, the soul heart—it was quite befitting of his character to say the least.
In fact, this was the first time he saw his heart as something other than its original function and that was upon reflecting. Part of that was the interactions it had with his emotions as well as the slight influence it had on other people.
Actually, just to use it, he had to dig really deep into his mind; he had to arouse his emotions as much as possible to raise his heart from its slumber and currently, tears were streaming from his eyes.
His chest glowed brightly with a mix of pink and blue as it thumped powerfully, seemingly able to affect its surroundings. But, he was shocked by its powers as a skill.
With its beat beating harshly, it was able to affect surrounding hearts and coerce them to follow its rhythm—synchronization. Above that, with control of the other person's heart, he could make it explode as well as persuade it to move the body for him; he can now move someone's body with their heart, which was almost poetic.
That's what Ran did here. He could've just exploded the doppelganger's soul heart, but that wouldn't end him as the core is in the brain and they could just heal.
So Ran merely coerced the doppelganger's body to plunge his own arm into his head, which was almost… poetic.
And that was the end of act three.