"I'm not going down without one hell of a fight," I growled, my voice tense with determination.
"Then bring it!" Aurelia's piercing voice rang through the now battle-scarred earth.
My brain was firing faster than I could think, and before I realized it, I found myself inches from Aurelia's face.
"Try to keep up," I challenged, though I couldn't understand where this newfound confidence was coming from.
What am I saying?
I could see the world in slow motion in front of me, and my body just leaned left, and Aurelia's blade pierced through the air, mere inches from my face.
It just felt like my body was already perceiving and reacting to the attacks before my conscious self could ascertain it.
I pulled back in an instant and put some distance between us.
Valeria turned to Zorro, her eyes wide with amazement at my sudden improvement. "Something has changed," she exclaimed.
Zorro nodded, his admiration evident. "It's almost as if..."
"As if?"
"It's as if Ed's tapped into a hidden reserve of skill and strength."
"Don't turn tail now and run, you coward!" Aurelia screamed, charging at me with a massive attack.
I barely dodged, feeling her blade graze my skin and leave a mark on my chin. For some reason, I couldn't help but smile, and it seemed to infuriate her even more.
She didn't let go, and immediately closed the distance right away, trying to take advantage of my weakened stance.
"Left," a voice echoed in my mind. I instinctively followed the guidance, sidestepping Aurelia's attack with precision.
"Right. Down. Left. Right."
I merely followed that sequence, and to my surprise, I was deflecting all of Aurelia's attacks almost perfectly.
"Did you see that!? Even I would have had trouble keeping up at this speed!" Valeria screamed in excitement.
Zorro chuckled softly. "It's just like a swordplay savant. I've never seen someone adapt to a fight so rapidly and flawlessly."
"Go for the neck." The voice echoed again, and this time it sounded decisive. I complied again, trusting this voice in me.
Just as I was about to go for the neck, immense pain started to radiate from my chest, and I lost the grip of my sword.
"Oh my, reaching your limits, are we?"
It was the same voice, and I was just confused at this point. I chose to ignore the voice because it was guiding me, but now I was forced to pay all my attention.
But removing even the tiniest bit of my attention was all that it took. I lost all the strength in my legs as I fell, not even having the strength to brace for the fall to terra firma.
"Ed!" Valeria screamed and pulled the arrow out of the wall and out of her shoulder.
Aurelia just stood there, watching as all of this unfolded. "If you had landed that blow. Who knows?" Aurelia said and looked down at me.
As my eyes closed, I couldn't help but feel anguish at the fact that I was so close.
So close, yet so far.
I mean, in the first place, how did I even manage to get that far?
I was struggling against just those lowlife members earlier. How was I able to keep up with a commander?
As I could feel my consciousness sinking into the darkness, I had a very familiar feeling. A familiar feeling of hitting the ground in pitch black.
This feels just like that dream. Yes, it is the same dream that knocked me out in the initial chase to catch Abaddi.
"Hello there."
A voice echoed through, the same voice that had guided me in the battle against Aurelia.
"Who is that?" I instantly got wary, and scanned my surroundings.
I couldn't make anything out, but as I walked along, I felt that the ground just had this ever-slight delay of supporting my foot, almost as if it were propping up a solid surface.
I lifted my foot, and to my surprise, felt the ground rise to it.
"Huh?"
I looked down, and I saw what seemed like a mirror reflection of me at first glance, while my face was nervous, the other face shot back a devilish smile.
"Woah!" Just as I realized that this person was matching their footsteps to me to keep me afloat, I fell and hit the ground for real this time.
I heard a set of footsteps coming in from the background, and it was this person who looked like me at first glance. The only major difference was, for him, both of his eyes were this alluring shade of navy blue, while only my right eye was blue. The other one is brown.
"You know, this place has no sense of up or down. Or directions. That enables me to do things like that." The figure mentioned with a chuckle. I got back up and saw that he was wearing a cloak that hid his face.
I took a step closer, trying to discern the person's identity. "Who are you?"
The man chuckled softly beneath the hood of his cloak. "Me?"
"Yeah," I replied, slightly annoyed at the fact that my question was being repeated.
The cloaked figure's voice grew enigmatic. "You can say that I'm a figment of your imagination, you know?"
My brow narrowed, still unable to see the man's face. "A figment of my imagination?"
The cloaked figure's chuckle was strangely familiar. "Yes, Ed. I am what you've conjured up in your mind over the years. The ideal version of yourself."
my eyes widened in realization, and I stepped back in astonishment. "You're... me?"
The figure nodded.
Somehow, this just didn't feel right. Yeah sure, this guy may look a lot like me, but he isn't me, he just looks similar.
"Are you sure that you're me?"
"Yeah, after all, I've been with you since birth, you know?" The figure took a step further back.
In the distance, I saw a purple light emanating, and it was the same purple orb from back when I chose the blue orb over the purple.
What in the world is that doing here?
"So, you're like the perfect version of me?"
The figure nodded, though his face remained concealed by the hood. "In a way, yes. I am the embodiment of your strengths, your desires, and your potential."
"I see." The man who stood before me, claiming to be my ideal self, was so different.
"But... you're so different," I mumbled under my breath, refusing to acknowledge this.
He let out a knowing sigh, a trace of disappointment evident in his concealed expression. "I know, right? I'm so disappointed in you, Ed. If I were in your place, this fight would have ended long ago, and everyone would have walked away unscathed."
The figure finally removed his hood, and I could see his face. It was me, but a bit older and radiating nobility.
"Am I really... that strong?" I couldn't help but wonder.
"Wanna find out?" he asked, a hint of challenge in his eyes.