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When I opened my eyes I found myself standing in front of a familiar ocean. In front of me stood the frozen figures of Khaldrin and that blonde guy I had seen him fight against. Looking past them, out in the shore I could see the reflection standing, quietly gazing out into the distance.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly walked up to him.
"Can't recognize this place, can you?" I questioned, but there was no sense of ridicule in my voice. I was too tired to make fun of him.
This time, the reflection was the one who didn't answer, silently looking at the ocean, most probably trying to figure out how I had done it.
I didn't blame him, though; this entire thing had been slightly complicated after all.
This thing was an exact replica of mine, mirroring me in every single way, wheather it was physical, mental, or in this case, memories.
But that similarity ended as soon as he brought me into this mental hellscape. He didn't have access to any of my new memories anymore, not that he needed to in the first place. It wasn't like I could make new memories that didn't involve him. I had confirmed it as much; if he had shared new memories with me, he wouldn't have laughed at the previous memory, simply believing I had stumbled and fallen into the sand.
It took him a couple of seconds when, suddenly, his eyes widened as he turned to me, looking at me with an almost taken-aback impression.
"I can't believe you let Khaldrin's will take over your soul. Damn it, I should have seen it coming." He let out a deep sigh.
He was correct; my only chance of defeating him was to get a new memory that didn't involve him, which was basically impossible since he was a perfect copy of mine.
As masochistic as it might sound, thankfully, every time he killed me, he further weakened my soul.
A weakened soul could lead to a slight possibility for the remnant will inside to take over, one of which's side effects includes being bombarded with the will's memories. The entire thing was dangerous, of course; there had been too many instances of the person beginning to believe that memory originally belonged to them, going through an identity crisis, further helping the will to gain even more control.
Still, this was my only chance; even then, it hadn't been easy. It had taken me quite some effort to get the will to take over by continuously riling it up by thinking of the only time it had shown some influence over me, making me feel the anger the first time I saw those statues in the marble building.
"Damn it, I really shouldn't have boasted and given you all that information back then, it really is a bad habit of yours." The reflection spoke, shaking his head. I nodded in agreement as well; I needed to work on that as soon as possible.
"I have finally gained a memory on which you have no power, the sweat on the back, the minute details. You don't know any of that; I only do. For the first time since we began, I had finally managed to even the battlefield."
"That you have," He nodded once more before chuckling. "It's poetic even; you couldn't defeat someone who is basically yourself, so you decided to become someone else."
I paused; technically, he was right; he wasn't my perfect copy anymore.
"Let's not waste any more time." He spoke, and both of us began walking over to the two frozen figures of Khaldrin and the blonde guy in the distance. Reaching them, I took the sword from Khaldrin's hand, and he grabbed the spear.
This was it, the last battle and the most important one. There was only one way I could win this: by surpassing him and, in a way, surpassing myself.
He knew this as well; even from here, I could feel his tight grip on that spear.
I lunged first.
I sliced my sword, arcing it into a clean, practiced slash, and aimed low at his waist to bait him into a parry. He responded just as I expected, the spear darting to intercept, but I twisted mid-strike, angling upward and slicing a shallow cut across his shoulder.
"Argh." He hissed, and a satisfied smile took over my face. Only I knew how long I had waited to hear that sound.
Seeing that I had the advantage, I pressed forward, forcing him back with relentless swings while at the same time leaving no room for counterattacks. The sword repeatedly struck against the spear, its echo resounding through the beach. At the same time, each impact sent vibrations up my arm. I pivoted to my side and struck again, my sword brushing past his guard to graze his ribs. He stumbled, his footing faltering for a split second.
"You really are useless in a fair fight; here, I thought we were supposed to be the same person." I taunted, a grin tugging at the corner of my lips.