Immediately, he created a sword, a long katana, using the concrete rubble as material. He swung at my shoulder as he closed in, but the blade quickly crumbled in his hands in the midst of my arm.
I stared at him with a blank face, unsure why he wasted such movement. Yet, much to my surprise, immediately after he thrust his other arm at me and pushed me backwards.
"Oh! Hehe. It's going to be quite a challenge to beat you with just hand-to-hand."
With a maniacal laugh, he slapped his forehead and scratched his side. He went on chuckling as he proceeded to kick debris after debris directly at my head. It did not matter to him whether it fell from above or lied on the floor beneath him. Each piece crumbled and vanished before it could even touch me, however. Aside from his crazed eyes and my own golden one, the strings of light swirling around my arm were the only source of light in that crumbling building's first floor.
His launches became more rapid, the delays between each rock decreasing with every passing second. Eventually…
Swoosh.
A considerably large piece of concrete flew at my face. I caught it with my left hand and it was quickly erased.
Within a nanosecond of the last of the rock disappearing into nothingness, my doppelganger was upon me and his fist swept across my cheek. Twisting his body around, he grabbed my other arm and swung me into the ceiling and kicked me into the wall of the second floor. With a grin, he–
His face quickly distorted. He looked down at his arm. It was completely gone.
"Hmph." He snorted arrogantly, raising a hand forward as I slowly stood to my feet.
A new arm formed in his palm and he casually attached it to himself. Cracking his neck and shrugging his shoulders, he wound up his arm to test it out. It was likely the first time he had attempted such a feat. For it was indeed a first for me in witnessing it.
Finally on my feet, my vision blurred. The amount of focus it was taking to maintain the level of gravity swirling against my arm without crushing myself was unfathomable. It was, in short, extremely painful. But I had to be sure that my attack would finish him.
~One blow.
Our use of magic and reality alteration was severely limited on this planet, with how tense and lacking the energy of this world was. The energy of Earth was indeed sensitive, judging from humanity's attempts to harness it across history. One wrong move, and I could destroy the planet with a flick of a wrist just as that 'me' had likely done within the alternative timeline. Destroying humankind on Earth across timelines was dreadfully easy. It was obvious, painfully so.
So if I missed, this world would fall.
~Hell. One screw-up at all, and I'll destroy the balance of the world and with it, the world itself.
That was the gravity of the situation I found myself in. All went downhill the moment two of me were in the same timeline. A paradox of mass destruction was already underway.
"Alright. Let's continue." The look-alike said, having finally adjusted to his new arm.
I stared back at him, gazing into his eyes. He was still playing. Jovial, childish, destructive despite not even in the midst of throwing a tantrum. He was enjoying the chaos, thriving in it. He was just like a demon lord, a sadistic devil king.
~Continue? No, thanks.
"Let's end this."
Once more, just like in the other timeline, we clashed with each other. Trading blows, kicking each other as we climbed higher. Black holes, explosions. Each one he created in his offensive tactics destroyed each floor one by one. Soon, the walls were collapsing around us, leaving only thick clouds of gray matter that surrounded us as we climbed to the sky.
Countless times as we ascended, my look-alike lost and replaced his limbs. Eventually, he stopped caring whether or not the limbs were human. His original appearance was no longer visible. All that remained was a hideous black creature with long tentacles for legs, a single bat wing, a talon that appeared to belong to some type of bird, a human jaw, and a dragon's crowned forehead.
He was formidable, persistent, and still arrogant to no end. And admittedly, despite everything, battling him… well… it was…
~This is fun!
Even though we were practically one and the same, I could not predict the outcome of this battle. Our experiences were different, our approaches contrasting, our perspectives black and white.
However, whenever I looked down upon all of the destruction, I was reminded of why I was fighting him.
~We're not in the Void. Our actions have consequences.
Just as the dust began to fade around us, this monstrosity that was once my look-alike groggily slithered through the air towards me. His red eyes glimmered with an immense rage. His jaw gaped open with a roar and black liquid spat out from his fangs.
Despite the clumsy way he moved through the air, his velocity still accelerated at an astonishing speed but his attacks were much more predictable— a common side effect of a blind rage, just as it was with my brother Loid.
"Guess we really were like brothers." I muttered to myself in a low whisper.
I quickly side-stepped him, swinging my fist down with maximum force. The great entangled chimera was forced down by the brute force of gravity, quickly reaching terminal velocity seconds into his descent. A few seconds more and dirt erupted from the first floor just as the falling dust began to reach the ground. A mangled pile of tentacles and scales squirmed wildly in a crater far beneath me.
I accelerated, rushing my magic-infused fist into the beast that was once me in the blink of the eye. It was as if I had teleported, warped right next to him in an instant.
That devilish beast writhed in pain, roared at me, growled sounds that defied comprehension. Yet still I furthered my fist into him and the magic tore his very being apart relentlessly. Soon all that remained was his jaw, still twisted into a confident grin. Even as that last piece faded away, my look-alike's expression never changed.
Seeing this, my face relaxed and I let out a small whisper.
"Sorry."
I slowly picked up the flickering black flame that remained— the remnants of his soul.
"I'll be sure not to follow the same path as you."
I held the flame close to my chest as the magic in my hand dissipated.
~This isn't over.
A voice much like my own resounded in my mind, echoing into my ears. The black flame exploded, enveloping my entire body in its grasp. Pain shot out from my chest, reverberating through my veins.
~Oh. What a fool I turned out to be in this timeline. It's a wonder how you managed to defeat me.
I screamed out.
The flames formed wings on my upper back, a tail on my lower, and horns on my head. Struggling through the pain, I raised my palm to the sky. The fiery halo of the eclipse hovered above. I clenched my teeth, clenched my fist, and closed my eyes. And I thrust my fist into the dirt.
Rocks erupted from the ground to swallow me. The darkness blinded me. The last thing I heard–
BSST.
An explosion.
…
An empty black sky with only a small number of vibrantly colored stars shining alongside the fading moon. A land of white marble, contrasted by a massive black canyon.
Peering into it, it appeared to be bottomless. It was even emptier than the sky above me. Nothing but darkness looked back at me.
Despite my surroundings, the environment, the air, the atmosphere— they all felt heavy. My body was on fire.
~Right. Fire.
My body was indeed on fire. This was the dream realm that existed within me. A personal dimension, so to speak. But something was definitely missing.
~The other me's… where are they?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of approaching footsteps broke the silence that seemed to last for hours.
"What an interesting dreamscape you have here. Here I thought it'd be that same old ocean of black."
A familiar yet unwelcome voice rang, its words growing ever loudly as the rhythmic tap of footsteps drew closer. I turned to face him.
He was once again human, his body pitch black just like the flames dancing atop him, fluttering like butterflies around him. Just as they did when they enveloped me in reality, they gave the boy a demonic appearance— one more intense than mine.
I narrowed my eyes as I examined his approaching figure.
~Eight wings. In the religious texts of this world, six would be enough to mark him as an arch demon. But with eight, he may as well be as bad as the demon lords that other worlds speak of.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He stopped about a hundred meters away from me. He narrowed his crimson eyes as he glared at me with that same old smirk painted across his face. Bringing his hand to his face, I noticed his fingers were long, jagged, and pointy. Like the pictures of psychopaths from manga, he licked the sharp edge of his claws. I could feel his anticipation for battle as if he were right in my face.
"Ready to continue?" He asked me with delight.