It was a rhetorical question for sure. For as soon as I opened my mouth to respond, he charged me with immense speed, swiping through the air with his monstrous arm. Every step he made created a small explosion of dark flames beneath him.
With a quick side step, I dodged his first attack with ease– a simple swipe to the face.
~Huh? Is he slower?
As I tried to swing my right arm to counter-attack, I felt a tug. A black tentacle had erupted from the ground to constrict me.
~Oh.
My look-alike's tail curled around my left leg, tightening its grip as it plucked me off my feet. I threw my hands to the ground as I fell, creating a hand-hold as I twirled my body and kicked him in the face. Slipping out of the tentacle's grip, I reaffirmed my balance once my feet found the ground.
Another swipe quickly came, along with a parallel image of flame.
I rocked myself backwards, evading both and performed a backflip to make a strategic retreat from him.
Another swipe, yet this time the look-alike summoned tentacles that burrowed through the white marble rock like serpents in wide arcs.
I sent out lightning to combat the tentacles, but it only gave them an electric charge as they continued their approach. I backed away slowly at first, sending waves of different elemental attacks at them— fire, water, earth, wind; none of them worked. Each tentacle seemed to be infused with the power of a black hole. Even light and dark magic made no hindrance.
Concluding attacking the tentacles was pointless, I made a run for it. But there was no place to hide in that flat, empty wasteland. The only possible place I could hide was the massive abyss looming behind us.
~The abyss…
An idea came to mind and I changed my trajectory, rushing straight for the abyss. The tentacles followed close behind. From the corner of my eye, I could see my look-alike send more my way. They were like heat-seeking missiles in the form of snakes hunting their prey and they were closing in.
Just as they reached me, I leapt over that black, abyssal canyon. My hand glowed with bright light. I had to create my own bridge.
Thousands of images of branches flashed through my mind. Of the jungles, of the forests, of the treehouse in that old backyard, of the swamps flooded by murky waters…
The words came out as if I said them a thousand times. It just came to me, flowed into me like it was fated to occur. The energy of the universe spoke to me, echoing from the abyss below.
"Memory Realize! Branch!"
As those words left my lips, a branch, its berth as thick as a humpback whale, bloomed forth from one side of the abyss and carried me to the other side.
"Intriguing…"
The familiar boy's grin only grew larger as he gazed up at my figure, standing atop the spiral pillar of entangled branches. My gleaming golden eye shone against the dark sky as if it were one of the few stars sparkling in its emptiness. I had only just realized, but the moon had long vanished from that isolated world.
The boy, who still bore a striking resemblance to myself, raised his claw up high and stretched his fingers out wide. In a flash of black, a single projectile, blacker than even the abyss, whizzed by my face leaving what seemed to be…
I wiped it off my face and examined it as I rubbed it between my thumb and forefinger.
~Slime?
My alertness soared back up as I heard what sounded like gunfire. A volley of that same black mystery goo was being fired at me at astonishing speed. My body was being relentlessly pelted by it, like heavy drops of rain. The goo burned to the touch, without end.
Once again, I ran to evade his attacks. Again, there was no place to hide from his squall of darkness. It twirled around him, blocking each of my attacks. Any that got through disintegrated as soon as it reached the flames still dancing amongst his skin.
It was as if his very existence was an empty void that swallowed everything whole— the very personification of a gluttonous black hole.
The volley continued without end, like a machine gun that had infinite ammo. Every now and then he would use his other hand to send more tentacles at me. He left no openings and had no virtual weaknesses to speak of. So, not only was he the personification of a black hole but he was also the very definition of a pseudo-immortal.
Amongst the gods, of both inner and outer, there are only three types of immortals: Ageless, Pseudo, and True.
Ageless immortals are commonplace amongst gods and traces of them can be found in many lesser races who are often descendants of inner gods. Their defining trait is their inability to die of old age. In other words, their bodies do not deteriorate. Quite a few never even age from being children.
Meanwhile, pseudo immortals are also fairly commonplace, even amongst the lesser, planetary races, much to some gods' dismay. Their defining trait is simple: they are immensely and annoyingly difficult to kill. Key words being "difficult to", meaning they can be killed; it just often seems impossible. Taking Ener as an example, one of the main reasons gods dislike these existences is due to the fact it tends to disrupt the balance in a world. Another reason is that sometimes these pseudos get arrogant and try to take over the role of or even kill inner gods for amusement.
The final type of immortal is the worst kind, but thankfully only one exists. True immortal's defining trait is the absolute inability to die. They cannot be killed by any means, no matter how drastic or how absolutely "around-the-bush" or "wall-breaking" the method may be. The only known True Immortal is said to be the Void itself, whom many refer to as simply: Chaos or the Void Before.
~How annoying.
I thought to myself as I hid behind a tree that I had created.
There was now an entire forest of trees surrounding the familiar boy, all created by my magic. I peeked out from behind the branch, peering at him with squinted eyes. I needed to find a weakness, any weakness. I just needed something. His existence was still destructible, I just needed to find a way around his flames and volley of goo.
~Wait…
My thoughts quickly trailed off as I realized something obvious. Fire, goo.
~If I douse him with a ton of water at once…
There was definitely no guarantee it would work. It all depended on my attack being too much for his flames to absorb.
I held out my palm, a large bubble of water forming above it.
~If this doesn't work, I'll have to try countering his magic with similar magic and overpowering it like before. But…
My mind flashed back to what happened in reality. I ended up absorbing him completely .
~We're in this dream realm now. Considering how it seems to be closely connected to me, I doubt doing the same thing will get rid of him permanently.
I let out a sigh.
"Ugh. Let's just try to get this over with. I need to wake up for school."
"PFFT. You're worried about school!?"
The look-alike cackled. He kept on laughing and laughing, and laughing. He even stopped attacking, holding mouth and chest as he continued to chuckle and giggle uncontrollably.
"Humans say that laughter is the best medicine." I muttered, leaping into the air above him as the orb of water in my palm grew dramatically. "Guess they were right."
I stared at him with a slight smirk as the bubble grew to full size, covering the black sky with the image of a translucent blue ocean.
"Memory Realize! MAN-MADE LAKE!"
I threw my hand down in his direction and immediately a torrent of water fell upon him like a rushing waterfall. The raging waters ravaged the white marble earth and created a crater. The edge of the falls splashed around violently, raining on the dull, gray branches around it. Greenery quickly began to form around the area. Those tiny stars shone brightly as a faint rainbow appeared above a nearly formed lake. Like an angel, I descended upon its waters, stepping every so gently atop its surface. Once again, that ethereal dream world had gone silent.
I looked to the sky, thinking about my previous attack.
"Okay, that time. I just said it for fun."
I puckered out my lips and although a bit embarrassed, I pumped out my chest as I stood triumphantly in the center of that massive lake. As I continued to stare up at the sky, the light of the stars began to shine brighter. Soon, their light filled the entirety of my sight. And…
…
Beep. Beep. Beep.
I opened my eyes to a white ceiling and the rhythmic mechanical beeps of a nearby machine.
"He's awake."
"Wait here! I'll tell the others!"
A pair of voices, one familiar male and one unfamiliar female, cried out in joy close by. Loud footsteps quickly followed. I immediately sat up, alerted by the sudden noises.
~Another attack!?
The sudden movement jerked whatever cables were attached to my chest off— likely electro sensors of some kind. Along with the cables, the beeping machinery fell to the floor and stopped beeping.
"Yoiya!"
I looked at my side and saw a small girl. Pale blonde hair, eyes of deep sapphire, and the sailor shirt and skirt that was our school's female uniform. Her mouth gaped open with worry as she had partially begun to lift out of her seat to grab onto me with her small hands. Yet despite that, her brow remained relaxed, like she just woke from a fantastic dream.
There was something about her that was more entrancing than the other students. She seemed out of the ordinary, much like myself. Her appearance alone gave such a vibe. She looked like she was from a fairy tale, like a doll made of glass.
Soon, a boy followed by two girls entered the room.
The first thing I saw when I woke up was not my sister but rather none other than the Tea Time Book Club.