Forty-Six vol.2

Some Time Back:

Lilias Aunbren found herself in the 8th floor of Alos's Dungeon, within a white room. Meters away from her, there was another her.

'Interesting,' She thought mildly as she walked forward, and it did the same.

They stood before each other, a few feet between them, both staring into crimson eyes. Then, Lilias opened her lips.

"Should I kill you?" She asked it, "Or will you kill yourself and save me the trouble?"

The replica laughed, chuckling as it smiled, amused.

"Straight to the thought of killing me? Is that how you deal with everyone?"

She stared expressionlessly at the thing.

"You are standing in my way," She replied.

It sighed.

"How about we have a chat?" It asked.

Lilias stared at it. "No thanks."

Yet, it still smiled.

"Are you afraid of me poking into you? Observing you?" It wondered aloud, tail leisurely swinging about behind it. "Do you think I'll see something inside of you you want hidden?"

Lilias shook her head, her frigid expression unbroken, and her tail wrapped around her waist. "I do not care what you or anyone else sees about me."

"On the contrary, you do, else you wouldn't be so wary of me."

"I am wary of everyone," Lilias corrected.

"Isn't that a problem? Imagine living life hiding so much of yourself from everyone you interact with." The replica's crimson eyes stared into her own, observing her in its entirety. "That must be taxing. Do those you call companions realize that fact? Have they seen the real you? Would they still be with you if they did?"

Lilias narrowed her eyes as she gripped her swords into her hands.

"I really do think you are better off dead."

The other her shrugged, gripping one sword in its right hand, and another with its tail. Then, mana danced and water formed about the blade of both weapons as it raised its left hand, while a plethora of blades shaped from earth floated circularly at its back.

"Do you really wish to try me?" It asked then, entirely confident in itself. "I have you know. There have been few who fought me at my strongest—swordsmanship and true magic in tandem—and lived to tell the tale without my allowing. Though you may use my father's fighting style, you stand no chance at defeating me with only it."

Lilias knew better than anyone than to try to fight a version of herself more than willing to use its true magic. Staring at that replica of herself that wielded its natural fighting style, she sighed as she returned her blades to their sheaths and shook her head.

"I won't fight you," She said.

It smiled, returning its swords to their sheaths, the magic it had woven near-instantaneously disappearing as well.

"What a liar. You thrill in a good challenge, I can see it in your unwavering eyes." It shook its head and spoke, assured that it was correct. "You would have still tried to fight me if you hadn't yet figured out what this floor was testing. Meaning, you have, am I correct?"

Lilias remained expressionless, but nodded.

"We are both real," She said as she extended a hand, "We should come to terms with that fact and stop wasting our time."

It sighed, disappointed, but still stretched its hand out as well.

"Alright."

They shook their hands.

And then only one Lilias remained.

'Interesting,' She thought, thinly smiling as she moved towards the doorway of gold that had spawned. 'Very interesting.'

— — —

On the 8th floor of Alos's Dungeon, Elsa met herself in the white room. Naturally, first she was confused, looking at the spitting image standing only a few meters away.

'The hell? Did this dungeon throw me into virtual reality now?' She tilted her head as the other her did the same. 'Don't tell me I've gotta beat myself again?'

Yet, while she was thinking all of this, however, her replica walked towards her.

"Alright, I've done this shit before. If I beat you, I'll get out of here just like the assessment test," It spoke, standing merely a feet or so away from Elsa

It raised its fists and entered a boxing stance.

"You can understand me right? Let's just box." It grinned. "I've been itching to pummel something for a bit now."

Elsa stared at her replica, unmoving. Though she too had wanted to box another ever since Rose took an interest in the martial art and learned it quickly, she was thinking something else at the moment as she looked at her spitting image. Had she always been that dumb? How the hell did it know for certain that killing her meant it would pass the floor? It wasn't even real.

"You're a dumbass and impulsive as all hell," Elsa muttered, watching its behavior. "Doing whatever shit just because you wanna, right? You go around punching people as soon as they piss you off, don't you?"

Her replica frowned.

"Hell are you acting like you know me for?" It scoffed back, disregarding her words. Then it stared her up and down. "You know what? I'll do you one better. You're a dumbass who thinks too damn much. Look at you, I'm about to attack you and, instead of putting your fists up already, you talk first? Isn't that dumb as hell?"

Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Well I don't wanna be an idiot," She said, "I can't just charge straight at every damn thing, you know? What if killing you kills me too, huh? What then? I'd be stupid and dea—"

A force slammed against her face as a fist withdrew in the next moment. Elsa staggered back, her vision blurring while her replica shuffled closer to her, her

"You're thinking too damn much, you idiot," The other her looked at her, pitifully. "Sometimes you've gotta let your instinct do the talking, y'know ? If you had focused on yourself and tried instead of focusing on thinking, you woulda dodged that punch!"

Another strike came from below, slamming into Elsa's stomach, and knocking the wind out of her.

"I'm impulsive? So what? What the hell do you think would have happened if I hadn't threatened to blow me and Rose up with a bomb when we first met?" It chided her. "You think she wouldn't have been taken right then and fucking sold?"

Her next punch came, a hook swinging wide to knock her out. Elsa steadied her footing and caught it. She shifted and punched, her right hand snapping forward and striking the face of her replica.

"Fuck you. Instinct? Instinct my ass," Elsa chided it this time as she shifted closer. "Fuck that. What do you think would have happened on the 6th floor if I had gone your way and just fought the snake while manually throwing bombs? Wouldn't I be fucking dead? That's why I spent time making the bombs go off together!"

She watched its movement then recognized it. She grabbed a jab and countered, an uppercut slamming into the replica's stomach.

"Hell. Who the hell did you think thought of the bomb shit in the first place? If I hadn't thought of that shit, I woulda charged and fought the S.O.S by myself and died while they still got Rose's body! Have you seen how strong Lilias alone is?!"

She threw a jab, blood flowing onto her gauntlet as it met the face of the replica.

"You can't just fucking wing everything you little shit!"

Jab jab, hook, jab, jab, jab, jab, hook. Uppercut. Overhead punch. Elsa stringed the movements along in one fluid, calculated, motion.

"Then all you gotta do is get doing while still thinking about it, duh."

Instead of recognizing the combo and blocking, the replica managed to dodge most of it through sheer battle-awareness, pouncing into Elsa's radius in the next moment to throw a punch with its right hand.

"And if you're not strong enough after all that shit?"

Elsa stepped forward as well, throwing her own right punch.

"You make yourself stronger of course! I piloted a goddamn mecha in a fucking slum war and helped kill a Geared! Goddamn if that wasn't strong I don't know what is."

Even when they moved their heads, their fists still slammed into each other's faces, the crunch of bone ringing as blood flowed from broken noses. Yet, something beyond pain clutched at both of their attention.

Elsa found herself smiling through the taste of iron. "That was pretty badass."

"Right?" The replica did the same.

The two shuffled a step back, leaving the distance of their attacks and stared at one another, both of their faces bloodied, their breathing slightly haggard.

"You're not bad," Elsa said, "Muscle headed, but damn brilliant too."

"Same to you, feather-feet," The replica replied.

Then they grinned.

"Fist bump?"

"Fist bump."

They nodded, taking a step forward as their fists touched.

Then there was only one Elsa left, grinning. Her mind calmed at the experience of having two sides of her coin laid out bare.

'Fuck, I might have been a dumbass this whole time. I'm pretty fucking badass already,' She thought. Realizing there was no point comparing her direct strength to Lilias and Rose. Then she stared at her fists. 'But, goddamn, spirits or not, I still need better equipment. How the hell did I go from a mecha back down to these weak gauntlets?'

She turned to the golden doorway which had spawned.

'And. . .I need to talk to Rose. I've gotta at least try and tell her how I feel before I start doubting myself.'

Though her expression was contemplative, she was smiling as she walked through the door, exiting the 8th floor.