Chapter 703 - Other Self

In the area directly behind the gate, Eisen could immediately see that this fight would end up being completely different to the fight that he just fought in the other 'arena'. He was surrounded by trees immediately. But not the natural, pretty kind that would make this place seem like any normal forest.

Rather, they were dead, hollow trees with thick mist flowing inbetween them, making this place feel creepy and eerie.

The first ring of the circle of violence was for those that inflicted harm upon others, so he had to fight something that was practically addicted to murder. This second ring, however, was for those that inflicted harm upon themselves, and they were forced to live in this forest of suicide.

Eisen didn't know what kind of opponent he would have to fight this time around, but he figured it might be something that would try and attack him with mental attacks. Taking over his body to force him to do something that he didn't want to do, which was to kill himself in this situation.

Of course, even if that happened, it wouldn't affect Eisen all too much at the end of the day. He would just have to try facing this challenge again after re-spawning. But still, Eisen was trying to be extremely vigilant toward any thought that was entering his head right now.

Because if he was going to be forced to kill himself, he would be able to notice any thought like that, at least. But just when Eisen was thinking about this, trying to figure out what his opponent here actually looked like, he saw a silhouette through the mist, slowly approaching him.

And immediately, Eisen figured out that this fight wasn't one that was fought in the mental realm. Rather, it might be even more annoying than the fight against that murder-addict monster just now. That was because the silhouette of the creature that was approaching him was identical to Eisen's own.

Once the figure came close enough, Eisen was able to confirm it.

"Haah... Really? I have to fight myself?" The old man muttered quietly to himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose annoyedly. And to his surprise, the 'other' version of himself that was standing just about ten meters away from him also spoke up a moment later, just when Eisen was about to open his mouth himself.

"Let's get this over with. I don't have the time or the nerve to spend too much time to spend playing with you." Eisen said. But of course, not the real Eisen, but rather this fake version right in front of him. It just said the exact words that Eisen was about to say. The old man squinted his eyes as he got into his proper stance, ready to react to any sort of attack that this 'clone' may face him with.

"...It even has my mind, huh..?" Eisen whispered to himself as he watched the fake take up the exact same stance as him, in a surprised manner at that. As if it was confused as to how Eisen knew what it was about to do.

"...It has my mind as well, huh..?" The fake muttered, annoying Eisen even more. If this was a true copy of himself, then this would be a tough fight. One that he might not be able to beat in a straightforward manner either. All that he could do was attack his own weak-points, although the fake would certainly try to do that as well.

This would be a fight that Eisen would be able to predict perfectly. But at the same time, this fake would be able to predict it perfectly as well. Somehow, this seemed like a pretty good chance to Eisen.

A while ago, Brody asked him to create a golem that had the exact same capabilities and could make use of the same techniques as him, because he wanted to fight an opponent that might be able to bring his techniques another step above. By fighting yourself, you would be able to see your weaknesses and strengths a lot better. That seemed to be Brody's reasoning behind it.

But whenever Eisen tried to make a golem like that, Brody just ended up destroying it easily, since there was no way to really create an opponent like that, even using copy-abilities from different sort of shapeshifters.

On the other hand, if Eisen would be able to take this soul with him in one way or another... Creating the perfect sparring-partner for others would certainly be possible.

"This is getting interesting." Both Eisens said in tandem, although the old man didn't even get surprised anymore. Something at this level was to be expected.

And in the very next moment, both the real and the fake Eisen jumped at each other, swinging their blades in a way that it seemed like they were just mirroring each other.

The edge of Eisen's blade just barely missed the fake's neck, and the edge of the fake's blade just barely missed his legs, as the fake twisted his body around and Eisen hopped into the air.

The fake made itself fall to pull its sword up more easily while the real Eisen made use of the extra momentum from the jump to hit the fake's blade out of the way. With movements that could be compared to a somewhat sloppy, but still intricate dance, the two Eisens dodged each other's attacks perfectly while using every chance to attack the others.

The blades shrunk and grew, and so did the Eisens themselves. They transformed and flew into the sky, trying to hit each other down. They even tried to use magic for the first time in a truly offensive way, but the explosions of flames simply canceled each other out without either of the two truly ending up damaged.

In the longest singular one versus one fight that Eisen could vividly remember, besides of course the fights that Eisen had with Brody when the two of them were at a roughly similar power-level, each of the two tried to kill the other, but neither of them dared to give in for even a second.

This fight was one of the most fun ones that Eisen had in quite a while. He was glad that this wasn't just some sort of mental-battle, that would have been more than just boring when compared to what was going on right now.

Even Satel seemed excited as they watched the real and the fake Eisen continue to fight, although they apparently lost track of who was who rather quickly. Not that they cared, though, he would find out once the fight was over anyway.

And then, maybe two hours of constant fighting later, one of the two managed to get a good attack in. The fake managed to injure the real one, cutting into his shoulder. But the one that had a grin on his face was the injured real one, and not the fake that seemed to be winning all of a sudden.

During the fight, the real Eisen figured something out. This fake was a copy of Eisen from the moment that he stepped through that gate into this area. His items, his sword, everything was the same. However, it couldn't change. The fake wasn't able to improve, its abilities were constantly the same.

So, while Eisen's swordsmanship leveled up an incredible 7 times in this all-out fight against himself, the fake's did not. And while the real Eisen's Demonic Greatsword continued to absorb the souls that it had eaten up, the fake's did not.

Eisen was able to slowly but steadily improve in a simple and minuscule manner. But in a fight that was completely even, just the tiniest imbalance of power would be able to change the complete course of the battle.

Of course, that didn't mean that you were suddenly able to instantly beat the other opponent, which is why Eisen made use of a technique that he could only do now that he was slightly better than his opponent. And that was one that required self-sacrifice, where he would let himself be attacked.

The fake's blade got stuck in Eisen's shoulder, and the real Eisen made sure to keep it in there with a tight grip on the blade with his hand. And meanwhile, he swung his own blade at the fake Eisen, who swiftly shrunk down his blade to get it out of the real Eisen's flesh. This was exactly what Eisen was hoping for.

He immediately proceeded to push his blade at the fake Eisen as quickly as he could, and with that tiny improvement in ability, Eisen was able to make a difference this time around.

Eisen pushed the fake's blade to the side and cut into him this time as well, just that the real Eisen knew that this was about to happen and could increase the size of the Demonic Greatsword.

With that extra force, the fake's body was cut in half, while the real Eisen just had a gaping wound on his shoulder.

And just like that, the fake Eisen melted down into a sludge-like, milky white mass that tried to slither away, but of course Eisen was able to stop it rather easily with a little bit of flames in front of it. This soul was that of a monster that was rather weak when in its normal physical form. It was basically just there to be able to hold certain opponents off and make sure they couldn't proceed somewhere specific, at least that's what Eisen figured the use to for them to be.

The old man proceeded to take out another orb like the one that he gave that soul in the circle of heresy out of his item storage, trying to trap this soul inside of it to make use of it later. He was thinking about giving it to his greatsword, which seemed to want to absorb it quite a lot, but Eisen had to see if he could copy its abilities first. Then maybe he would give it to the sword to absorb.

But for now, Eisen had something else that he had to do as well.