Before he could even properly give in as a lack of will brought him to a still, he found the ground rippling beneath his feet. At least, he believed it was solid ground; the sand he stood on was gone, finding himself standing on the surface of the abyssal sea.
He glanced up, seeing that the strange, black-fleshed entity had changed its pose. It stood with its left fist raised, as if having thrown an uppercut.
"What?--" Finn questioned.
Erupting from the unseen depths below, something rose as the innate reflexes of the assassin brought him to raise his arms. In that split-second, he witnessed what had risen; a fist matching that of the entity, only dozens of times larger.
Out of instinct, the ability plundered from his lost friend activated itself–
["Impervious"] [4:59]
As the mass of shaped darkness struck him into the air, he flipped himself around to gain control of his own momentum. He landed on his feet, sliding back a bit as he watched the colossal fist disperse back into the sea.
'--I activated that skill on reflex? I was struck directly, but I didn't even feel it. A momentary invincibility?' Finn discerned, finding his arms still shaking even if they hadn't been harmed.
A single glance up found the mysterious being of malice stomping its foot into the ground multiple times.
["Phantom Flow"]
The stream of darkness beneath his feet allowed him to surf atop the abyssal sea, sliding back as colossal extensions of the entity's foot erupted from the surface. He spun around, having to slip back as a pair of hands erupted, attempting to catch him like a fly between two, slamming palms.
It felt as if he had been shaken awake as his mind fired off on all cylinders.
Even if he believed himself uncaring of his life, the presence of the nefarious entity sparked his body to move. More than living, he feared dying by the hands of that horror; a fate perhaps worse than death.
The continuous eruption of limbs from the abyss halted as the nimble man was able to come to a stop.
"I'm afraid?" Finn muttered to himself, wiping the water that had splashed onto his face.
Whether he valued his own life or not, the aching of his heart provided him some meager amount of resolve. The guilt that weighed heavy on him; the death of those he cared for.
At the very least, that burden made him feel that at the very least, he should try his best to survive, for those that couldn't.
["Gale Blessing"] [2:59]
'...I've been thinking of this all wrong. Real, fake...It doesn't matter. It's all a gray line, changing by the moment. What I see before me is real—I'll trust that,' Finn convinced himself.
Stretching in every direction as far as the eye could see, the boundless sea of black was not an ideal environment to fight upon. Just standing atop the rippling water made his stomach spin, though he had to push past that feeling.
It had been awhile since he had looked into a mirror, finding the spitting image of himself a saddening sight; his tired eyes with dark eyes beneath them, the stains of dirt and blood left on his skin, and the grim expression.
'It's a lot more demanding to replicate myself, it seems. From what I've gathered, I can only replicate one physical target at a time–between a weapon or myself. I might still be able to duplicate skills, though,' he considered, quickly running through the information he had.
Together with his dutiful doppelganger, he surfed atop the abyssal surface, opting to split up as the copy took a left path towards the entity, going right himself.
Through the chaotic mess of the bone-made tentacles, he skated across the surface, spinning around one that slammed towards him. The doppelganger did the same, closing the distance while evading in much the same fashion.
A single glance to what his copy did brought him to a far too close encounter with one of the abyssal spines, having to lean back while sliding forth as it whipped just above his gaze.
"Hah–" Finn expelled a breath at the closeness to being bisected.
As he straightened himself back out, he had a clear path towards the faceless embodiment of the dead–
["Blink Slash"] [2:59]
Finn found himself jumping ahead a dozen meters in an instant, dragging his dagger across the neck of the entity. Up close to it in that sparse moment, he found that it was inhumanly tall; nearly three meters in height.
The sensation as his blade dragged across its unusual flesh left a sickening feeling in his stomach, like digging his weapon into a pit of wriggling worms.
["Blink Slash"] [2:59]
At the exact moment, not a millisecond apart, the doppelganger performed the same skill, slashing across the back of the entity. The strikes from both ends didn't halt the faceless humanoid from retaliating, as it raised its arms with the abyss rippling.
There was an unspoken connection between himself and his replication, not having to say anything as they acted in unison.
From his lips and out of the doppelganger's as well: "Replication."
["Blink Slash"] [2:59]
["Blink Slash"] [2:59]
The duplicated instance of the skill brought himself passing by the malevolent figure again, slashing across its torso as his copy did the same against its back. Even with the multitude of quick slashes, he glanced back to see there was no harm left on the abnormal body of the tar-fleshed one.
'What? That didn't do anything?' He thought.
Maintaining the doppelganger was becoming tiring, bringing him to relinquish it as he placed distance between himself and the entity. It seemed to be the right call, as the figure raised its arms with sinister intentions.
"Can't catch a break, can I?" Finn uttered.