Arthur's Point of View

The Island

Something about all of this felt wrong. Having a death battle with an Elincia lookalike is not something I ever expected to do. It left a sour taste in my mouth. Especially given the state of her decaying body. While the Island may have been replenishing her magic, it didn’t do her any good when she had to defend herself against me.

However, the double started to come across as excited the longer the fight went on. As she continued to head for her demise, my thoughts started to linger on her. She could’ve easily teleported away from the Island but would die after a period of time. Magic was coming off her body at an alarming rate that even the Island couldn’t fully replenish. Her attacks were overly dramatic and blatant.

Slamming my heel into her chest after spinning out of the way from one of her strikes, she was submerged in the lava below. A small wave flowed down the volcano’s side while another burst came from one of the vents below. Walking over carefully, I kept my eyes open. Unfortunately, the heat from the lava, along with the ambient magic flowing off of it, made for the perfect cover.

Losing track of her, I felt myself focusing on the other side of the Island where everyone was still safe. “You said you had a limited amount of time. Stop playing around and get out here. We’re not playing hide and seek and you’re not a child.”

Some of the lava jumped up at me only to hit an invisible force before shooting to the ground in front of me. The Demonic clone appeared behind me and I brought Defiance back just in time to intercept her blade. She summoned another one and swiped at me, which was easy enough to dodge.

A gravity pillar slammed into her above, and I did make it quite powerful, but she easily teleported out of it. Something I noticed was a lot harder to utilize with these smaller opponents was making them yield. The Leviathan was so large it could get away. That is not the case for the stronger, smaller, specialist.

“That form of yours uses a lot of magic.” The Double stated. “But I’ve noticed that you’re not recovering your magic like me. In fact, there’s almost a void surrounding you. Why is that?”

“I’m not here to answer your questions.” Was my quick reply.

She nodded in understanding. “True, but you’ve barely even attacked me. Only when you know you can get in a decent hit and even then, it’s not lethal.”

My sword hand twitched. “There are questions I need answered. Answers that are vital for moving forward.”

The doppelganger giggled. “And a disgraced Demon Lord who is dying is your best chance at these answers?” She asked back amused, before nodding again. “You’re right. My Queen abandoned me and I’m dying. No longer will I live as a slave to someone else’s will. If there is one thing I get to chose in my life, it’s how I’ll die.”

Before I could reply, she summoned her magic and sent it flying across the Island. An orb of black and red magic cut through anything in its path. My eyes widened and I quickly opened a portal to redirect it from the others position. The spell appeared to the side of the Demonic Clone and she quickly teleported away as it slammed into the volcano. More lava was sent flying as a chunk of the volcanic mountain destroyed.

Her eyes were focused on the destruction she caused as I darted towards her. Raising Defiance, I brought it down above her only for it to be blocked by several magic swords. Slowly, she turned to me with a smile on her face. Teleporting just slightly out of reach, we watched each other.

“Much better.” She commented. “I need your heart to be in this. I don’t want you to just outlast me. You need to perform.” My eyes narrowed on her as I summoned gravity pillars all throughout the area which crushed anything in their way. “Yes! Better!”

Immediately after, my free hand began gathering hundreds of mini gravity pillars to focus on one point in the palm of my hand. If I could trap the Double in that lightless world, our battle would uninterrupted. A black orb formed in my hand, and though she couldn’t see them, the Gravity Pillars would pull her in closer. Think of it as a spike ball, with long invisible spikes.

“That’s new.” She commented.

“Not for me.” Was my simple reply.

Her eyes widened when the orb shot from my hand towards her. Immediately, she brought up her swords and summoned her magic, but when she noticed the ground start tearing up as it got closer to the ground, she teleported into the sky with fear in her eyes. However, it soon faded as a shark like grin split her lips.

“Much better!”