Chapter 21: Mirror Match

Rex looked at his counterpart a short way across the room. Beyond the fact that it was made of pure shadow, it was also the spitting image of him. From the tatters in his cloak to his altered eye and scar, not a single thing was out of place on the shadowy copy.

The two locked eyes, the shade with a wide grin, and Rex himself doing his best to hold no emotion on his face. He was too busy trying to figure out how this was even possible. He assumed the shade had come from the tome, which was now slightly off to the side of the two of them, resting on its pedestal. He could try to dash for it, but no doubt he would just get repulsed from it once again. He was going to have to fight this battle, whether he wanted to or not. He might as well take the initiative and strike first.

He closed the gap in three strides, swinging both sets of blades, one after the other. One was aimed for the shade's head, and the other at the body, alternating rapidly with each strike. The shade wa unfazed however, not even bothering to dodge the strikes. Every single swing Rex made, the shade deftly blocked with ease and precision, despite the speed and force Rex was putting behind each blow. It effortlessly cast aside each hit, until finally it made a move of its own, catching Rex's shining blades in its own inky black ones. It twisted the blades, exactly like Rex was keen on doing to his own opponents, and the action caught Rex off guard. It threw him off balance, dropping him to one knee, one arm twisted painfully to the side, and the other barely holding the shade's other bladed hand from acting further.

"Aaagh!" Rex let out a small grunt of pain. The shade was just plain faster, not to mention stronger. In a way, it was almost too fast for Rex to comprehend, it was like it wasn't even predicting what Rex's next move was, but rather like it knew exactly what Rex planned on doing, right as he decided to do it.

"You're going to have to do better than that Rex." The shade taunted. "After all, half the techniques you know, came from me. And if you haven't noticed, I know your every move, before even you do." The shade let out a cold chuckle. "Care to know why? I know you just love learning, and I am more than generous with information."

"That is something that I have been questioning, yes." Rex grunted out, finally unlatching both sets of blades from each other with a grunt, and pulling back a few meters. He clutched his arm briefly, doing his best to wring out the pain as the shade paced about in front of him.

"It's simple really. On the day that you took a peek inside of my book on the pedestal there, you allowed me access to your mind, and by proxy, your soul. During that brief time, you learned a whole slew of techniques and fighting abilities from me, and adopted them as your own. This came at a price however, and a piece of your soul was swapped with mine, allowing me access to your form as much as I want, and leaving a piece of me inside of you in its place. As you might have felt, I was none too happy with being shut away for so long, only being useful when you felt the need to be aggressive. I want more, and you are going to grant me that. Once our little, combination is complete, we will be nigh unstoppable, what do you say? I'll even let you turn your little girlfriend into a queen." The shade proposed.

"Im going to have to turn you down on that offer." Rex retorted. "And I would suggest staying far away from Blake. She has no part in this." He was trying to stay calm, but he was already exhausted, and they had barely fought. He was caught in a situation where he didn't know what to do, and for the first time, he feared this was a battle he had no chance of walking away from, at least not walking away the same person if this shade really could take him over like it said.

"Ahaha… you don't understand, Rex. This is an offer you can't refuse." The shade charged him again, unleashing an assault just as fast as Rex himself had done. He barely had time to react, raising his weapons and diving dodging and blocking hits as quick as he could, but the shade mirrored him, pushing the reflexive augments in his joint to their max, changing the angle of strikes midair to force him to react faster, or just making hits harder and forcing him to whether the storm.

Exhausted, Rex dropped to all fours, his blades retracting as he panted hard. He just couldn't do it, he couldn't fight back against an enemy who knew all of his moves and countered them perfectly.

As he looked up, he saw the shade standing over him again. "And now it is time for me to take over from here." It said coldly, smirking down at him. It then turned into a pure black aura, that shot into Rex's body. First it was cold, then hot, then he felt like his whole body was expanding and compressing as he wrestled for control over his body and mind.

"GRAAAAAAAAH!" He let out an ear piercing scream, and fell to the floor fully, writhing for a moment, before going completely still. He sat up a moment later.

Outside of the door, Blake and Oda sat in silence. They had heard some commotion, but nothing as of yet to make them want to open the door.

Blake fumbled absentmindedly with the black and white pendant around her neck, doing her best to try and ignore the stress and worry going through her mind. Was he ok? What was happening? Why couldn't she help? What was it he was encountering in there? Will he be the same when he comes out? The first and last question seemed to appear more and more in her mind than the others. Above all else she just hoped he returned unchanged and unharmed, but as the minutes ticked on, that seemed like a taller and taller order.

Finally, she spoke. "Oda, do you… do you think he will be successful?" She asked the older man, looking up at him with worried eyes.

"If I didn't think he could do it, I would never have let him in there. But… I myself am unsure if he has everything that it takes to defeat this foe. I have prayed to Statera for him to have the strength and knowledge to succeed, but things like that can only go so far. This is power beyond our reach. In fact, I am unsure if you or me can fully understand it without reading the same tome that Rex himself had read to gain access to the knowledge. And if that happened, we likely would suffer the same fate, if not worse. His will is strong, and his mind sharp, and a strong body, but even then, you have to hope that luck is on your side when dealing with something no one else but you have ever laid eyes on in centuries." Oda responded.

Blake wasn't sure how to take that, Oda had offered positive and negative sides to Rex going in there. She opted to try and just keep a neutral expression and wait. They would know soon enough, and she could only hope that Oda was right about Rex having the ability to defeat whatever lay behind that door.

Then her ears twitched, hearing the distinctive sound of blades clattering together again. Interesting. There had been a pause. Then there was an ungodly scream, one she knew had to be from Rex. Oda had obviously heard it too, as they both rose immediately. Blake gripped her weapon and made for the door, but Oda put a hand on her shoulder. "Wait. We don't know what has happened." He said.

"But he hurt, he has to be! There's no reason he would let out a scream like that otherwise!" Blake shouted, tugging her arm away. "I can't just leave him in there. I'm going in!"

"Blake, wait! You're not prepared!" He tried to shout to her, but she had already forced the door open, and entered the room, the door clattering shut behind her.

"Dammit…" Oda muttered, dashing back up the stairs. He was going to need something to clear up this mess before it got worse.

Inside, Blake gripped her weapon nervously. The room was very dim, the only thing she could see was a lone figure standing in the middle of the room, between her and a pedestal. With her enhanced sight, she could tell the figure was Rex, but he was turned away from her, and he seemed to be unharmed. At least that was one thing she didn't need to worry as much about. But even still, the fact that he had yet to turn around or otherwise acknowledge her presence worried her. She creeped forward.

"R-Rex? Are you alright?" She asked in a worried voice, her knuckles had gone white from gripping onto Gambol Shroud.

He didn't seem to respond, and she stepped forward, putting a hand on his shoulder gently and asking again. "Rex, please. Answer me, are you alright? What happened?" She looked up at him, hoping for some form of response.

Then suddenly, Rex whirled around, smacking Gambol Shroud out of her hand, and grabbing hold of her other wrist. His eyes were blazing with a black fire, a smile on his face. "Im afraid Rex isn't available right now sweetie. But the better version is." The voice sounded like Rex, but something in it was off. Blake's eyes widened and she realized her mistake.

Rex then grabbed hold of her throat, lifting her up and walking over to the nearest wall and pressing her against it. "And soon, the better version of you will exist too, my queen." He sneered, tightening his grin around her neck.

She tried to kick and squirm, both of her hands shooting up to his hold around her neck and trying to tug his fingers away, but they were like iron. She gasped and wheezed, unable to breathe properly. Tears filled her eyes, this wasn't Rex. It couldn't be. Everything seemed wrong, why would he hurt her?

"Oh come now, it's not that bad, it will only hurt for a second, then… you will be more beautiful than you can ever imagine." Rex said with a low chuckle, his free arm moving forward and extending his blades, a black fire seemed to ignite on them.

"Rex…please…this…this isn't you… come to your senses… it's me Blake!" She rasped out, rapidly losing consciousness from the lack of air.

He ignored her, pushing the tip of the blades to her exposed stomach, they held there for a moment, fighting her flaring purple aura.

Right as her aura finally relented, Oda burst in through the door, holding a kind of talisman in his off hand, his sword in the other. The talisman flared brightly once directed at Rex, causing him to retract the blades, and clutch his head in agony, dropping the now unconscious Blake to the floor. She laid there limply, not stirring.

After a few agonizing moments, the shade and Rex split once again, right as several other monks entered the room and picked up Blake and her weapon and carefully but quickly pulled her out of the room.

Rex also briefly went unconscious, and they pulled him out too, as the shade was held back by the talisman's power. Once outside of the room however, the door was slammed shut by Oda, the Shade locked once more within. The talisman shattered into several pieces, and Oda held onto both knees after sheathing his sword, breathing hard.

Rex regained consciousness and sat up swiftly, looking around until he caught sight of Blake. "I… I failed… and… I hurt her…" He mumbled slowly.

"Rex. Calm down." Oda said, standing fully once again and offering him a hand. The other monks in the area looked at him warily.

He took Oda's hand, standing up and dusting himself off in the small and cluttered antechamber. He shook his head rapidly. "No… you don't understand… I hurt her, the one thing I promised I would never do… how… how can I forgive myself… how can she ever forgive me. I just… I hope she is going to be alright, but…"

A monk who had been inspecting the red marks around Blake's neck looked up. "She will live, but she will need some recovery time grandmaster."

Rex let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you." Oda responded for them both, turning to Rex and putting a hand on his shoulder. "It is apparent that none of us were prepared to handle what was in that room. But, at least everyone came out alive. Blake will heal, she will take time to rest in your old room again. I would advise giving her a bit of time after that, to let her sort everything out on what happened. I'm sure you need to do the same as well."

"Yes, I do." Rex said sadly. A thousand things were running through his mind, and he couldn't say he had the answers to them all. "I… I need some time alone. Make sure you treat her well."

"Only the best." Oda replied.

Rex nodded, and without another word, he swiftly made his way back up the spiral staircase, and left them all in silence. One of the monks approached Oda. "I'm impressed he was able to recover himself that quickly, most would still be passed out, like the girl. But to let him go freely about, I'm not sure I would agree with that call grandmaster."

"It takes a lot of trust in someone to allow them to go free after an ordeal like this, but to make him do anything else besides go off and think on their lonesome, to allow them to be aware that you still have faith in them, I see no other way for Rex to be able to figure things out. Holding someone in a cell and hoping they can figure out what is holding them back from accomplishing their goal would only make Rex feel more trapped than he already is. He knows his mistake, and he knows he needs to fix it, if not for himself, than for her." He pointed to Blake as he spoke. "Learn from this lesson, Rex is not a bad person, he may have fallen out of the monastery's good graces, but not from mine. He is a much different person than us, and knowing him so closely for so long, he won't let this mistake go unatoned for, nor uncorrected."

It was raining when Rex got back outside. Not that he cared however, trudging through it swiftly. He walked through it, all the way out to the edge of the monastery, and sat down on the top step of the staircase that ran all the way back down to Mistral.

At this point, he couldn't care less how soaked through he got, even as the sun set behind him and the wind got colder. In his mind, it was a fitting, but weak, punishment for what he had done. He had failed, no, worse than failed. He had not managed to beat the shade, much less even resist it when it had tried to take him over. He was no closer to understanding even how to beat it, and above all, he had let it control him to a point that he had brought harm the Blake, and it had been none too light either. He had nearly choked her to death… or worse… turned her into what he wished he could be rid of in himself.

No, this was unacceptable. There had to be a way to defeat this thing, and it only infuriated Rex the more he thought about it. But how did you beat something that knew every move that you did, knew your style in and out, and can react so fast to your usual moves that they were pointless to even try?

It only left him more frustrated, and he looked up briefly as he heard footsteps behind him. It was only several of the monks, and Oda, carrying Blake along and into his old room.

He grit his teeth. He caused this, and he would fix it, but he had to think clearly.

It knew everything about him, his fighting style, his weapon, and his usual moves, and obviously everything he could remember learning from the tome. That also left his semblance out of the question. No point in using that when the shade likely could just do the same thing, but likely faster. There had to be something he could do to turn the tables, but he just couldn't think of it!

He heard the footsteps pass by behind him again, and he briefly turned once more to see Oda and the rest of the monks heading back deeper into the monastery.

He was soaked, he wanted to go rest, but quite honestly, he couldn't give himself that grace after his colossal failure.

Then something hit him. The shade knew all of his usual moves, techniques and strategies, but what if he came up with something new? Something different, something that he had never done before or used. He would only get one shot with it to be sure, but the element of surprise might be all he needed to give him the chance to have the possibility of fighting back. But that also required getting a new weapon, and figuring out a completely different fighting style with said weapon as he was fighting an opponent just as strong as he was. It would be a massive handicap to himself… but then again, it would be the same for the shade.

A katana wouldn't work, he had trained too many times with them as a kid, so anything similar to Oda's weapon was out of the picture. Nun chucks? A possibility, but something far too unusual for him to grasp effectively in the heat of battle. It had to be something familiar to him, but also something he had never actually fought with before, something he could emulate the style of, but not really know what he was doing until he did it, to give him the maximum chance of landing hits on the shade.

Finally, a grin came to his face, he had an idea of where he could get something like that, he just hoped his theory would work, else he was signing his own death warrant.

He stood up once again, and trudged back to the covered walkway. Removing his rain soaked cloak with a light shiver, he wrung it out as best as he could and set it over the edge. It would dry with a bit of time. He wiped a lock of messy wet hair away from his face, and started walking along the covered pathway, shivering whenever a gust of cold, wet wind blew through the open air. As we approached the room, he unclipped the set of blades on his left arm, sliding them off and holding the entire mechanism in his hands. "Vetita, you served me well, but right now you will be taking a break."

He reached the door to his room, and cracked the door open. Stepping inside, he shut the door. He dared not turn on the light, he could hear slow, controlled breaths coming from the only other body in the room. He walked over to where his bed was looking down at Blake's sleeping form. They had removed her overcoat, putting some bandages around her neck. It made him wince, and more pangs of guilt shot through him. Even though he couldn't see the damage, and could barely see anything in the low light of the room, it was still very noticeable to him.

He set Vetita at the foot of the bed, at least it would be something for her to protect herself with if something happened, or if worse came to worse and his plan failed him. Then he eyed Gambol Shroud, laying up against the wall in the far corner of the room. He quietly walked over to it, picking it up and looking it over slowly. The black blade shined ever so faintly in the rising moonlight. It was a blade he knew well, he knew Blake's style, but had never actually used it himself. Unpredictable, lethal, fast, wild, variable. Perfect.

He turned back to Blake's sleeping form, and silently snuck back to the opposite side of the bed again, closest to the door. He leaned over her resting form. "I'm sorry Blake, if I want to beat this thing, I'm going to have to borrow your weapon. I only hope you can forgive me for what I did to you, regardless of how unwilling I actually was, how helpless I was to stop myself. Maybe I can make it up to you by putting an end to it with your weapon, where mine has failed me. Where I failed you." He leaned down and planted a furtive kiss on her forehead, before sitting back up and gripping Gambol Shroud tightly.

He moved back to the door, and stepped back out into the walkway outside, shutting the door behind him. He walked back down the walkway, unsheathing Gambol Shroud into its two parts, it felt somewhat the same to him, having two weapons. But he much preferred to have them not in his hands, It would make it easier for him to have more flexibility in his actions. He supposed the discomfort was a good thing however, the more awkward he felt, the less the shade would know what to do.

He wrapped the ribbon around his right wrist. This was how Blake did it right? He sheathed Gambol shroud again, maybe starting with just one blade would be a good start, and a much different feel for him than normal. God, having so much weight on one end of the weapon, and no counterbalance on his arms felt so off to him as he walked along. How was Blake able to fight like this? It just felt… wrong to him.

Well, there was only one way he was going to beat this thing, and it wasn't going to be with his usual setup. As he kept looking over Gambol Shroud, he popped the magazine of the gun open, revealing the dust rounds. At least it was loaded…. and another idea sparked in his brain. He popped 3 rounds out of it, each chock full of burn dust. He stuck all three into Verum, closing the chamber of his remaining arm mounted weapon. He was going to save that for a surprise.

Finally, he arrived back at the main chamber, Oda's chamber, and peeked in. No one seemed to be around, and she snuck back inside. He made a beeline for the back of the chamber, passing along the pillars that cast deep shadows along the walls of the long room, and ascended the steps to where Oda normally sat.

He looked at it briefly, poring over all the ritual materials and other scripts that Oda probably looked at every day, before finally descending back down the other side, and opening the passage that descended back down to the room.

He quickly made his way down the winding spiral staircase, and into the antechamber below. He looked at the door for a moment. It was sealed tight, but the key lock was left undone. He took a deep breath, and went over his situation again. He was going to use a weapon he had never used before, was unfamiliar with the proper style to use a weapon this complex to its maximum effect. He was against an opponent who knew every other technique he knew and forced him to try something new, and was as good at fighting if not a little better than him when he was at his best and most comfortable.

He had no way of knowing how the shade would react, or if his plan would work, and he had no backup. Neither Blake, nor Oda had any idea he was down her or about to do this, and if he failed… well likely unless he got extremely lucky the only way to break him and the shade apart again would be to kill him. Wonderful. This probably couldn't get any more dire for him, but if… no… when he beat this thing, it would fix years of mistakes, both old and new. It was worth it to him.

He took a deep breath, and undid the latches on the door, and cracked it open slowly. He snuck in and shut the door behind him. Once he turned around, the shade was already there, leaning on the pedestal with a smirk on its face. "Back already? Stubborn, I'm not sure if that is a virtue or a vice in this case. But I'm not complaining, It just gives me another chance to finish what I started." The shade said with a sneer.

"We will see about that. I don't intend to lose again. You may know me, but let's see how well that holds true." Rex said, raising Gambol Shroud in front of him.

Rex caught the Shade's smirk get dashed in confusion for a brief moment, before it feigned the same expression once again. "Indeed we shall. And the result will still be the same."

Rex's response was to charge forward, readying an uppercut with the much larger blade of Gambol Shroud's cleaver. He only hoped that this strategy would pay off, or it would be his grave he was making starting this again.

"The two of them have been spotted by agents in the city, Mr. Taurus." The scout reported with a brief salute.

"Perfect. Thank you. Keep tabs on them. I want to know when they leave their safe haven." Adam said with a smirk, leaning back in his seat.

"Of course sir. I will inform them to track, but not engage." The White fang scout saluted once more, and left the room.

"Won't be much longer now. Soon I will have you back Blake, and you suffering won't stop until I have taken everything you love away from you. Then maybe you will rethink your decisions." He said with malice, looking over the scout's picture of the photograph of Rex and Blake passing through Mistral.

He pulled Wilt from its sheath, and with a small flick, sliced the picture cleanly between the two of them, letting the half with Rex flutter to the ground, where he embedded the blade into it and let it rest there.

Every day let him recover from his wounds more and more. He could feel his strength returning, and subsequently, his hatred turned more and more towards the man who had essentially taken Blake away from him. It would not be long now before he could finish what should have been finished months ago, with Rex lying face down in the sand at the hilt of his blade. That was an ending Adam could only wait to see, and it couldn't come soon enough.

A/N: Ok, so this chapter might have come a bit... no a LOT later than I had originally anticipated, mostly due to life stuff. hope you guys enjoyed it, even though it might feel a tad bit disjointed because of the spotty time i had to write it, so i finished it in pieces. There are still a lot of character statuses that are in the unknown, partly because i am waiting for Volume 4 to release and determine if i like those lines better than ones that i have planned for them or not, we will know soon enough. Regardless, let me know what you think, and have a great week.