Before reading this chapter, I must tell you a few things.
First: The characters of this chapter are gonna be called Luis and Duncan respectively in order to differentiate each other.
Second: This chapter happens inside a mental world. So, unlike the rest of the story where the battles are portrayed the most realistic as I can portray them, nothing here is supposed to make much sense so it's a rule of cool chapter in general.
Third: Originally, this was going to be just one chapter that had 10000 words. But I decided to divide it into two because I wanted to release something already. BUT DONT' WORRY, I already have the other half, I just need to translate it too (remember I've said I first write a draft in Spanish so my mind won't suffer a lot during the creative process and then I translate it). SO THE NEXT PART IS COMING TOMORROW!
Fourth: Technically, this chapter contains music in-universe that is being played during the chapter so I'm gonna give you the list and every time you see this:
Text
Text
It means you must start listening to the next music on the list. (Of course, this is optional). The music that has a * after the name means you should look for an extended version so it won't suddenly stop while reading. I tried my best to measure the cases where the * does not appear and, in theory, you should reach the part where this song ends correctly... but I cannot make promises. I don't know how fast you read. I also made sure all the songs here were created before the year 2017 (the year Kiran got summoned) so it will make sense in-universe he could have listened to them.
List:
Metroid Fusion Environmental Intrigue *
Megaman Zero 3 Return to Zero *
Megaman Zero 3 Apocalypse Now.
Megaman Zero Warning Theme
Cannonball (Megaman Zero 3)- GaMetal Remix (You can choose another version If you prefer it)
Metroid Fusion Environmental Silence *
Megaman ZX Rockin'on Remastered by TShadowKnight
FF7 You Can Hear The Cry Of The Planet.
Decisive Battle (Final Fantasy VI) - GaMetal
Anyway, that's all so... start the first music now! :3
Emotions vs Stoicism
After the connection between the left and right brains had been destroyed almost completely, the streams of consciousness that previously functioned as a single being had started to operate as two different things.
However, given both minds were unaware of this fact plus multiple factors that had caused chaos to the original unified mind, inside the limit that still existed between the two halves of that "infinite" realm... an unprecedented event of titanic proportions was about to take place.
It was inevitable.
Duncan didn't need to observe the other recently appeared figure too much time to think he wasn't somebody of agreeable personality. The mere fact the eyes of his opponent didn't seem to possed any life to the point of him being comparable to a soulless vessel wasn't a good signal at all. His common sense simply stated this.
Luis did the action known as blinking a few times as he "calibrated his systems" and his neurons were computing data to process and analyze his current situation. Some orders were transmitted to the right hand of his avatar. He placed his hand in the middle of his field of view, obstructing the other humanoid figure as a result. He opened and closed his fist a few times to check the functionality of his "body".
The survival instinct of Duncan obligated him to back off a few steps. To say he felt fearful of finding another person identical to him inside this place that, after watching it for some seconds, he recognized as his own mind was underestimating it.
He just didn't know how this was conceivable at all.
Luis, confirming his motor functions didn't seem to suffer any malfunction, changed the priority to analyzing the environment... which his systems identified as the vacuum of the outer space... which didn't make any sense since, according to the stored memory data, the home sapiens wasn't able to survive here without a space-suit, no to mention the lack of oxygen to breathe.
Calculating possible explanations, a simple experiment was selected.
Duncan narrowed in confusion at the sight of his copy's palm aiming at him... and immediately his eyes went wide as his opponent had formed an energy ki-like sphere that was big enough to cover all the hand... and then he just shot it at him.
Duncan didn't have the time to react, before he knew it, the ki blast had already collided with him since it moved just as fast as the light itself.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Realistically, Duncan would have been reduced to less than dust... but this energy just pushed him and blew him away several meters until he redirected the energy with a movement of his left hand The ki blast then traveled to the infinite... probably getting lost in the stars
With the experiment having given a positive result, the unit known as Luis considered the first explanation to be the most probable one. He closed the gates that allowed processing visual information and he initiated the operation: environmental transformation.
Duncan, still trying to calm himself down after such an event, gave a worried expression when he saw the outer space transforming into something much more normal to see. A plain where the beautiful and familiar blue sky was present.
However, something else also took form. Some ruins... pillars over there, and some other pillars over there.
In the center of all of them, however, there was a monument that seemed to be made of stone.
The monument had marks in the form of lines. All of them created a figure which could be claimed to be a tree. In the center of the tree's top, there was a hole in which a big sphere could perfectly fit.
Once the whole mental dimension transformed into the selected location, Luis finally nodded slowly. "Location confirmed, current status: sleeping... stranges cracks on the sky detected... of origin unknown... " True to be told, the "walls" of the environment seemed to be ready to collapse... yet, there was another important detail to be examined.
The memory data once again got contradicted with certain detail: the previous sleeping cycles hadn't been of the lucid type given emotional interferences caused by the excessive increase of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin as a result of interactions with an alien life form type female of class "homo sapiens espejo" whose biologic age, seen from the perspective of Terranos years, was fifteen years old.
More possible contradictions didn't have time to be processed as the sensors detected damage received directly on the area of the face.
All this because for a good damn time Duncan had been trying to get Luis's attention. Nothing to be considered weird, after all, who wouldn't be mad after being attacked without any kind of provocation?
"Answer me!"
The obtaining of conclusions, having being stopped, obligated the "CPU" to change priorities.
Finally noticing the other humanoid figure present in the dream, the "CPU" realized the facial features that other human had were... strangely familiar... but determining exactly who he was ended up being a harder task than expected.
An examining more detailed of this strange's outfit plus the visual information collected allowed Luis to conclude this persona must be...
An Impostor.
It was also confirmed that, unlike other entities that had inhabited this mental world during previous sleeping cycles, this being seemed to have a mind of his own so he couldn't be considered an NPC.
"It is requested to you an explanation for why are you simulating to be this unit." Luis asked, his voice tone... as emotionless as it could be expected because of his robot speech.
Even though the body this unit was controlling belonged to a being known as Luis, it was true that some time ago the unit Luis and the unit Duncan had apparently merged into a single unit.
"What are you talking about?" Duncan clenched his teeth.
"Please, identify the motive you have for trying to pretend to be this unit, besides your mere presence here in the first place." Luis didn't seem to want to be more emotional.
Duncan shook his head. "You have stolen my words. That's what I wanted to ask. Why are you here and why are you so similar to me?!"
This caused a short circuit to the CPU's systems.
"It's impossible for you to be the owner of this mind. This unit is the owner. Please, stop lying and clarify your intentions."
This was making Duncan really really mad. Did this imposter considered him to be a fool?!
Entering this place was pretty much the ultimate violation of his privacy, he had barely forgiven Naga the last time...
"I've had enough! I'm the owner! now... get the fuck out of my mind! now!"
Luis, emotionless as he was, didn't move a single "muscle" of his face beside his mouth. "Error, you have one last opportunity. Your honesty is required to avoid getting your spirit terminated."
"Quit talking like a robot! you're not a machine! you're alive dammit!" Duncan yelled, he was already very irritated... but then he noticed...
Some emotion in the impostor's eyes.
He seemed... mad.
"Difference between living matter and non-living matter not clearly defined by science. Some interpretations, specifically the Darwin-like theory of the natural selection of universes and the computational game of life, determine that life could be considered as information trying to propagate. Machines, especially those with artificial intelligence, could fit perfectly in the description."
This answer hit severely a feeling inside Duncan. "Okay, I don't care about what you believe, just leave this place before I make you!"
"Invalid input, you have been identified as a hostile entity."
Luis changed priority from investigation to defensive. "System command, object ID: Espada Maestra Dorada and Breidablik to generate."
The two requested weapons, effectively, got materialized on each of Luis's hands. Specifically, he held La Espada Maestra Dorada using his right hand and Breidablik with his left hand... although the color of the sacred relic was black rather than white.
Duncan backed off when Luis used Breidablik to aim at him. He grimaced and jumped to the left quickly as a plasma shot almost hit him.
Without feeling eager anymore to try to reason with this "machine" Duncan materialized his versions of the same weapons. A white Breidablik for his right hand and La Espada Maestra Azul for his left hand. "Very well... if this is how you want to resolve it!"
"Commence combat procedure?" Luis asked.
"Yeah..." a green aura surrounded Duncan. This kind of aura had the particularity of being shaped like a humanoid instead of being more similar to something seen in Dragon Ball Z.
"Input accepted." The same kind of aura surrounded Luis, the difference was that it was blue.
It was time...
"Commence combat."
Unconsciously, both summoned something very appropriate for the situation.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
Luis pulled the trigger of his gun but he kept holding it. Being this a plasma weapon, obviously, the energy started to get accumulated.
After Luis considered it enough...
Duncan attempted to jump to the left like the last time but, predicting easily this, Luis had changed his aim to that direction in the last second.
He released the trigger but he quickly pulled it again only to release it immediately this time. The result was two plasma-charged shots that impacted directly on Duncan.
The green warrior, having lost his balance, growled in pain... only to start wanting to scream because Luis had used his sword to do a vertical slash from down to up which created a lunar-like energy beam that didn't waste time and quickly hit Duncan, sending flying away again before he hit said beam with his sword to redirect it.
Duncan, not wanting to be the slowest one to react each time, also aimed his gun at Luis and he started shooting like crazy without bothering to charge at all.
Although Duncan had tried to replicate the strategy Luis had used against him, Luis had simply reacted faster and, therefore, the bullets weren't hitting him, although the difference of space between him and the missed bullets was very minimal since some of them almost reached his neck or cheeks.
Luis lunged himself against his opponent. Duncan blocked a slash coming from up to down. then a vertical slash from left to right, then a diagonal slash from up to down.
Duncan decided it was his moment to be the one being offensive.
During a blocking moment, Duncan used his gun to shoot at Luis's stomach. The repetitive multiple impacts were enough to make Luis back off a few steps before he jumped very high and started shooting from above.
Duncan jumped backward, but the time he spent kneeling after that didn't allow him to avoid a direct slash from Luis as he was falling.
Oddly enough, instead of blood every time they got hurt their bodies released sparks.
Exposed, Duncan received at least five slashes before he managed to roll through the ground until he was behind Luis, he took advantage of that and slashed from down to up as he jumped, causing a sparking fountain from Luis's back.
Duncan, landing again, released more of his speedy plasma bullets. As Luis took his time to turn around, some of them actually hit him. The result was that Luis ended up falling on his back. During the process, however, he shot several times too, forcing Duncan to dodge.
Although on the ground Luis continued shooting while rolling through the ground. Duncan running in the same direction.
Luis used the force of his hands to impulse himself up and, accurately, he managed to be standing up once again.
Both started charging the plasma as they stared at each other.
They shot at the exact same moment and they used a sword beam to support the shot.
The result of the four powers colliding against each other was an explosion that blew them away until they collided with pillars.
Duncan tried to stand up... only to see, horrified, that Luis had lunged again but, unlike the previous times, he was insanely fast... to the point his humanoid aura seemed to be replicated behind him three times.
Duncan attempted to dodge, but as soon as Luis touched the ground, he lunged himself again and this time Duncan didn't have luck.
Duncan received a succession of seven slashes. The first was horizontal from left to right, then an ascending diagonal one followed by a vertical one that, for some reason, was also an ascending one. The next one was a descending diagonal one only to repeat the ascending vertical one. Then a horizontal from right to left and, finally, Luis ended the attack by making the blade touch the ground... and then jump while cutting through the way up in vertical. This last slash sent Duncan away to collide with another pillar.
Luis wasn't stupid though, so he didn't low his guard.
He wasn't surprised to see some "lines of hyperspeed" coming in direction to him.
Luis placed his golden sword in a horizontal position to block a vertical attack from the blue one. Duncan attempted four slashes but none of them managed to accomplish anything. As he attempted to thrust, Luis jumped and landed on Duncan sword, the moment he took advantage of to aim Duncan's forehead and release a new dose of plasma bullets Luckily for the green one, his instincts ordered him to jump backward again multiple times.
However, when he stopped, Duncan found himself in a situation when a sonic speed-like spinning swordman was about to cut him again.
However...
As both swords collided, Duncan just released contact and moved aside. Luis continuing moving by inertia and this gained him a stab direct through the back.
At first, Luis attempted to get free... only to drop his weapons, grab the sword with his two hands... and use super strength to raise his opponent still holding his sword and then make him smash against a pillar, destroying it in the process.
Luis turned around and he didn't even need to kneel to grab his weapons as they teleported back to his hands.
Duncan clenched his teeth again as the same happened with his sword.
However, he had to roll quickly as Luis immediately started shooting again. He stopped for a moment to charge.
Duncan decided to do the same.
Both started orbiting at a common center between the two, preparing themselves to attack once more...
However...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
They released the hold in their weapons had placed their hands on their heads as a massive migraine attacked them.
Booms could be heard as the cracks on the walls of the world commenced to be repaired slowly.
The pain lasted a few seconds before it was gone.
Duncan had his right eye closed and his left one blinking. "What the fuck was that?!"
"I don't know, but I don't think it has something to do with our battle here," Luis commented, looking at the sky.
The so sudden change in vocabulary style didn't go unnoticed by Duncan. "Why you speak like a person now?"
His eyes also... had more light. They weren't black pearls anymore. "I don't know, for some reason, I now have the impression that it's dumb."
Luis himself was trying to understand what in the hell had happened. It's not like he didn't have memories and understanding about how emotions worked at psychological and chemical levels... yet...
Luis closed his eyes as he decided to attempt something.
Duncan raised his eyebrow at the sight... of a cat taking form on Luis's hand.
A baby cat... with white and black fur... in a pattern that made it look he had a white moon on the forehead.
It was Osiris, Kiran's old pet as a kid.
The creature, or rather said the mental clone of the creature, looked at Luis with the same curiosity and cuteness the original displayed when it still was alive...
... until Luis smashed it against the ground and, with a thrust, he pierced the animal through the head.
Duncan's face got deformed because of the horror.
Luis raised his sword to analyze it... observing the blood that stained the blade...
"Nothing..." Luis said,
"W-W-What?!..." Duncan's weapons became "ghostly" to allow Duncan to display his fists of fury.
"My memories indicate this should concern me, make me feel sad... that I would have stopped before the blade..." he knelt to grab the corpse of the animal... he looked at him as if the pet meant nothing... as if it was just an object "but I couldn't give less a shit for this piece of crap." and in a mix of confusion and stress, he threw the corpse away.
"..." Duncan narrowed his eyes. "You are fucking insane."
"Probably the answer is yes." Luis rubbed his chin. He looked again at the blood... and sighed in boredom. "Something is lacking here..."
"Perhaps your heart, YOU PUTRID BASTARD!" as his weapons became solid again, Duncan charged his Breidablik and aimed at Luis.
"The heart is a biological machine with the purpose of blood pumping, the emotions aren't present there."
There was something new though. If the scientific mistake of before caused him to feel... a little mad, now he was irritated.
The first time, he had only summoned his weapons as a defensive protocol... but now...
"What about we go to the next level?" a familiar sensation was felt in the area of the mouth.
He had smiled.
La Espada Maestra Dorada's metal blade got destroyed when it got replaced by what seemed to be the energy of the light itself in purple. As the sword's guard transformed into a simple white stick, the energy blade also got a triangular-shaped form.
Duncan's sword also changed immediately. The only difference between the two now was that Duncan's one was green instead.
Whatever the hell it would be necessary to create a sword like that in real life couldn't be described as "pure energy" since it would make as much sense as saying that a car is made of "pure velocity".
As the two laser blades made contact by two rapid slashes, they released tons of sparks due to the blade lock situation.
As Luis used his force to push, so did Duncan.
For a moment, Duncan seemed to be taking the lead as he used his legs to get the impulse to force Luis to take a step back... only for Luis to increase the amount of force he was applying as he decided to use his both hands to push by releasing the hold of Breidablik. As Duncan lost balance, he received at least five slashes.
Instead of being cut as if he was a portion of pizza, Duncan's avatar only released even more sparks than before.
Luis kicked him and, teleporting his gun back to where it belonged, he did what he obviously did.
This time, however, Duncan transformed his Z-saber into the Z-Shield Boomerang and none of the bullets affected him.
As Luis lunged against his opponent once more and the two blades collided, this time they began to run towards the same direction of their dominant hands as they attacked and attacked.
A collision between a vertical and horizontal attack.
A collision between two diagonal attacks, one that was descending and another rising.
Both spun over themselves to cause another clash of laser in vertical and horizontal positions.
They both jumped and continued their weapon talking in the middle of the air.
When they spun over themselves again, they have their guns aimed at the other's heart and so they shot. Both were sent to fly by this but they quickly impulsed themselves with the help of an invisible wall that became solid with the only purpose of helping them.
Once more, both blades locked against each other as they began to fall.
Once more with the feet on the floor, Duncan became more aggressive with his slashes, forcing Luis to go backward during the fight.
When Duncan attempted a thrust, Luis jumped to the left. Because there was a pillar behind, the electromagnetically contained plasma sword ended up totally encrusted on it. It not only destroyed the thing as if it was a knife cutting through the butter... Duncan simply raised the weapon to release it, destroying more of the rock-made construction, it also left clears signs of molten rock.
Nothing to be surprised considering the plasma is a state of matter that is the stars' natural condition. The temperature of the laser blades was around the 2752 celsius grades at best.
However, this action created an opening for his opponent to use his gun.
Forcing Duncan to lean on the pillar as a result of the shoots, an idea crossed Luis's mind.
However, before he could make it possible, another of those migraines suddenly appeared.
"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
Again, the cracks on the mental walls became tinier.
Luis, still mad but focused still on the battle, growled as a different strange aura surrounded his already present aura and he jumped as a message appeared in a text box in blue color.
Limit Break
Duncan's eyes went wide as, with a single swing from Luis, six tiny meteors formed and were going directly against him.
The explosions caused by the meteors buried him a few meters underground.
Duncan growled in fury as a similar text box appeared over him.
Limit Break
He impulsed himself from the bottom of the crater at the same time he spun at an insanely high speed to the point he seemed like a tornado.
Luis clenched his teeth as the green laser sword cut him one, two, three, five, six...
A total of thirty times. He had been a festival of fireworks made of sparks.
Again, the expectable would have been that Luis would have been reduced to nothing but human hash.
As Duncan kicked him in the end, Luis collided against a pillar on his way down.
Luis stopped holding Breidablik to pass his fist on his chin. "Excellent, this wouldn't be funny if you were just a fucking weakling."
Duncan shook his head. "There's no reason to be wasting my time like this, just get out!"
"Je," Luis stood up and began to stretch his arms and legs in an attempt to pseudo-relax. "I gotta admit that your lucid dreamer skills are impressive." he smiled sinisterly. "And it's certainly wonderful to finally battle someone whose actions I have not already determined because he's just a stupid NPC created for my own entertainment... but you're the real impostor here." his smile disappeared as his facial expression denoted rage. "You will never be able to beat me."
"You're wrong!" Duncan yelled.
"Uh?" Luis raised his eyebrow.
"There's nothing impossible when you believe in yourself!" Duncan pointed at him with his sword. "And I'm gonna prove that to you!"
...
...
...
Luis proceeded to let his laser sword fall and rub his forehead at the same time he shook his head slowly.
"I guess it would have been too much to ask for you to have a brain."
He let his hand go down as his weapons disappeared. "Of course, of fucking course!... if you really were me, you would know that you wouldn't say any bullshit like that" Luis shrugged.
Luis... remembered that emotion... yes... it was the same thing he had felt all those times he had debated with people that insisted that the faith could be comparable in value to his scientific method... or when dealing with earthflaters... or pretty much anybody.
Duncan yelled when, in less than two seconds, Luis had decreased the distance between the two from meters to millimeters with his fist directly making contact with his stomach. The green warrior ended up on his knees.
"So..." Luis backed off quickly. "Attack! try as much as you want, I'm gonna be more than glad to break your illusions, you fucking moron." Luis laughed.
Duncan raised his head, fury dominating him.
Luis, on the other hand, wondered how exactly he felt that pain even though the thing was merely mental.
"You, cursed fiend, I'm gonna make sure to send you to the hell where you came from!" Duncan yelled.
"Ha!" Luis giggled. "As if such a place existed in the first place!"
"Then I'm gonna create it for you!"
"Nice! so let's see if you can actually back up what you claim with more things than just some stupid cute words!" Luis prepared himself.
Duncan decided to use his ace card.
From the heavens, several rays of light descended. The sacred light took the form of some people.
Alfonse, Sharena, Lyndis, Eliwood and Héctor.
Luis crossed his arms, then he extended one of his hands in a signal of: What the fuck are you waiting for?
Duran proceeded to shoot multiple plasma bullets.
Luis jumped very high... only to find himself surrounded by the other warriors.
He then materialized two swords. The proportions of both were kinda exaggerated... but well, mental world and all that stuff, nothing stopped him here from dual-wielding two long swords.
One had a golden guard with a red inverted triangle in the center and multiple points that could be useful to hurt someone's eyes. The blade itself was black.
The other one was a sword whose blade itself was made of gold with a silver guard and exaggerated decoration.
Luis blocked an attack from Alfonse with his right hand at the same time he blocked Eliwood... but having both hands busy meant Sharena had the way free to stab him on the chest. Lyn used her twin Katanas to slash him multiple times and to finish the assault, Héctor pushed him away with a single attack of Armards.
As Luis was about to collide with another pillar, he quickly recovered the balance on himself. He used the strength of his feet to jump forward from the pillar and stand up quickly.
Duncan was preparing his two most powerful spells, Forblaze and Aurora.
As Sharena approached, Luis remained there without moving until she attempted to thrust him again.
Luis threw the sword of his left hand in the direction to where Lyndis was and dodged Sharena's spear... only to grab it with his now free hand and push it, making the princess lose her balance. He quickly grabbed her and forced her to be his human shield.
Interestingly, Alfonse reacted pretty much the same way the real deal would have as he stopped his sword when it was about to hit Sharena on her neck. Taking advantage of this, Luis threw Sharena and she ended up falling over her brother.
With both of them attempting to get up, Luis's golden silver sword began to shine when he dodged an attack from Armads.
At the same time, Lyndis had barely survived the attack from the other sword since Eliwood had to use Durandal to block it.
Jumping backward multiple times, Luis had already charged the attack he was going to use.
Duncan's eyes went wide in horror.
The sacred power of La Iluminadora (The Lightbringer) got cast and the spell Sanctus (Holy) created a magic circle around the royals of Askr.
Both of them screamed as the sacred light began to burn them to the core and they got pretty much vaporized.
"ALFONSE! SHARENA!" Duncan yelled.
Duncan was ready and mad enough to release his two spells... but he didn't notice La Iluminadora had been thrown in direction to him.
The blade pierced him on the section of the stomach and, once more, sent him away.
But unlike the other times, he collided against that monument with the three. The sword, crossing his body and the hole of the center, had immobilized him in that place as it continued causing harm with the sacred power it still generated.
Luis, now disarmed, paid attention to the trio of Elibe.
Being slow as he was, Héctor wasn't at all a problem and Luis punched him away easily. However, when Eliwood attempted a thrust with Durandal... Luis decided it was time to call his other special artifact.
A silver shield with a blue gem in the center got materialized and Luis used the strength of both arms to push Durandal out of the way and he jumped in a way that allowed Luis to kick Eliwood using the two legs making him fall.
He rolled through the ground protecting himself with the shield until he jumped and stood up. At the same time, he stretched his right hand out.
Sensing the force, the other sword traveled at hyperspeed to return to the hand of its owner.
Once Luis held it, the fire properties of the weapon started charging.
Covering himself with the shield from Lyndis and Héctor. Luis smiled like a bastard as flames as hot as the temperature you could find inside a volcano were surrounding the sword.
"GO AWAY!" Duncan, still unable to move, yelled.
Lyndis, Héctor, and Eliwood backed off when Luis swung La Ragnarok and he released the whole power of Fulgor (Flare).
As the firebomb moved to be in the middle of the three, it finally released all its power. The same way the royals of Askr got consumed by the light, the power trio of Elibe got burns by flames that traveled all the way from their skin until it reached their organs, bones, and brain. They screamed as they couldn't do anything to save themselves from becoming less than ashes.
"LYNDIS! ELIWOOD! HÉCT-" Duncan couldn't complete his sentence as La Ragnarok pierced through his chest too.
Luis shook his head. "Why do you even react to their deaths? I mean, it's not like they are the real ones... oh! wait!" Luis's smiled like a bastard. "It's because you think you're me and I can't be actually sure if the ones that live outside this dream aren't actually fake ones too?" Luis facepalmed as he starting laughing like a mad man. "Mahahahahahahahahahaha!" Luis could die due to the hysterical feeling he was having.
Duncan, unable to free himself from even a single sword, yelled in rage. "YOU PUTRID MONSTER PIECE OF CRAP!"
Luis shook his head in boredom. "Do you realize that the whole point of insulting is getting your victim feel offended, right?" the bastard smile was quick to return though... only for it to disappear again as Luis returned to be serious.
"Now... have faith... a pray!" Luis placed El Escudo De Paladín (Paladin shield) in front of himself as the blue gem started shinning like the sun.
A blue energy ball got expelled from the gem and it made its way until it was by Duncan's side...
"ARTEMA! (ULTIMA!)"
The result was a blue explosive wave of ultimate destruction that began to consume EVERYTHING that could be seen as it grew exponentially.
Duncan couldn't even scream as his avatar was pretty much erased from the existence just as the whole territory the mental world displayed.
Luis, on the other hand, just needed to activate his force shield around him and enjoy how, in the end, he was the one that was creating the hell.
Is this the trope that is called reference overdosed? I guess it is! But it makes sense, after all, this battle is taking place inside a brain and, if there's something everybody knows about mental worlds in fiction is that the amount of symbolism in this kind of places is always infinite and it's also always a good place to put references as if there wasn't a tomorrow!
So, let's list what are all the references that we got here (try to imagine the ones that will appear tomorrow in the second part):
Ki blasts: Dragon Ball Z
Sparks coming from your body after getting injuries: Power Rangers/Super Sentai
An Impostor: Among us (although Kiran hasn't played this game, I managed to make the language make the reference in a meta way)
Megaman Zero 3 is the game that is referenced the most with the following things:
Sword and Gun: Zero's battle style in his series. In this case, at first, they fight with their respective Masters Swords and Breidabliks (One of them being black is, of course, a reference to the book 3 of FEH). Then they switch to use lightsabers triangle-shaped, like Zero (in itself the Z-Saber and the O-Saber are a reference to Star Wars).
Fight of foes with the same body: reference to Zero vs Omega Zero (although this one was pretty obvious I guess), this includes the auras which were similar to Omega Zero's aura during that fight
Fight in the same place where it all began: Technically, as some of you probably guessed, the second environment of the chapter: the place with the monument and all that, is pretty much the monument of summoning from the game we already know. The battle between Luis and Duncan takes place there the same way Zero and Omega fight in the lab where Zero was sleeping at the beginning of Megaman Zero 1.
Charged shots and Sword Beams: Omega uses them during the battle.
7-slashes combo: Omega Zero's definitive attack: Ranbu! (Wild Dance!)
Final Fantasy gets these references.
La Ragnarok, La Iluminadora (The Lightbringer), and El Escudo De Paladín (Paladin Shield).
All those are weapons from Final Fantasy 6. La Ragnarok and La Iluminadora are the infinite -1 and infinite +1 swords respectively from that game. La Ragnarok has a probability of casting Fulgor (Flare) while La Iluminadora has a probability of casting Sanctus (Holy) in gameplay. Although in the remake of FF1 for GameBoy Advance and PSP they cast them no matter what if the swords are used as objects during the battle and you can do it infinite times without cost. I chose those swords because they and their spells make them pretty much sword counterparts of the tomes Forzblade and Aureola that belonged to Athos and Mark.
El Escudo De Paladin is the ultimate shield from FF6. You obtain it by releasing El Escudo Maldito (The Cursed Shield) from its curse (em... duh XD). It also teaches Artema (Ultima) to everybody, the best fucking spell of the game!
Limit Breaks
Meteorain: One of Cloud's limit breaks. It's one of my favorite ones. As its name suggests, it makes rain meteors.
Spinning Edge: Celes's limit break in FF6 (because yeah, they existed since the sixth game actually), it's basically Link's circular attack.
And I think those are all the references in this chapter.
Now talking about other stuff.
While it has been considered as a hypothesis that the split-brain syndrome causes Dual Consciousness... it is still a subject that neuroscientists debate constantly since they aren't exactly sure that is the case. For the purposes of this story, it is true.
Now, have you ever heard that thing that the left brain is the one that processes the information regarding logic while the right one is the one that holds the emotions?... well, the thing is... while it's true that our brains have many lateralized functions, not all of them are lateralized so that information is only partially true... at least it's not totally fake like the idea that we only use like... the 12 percent of our brain and there's a part that is sleeping.
That is the reason why, even though Luis almost lacked emotions at first, he still has some left and it also explains how Duncan still retains some intelligence... but he's clearly not as smart as Luis.
Because personality aspects aren't quantitative things you could say that, summarizing what happened here. Kiran and Mark got merged... but when they separated the way they did here as Luis and Duncan... Luis obtained the intelligence of the two while Duncan obtained the emotions of the two.
The cracks are the representation of what happened to the connection between hemispheres. Because at the same time this battle is taking place Naga is repairing that corpus callosum, the two brains are gradually recovering the connection they shared. The recuperation of emotions and intelligence by Luis and Duncan is an effect of this.
Luis, being the consciousness of the left brain, is right-handed because the left brain controls the right side of the body. As you can guess, Duncan is left-handed because he's the consciousness of the right brain.
A tiny artistic license I had to take is the detail that, usually, one of the aspects that is totally lateralized in the brain is the ability to speak... so if we were going to make this totally realistic... one of them would be a silent guy... it's one of the few times where I decide to go against what reality says because come on, it would be boring as hell if one of them didn't say anything.
Where the hell the name of Duncan came from?
As it was told in previous chapters, Mark wasn't his original name.
Kiran means: Ray of Light.
Mark means either: God of War, or, Consecrated to the god Mars.
Luis means: Famous warrior.
I wanted another name that could function inside the two categories that these names have... so I got Duncan.
Duncan can mean: Dark warrior.
Although it also contains the word warrior... its purpose is to serve as the counterpart of the name Kiran... in theory anyway lol.
But why a name related to darkness instead of another name related to light like Kiran?
Well, how was it called the era of the story where science (the light of knowledge) was pretty much abandoned in favor of beliefs? The Medieval Era, the age of obscurantism.
I know it would have been worked better if Duncan was Mark's second name while Mark was the first one that was the secret one... so I guess I should have planned this better since the beginning... but well, what is done is done.
You may have noticed the new name of the story. Well, I think this one fits better with the purpose of our protagonist here so... it's much better!
