Back again! I've decided to just end this arc today, and just get it out of the way. I'll post a one shot today to make up for this quick ending. Enjoy
Nashi tried to convince herself they were looking in a mirror, but she wasn't. The other her wasn't following her motions, and had glowing red eyes as oppose to hers.
"What the hell is it now?" Elise hissed.
"It's us." Simon muttered. "What are we supposed to do now?" The other Simon laughed, requipping into an armor set Nashi had never seen before. Simon must have however. "The...Nakagami armor?"
"So you do know what this is?" The other Simon laughed. "The armor you can't access because it uses so much magic, right?" Simon didn't reply, but the other Nashi laughed.
"Can we please just hurry this along and beat them up?" She demanded. "I'm getting really bored." Nashi watched as the other her ripped her shirt sleeves off, and she choked. Bright red scales lined her arms. Elise and Drake looked very similar, and Nashi could hear her friends tense up.
"What the hell is even going on right now?" Damien demanded. "How are we supposed to win this fight?" The other Damien crossed his arms with a devilish grin.
"Well you see, me." he said. "I suppose you should know what this test revolves around. The trial is seeing yourself and defeating yourself at your strongest, so that you know your own weak spot." he raised his hand and a black magic circle appeared there, and Nashi paled. "Defeating yourself at your best proves you still have space to learn." The other Damien took over into Xisplate, and the other Ultear's body turned into water.
"I don't like the sound of this." Nashi muttered.
"But's it's possible." Ultear replied, taking a battle stance. "I feel bad for you guys, all that Dragon Force and armor and Xisplate... then there's me." Nashi had to agree, Ultear had the easiest time out of all of them. Before Nashi could reply she was tackled by the other her, who's intense body heat actually burned a little. This is what Dragon Force feels like... Nashi kicked her herself away only to get a fireball in the face, one that actually burned. it burned going down as well, and Nashi flinched as she finished eating it.
"Ow." Nashi muttered as she began to grapple with herself, the other he having the upper hand due to Dragon Force. She could see Drake flying into the wall out of the corner of her eye, and Elise throwing herself into the ground.
"Rule number one of combat" Nashi heard her other self say, and a fist connected with her stomach, sending her flying backwards. "Don't get distracted!" Nashi clutched the burn mark on her stomach as she stood. Damn, she looked terrifying in Dragon Force, pretty close to demonic. Nashi flinched as her burned stomach continued to cause her pain. Although she hadn't ever had trouble with fire, Nashi had never been burned before. It really hurt, as she found out.
"This is not cool" Damien growled somewhere behind Nashi. "What the hell are we supposed to do if this test puts us at our most powerful, and tells us to beat ourselves up?!"
"There has to be some kind of trick." Simon replied, wiping blood from the side of his mouth. "Something we're just not seeing, but what?"
"Hell if I know!" Elise replied, tossing her Dragon Force counterpart across the room. "All I know is that I'm not in the mood for this!" Nashi had to agree with her friend,today had put her in a shitty mood. Tackling herself self into the wall and doing her best to fight her other selves rapid motions, Nashi felt herself lagging behind as she flew across the room. Recovering just in time to be punted back into the dirt, Nashi growled as she was pulled up by the hair, her other self laughing darkly.
"Look at how weak you are" She hissed at Nashi. "Can't even enter Dragon Force without a huge amount of magic. How pathetic am I?"
"Pretty, bitch" Nashi hissed in response, which earned another kick in the stomach. Nashi coughed up blood as she managed to get up, glaring at her other self. "Something we're missing..." She muttered under her breath. "Simon's right, there must be a clue to this damn test...but what...?" Getting another punch in the face didn't help, and Nashi's pathetic counterattack consisted of a few attacks thrown out there in hopes she'd hit something, but hit nothing. Nashi jumped back as she was roared at. the intense heat singeing the small amount of hair on her arms.
"What are we missing?" Drake demanded as he dodged some poisonous scales flying at him. "Seriously, I can't..." Drake was cut off as he flew into the wall, not finishing his sentence. Nashi went on the defensive, doing her best to dodge her other selves lightning quick attacks. Kicking her in the stomach granted Nashi some time to think, and she thought as hard as she absolutely could.
"Mavis" Nashi heard as the other her stood back up. "Still got some fire in you, huh? No matter, I'll prove I'm not useless, I'll show everyone..." A light bulb lit up in Nashi's head, it all made sense now. They were, in a sense, literally fighting themselves. these shades had all of their attributes, right down to how they thought. It was worth a try, wasn't it? Nashi laughed and did her best to act easy going in the situation.
"Prove to who?" Nashi asked. "There's nothing to prove, you're downright useless." Nashi watched as the other her growled angrily. Bingo.
"Shut up"
"Why? You know it's true. Even dad said so." Nashi saw that her comment had surprised her shade.
"D-dad?" She asked weakly.
"Yeah, he told me straight up." Nashi coughed. "Something along the lines of how useless you were and that he was so disappointed he wanted nothing to do with you."
"Shut up, that's not true!"
"Oh yeah?" Nashi watched as she made a face. "Why would I lie about this to you, you're me."
"I...I..." Nashi watched as her shade struggled with what she was saying, but Nashi wasn't done yet.
"And you sure as hell won't be proving it to Rocky." She joked, and her shade's eyes widened.
"Shut... shut up" She managed, and Nashi laughed.
"I really do understand why he hates us, we're so pathetic."
"Shut up! I'm not pathetic, I'll prove it to yo..." Nashi had taken her chance, rushing forward and slamming her fist into her shades chest. She felt her fist go clean through, and smiled as the shade, along with the many burns on her body, disappeared.
"Guys!" She shouted, whirling around to find her friends still fighting their own shades. "it's a true test of how well you know yourself!"
"And?!" Ultear demanded as she had an icy sword fight with herself.
"Use what you learned during the other trials!" Nashi replied. "Talk down to them, it's the only way!" Drake laughed as he wiped poison from the side of his mouth.
"I have to shit talk myself to win, huh?" he asked. "I have the weirdest life, I swear." Drake pocketed his hands and smirked at his shade, who looked confused.
"What?" it demanded.
"Just relishing it knowing you fucked up." Drake replied. "With, y'know, protecting Nashi." Drake's shade whirled to face Nashi, and his eyes widened.
"Wha..."
"I mean you promised man, what's the matter with you?"
"I..."
"No excuses, you fucked up, that's it." Nashi watched as Drake's shade had an internal struggle, and Drake laughed. "And on top of all of that, you couldn't protect them from Apocalypse either. Mavis man, what are you doing?" Nashi nodded at Drake viciously, and he rushed forward and figuratively ripped his own heart out, his shade crumbling into nothingness. Elise took a deep breath, and Nashi felt bad for her. She must've had no idea what to do.
"I, uh..." Elise began, sounding uncertain. "I can't believe you" She finally managed, and her shade looked confused.
"Why?" It demanded.
"You're afraid of... that creepy guy? Seriously, I don't get you." Nashi wanted to laugh, partially because Elise wasn't kidding. She honestly had no idea. Her shade seemed to however.
"Shut up!" it shouted. "You may have forgotten, but I didn't! I remember everything..."
"Still, he was a fucking pushover. On top of that, he seemed to be relishing in the fact that you were scared of him. ugh, why? Just why?" Elise hadn't addressed her hatred trial, but it appeared she didn't have to. She defeated her shade easily enough, and Simon sheathed his blade upon seeing their success.
"I want to beat you up." Simon told his shade. "But honestly I just feel bad for you" Simon's jab seemed to work, and his shade lowered his own blades.
"Why?"
"Because you're dad doesn't even love you." Nashi noted the disbelief on the shades face, and Simon capitalized on that, laughing. "I can see you don't believe me, no matter. it makes no difference to me, truthfully. I just feel so bad for you. Maybe that has to do with your inability to comfort people when their upset around you, huh?"
"I..."
"No you don't, don't lie. You're one sad human being, it's quite sad. How does that make you feel?" Simon didn't give his shade the moment he needed to reply, as he had rushed forward to run him through. Only Ultear and Damien remained, but they were still fighting. Ultear jumped back and smirked.
"I like how strong you are." She complimented. "Is that all because of her?" The shade reacted very poorly, growing even more aggressive.
"Don't act like you miss her!" It shouted angrily. "You moved on the minute she died! I didn't!"
"Well, you're so scared of Zindo, too. I mean, he's not even all that tough."
"I..."
"And seriously, who hates their mother? What's the matter with you? She's just showing how much she loves you."
"Well..."
"No no no, no excuses. You're really sad for hating something so trivial." Ultear took her chance, freezing her shade solid as it contemplated her words. That left, Damien, who seemed to almost be waiting for the chance. he deactivated his takeover and crossed his arms, sighing deeply. His Xisplate using shade paused.
"What's the matter?" it demanded. Damien shrugged.
"Ah, you know, it's just sad. Older brother kills his younger sister. Shame" Damien obviously struck a chord with the shade, who flickered in irritation.
"It wasn't me, you know that..."
"I do, I do. What do you think she would think though?"
"Wah?"
"Who would she blame for what happened? She was young, she wouldn't know any better. She most likely blamed her foolish Oniichan..." Nashi wasn't an expert, but it sounded like Damien was also struggling in not believing the same thing, even after the tests. "And on top of all of that you're afraid of that demon? Instead of dealing with it? Ugh, whats wrong with you?"
"I don't even..."
"Soul Extinction!" The blast tore apart the shade, completely, leaving the six of them standing alone in the room.
"Well." Nashi said with a grin, placing her hands on her hips. "I think you all owe me."
"We don't owe you anything" Elise replied.
"Nope" Drake replied.
"Not a thing." Simon said.
"I'll give you a piece of gum" Damien offered.
"Nothing" Ultear said. Nashi frowned at her friends, who all grinned at her like a bunch of idiots.
"You all suck"
I hated this arc, so I just hurried up and offed it before I couldn't update anymore because I hated it. Anyways, I will post a one shot later today to make up for this shitty arc, but trust me, this next arc? Damn, I'm so hyped. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! let's try and get five!