Born in Blood

Liam and the Liam-Copy stared each other down.

Silence.

Liam's gaze narrowed coldly at the Copy.

In turn, the Copy grinned mischievously.

"If you were really me, you'd know you're just a pawn," Liam said to the fake version of himself. "You're not real. You're an obstacle for me to run through."

The Copy smiled coldly.

"And?" he responded tersely. "So what? What's the difference between you and me? I have the Triumvirate Body."

"I have Blood Manipulation."

"I have the Inkshadow Tattoos."

"And I have the King's Eye."

"Nobody on the outside could tell the difference between you and me."

Liam's eyes turned chillingly cold. 

"But you didn't earn them," Liam said icily. 

"You didn't cut down who I cut."

"You didn't yank out your own eyes."

"You didn't burn and freeze at the same time."

"You're a rendition."

"A fake."

"Matter of fact, why am I even talking to you?" 

The Copy simply grinned, but his eyes didn't smile.

Liam's eyes couldn't get any colder than they already were.

…The Copy was Liam.

But obviously different and fake.

If the Copy was truly Liam, then there was only a small chance of fighting.

But the Copy just smiled at him.

This meant that, although Liam and the Copy shared powers, appearances and looks, they had fundamental differences.

Mainly, their ingrained purpose.

Most likely the Copy was either an incredibly powerful Formation, or a one-time artifact that completely copied an individual's powers.

If two exact clones of the same person met each other, and each of them knew who was real and who was the clone… their interaction would depend on who they were.

If a reasonable, pragmatic individual was cloned, there was a high chance he and his Copy could come to an agreement of some kind.

Of letting the real body live. 

Of living in harmony. 

Of going their own ways.

But Liam was different.

'If I was a Copy, I'd kill my original and take over his life.'

It was a sad reality.

But it was true.

'But that's just one possibility.'

'If I knew I was in an inheritance, and this was all fake, I'd probably kill myself if I was the clone.'

'For the greater purpose,' Liam thought, his cold King's Eye meeting the Copy's King's Eye.

But the Liam-Copy was obviously not intent on doing the same.

"Come, then. Or are you scared?" the Copy asked Liam with a cold tone.

Liam heaved a sigh and cleared his mind.

Apparently, the Copy couldn't attack him straight away.

Liam had to initiate the battle to start.

'Good. So I can study what this is about.'

The Copy said nothing as Liam looked up and down at it.

It had the same techniques Liam had.

Sword Construct.

Sword Connection.

Sword Hardening.

And all of Liam's unique powers.

How does one exactly defeat themselves?

'What am I supposed to learn from this? Experience? Discipline? Understanding of self?'

Liam nearly cursed.

Truthfully, all these riddles were boring and obnoxious. 

Liam didn't deny that they taught him important lessons, but still.

'I'm pretty sure I get one attempt. No second chances.'

'This won't end unless either one of us dies.'

Liam's grip subconsciously grew tighter around his Breaker Blade, but his eyes looked calm.

The Copy pretended to be bored, leaning against his own Breaker Blade and yawning.

But Liam could tell the Copy's guard was up.

Silence.

30 minutes passed with this quiet but fragile atmosphere.

At one point, Liam just started to cultivate in front of the Copy.

But the Copy couldn't do anything to him, and neither did it cultivate.

That only cemented Liam's belief that the Copy wasn't him.

As always, there was no answer to Liam's ponderings.

Liam didn't realize it, but the one opponent he wouldn't face was himself.

In his own words, he was a 'hard-to-die cockroach.' 

'The only way to find out is to get my hands dirty and start the fight.'

Liam's eyes grew fierce.

'But there's one thing I'm counting on that it can't copy…' 

Liam picked up the Breaker Blade after finishing his cultivation.

Then, he started to take slow steps towards the Copy.

The Copy smiled, grabbed his Breaker and slowly walked towards Liam.

No words were exchanged.

Then, they started to run at each other!

The battle had begun.

Liam was the first to send a mental attack spell. 

The Piercing Blade.

An ethereal dark blade shot towards the Copy's mental sphere, but it was faced with a darkness-coated sea of consciousness.

It was the Corrosive Mind.

…Of course.

They shared the same damn spells!

Liam winced at a pang of pain shooting down his mind.

But by then, the Copy and Liam were face to face.

Liam used Transfiguration to empower his lower feet and arm muscles as he surged forward at the Copy.

The Copy did the same.

Both swung their Breaker Blades at each other.

CLAAAAANG!

An ear-splitting noise caused a massive shockwave to spread through the fake dimension.

Liam's arms wobbled hectically as the titanic sword sent rumbles through his insides.

The Copy went through the same thing.

Anyone normal would have gone through organ failure due to the shockwaves going through their bodies.

But Liam and the Copy were not normal.

Both were in a stalemate as they exerted force on each others' Breaker Blades.

Their giant swords created sparks as they grinded against one another.

Liam's gaze connected with the Copy's, but neither of them maintained it.

After all, if the King's Eye managed to connect with either of their mental spheres, they could easily alter their perceptions of one another..

Liam's Breaker Blade suddenly split in half.

SHING!

It transformed into Dusk Blades that promptly landed on Liam's grip, the chains wrapping around his arms.

The Copy did the same exact thing as he did!

Two pairs of Dusk Blades clinked against each other one after the other. 

They had a small portion of the Black Blade's sharpness.

CLING! 

CLANG! 

SHING!