I've been waiting for this moment...

...

The number of bugs were multiplying, the noise was getting louder with each one that flew in. It was so unbareable that I started to get an intense headache, and I couldn't decide whether to hold my hands on my ears or head.

Eventually, the painful noise finally ceased, but the swarm of disgusting large bugs were still hovering close to us, almost mocking us as we were cowering in fear.

I was afraid, but Claudia was horrified by this situation. I never expected to see her like this, it was unlike her to look so afraid. Then again this wasn't actually the real Claudia, but a fake one made for someone's sick and twisted desires. Who knew how many more there could be...

All those grotesque bugs merged together to form a human shape. A sphere of black sludge materialised in the centre, eventually enveloping the entire swarm.

I heard a menacing laugh come from the disturbing black figure. Hundreds of those bugs appeared from everywhere across the room, all of them merging with the figure.

Thomas finally found me.

The once black and grotesque slime became shiny red armour, the figure was now Thomas in his new form, ready to fight. Once the process was complete, he chuckled quietly. The only thing missing was large battleaxe, but even without it he gave off an intimidating aura. The fake Claudia certainly looked terrified and he hadn't even made his move yet.

"You really are bad at this game, aren't you?" He taunted. "You're supposed to hide in a place that isn't so obvious."

"I don't even know where the hell we are!" I retaliated.

"I knew that wherever Claudia was, you would be there. It's almost hilarious how you would care about someone as worthless as her."

The fake Claudia almost broke into tears at those words. As much as I wanted to comfort her during these difficult times, now I had to focus on survival, and my mission.

"Worthless, huh? You seem to think she's worth something if you would make multiple clones of her."

"They're all just puppets, they're easily replaceable."

"If the original Claudia died, it wouldn't be possible to make any more clones of her now would it? Admit it, you do care about her and she is worth something to you. Not that it matters, since you don't deserve her."

"Y-you..."

Without hesitating, he raised his hand, and swarms of bugs merged together in his hand to form the bloodstained axe that would make anyone shudder in fear at it's majesty.

Claudia ran towards Thomas with tears in her eyes. I was hoping that she would have tried helping me to stop Thomas, but what she did was...the exact opposite.

She went down on her knees and started begging for mercy, her voice couldn't be easily understood due to her sobbing.

"P-please...d-don't hurt m-me...Owen m-means nothing to m-me...you're the o-only one I love..."

That...it was at that moment I started to doubt what my priorities were. I did everything I could to try and help Claudia, and she stabs me in the back like this? Although this was a clone, I wouldn't be surprised if the real Claudia would do the same thing in this situation...

Thomas looked down at Claudia, who was still begging and sobbing, as if she was some kind of inferior creature and he was it's god.

"So, you've finally learnt your place...I guess you're not as stupid as I thought."

Claudia glanced at me for a second. Her eyes were apologising, but I couldn't forgive her no matter how hard I tried...why couldn't she fight back? I guess his influence over her was stronger than I could ever imagine.

Even if I saved her here, today, she would still go back to him in the real world...

"Please forgive me Thomas..."

Thomas didn't reply and advanced towards me, looking down on me. As he did, the area started rearranging itself. What was once a small room became a large battlefield with a dark red sky and a floor that was styled like a chessboard.

Thomas raised his majestic axe, uttering one word that started it all.

"Fight."

...

He made the first move, swinging his axe like it weighed nothing. I blocked his bloody axe with my sword whenever he tried attacking, making sparks fly when the two weapons made contact. This sword was more powerful than I thought...

His speed increased, with every block I made he struck back harder. No thought was going through my mind, I was acting with my instincts alone.

I had to break this rhythm somehow and inflict damage, he didn't look like he was getting tired by this at all.

If that axe made contact on my flesh, I would be a goner, unlike him I had no armour to protect me. Surely he had a weakspot somewhere though...

With one final block, he backed away, chuckling.

"Do you really think that your toy is enough to stop me? Alyssa gave me more than some cool weaponry."

He raised his hand in the air, and black vines started appearing from the ground in front of me, all of them surrounded by a purple aura that looked rather ominous and threatening.

Terrified, I attempted to back away, but they were also growing from behind me. Before I could react, three of them joined together to wrap themselves around my neck. I suddenly struggled to breathe as they tightened their grip, and I started gasping desperately for air.

Before I could cut myself free from these vines, my wrists were bound by them too.

I heard Thomas chuckling from a distance, probably enjoying watching me suffer. He probably did this sort of thing to Claudia too, and just thinking about that made me even more scared.

I then felt white hot pain as my thorns slowly grew from the vines concealing my wrist. I knew it wouldn't be long before the same happened with my other wrist, and worse, the vines wrapped around my neck that stopped me from breathing and screaming in pain...

I only had one option. It was a risky gamble, and it could have caused me even more pain and suffering, but it would be worth a shot. Either way I doubted that I would be able to survive this sick and twisted game.

I threw my sword up in the direction of my face without the support of my wrists, it could either ravaged my face with it's sharp blade, or get the handle with my teeth and break free.

I prayed for dear life as I threw the sword in the air. It was almost as if time slowed down as I waited for it to reach my face.

Fortunately I managed to grasp the handle with my teeth, and I cut the thorny vines that were wrapped around my wrist, grabbing my sword and finally freeing my throat with it.

It was such a good feeling being able to move and breathe again, but I didn't have time to enjoy my newfound freedom, since Thomas was charging towards me with his ultimate weapon.

Once again I kept deflecting his rapid blows with perfect timing, but the white hot pain in my wrist became more painful with every movement I made. That still wasn't enough to stop me from breaking my rhythm, but I knew I had to if I wanted to win.

Thomas was the one who backed away, smirking as he raised his weapon into the air.

"It's been fun toying with you, but now this is starting to get boring."

He raised his crimson battleaxe up in the air, and several duplicates started levitating around it, emanating a dark aura identical to that of the vines.

He lowered his weapon, and the duplicates instantly flew towards me.

I desperately deflected each one coming from the front, only to quickly turn around and deflect the other ones from the back and sides at lightning speed.

The flying axes wouldn't stay down, they kept coming back up for another round, and more kept flying towards me. As the numbers increased it became more challenging to deflect each axe, it wouldn't be long before I would be unable to hold them back.

I then remembered something my father said to me long ago...he was always interested in weaponry and such, he had a katana that he hung up on the living room wall given to him by my grandfather.

...

Weapons are yours to control, not the other way around. You need to learn how to use them if you want to tame them, and you need to assert your dominance.

...

As much as I hated remembering my father...he was right.

I needed to learn how to control these weapons if I ever wanted them to stop.

As yet another axe flew towards me, instead of deflecting it, I ducked down and grabbed the handle with my other hand, which was still enduring the feeling of intense pain from the thorny vines.

I didn't let it get to me though as I wielded the axe in my other hand. The dark aura around it disappeared, as if it was free from some kind of curse.

But then something happened...my sword went up into the air and shined a blinding light. My axe did the same.

Thomas just stood there, amazed at what was happening, and the axes stayed suspended in the air.

Both of them merged together, making the light even brighter. Once the light disappeared, it was replaced by a larger silver axe. It looked truly majestic, the golden dust made the silver surface shine brightly.

It moved into the palm of my hand on it's own. Once I grasped it tightly I was amazed at how light it was. I was really excited to use it in combat, and I had the opportunity to do so since the axes continued their onslaught.

Instead of simply deflecting them, with this powerful weapon I was able to obliterate each of the axes, they were all decimated one by one in rapid succession.

It wasn't long before broken axes were littered across the battlefield, I panted as I looked around, amazed by the damage this weapon has caused.

To say that Thomas was pissed off was an understatement. He was livid.

"N-no! This can't be! That's not fair!" he screamed in protest.

Alyssa's silhouette immediately appearance in between us. I was wondering when she would show up...

"Since when has anything in life ever been fair?" Alyssa taunted.

"Y-you promised I would be invincible! You said that no one would be able to survive against my power!"

"I never said that he wouldn't be able to use your power against you. Besides, everyone has a weakness...except for me of course!"

With one last cackle, she dissipated, making Thomas even angrier. I guess he finally knew how I felt whenever Alyssa decided to mess with my mind. He made a terrible mistake putting his faith in her.

"N-no...I won't allow this...I need to be the most powerful!" he whined.

"I see that you're having trouble accepting the fact that you're no longer the one in control."

That comment was enough to push him off the edge, he screamed in anger and thousands of black vines sprouted rapidly out of the ground, each and every one of them aimed towards me.

With my axe I sliced through them like they were measly plants. As their remains fell onto the ground they disappeared.

Immediately after that, he ran towards me with his axe at the ready, and I did the same.

As both of our weapons collided, it created a shock wave that caused the battlefield beneath us to shake.

We both continued the rhythm of attacking and blocking, but this time I was the one starting the offense instead of simply blocking Thomas's attacks. Sparks flew and there was a miniature shock wave with every collision.

My weapon was the strongest, the only option Thomas had was to block my attacks. With a powerful blow, Thomas's axe flew out of his hand and out of his reach, leaving him with no way to attack me.

I smirked as I advanced towards him, enjoying his fear as he slowly backed away. Now to get rid of that armour.

I was ready to give him the finishing blow, ignoring his constant begging for forgiveness.

Heh, I've always wanted to do this...

I swang my axe so it hit the side of his chest, and the collision between the axe and his armour caused him to fly high in the air. He screamed as he descended towards the ground, creating a hole in the battlefield as he crash landed into it.

I walked towards him, looking down on him as he was lying on the ground. His armour was destroyed, and it was surrounded in that dark aura before it disappeared. All that was left was Thomas, on the floor, and covered in blood and bruises. Sadly, he was still breathing.

I...I did it...I won...

I then heard footsteps coming from behind me. Praying to God that it wasn't Alyssa, I turned around to see who it was. It was the fake Claudia from before. Her face had no emotion, but her eyes were full of years.