*Skah* 

"Where am I? It's so dark in here," I said, staring at the strange black waterfalls. They were glowing ever so slightly. Or maybe I was imagining things.

"Indeed," a sing-song voice echoed.

I looked around. "Who's there?"

"Nobody."

I chuckled. It felt as if we were performing knock-knock joke. "No, you're somebody alright."

"Nobody but you!"

I jumped as a black haired look alike with silver eyes appeared in front of me. How had he gotten there so quick?

He stepped back and smirked. "I'm you."

I spun around as he appeared behind me. His sword would've stabbed me in the stomach if I hadn't flown in the nick of time.

"Golden Shot!" I yelled. Golden flames converged around my body and shot outward.

"Silver Freeze!" the other me said, smirking. Spikes of ice flew out, puncturing through my flames. I winced as the ice got me on the side, covering it in frost. Even the flames around my body wouldn't melt it, only slow their spread.

"If you're really me, couldn't we have settled this with a duel?" I asked, chuckling.

The other me laughed boisterously. "You want to play a literal shadow game then? If that's what you want then sure. Just know that you'll be the one mind crushed at the end!"

I gritted my teeth. Never before had I been annoyed at hearing myself talk so much.

"We'll see about that!" I said as I zipped around in the air. Brute forcing it simply wasn't my style, but how else could I beat myself?

"Oh? Seems someone is finally showing their angry side," my shadow self said, smirking.

I smiled back as I drew my sword from its sheath "I wouldn't say that. I can still get angrier than this! Wrathful flash of the gods! Grand Electric Slicer!" I zipped forward in an instant.

My shadow calmly blocked my attack with his sword despite all of the force behind my attack.

"Embrace of the shadows. Dark Entanglement!"

I screamed as shadows suddenly grabbed me, covering me like the webbing of a spider does to prey.

My sword hand twitched as I tried to move my blade. Only a little and I could've used my 'Hawk Slash' to free me from these binds.

The dark me smirked as he grabbed my sword using his talons. He curled them, shattering my sword into fragments of golden light that gradually disappeared into the darkness.

"No."

"I've won!" he said before kicking me in the chest with his talons. "Now Dad will have someone willing to fight by his side, not a feckless chicken."

I hit the ground with a light thud.

"Who says you've won?" I asked, glaring at him.

He slammed his leg against my chest, tearing some of the webbing with his talons. "The victor here is clear, 'Birdie'." 

Wisps of darkness flew out of my mouth. I had to get back to Daiyu and the kids. Daiyu. How was my beloved deer's trial coming along?

*Daiyu*

I jumped back, avoiding a kick from my shadow. It might've been my imagination, but she seemed a tad faster than me.

'Kuroyu' smirked as she spun in the air, creating a twister that grew to become a tornado.

"Enough toying around, other me," she said, glaring at me. "Or are you still that pathetic child who would flee from whatever bothered her, burying her head in the sand like an ostrich!"

"Sorry, but I am no ostrich," I said as deer horns popped out of my head. "Illusionary Field!" The black pearls on my golden horns glowed, causing space-time to warp.

The black space was replaced by a sprawling grassy field, suitable for horses and deer like Father and I.

"Hmm? You think that this will change a thing?" A pair of silver horns with cloudy gray pearls emerged from her head. "I know this is an illusion!" The field vanished, reverting back into the dark space.

"Tsk. Was hoping for a more colorful field."

The other me belly laughed. "That's hilarious, coming from a being of the darkness?" Her lips contorted into a smirk. "Or is that the Zionian within you speaking?"

I averted my gaze. While I lived in Abyssia, I had grown up in Zionia. That's where I'd met Skah and my other friends. Where we played and had duels together.

"Ah! Seems I hit the head of the nail!" The other me snickered. "You're no different from your husband, it seems."

I gasped and looked up. "That's not true!"

She held her hands at me. If her eyes were knives, they would've sliced me into slivers. "Don't lie. You aren't committed to the cause. However, I am! When I defeat you, I will take over and get the increase of power that Reginald had promised you would get out of this."

I stepped back. That stance! Dark blood trickled from my right cheek. It is!

"Become venison!" my shadow shouted.

"Like I will!" I yelled. My horns released a magnetic pulse, revealing and pushing away tiny metallic spheres barely visible to the naked eye. What had cut me was the fine laser produced by the interaction between such miniscule pieces of metal. They were short lived, but deadly.

My shadow smiled. "Now that's more like it."

I reached for my locket and rushed at her. The lock transformed into a silver sword as I came closer.

She jumped back, avoiding my sword.

"Thunderclap!" I yelled dashing behind her. She turned around and jumped back, avoiding my attack. I gritted my teeth as she made a magnetic field of her own, pushing away my electricity clad sword. If it were a regular sword, it probably would've slipped from my hands.

I formed one of my own, pulling me toward her.

"Huh?!"

I smirked. "Magnets don't only repel, but attrack." I swung my sword at her, coming centimeters from slicing off her neck.

The other me laughed. "Nicely done, Daiyu! Father would be proud."

I turned away. "D-don't try to flatter me."

She smiled as she and the dark space started to fade. "I mean it. It's your victory. But, remember what I said. You can't weaver. A duplicitous heart will sink you. Figure out on whose side you're truly on."

One whose side I'm truly on? Wasn't it obvious? I shook my head. She must've been playing psychological games with me still. I knew my mission and I was prepared to fulfill it until the end.

*Woolsey*

"You seem familiar..." I said, staring at the black haired me.

The other me smirked. "Of course. I'm the darkness that appears every so often. The side of you that wishes to devour everything that gets in our way."

"Devour everything?" I put a hand on my hips and scoffed. "You really are a ravenous wolf." I took a step back and raised my arms in front of me, smiling. "Well, let's start this thing!"

Kurosey chuckled. "Well said. Now, come to me, little lamb!"

I lurched back as he jumped at me.

"Oh? Playing it safe, are we? That's unlike you, little lamb."

I smiled and spun around. While I might not have been as talented as Shi, nor as physically strong as Sel, nor as smart as Cio, nor as fast as Skah, nor as hardy as Plu, my battle intuition was the best of the best! As ironic as some people might've found it. But I was no ordinary sheep boy!

"Malice Sealing Spheres!" I chanted, holding my hands out.

Wolf boy leaped back as several silver spheres sprung from the palms of my hands. He gritted his teeth as the spheres surrounded him. His feet were stuck in place.

"So, you are akin to a demon," I said, smirking.

He glared at me. "And what does that say about you? I occasionally take you over after all!"

I poked my ear. "Hmm. I'm not sure what it says about me. Well, maybe I do." I shook my head. "Philosophy really isn't my thing."

"You're an odd sheep."

I grinned. "You got that right! Nor am I your run of the mill demon hunter!" I slammed my hands against the darkness. Silver light radiated outward, causing the darkness to be pushed back.

"What are you doing?" the other me shouted.

"What do you think?" I asked, chuckling. "Silver kills the werewolf. Figured I would try it!"

He let out a roar and faded into the dark floor. Was he going to come up? I was surrounded by the silver light. Doing so would've assured his defeat.

I let out a gasp as blasts of dark energy sprung upward, forming holes in my stream of metallic mana.

"You really underestimate yourself, little lamb!" my alter ego's voice resounded across the circular enclosure space.

"Woolly Cover!" I yelled. The hairs on my body transformed into wool and expanded in size, covering me in a thick coat. The darkness hit me did no harm.

"Tsk! That wool of your really does save your hide. If not for that, you would've perished alongside Mama. Yet you hid like a coward like you're doing now."

I gasped as flashes of me fighting someone popped into my head. A woman's laughter rung in my ears as she kicked me into a wall. Mom screamed my name while the laughing woman promised her she would be next. The voice, it belonged to Margaret. So, she really was the one who killed Mama. That's why whenever I ran into her, I would freeze up or get shivers. While I my mind might've forgotten, my body still remembered the blows I had endured.

"I'm not a coward," I said, curling my hands into fists. I had to win this match. Only then, would I have a chance to get my revenge.

"Mad, huh?" my shadow said.

I lowered my wool but a claw swung forth as I did. Gripping his hand before it hit me, I slammed the wolf against the ground. "Metal Fury!" Spots of silver mana surrounded me and rapidly transformed into spinning gears.

My wolf screamed as the gears pressed down on him from multiple sides.

He laughed in agony as he stared back at me. "Maybe you're more sadistic than me, sheep."

I walked toward him. "I'll stop my attack if you provide me your power. I need it to get my revenge on that demoness."

He snickered. "You would get it anyway by winning. Although, I must thank that woman for creating me."

"Huh?"

He smiled before fading along with the dark space. What did he mean by that? Was he born from the trauma I'd endured? Was that why I'd forgotten who killed Mama? My child brain must've pushed those memories away. Haname once suggested that, back when we were still dating. She said that I would sometimes act different, but I couldn't recall having acted any differently. Her theory was that my brain created a different personality to protect itself. Each personality had its own memories. 

Maybe I my shadow was right about me. I was a coward. I ran away from my own past, just like I tried to run from her. I really was a trashy boyfriend.

*Skah*

I smiled at my shadow.

"Why are you still smiling?" he roared, stomping on me. "Are you some kind of sick masochist?"

"I shook my head and yanked my arms free from the torn threads. "It's just that you fell for my taunts!"

He smirked angrily as flames raced toward his feet. It hurt, but I held on. Never before did I think that flames could've hurt me, more so my own.

"Oh lingering segments of a sacred blade. Pierce the darkness!"

My shadow gasped as jagged blades of light punctured through his body. "W-what?"

I smiled. "You really thought that I was going to brute force things? Please! I am not Doggo!"

He gripped the blades and stepped away. "Ugh! You tricked me!"

I winked. "Nope, I tricked myself!"

He curled over and smiled slightly. His body and the space around us was starting to fade. "You and your infuriating puns."

"That's who I am! Punny to the max!"

He shook his head. "Ugh, I'm dying out of second hand embarrassment."

I laughed. "Pun intended?"

He laughed. "Nope. I'm not dead. I won't die until you do. I'm merely becoming closer to you is all."

"I see. Well, hopefully you can help me out in the war to come."

"I'm sure I will, Shard of Light."

I gasped. What did he just say? Shard of Light? But weren't those the followers of the Goddess of Light? I was one of the Pillars of Destruction, not a Shard of Light. He must've been dazed by the fragments of light. Or maybe he was as punny as me despite saying he hated them. That had to be it! Right?

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^!**