In a world where floating islands dominate the skies, Kirito and his friends are training to become elite Sky Knights. Their lives are turned upside down when Asuna is kidnapped, plunging Kirito into a perilous quest to rescue her. Armed with the le...
I stood in the cold, stale darkness for what felt like an eternity. The door behind me had closed with a heavy thud, sealing me inside the heart of the temple. My grip on Excalibur tightened, the silence so thick it weighed on my chest. My instincts screamed at me to be ready, but nothing happened. No beast leaped from the shadows, no immediate danger revealed itself.
I took a cautious step forward, my boots echoing softly against the stone floor. There was something here-something just out of reach, just beyond the shadows. I could feel it, a presence lingering in the darkness. My heart raced, every sense on high alert.
Then, I heard it.
A voice.
But not just any voice. It was mine.
"Well, well... finally made it, huh?"
I froze. The voice was casual, almost mocking. It was like hearing myself speak, but with an edge-a twisted, darker version of the person I knew I was. I slowly turned around, but there was no one there. The chamber remained still, empty.
"Who's there?" I called out, my voice bouncing off the walls. I spun in place, my eyes searching the shadows for the source of the voice.
A figure stepped forward from the far end of the chamber, emerging from the darkness like a ghost. I felt a chill run down my spine as I saw him.
He looked exactly like me-but twisted. His hair was stark white, falling in messy spikes around his face. His skin was pale, almost sickly, and his eyes... they were a deep, unnatural red, glowing faintly in the dim light. His outfit mirrored mine-a black coat-but where mine had silver accents, his were blood-red, like the color of fresh wounds. ************************************************
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************************************************ It was like staring into a dark, twisted mirror.
"You look surprised," he said, smirking as he tilted his head to the side, examining me like a predator sizing up its prey. "I guess you weren't expecting to meet yourself down here, huh?"
I narrowed my eyes, readying Excalibur. "Who are you?"
The dark version of me chuckled, his voice a low, sinister rumble. "Me? Oh, you can call me... Dark Kirito. But really, I'm just a reflection. A shadow. Everything you hide, everything you deny, I am. And I've been waiting for you."
Before I could react, he charged at me, faster than I anticipated. His movement was so fluid, so eerily similar to my own, that it caught me off guard. I barely raised Excalibur in time to block his first strike. The clash of our swords echoed through the chamber as sparks flew from the impact.
He was using the same dual-wielding technique I had perfected, but his movements were sharper, more aggressive, as if he had honed them to perfection. His blades flashed in the dim light, cutting through the air with deadly precision.
I grit my teeth, parrying his attacks, but each strike was like a mirror of my own. He moved with the same speed, the same precision, as if he knew exactly what I was going to do before I did it.
"This isn't possible," I muttered, ducking beneath a vicious slash aimed at my neck. "You're not real!"
Dark Kirito laughed, the sound echoing off the walls. "Not real? Oh, I'm very real, Kirito. I'm the part of you that you can't face. The side you try so hard to bury. But down here, in this place, you can't hide from me anymore."
He swung both blades at me with incredible speed, forcing me on the defensive. Our swords clashed again and again, the metallic sound ringing out in the darkness. I could feel his strength behind each strike-raw, untamed, as if he was drawing from something far deeper than I could reach.
He was relentless, his attacks fluid and unpredictable. One moment he'd be on my left, and the next he was coming at me from above, his strikes impossibly fast. He wasn't just copying my style-he was perfecting it.
With a growl of frustration, I unleashed one of my dual-wielding arts, a powerful spinning slash that I had been refining for months. But Dark Kirito was ready. He mirrored the move exactly, and our swords clashed in a blinding arc of energy, the force of it sending both of us skidding backward.
"You can't beat me," he taunted, his red eyes glowing with malevolent glee. "You can't beat what you don't understand."
I gritted my teeth and lunged at him again, my mind racing. He was right-he was in my head. He knew my every move because he was me, or at least some twisted version of me.
But I wasn't going to give up. Not now. Not after everything.
I threw myself into the fight, our swords blurring as we clashed over and over again. Each strike was met with a perfect counter, every move mirrored with terrifying precision. Dark Kirito's smirk only grew wider as we fought, as if he was toying with me, enjoying the struggle.
"Is this all you've got?" he sneered, blocking another of my strikes with ease. "No wonder you're stuck with a broken sword."
I flinched at that. Excalibur might have been weakened, but it was still a powerful weapon. I wouldn't let his words get to me.
With a sudden surge of energy, I managed to break through his defense, slashing one of his blades aside. I swung hard, aiming for his torso-but he moved like lightning, twisting out of the way. His foot shot out, catching me in the chest, and I stumbled back, gasping for breath.
"Nice try," he said, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. "But you'll have to do better than that."
He stood there for a moment, catching his breath, his red eyes locked onto mine. "We're not done yet, Kirito. Not even close."
Without warning, he vanished into the darkness, his laughter echoing through the chamber. I spun around, my eyes scanning the shadows, but he was gone.
For now.
I stood there, breathing hard, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins. My hands tightened around the hilt of Excalibur, and I couldn't shake the feeling that this was just the beginning.
Dark Kirito had left me alive, and that meant he had plans. Plans I wasn't sure I wanted to find out.
But I had no choice. Asuna was out there, somewhere, and I wasn't going to let this twisted version of myself-or anything else-stop me.
Taking a deep breath, I turned back toward the door ahead, the one I had unlocked before the fight. It stood there, waiting, and beyond it, I knew the real battle awaited.
With one last glance at the darkened chamber, I pushed the door open and stepped into the unknown.
