AGG: Rise: Phantom Side Story

Phantom 1

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Commissioned by Blfqy

Word Count: 1593

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Awakening to a plain, formless expanse, you find yourself taking flight. You remember falling asleep, yet now you fly through the air of a world that seems the never change, without your equipment, save for your clothes. It feels both real and unreal. A dream in which you are fully awake. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet it cannot be a lie. 

Perhaps only minutes pass after you choose a direction and take flight in search for other people, or maybe an eternity does, but you soon find yourself looking into the eyes of another.

Another you, to be precise. 

Yet, by mere sight alone, you know that the two of you are completely and utterly different.

“Oh, ho? What’s this? Someone with my face and my body, cavorting around?” Words like silken steel guild your ears. Immediately, you harden your heart and mind, especially as more words come forth from your doppelganger’s maw. You ready yourself to call upon what weapons you can, either through Nemesis constructs or actual recreations, but you feel less sure of your chances when Luna flares up and wreathes you in azure flame. Without Occisor… “Oh. I see. You’re not me. You’re Li Song.”

A dozen realizations come to you in an instant.

But, amongst them all, one is the most prominent.

Before you is Lucifer, as the Aspect of Conflict. 

Naturally, you immedietly attempt to attack him, but find your leg suspended an inch away from inflicting damage.

“What’s this? You didn’t try to carve your way out of here the moment you awoke? Truly, it’s a wonder how you survived until you gave me the reigns.” The sneer upon Lucifer’s face, as he simply floats away, is a combination of derision and disgust. Steadying yourself, you do not allow his words to reach you. You listen, but you know that in this field of words and gestures, he is beyond you. “Hmmm… no… it seems you’re not the fool I have locked in the corner of my brain, nowadays. You’re him, if he were actually competent, and threw himself at worthy opponents.”

You keep your gaze on him and compress the whole of your power at your location. There is no point in searching for other threats. Not when Lucifer is in your immediate vicinity. 

“Hmmm, you wield a sword, you hold yourself as though you’re mighty, and you have quite a bit of power at your disposal. Yes, yes, you’re certainly powerful. But, the question is how we’re different, not how we’re the same.” Lucifer leer at you over clapped hands. The joy on his face, like a child with a toy he plans to break, is sickening. Allsbane comes to your mind. One strike from her would kill you with ease. However, you’re unsure if you can even wield her non-living form. Nevertheless, even if it harms you in the process, you will take that chance. “Oh my… what do you have planned, Li Song? What sort of superweapon do you have in mind, that you have such faith in? Perhaps… this?”

Reflexively, out of pure instinct, you dodge.

It is the only thing that saves you from The First Sword’s edge. 

“My goodness, what sort of fool are you? Did you truly give a sword life? It’s a weapon, you child, not something you cling to for warmth.” The First Sword isn’t as you remember it. It had been a composition of golden metal with a pearly handle, before you’d Ascended it. In Lucifer’s hands, it is empowered to the breaking point. It’s surface is a stormy mass of darkness, which can only be Nemesis, and it courses with veins of barely-restrained Destruction. You know that the sword beneath it is slowly being shorn and worn away into nothing. However, Lucifer cares not. “Of course, I don’t, you silly boy. This is my sword, my weapon, and nothing more. And, before you think any less of me, I must point out… that my sword is with me, while yours is nowhere to be found.”

She is safe, and not trapped, you simply answer.

“Trapped? Am I? Truly? I have already bypassed the system of this place that prevents attack. In a decade, or perhaps more, even at the cost of this weapon, I’ll break free.” Lucifer muses idly, touching the edge of the sword. The darkness and veins reveal a surface that is marred beyond recognition. You allow yourself a mere clenching of your fist to alleviate your anger at the sight. “Why, I’m sure your bones would be a decent weapon, until I find something better in my world. Or, perhaps, you’d like to surrender? If so, I’ll let you live and take with you with me upon my escape, as long as you swear to serve me, of course.”

Death is immensely preferable. 

“Alright.” Only your instincts save you from the strike. It was a sudden, deliberate thrust the was nigh-invisible, as he had the ability to extend the edge of his blade, too. Still, you avoid the other thrusts with ease, as you’re familiar with the weapon. You don’t know how long you weave through the multitude of nigh-instant attacks sent your way, each one capable of killing you, but when Lucifer’s smile turns into a snarl, you know that you’ve won the battle, even as you continue to evade. “Wipe that impudent thought from your mind, boy! I am your better! Time has proven it once, and it shall once again!”

At his words, and his anguish, you strike.

“!!!”

The instant of the First Sword disappears from your grip, and from Lucifer’s back. Merely touching it allowed you to know just how changed it was compared to what you’d Ascended Occisor from. Without a doubt, if you tried to Ascend that blade, you’d have another individual entirely. Something monstrous and terrible. 

You enjoy it disappearing into nothing.

Though, you still grimace, as you find that he’s altered the course of your assassination attempt, and both his spine and heart remain whole. Even if his wounds do not heal, a missing lung and a few bundles of muscle, would not kill you. 

“Damn you!”

You evade the sudden, all-encompassing blast he sends your way, before replicating it and throwing it back at him. The city-sized ball of concentrated heat and force engulfs him, burning him and slamming him into the immovable, immutable ground of the formless expanse. 

He is stronger than you, that is true, but he lacks your experience in combat.

Then, from above you, you hear clapping.

“Well done, well done. That’s my phantom gone, Li Song.” Phantom? You turn to look at what you’ve damaged. For a moment, you look upon your identical body, albeit with chest gouged and heavily burnt, but instead of rising it gives you a smile. Then, it fades away. You turn upward. Your fears are confirmed. Lucifer leers down at you. “Don’t fret. That was as strong as I was, in every respect. Take pride in your ability to mortally wound me, boy.”

So, in the face of time and training, even experience cannot triumph. 

You don’t know how to feel about that particular fact. 

“Goodness. What’ll you do now, thought? Especially, after you’ve wasted your one, single chance to kill me with my own sword?” Again, Allsbane comes to the forefront of your mind. Lucifer laughs and simply moves backward. He knows that you need to be close to use Allsbane. Not unless you wished to tear the whole of your surrounding reality. Which, even in this suspicious and strange place, would be terrible. “You’re certainly strong, boy. But, what can you do from afar? Perhaps, you can do more than merely copy my spells, then? Did you bother training the Power of Destruction?”

You don’t even deign a moment to consider that question. All you do is focus on other spells you have in your repertoire. Miyakuro’s Singularities will be a great boon to you… but using it will result in them being thrown back at you. And, you don’t enjoy the defense The First Sword provides, especially in its current state, as something that burns, maims, and saps the soul of those it injures. 

The battle ahead of you is against you in every respect. Your opponent is an individual who is capable of everything you can do and more, while you do not have your most powerful assets at your disposal. Your allies and companions, any of whom you can fight with to aid you immensely in this battle, are nowhere to be found. Though, you suppose, if you don’t have a clear way to achieve victory, and if your defeat is more probable than victory, perhaps its best that they’re all safe.

“No words, eh? I suppose you’ve always been rather simple.” Lucifer gloats with not small amount of glee. You prepare yourself for battle. Sage Martial Arts come to the forefront of your mind, Luna flares to full strength, and you prepare to forge whole armies from nothing. Your opponent merely grins and black flame, crackling with ebony lightning, flows forth from him like a wave. Curses lay themselves upon you, making you grit your teeth, but you overcome them. “But, at the very least, you can die as you’ve lived, boy!”

You say nothing, electing only to charge.

He cackles and forms the ocean he’d formed of power into a singular orb of Destruction.

However, just before either of you meet… the both of you pause.

To a song.