His last trail before he could escape the Dreamscape world, and it was something he did not expected. He though he would continue on with the fragments of his past but not to fight a mirror version of himself. Someone who took the different route in live.
The other Frederick was a dressed in white, a white waistcoat with golden edges, and beige blouse with white pants. The only thing he didn't wear was the cloak. That basically is a trademark for the darker Frederick.
It symbolized that the light Frederick didn't hide behind the darkness, that he was out in the open. Living a life of peace. He had moved on from the pain that the dark version had tormented all this time. And to even finish it the symbol of Blue Pegasus was majorly huge knitted on the waistcoat. The very guild that Frederick had destroyed. It was truly insulting, the legal guild, the happy life. And especially the part that he had moved on from Cecilia's death.
'How could he.. the love of our life. How dares he to move on!'
It angered him, not the fact that he had achieved what he couldn't. But that he had betrayed her, for not pursuing the same things to bring her back. For the darker Frederick it felt as if the light one had abandoned her.
He was boiling of anger now, and it was to be seen. The dark black aura started to expand from his own body becoming a visible sickening mass that looked like it was attached to the man himself. Like an extension.
Then ten featureless black tentacles shot out from the black aura, towards the light version of Frederick. Twirling and moving their way to him, an almost sicking sight.
But the light Frederick reacted to that with the same spell, and showed him a grinning smile before he did so.
'Tch at least we have our arrogance in common..'
Then twenty tentacles collided with each other, one consisting our of pure darkness that was colored black. While the other tentacles were white in a sterile kind of way. They smashed in on each other, trying to twirl their ways around each other, or blocking an other tentacle. All aimed towards the other Frederick.
But it appeared that no one could get a foothold here, which wasn't that much of surprise seeing that they were similar in most ways. The same fighting styles, tactics and way of thinking made sure that they were evenly matched. That mostly mirrored their own moves from each other.
They both retracted their tentacles and let it twirl around themselves, but at that moment Frederick noticed a quick devilish smile on the light version of himself.
Something was coming, the other one had something planned.
And as quickly as the tentacles they disappeared only to be immediately followed up by an attack that Frederick knew to well. His dark void, no that wasn't correct. It was a light void, the usually black pillars of darkness that were shot down from the pentacles were now pillars of light. That were raining down on Frederick, and exploding on impact.
The several explosion made sure that he was blinded by the white light, and the only thing he could do was protect his face against it by holding his arm before his eyes. All while he was slung over the place by the impacts.
Until the bright light of the impacts faded away and revealed Frederick laying on the ground face down. His cloak ripped and scorched, he himself roughed up and hurt.
'How can this be'
Frederick voice sounded low and was hard to hear from the position how he was laying there.
'You are the same like me, the same tactics and moves. How can it be that you are faster then me..'
The other Frederick didn't react to him at all, he just kept smiling
'But.. you are not better then me. No you are faster then me because you know what I was planning on doing. You just anticipated my own moves.. so that means all all I have to do is..'
Frederick started to crawl back up his feet while he kept talking and slowly took off his cloak only to let it drop besides him.
'come up with a new way of attacking, and beat you!'
Frederick didn't know yet what it was he was going to do, but he thought it was better to come up with it on the spot then calculating a move before hand. With the enemy he was facing calculating was out of the question because that was exactly what the other Frederick would do too. So he started to run, and that was something the other one didn't expected, and what he never could. Frederick had realized the biggest flaw of having come to terms with Cecilia's death. There was no need to change, no room to use new methods to get to your goals. Something what Frederick himself did had, he was always changing for his goal to bring her back. New methods, new magic. it was always changing, where he lived, how he lived. From the comfort of a guild and an own office to a simple little sleeping bag in the sand of a dessert. Frederick had learned to change, and that was all because he had lost someone and never truly accepted her loss. Not unlike the light version of Frederick, who had walked a different path. Whom had found redemption and joined a legal guild. For him there was no need to change he had never chased after her. Probably never even thought that there was a way to bring her back.
'We will see if this will work...'
He was still running at the light version of himself, who know looked surprised. Not like he was caught off guard but trying to figure out what his other half was planning to do. But that would be his downfall, because Frederick didn't really had a plan. He was going straight for impulse.
Frederick ran and readied his hand and made a straight swipe with it right under his own feet and jumped immediately after that.
Corrupted Explosion!!!'
A multitude of explosion occurred right under Frederick's feet while he was already in the air, but with the extra kick of the explosion he was launched straight over the light version of himself. And in that moment he called for his whips which he lashed out on him. Grabbing the light version with himself, and pulling him back with such an excessive force that he was slung all the way beneath Frederick's only to be slammed in to the ground several meters away.
'It worked!! He..I can't really handle this'
This light Frederick really couldn't calculate and predict his enemies move. He was still thinking that the dark version of himself was nothing more then a mere mirror in attacking. And there was it where he was wrong.
'It's not over yet!'
Frederick swung his left whip at his nemesis again and this time it wrapped around the man's throat and pulled him back up so that he was sitting on his knees. Trying to loosen the grip of the whip by trying to pull it from his throat, which was useless.
Then Frederick remembered that this was probably not the best move to use on his alter ego.
There was a move that was highly effective against users who would pull this kind of attacks. And the moment he was realizing that a wall build up from pentacles had appeared behind Frederick. Generating pillars of white light that shot towards him. As quickly as he could he tried to move away, but without luck. One of the beams hit him.
He let out a small grunting roar because of the pain, luckily it was only one shot that hit him. But it felt as if it did more damage then it should be. Probably because he was hit with the full force from the previous attack.
'You rotten excuse for a mage, you are nothing more then a blight for the human existence. Something that shouldn't be alive!'
The other Frederick finally decided to speak up. And as suspected he wasn't to happy anymore. Besides the damage he had caught there was something that hurt even more, and that was the man's pride. The very same arrogant pride that Frederick himself had as well. But by fallen into darkness he a to learn to pride and arrogance didn't really matter anymore. Not in what he was to achieve.
'Tch, look who is talking. Calling me an excuse while you abandoned Cecilia. You gave up on the very idea that you could find her again. And to make it even worse you joined the very guild that is filled with sentimental mages. All glueing together to share their feeling with each other. It's despicable.
'Despicable do you say, you are nothing more then just jealous that I have moved on from the painful loss that we have endured.'
'No.. I haven't. But that isn't what is annoying me the most. I can deal with jealousy but the fact that I can't deal with is that someone who is exactly like me is just doing nothing with power he has. Just sitting there stalemate, not trying the reach for the greatness that he could be destined to be. Be it for the good of the world... or plunge it into darkness.'
Frederick found a small dismay on the other Frederick's face. He knew he had hit the spot of annoyance on the other one, because they were the same he could know what would truly bother him. For Frederick was that the remembrance of Cecilia's death and on the second place was that he couldn't truly live up to his own potential. So for the other Frederick it should be just the other way around. With moving own from her death means that the most bothering thing for him was that he couldn't reach what he wanted. He had no goal, he was a sailing boat on a lake without winds. He didn't move forwards.
'You.. you..how..'
'Because we are exactly the same, you and I. The things we chase and lifestyles are different but how we are is exactly the same. I know exactly who you are, like you are probably the last person in the guild that others want to go on jobs with. Probably because you are always bitter by not knowing what to do next. Nobody listens to you and even though you have friends in the guild you still feel alone.
Not like me, no I have reached a position in my guild where I am alone. But also people listen to me. And sure I have acquaintances who I probably could call friends I am still a loner. And I like it that way, because of what I want in life requires me too. And that my alter ego is your biggest flaw, you can't handle to loneliness!'
'Shut up!! You worm! Exalted Explosion!!!'
The other Frederick swiped his arm towards Frederick creating a multitude explosion in the same linear direction from the swipe. But it was poorly aimed, the other Frederick's anger made sure that the explosions were nothing more then a scare tactic. Giving Frederick only to deal with the force that came off from the impact. But he stood firm, not moving an inch while his hair and clothes fluttered because of the power and wind that came off.
'So let's finish this...Frederick'
This was the feeling he liked the most, that he had the upper hand in this battle. All this time he felt he didn't know what to do, every image that Weiss showed triggered anger, sadness and unbelief in him. But know that he has recovered that one certain feeling. The feeling where he could see the ending of a certain event coming was nothing but pure bliss for him.
He had killed, pillaged, leveled towns and even attacked guilds in some occasions but nothing was more rewarding then that feeling when something big and personal was happening where he saw all the paths ending in his victory.
Once again he ran towards the other version of himself, ready to engage him head on. Lashing out at him with the whips that were still hanging as extension at his arms sides. The other Frederick couldn't react fast enough and was hit a few times before he reacted, calling out his own whips that were white instead of black. Now it became a head on battle, Frederick versus Frederick. Lashing out at each other, wrapping the whips around body parts trying to swing the other one away or slamming them in the ground. Frederick didn't know for how long this clash went one. It could be a few minutes or it could be half an hour. He didn't know but he did know how that he should end this battle soon. He was getting tired, his own fatigue was dropping rapidly. But he had something in mind, but it was putting himself at risk as well.
The light Frederick lashed out at him with his left whip, but at that same moment Frederick lashed out too. But not at the other version of himself. No at the other whip, strangling the two different colors together. But he used the force of the two colliding whips the swing the other Frederick all the way around above himself only the land right behind him.
The light Frederick came down with a huge smack and a cracking sounds of the white floor. Frederick himself reacted immediately he didn't had time to fall back and move to a safe distance he had to do this know. He had to deal a fatal blow to his mirror self.
'DARK OBLITERATION!!'
A multitude of thirty black pentacles appeared all around them, forming an inescapable dome. Where from every side pillars of black light were beamed towards the center. Exactly where the two Frederick's were standing. Well one was still standing the other one tried to crawl back up. But that all didn't matter, it all happened in a flash, the black beams that hit them. The explosions from the impact. And then the moment Frederick woke up several meters away from the impact zone. Heavily panting and grasping for air, he crawled back up but when he finally stood back on his feet he noticed that he was damaged severely. His left shoulder had a gaping hole in it, from which he was heavily bleeding. Also his right side was heavily damaged. It didn't had a piece missing but a beam had grazed him there good enough for him to leave a open wound there. He was bruised and cut all over.
He was a pure mess.
The he looked over at the other one, who was laying there also heavily wounded. But still he was intact. Also breathing heavy.
'I am a tough piece to handle hmm..'
He scurried over there, slowly but steady. There was one thing he still had to do to his other half. His other signature move, something that he was curious about what the other one had for that.
He dropped down to his knees next to the other Frederick. And laid his hand on his chest, while two eyes looked filled with anger at him.
'I..know.. what you are going to do... it's the exact opposite from me...you are going to take instead of giving life aren't you.'
'Yes.. Frederick I am...tch, so you give life force instead of taking it away. I could have known, it almost seems fitting to us doesn't..it. To give instead of taking away.
'It.. does doesn't it.'
'It's over now..I would say it was an honor... but we both know that isn't true.'
'Ha...haha.. at least I will see her again'
'Yes, you will. Farewell.. Lord Frederick.'
Then he started it, the soul absorption. The very move that made Frederick the very person he is now. After Cecilia's death that was the first personal step to the road of darkness. But that is for another time to tell. For now it is the spell that made an end to the other Frederick.
He drained his life force away, till the last drop. And with it the light version of Frederick breathed for the last and final time. Falling away into the eternal slumber called death with a relieving sigh.
Frederick stood back up, he filled refreshed not much just barely enough to walk around a little more. His wounds were still there, nothing he could do about that. But he had won and that was all that matters. There was just one more thing he needed to no before he wanted to leave this place.
He walked over to Weiss, and looked at him with companionable eyes. He had taking a liking to this man, he who knew his pain. And who was stuck in here for some sort of reason.
'Weiss.. thank you for everything. I don't thank much, at least not sincere as this. But before I go... there is a thing I want to know. Not why you are stuck here or what for a reason that might be. But is there any way possible for me to get you out of here. To bring you back to the real realm. And not live here as a mere phantom of your former self, here in the dreamscape?
If so... please tell me. Then I will do everything in my power to do so. I will use my guild, at least what remains from it to make sure you will breath real air again'
![Grand Master [2000]](https://i.imgur.com/SGD5XSW.png)
![Master [1000]](https://i.imgur.com/AQXM4xC.png)
![Senior [500]](https://i.imgur.com/Nmfn8cD.png)
![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
