Chapter 26 - The Disparity

"You're slower than I expected."

The replica's voice slithered from behind its grin, quiet and taunting.

Sid spat blood to the side, rising from his kneel. Pain lanced through his back and jaw, but his grip on the sword tightened. He didn't answer.

There was no time for words.

The replica moved.

A blur.

Sid instinctively shifted his stance, blade rising to intercept —

Too late.

A sweeping claw sliced past his guard and raked across his side. Not deep, but fast. Like the canyon wolves he'd fought before. Sid hissed as blood followed the sting.

Before he could respond, the replica's body coiled unnaturally, spine twisting as it slid low, movements fluid like a serpent. A strike whipped around toward Sid's leg — a copy of the underground snake's ambush.

He leapt back, narrowly evading the sweep — only for the replica to spring upward with feline grace.

A knee to his gut.

Sid's breath caught, his vision flashing.

The replica spun midair, twisted, and slammed both feet into Sid's chest. The momentum flung him backward. He rolled across the cracked obsidian, coughing, vision spinning.

The replica didn't wait.

It was on him.

Sid raised his blade in time to block a downward slash — the impact cracked the stone beneath him.

The replica's blade — identical in shape, but veined in crimson — pressed harder.

Its smile widened.

"This is the weight you carry? Pathetic."

Sid roared, pushed back with both arms, broke the clash. He spun with the rebound, slashing wide — and missed.

The replica ducked low, legs wide, then launched into a flurry — strikes fast and wild.

Sid blocked three. Dodged two.

The sixth carved into his shoulder.

He grunted, twisting away — and was met with a brutal backhand across the face.

Pain exploded. Sid staggered.

Then came a rush.

The replica's stance shifted. Forward-leaning. Muscles coiled. Footsteps thundering.

The lion.

A full-body charge, just like the beast in the northern cliffs.

Sid barely got his blade between them before the impact.

His knees buckled. He slid backward, boots grinding against the stone. Sparks flew.

The replica didn't relent.

Now it was aping the ape — heavy, crushing blows raining down with reckless abandon.

One. Two. Three.

Sid's arms screamed with each block. He was losing ground. Losing rhythm.

The replica feinted left, then came down with a crushing elbow. Sid twisted, but it still clipped him.

He fell.

The replica stepped on his hand.

Sid gasped as the weight forced his fingers to release the sword.

"You thought you could stand against this? Against me?"

It crouched, eye to eye.

"I watched you crawl. Bleed. Beg in silence. Every time you survived... I took notes."

It grinned.

"Now I give them back."

The replica grabbed Sid by the collar and hurled him into a crystal pillar. The stone cracked. Sid slumped, blood trailing from his brow.

Still, he stood.

Barely.

Breathing ragged.

Sword lost.

Vision blurred.

The replica walked slowly, dragging its blade across the ground. Sparks flared behind it.

"Come on. Where's your resolve now? Your will?"

Sid didn't speak.

He raised trembling hands.

The replica laughed.

"You can't win. Not against me. Because I'm not just you."

It raised its blade.

"I'm better."

Then it lunged.

A flash of steel. A scream of impact.

And Sid, on the edge.

Something inside him — too quiet for too long — begins to stir.