A tense silence engulfed Theodor''s old shop for a moment as Adam stood frozen before the ominous button. Dust particles floated around his ethereal body in a gentle waltz as his facial features shifted.


    Gradually, his lips curled into a smirk, and his eyes zed with a fire that had always burned in his heart: the fire of defiance.


    He had defied death thirteen years ago on that tree, using madness to ovee the bear. Then, in Gaston''s dreadful cave, choosing mutual destruction over defeat. Against Ignatius, Shepard, Vivian, and the Beast Emperor. Finally, he defied his own madness with Misha''s help, leading him to be who he is today.


    ''That''s who I want to be,'' he thought, Misha''s image shing before his eyes as his smile broadened to reach his ears.


    Simultaneously, his mana hummed to life in his circuits. An ethereal glow encased his hand the next moment.


    "I don''t want to!"


    As his words echoed in the shop, sounding light and liberating, his arm came to life. It shed through the wind like a de. Space trembled, and thin cracks appeared in its wake as he divided the ominous button.


    Meanwhile, the mysterious man''s pupils constricted, yet a faint smile stretched his lips.


    "Since you don''t want to..." he said, letting his words linger as he outstretched his hands. "I''ll take your ce, IDIOT! Hahaha!" He added, his sinisterughter filling the shop as Adam''s eyes erged.


    Before him, dark particles twirled, coalescing to take a familiar shape. A sleek de covered in intricate engravings materialised in his replica''s hand. Its dark edges glinted under the warm sun''s rays filtering through the shop''s windows.


    ''How can he summon my de of Adaptation?!'' He thought, his eyes trembling in dread as icy sweat formed between his brows.


    However, before he could ponder more, the man''s lips parted as he rushed forward.


    "I should have known you''d soften along the way and lose your purpose. You''re nothing more than an undeserving failure!"


    A minor explosion erupted, propelling the de of Adaptation forward in a screaming arc. The de blurred into a streak of obsidian aimed straight at his chest.


    Unprepared against the ruthless yet swift assault, Adam''s pupils constricted. The attack was too rapid for him to dodge. He couldn''t parry it either since he stood barehanded. Despite the dangerous situation, a confident smile graced his lips.


    His mana came to life, flooding his circuits with a bright sky-blue light. In a sh, he swung his empty fist on the de''s trajectory.


    CLANG


    The ngour of metal colliding against metal filled the room as a perfect replica of his bastard sword surged out of his hand, meeting the copy''s de in a contrasting sh of dark and blue. A small shockwave engulfed the shop as the legendary weapon pressed against his mana construct.


    The stalematested for a heartbeat, their eyes locked in a silent battle. He noticed the fissures on the mysterious man''s face spiderweb further with a deepening frown. Was his adversary decaying?


    The question flickered in his mind even as he pressed his mana-forged de. Why would a decaying being risk its existence to manipte him? Answers would have to wait, though. Right now, the battle took priority.


    With a surge of mana, he weaved wind, magma, and light together in a beautiful yet lethal dance. The elements coalesced into a massive dark-red spearhead glowing with an ominous light.


    "Idiot! Why didn''t you use space and atoms? You could have made it teleport and explode upon impact. You are an amateur who squandered his freedom!" The copy roared, materialising another of Adam''s items into his left hand. The Manacore Heartgem.


    Stunned to see his mythical material, he initiated his attack, ignoring the man''s words entirely.


    Winds roared, circling the spear''s massive edges. A roaring tornado soon spun as the magma pulsed, and light zed. The projectile blurred the next moment as he jumped back and propelled it like a missile.


    The air cracked and the spear broke the sound barrier, homing towards its target in silence. However, as it struck with a deafening boom, ayered diamond-shaped barrier suddenly appeared in its way.


    An old legend revived at this moment as an impregnable shield resisted an all-piercing spear in a sh for supremacy.


    The confrontationsted a few moments before his enemy''s cracked lips stretched into a smirk.


    "You can''t win! In your foolish pursuit of perfection, you divided your points stupidly. Look at you! If you had invested everything in intelligence, you would have already broken through the fourth tier. And yet you''re still a lowly apprentice, unable to use the Heartgem!"


    As the man''s mockery echoed, a surge of infinite mana burst from the mythical material, encasing the failing barrier with a lustrous glow. The forming cracks healed, and the diamond shapes tripled in thickness.


    The spear, robbed of its momentum, roared onest time before dissipating into a rain of glistening sparks showering the ground.


    Adam stared, unmoving, the shock not from his failed attack but from the man''s words. Why, with such power at his fingertips, did he waste time with taunts?


    However, the man moved again, already swinging the morphing dark d of Adaptation. The metallic surface writhed and twisted, warping into the menacing form of a spear aimed straight at his head.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    With a graceful sidestep to the right, he avoided the spear''s lethal trajectory, feeling the air bend in his previous location. His eyes lit up the next moment as he clenched his fists around his mana de before bringing it down on his exposed adversary.


    An arrogant snort escaped the man''s cracked lips as death loomed closer. In a shocking disy of control, the spear tip writhed and contorted, morphing into a wicked scythe even as it continued its deadly arc.


    BOOM


    The air exploded again behind the weapon, increasing and readjusting the missed strike trajectory.


    A flicker of trepidation danced in Adam''s luminous'' eyes as he realised the copy''s malicious strategy. His battle style, built on dodging and counter-attacking, had been seen through and turned against him in a lethal trap. One that left the dark scythe humming over his head, ready to cleave him into two clean halves if he didn''t react properly.