With the curse now ingrained in my body, I released Elsa, who quickly retrieved her knives and attacked me. She didn't even aim for my insides; she was simply trying to kill me.
I didn't move from my spot. I could have easily dodged the knives, but I wanted to test my newest curse.
"Leandro, be careful!" Petra warned me in vain.
Frederica rushed to get between us, but she would never arrive in time. In any case, it wouldn't have been necessary.
Elsa's knives sliced and pierced my body in swift, lethal succession. Yet I remained standing as if nothing had happened.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." I said, gesturing to the two maids, showing no pain or shock as the gash in my throat bled profusely, as did the stab wounds in my chest.
In a matter of seconds, the supposedly fatal wounds closed completely, although the blood didn't disappear. It wasn't the most practical regeneration, since the stains on my clothes would be difficult to remove, but it was a small price to pay for something so useful.
"Huh!? Why...!? And how come...?!" Petra was speechless.
"You're a freak! How scary!" Meili pointed at me as if I were a terrifying monster (which was ironic, given that she usually keeps them as pets).
The girls were astonished by my newfound ability to heal from damage, but Elsa was the only one who truly understood what happened.
She realized that I had just stolen her curse, something she had never imagined possible.
"You..."
Her expression had changed: now she was looking at me with much more caution. Before she could finish her sentence, Frederica sent her flying with a single blow.
"Master Leandro! Are you alright!?"
"I'm perfectly fine, Frederica." I said, scratching my cheek uncomfortably. "You didn't have to do that, but thank you for your concern."
"I'm just doing my job." She replied curtly. "Aren't these two women your guests? Why are they attacking you?"
"I'll explain later." I said, walking towards Elsa, who was still on the ground, shocked that her wounds weren't healing. "Yes, you're not a cursed doll anymore."
I extended my hand towards her, offering her help to get up.
"Look, I understand that all of this can be very complicated. We don't know each other, and you don't trust me. However, you've already seen a little of what I can do. It's in your best interest to be on my side."
For a few seconds, Elsa looked me in the eyes, as if she wanted to unravel the source of my trust. Finally, she took my hand somewhat reluctantly.
"You have some interesting tricks, but you haven't convinced me yet."
"I know." I nodded, remembering a few things. "You're not easily impressed."
When things calmed down a bit, Petra approached me, looking quite restless.
"I didn't understand much of what happened, but if someone comes to kill you, you shouldn't act so casually!"
Petra's worry made me smile. I stroked her head and gave her a confident smile to hide my uncertainty.
"It would be pointless to get anxious in this situation." I replied, focusing my mind on the data I had gathered to decide how I was going to approach this meeting.
Each death at the swordsman's hands taught me something. First and foremost, that I am pathetically weak compared to him; everything else came after that.
His movements were precise and consistent, as if he had practiced them millions of times until they were perfected. Moreover, his speed and brute strength weren't solely due to his trained physique: much of that skill came from his advanced flow method, which far surpassed mine.
Somehow, he concentrated all his mana into his limbs to perform explosive movements, reaching his maximum speed in milliseconds, which surpassed most people's reaction time. Combined with his precise strikes, the result was a lethal attack that almost no one could dodge or even notice.
With my original physique, I could never have replicated that technique. Such an excessive amount of mana would have destroyed my door or my limbs as I tried to channel the energy. But now, I no longer had that limitation.
"My best option is to mimic his flow method to match his speed."
Taking advantage of having some time, I went out into the garden to practice my movements using the swordsman's flow method. Not wanting to rush things, I did a mental simulation first, recalling each and every loop in which I fought him.
Sitting on the grass, I replayed his movements in my mind until I remembered them clearly. Then I began to recreate them with a very small amount of mana, which I gradually increased.
At first I stumbled quite a bit with my own body, since I wasn't used to having so much speed and lightness: so I adapted so as not to put too much force on my limbs.
I fell and crashed quite a few times, but by the time Otto arrived, I'd gotten a decent grasp of the technique. It was good to have come to the mansion early.
"What are you doing here?" Otto inquired. "Have you already negotiated with the assassins?"
"Yes. For now, they're on our side. You should take the carriage somewhere else, because if you leave it here, it will probably be destroyed."
"Huh!? Why!?"
I pointed to the spatial rift that began to form at that very moment, located a few meters away.
"That's why."
"WHAT THE HEEEEEEEEECK?!"
Once again, the swordsman appeared. To my relief, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Otto was quickly running away with Patrasche.
The doppelganger drew his sword and walked in my direction, seemingly in no hurry to begin the duel. Keeping a close eye on his every move, I also advanced toward him.
"I wonder what kind of life you had to become so strong." I said as I took my daggers. "I guess I'll find out when I kill you."
As silent as ever, the swordsman raised his sword and began to channel mana; I saw his limbs tense before he moved and clearly heard the ground crunch beneath his feet.
I quickly followed suit, charging at him almost simultaneously. Our weapons clashed with a metallic clang that sent sparks flying, and we both recoiled from the impact.
Adjusting his stance, the swordsman moved his head slightly, seemingly surprised that I matched his speed.
It should be noted that up until that moment, I had never managed to block or cancel any of his attacks.
"What's wrong? Is this your first time seeing a power-up?" I asked with a mocking smile, though my heart was pounding with nerves. "Be careful when the opening starts playing..."
The Doppelganger ignored my provocation, brandishing his sword in the air. I moved aside just in time to avoid the dimensional rift that appeared right where I was standing.
The black blade emerged from the crack and slashed downward. If I had stayed there, I would have ended up like Mecha Frieza against Trunks.
"I think it's my turn now."
I decided to take a risk and try the new flow attack method. I propelled myself forward like an arrow, appearing in front of the swordsman with my daggers making a cross-slash.
He stepped back, perfectly evading my attack and counterattacking with a thrust that pierced my chest. My body convulsed in an intense spasm of pain, but I didn't care.
"You can't kill me with that anymore." I said, giving the swordsman a blood-soaked smile.
Then I sliced off the arm that was holding the sword.. The severed limb fell to the ground, but the weapon remained embedded in my body. I quickly moved away, intending to keep the sword out of the Doppelganger's reach.
However, he gestured in my direction and the sword disintegrated into black particles, flying back to its owner.
"Fuck, that's cheating!"
The sword reformed in the swordsman's one hand, and he gripped it tightly, launching himself into another attack. I clicked my tongue as I ducked to dodge a horizontal slash.
Although he was using his left hand, the Doppelganger's swordsmanship was not diminished at all. Presumably, he had trained to be ambidextrous.
I lunged forward to attack his undefended side, but he was already brandishing his sword. I raised my dagger to block it, and the blade passed through my weapon as if it were intangible, following its trajectory toward my neck and slicing it cleanly.
For a few seconds, my consciousness shut down, though it quickly returned. My body was now completely healed, but I felt the curse's magic weaken slightly as it healed me, or rather, revived me. Like any spell, this magic had its limits, so if I used it too much, it would eventually stop working.
"Shame on you. Not only is being stronger than me, but you're also using an outrageously powerful weapon. Where's your honor, dirtbag?!"
I charged forward at full speed, pressing the swordsman with a flurry of cuts that forced him back. As long as I could keep him cornered and on the defensive, the danger would be minimal, since I would force him to use his sword only to block my attacks.
However, he set a trap for me: one of my thrusts entered through a small dimensional rift and exited through another that was strategically placed to redirect my attack towards me, so that I ended up stabbing my own throat.
"Cough." I gasped for blood. The wound was fatal and excruciatingly painful, but I managed to overcome the horrible sensation of choking on my own blood and thrust my other knife at the Doppelganger.
He reacted very quickly and managed to move aside slightly, so the dagger lodged in his shoulder, the one on his good arm. He hoped it had hit a nerve to impair his motor skills.
Then I leaped to deliver a flying kick. The swordsman then created a rift between us, just wide enough for me to pass through.
"Damn!" I couldn't stop in time and I went through the crack.
At first, I had trouble getting my bearings because everything was dark except for the silvery light of the moon. When I started falling, I realized what was happening.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"
The mansion looked tiny from here. The wind howled loudly in my ears, and my heartbeat sounded like a countdown. Below me, the world grew larger with each passing second.
At first, I tried to use my authority, but the swordsman was blocking it. So, looking for an alternative to avoid crashing to the ground, I visualized the Murak spell and used it to nullify the effect of gravity on my body.
My descent gradually stopped, and I took advantage of the change in gravitational attraction that my body was experiencing to deflect my trajectory towards the swordsman almost without losing momentum.
He jumped to the side, but I turned and followed him. I had to move in a zigzag pattern to dodge the dimensional rifts the Doppelganger placed between us, sometimes sending me flying and other times surprising me with slashes of his sword from a distance.
For almost a minute we were stuck in this fruitless chase, with him retreating and placing portals in my path as I tried to reach him. Then an idea came to me to approach without being repelled, and I channeled yin magic through my gate.
"Shamak."
A dark cloud spread from my body, though it lasted less than a second, as the swordsman swiftly absorbed it with his blade. However, in doing so instinctively, I had lowered my guard: this was because his sword could not do two things at once.
Seeing myself free of obstacles, I finally reached him and prepared my fist, accompanying the movement with my feet, hips and shoulders to deliver a powerful blow to his face.
"Shoryuken!"
My attack landed squarely, sending him flying several meters. Unfortunately, the bastard recovered quickly enough to plant his sword in the ground and get back to his feet before I could do anything else.
However, I noted with satisfaction that the Doppelganger staggered and had to clutch the sword to avoid falling to the ground. I had certainly succeeded in stunning him.
"Let's go... I can beat him."
As usual, the world mocked my optimism with a slap of reality, as the swordsman drew his sword from the ground and assumed a stance that seemed familiar. I didn't recognize the technique until the surrounding mana was suddenly drawn toward him.
The Doppelganger and his sword began to glow with condensed energy, evoking the image of Reinhard charging his sword to deliver a devastating blow.
"You son of a bitch, that technique is..."
I was speechless. I noticed the swordsman had finished preparing his attack when he moved his arm back, ready to swing his sword. I wasn't really worried about receiving the full power of that technique, since the Cursed Doll curse would still withstand several fatal wounds, but...
"Damn it, the mansion!"
Unconsciously, I had positioned myself with my back to the building, perhaps because I instinctively wanted to protect those inside. Unfortunately, that was now working against me.
If the swordsman launched his attack under these conditions, the energy would pass through me and obliterate everything in this area. I should have had Otto take everyone back to the village, or at least I should have taken this fight to a more remote location.
I had no more time to regret my negligence: the swordsman swung his arm, making a horizontal cut so powerful that it incinerated me with its shockwave and destroyed everything in its path.
***
"Face the misfortune that will come."
For the third test, Emilia was sent to a space where there was nothing. Well, almost nothing.
Suddenly, a series of lights began to pass by her as she floated in the void. These lights began to show her images and sounds that were supposedly visions of the "future."
"You were on her side all this time, knowing the kind of person she is... Why?! I don't understand! I really don't understand..."
Emilia heard herself speaking in a voice full of pain and anguish, as if she were reproaching someone else.
"I will protect this kingdom, no matter who the enemy is."
The voice belonged to an old man, who showed not the slightest doubt in his resolve. He sounded like Wilhelm van Astrea.
"I HATE YOU SO MUCH! YOU'RE THE MOST REPUGNANT AND DESPICABLE SACK OF MEAT! DIE! DISAPPEAR!"
A voice filled with resentment, presumably belonging to a woman. Emilia couldn't discern her identity.
"It's useless. You'll lose again and again, but no matter how many times you repeat it, you'll never be able to beat me."
For a moment, Emilia felt a sense of familiarity with this male voice, but the feeling lasted very little time and she could not recognize the owner of the voice.
"You never cease to amaze me. Ha, I can't wait to see that woman's face when she sees this."
Now she was completely clueless as to the speaker's identity. He had a deep, almost solemn, yet jovial voice.
"There are two ways to stop this: the most convenient for you would be to stop fighting and resolve your issue peacefully; the most convenient for me would be to kill you all and that would be the end of it. Which will you choose?"
This was definitely Leandro's voice. Emilia recognized him instantly.
"See? I won again."
A female voice, brimming with pride. Immediately, the image of a woman with orange hair and red eyes flashed into Emilia's mind, recalling the day of the conference at the royal palace.
"What a shame, pal. I liked that guy better than you."
Finally, another voice that Emilia had heard before. With some difficulty, she managed to associate it with the man in the helmet, Priscilla Barielle's knight. Curiously, their dialogues were consecutive.
The voices overwhelmed Emilia, but she did not succumb to the weight of potential future misfortunes and withstood each vision. After all, she hadn't come this far only to give up right before reaching the end.
Finally, there was one last vision. This one had a very different feeling from the previous ones.
"The future is not written. Even if everything seems lost, you can't take anything for granted. Fight until the end."
It wasn't just the words that moved Emilia, but the identity of the person who uttered them.
"Mother Fortuna..."