DEMON'S VIRTUE

Eiro continued fighting 'the Death', with this new ability that he currently had while fused with Koperia's undead. With this, he was able to use quite a few new unique tactics that Eiro's enemy had to adapt to. The formerly child-like body that it had been using was no longer recognizable. The death just looked like a wild beast, and it was acting the same way.

It didn't seem particularly sentient like it was before, and was now instead only acting on the instinct that the death's adaptability programmed into its mind. It was causing its own doom, there was no doubt about it.

However, when they reached the last ten seconds of the countdown that the phylactery was showing to Eiro and Koperia, the Demon still didn't see any point where the death was going to truly die. He knew that at this rate, they would get there in time, but Eiro simply didn't have that time.

Five. Eiro pushed the Death to the side with a kick, but didn't allow it to fly away, instead pulling the Death further onto his leg.

Four. The death's body became more malleable, and swung around Eiro's leg.

Three. Eiro repeatedly stabbed the death in a single spot numerous times.

Two. The death's regeneration sped up. Whenever it was stabbed, the small wound healed the moment the blade was pulled out.

One. The two beings stared into the other's eyes, awaiting the end of the countdown. And the death formed a sinister grin on its horrendous, beast-like face.

The moment that the clock ticked for the last time, Eiro felt something shift around him. His view of the world changed, and became an ethereal version of itself. Just ten meters away from where Eiro stood, he was no longer able to see anything. The only thing that Eiro could see was the death standing a few meters ahead of him.

But then, Eiro looked past the death, and saw himself. At first glance, it seemed like a reflection, but that wasn't it. Eiro leaned to the left, and so did the other version of himself. Usually, in that reflective world, he would have leaned to the right, as such 'mirroring' Eiro's movement.

This wasn't a mirror. Just a fraction of a moment later, Eiro saw another version of himself to his right. And then another to his left. Bit by bit, before Eiro knew it, numerous versions of Eiro stood here, circling around the Death. The Demon thought about what to do, and the thought of attacking the death right now crossed his mind. And as he thought that, numerous different versions of Eiro split off of the ones already standing here and went to attack the Death. Each one just in a slightly different way. From then on, the attacks didn't stop anymore, but there was no single attack that was like another that Eiro saw from himself.

With that realization came a rough understanding of what was going on. The death's obsession with time came from something that was outside of what the card of the major arcana gave it. It was a trait that the individual that became 'the Death' held. And that trait combined with an ability given by the card.

The ultimate way to adapt. This thing here would continue until 'the Death's body changed so that it adapted to absolutely everything that Eiro could do. Once this was over, the death would truly have become a being that was impossible to be killed by Eiro.

Its body was changing at a rapid pace, away from its monstrous form, and back to a more normal one. It now had the chance to adapt its body more efficiently compared to before.

But Eiro couldn't help himself but grin at this thought. Does 'the Death' really think that Eiro would be like any other enemy that it fought against?

The Demon raised his hand into the air with a broad smile, and proceeded to snap once. This was a space where time converged. If he was able to see other versions of himself, they should be able to see him as well.

And when a few of them lightly glanced at Eiro, he knew that he was right. And then, another one snapped as well. And another one, and another one, until most of the versions of himself that he was able to see right now were holding their hands up, or had snapped in some form. Apparently, the death didn't think much of this action, and simply let the different Eiros attack its body.

Luckily, sound was moving through this space as well, and Eiro gathered air in his lungs and quickly screamed out just one word. The one person that made an impact on his mind that fought in a completely different way than him, and the one word where no matter which version of Eiro it was, they would be able to understand what he was trying to say. He would never speak this name in any other situation, after all.

"Thomas!" Eiro screamed out, and that was exactly when a shift started to happen. The versions of Eiro that were moving toward the death increased manifold, and they all moved in a vastly different way compared to before. They moved just like Thomas moved in Eiro's memories. Of course Eiro had to adapt a few things due to his build and the fact that he only had a dagger as a weapon, but he fought just like Thomas would have fought. Many even created fake weapons with ice or earth magic so that they could fake the death out.

And just like that, Eiro was set on a path to win. Because Eiro's mind was great enough to look past this sort of technique. He was making sure that the Death didn't become Eiro's natural enemy, but the natural enemy of a man that died in front of Eiro's eyes eight years ago.

Soon enough, the death's outer appearance looked like that of a child again, just that in a few places, its joints were misplaced, or its skin was unnaturaly strong to protect certain areas of its body.

And then, the death started to move. It was obvious, it didn't only want to defend against Eiro, it wanted to be able to kill Eiro more than easily as well.

The Demon couldn't help but grin the whole time as he was excited about tricking a royal in such a way, and the different versions of himself seemed to feel the same. This space just looked like a single human boy fighting off a horde of crazed, unique imps.

It felt like hours, days, or even weeks had passed until this technique ended. From Koperia's expression and stance, it was clear that not even a second had passed here. And the Death was standing in the center of the room with a broad smile, one that it practically seemed to have copied off of all those different versions of Eiro.

"Hah... Haha...! Hahahah!" The Death laughed loudly, all those numerous lives it stole once more making it sound like Eiro was in a concert hall with hundreds of people surrounding him.

"How amazingly easy that was. Most others tend to resist at least a little, but you just went at it again and again. There were barely any versions of yourself that chose not to attack." The Death pointed out with that same grin again, and Eiro just stood there silently.

"Embarrassed, are we? Of course, I would be as well." The death said, "Well, no matter. Your body will certainly make for a powerful new home for me. I had to switch into this one after my old one broke, and before I could gain some raw understanding of what I was, I was already trapped here in this cage. Well, it allowed me to unlock this wonderful ability to remember who I was forever, so it was good for something, at least."

The death approached Eiro with a smile on its face, but the demon juist kept standing there the whole time, waiting to be approached. After all, the Death was not the only one that could adapt, Eiro just couldn't change his own body to adapt, but he could still change his actions. Eiro made sure to once more analyze the way that Thomas used to fight, or rather, the way that the different Eiros fought using Thomas as a base to copy. And that meant that he knew the exact places to strike the death now, and he could do so at any distance.

He just had to wait for the perfect chance. One step. Two steps. Three steps. And there it was.

Eiro instantly shifted his whole body and stabbed his dagger forward, nullifying the rest of the distance left between him and the Death. And surprisingly easily, Eiro created a deep wound right above the death's shoulder blade.

It stopped moving, and turned its head to the side to look at the wound, where a large chunk of its flesh was missing.

"How did you-"

"Koperia." Eiro interrupted the royal in front of him, "You better get ready to destroy that phylactery."

In the other room, Koperia was nodding her head and holding the object in her hands. She was a bit curious about how the death's body suddenly changed like that, but in the end, she figured she should just let Eiro do most of the work left. He was confident, and he wanted as much of the experience the death had to give as possible, after all.

And just like that, the battle between Eiro and this royal entered its final phase.