“So, it comes to just you and me.” Deedee said, pulling a sword from her inventory.

“You can’t be serious,” I responded dismissively. “What do you think you’re going to do with that?”

“What did you say?”

“I mean no offense, but when I cut my soul, I cut away my weaknesses. That’s you. You’re the weakest part of me. Even if we have the same stats, you can’t possibly hope to defeat me.”

“Your soul… so, you’ve come to accept that I am in fact Deek.”

I shook my head. “There is only one Deek. You may not be controlled by the demon lord, but you’re ultimately not me either. There is only a sliver of my soul that makes you who you are. You’re as much me as Salicia is the original girl, or Elaya is the hero queen. There might be similarities, but the fundamentals have changed.”

“One could say the same about you… Without me, you are not you.”

“I disagree… I’d say that without you, I’m more me than I have ever been before!” I responded.

“I see… well, I figured from the beginning you were too hot-headed to see any reason. My only choice will be to defeat you.” Deedee narrowed her eyes.

“That was my plan from the beginning.” I finally pulled out my own blade.

I could have pulled out the silvthril blade and attacked her with that, but I only wanted to use it in emergencies. If I attempted to attack her with it and I somehow lost it, I definitely wouldn’t be happy. I did have a plan for this just in case. If I used the silvthril blade, it should destroy all of her karma soul. Once she dies and the karma is removed, I’d absorb the rest of her soul into me. That would allow me to regain everything I lost. Well, that was just one of my plans. I hadn’t necessarily decided which to choose at this moment.

With the pair of us facing each other and the rest of the girls already engaging in their battles, there didn’t seem to be any need to continue to speak. I wanted to test her out and see exactly what I was dealing with here. Once I knew, I could more accurately deal with her. Thus, I made the first attack, coming at her with my blade. It was one of several I had acquired in the Twilight dungeon. It didn’t have any name or magical effect, but it was a solid and well-built sword.

As my sword struck hers, I could tell that her sword was made out of Orichalcum. It looked like Garnet had done a good job being able to form that metal. She was a full magic blacksmith now. Of course, if there was a kill switch in this weapon to cause it to weaken or self-destruct as I wanted, I wasn’t going to trigger it now and reveal everything. That would come later.

I was a bit surprised at the ferocity of Deedee’s attacks. As soon as our weapons met she attacked back. Her sword was ablaze, trying to depend on speed to fluster me. However, I had already prepared for these inevitabilities and was able to meet her strike after strike. If anything, her attacks were much more ferocious than mine, and she used that impulsive nature to overcome her weaknesses. Meanwhile, my attacks were much more reserved and cautious. This was part of the plan too. As she gave everything she could, I held back, waiting for an opportune time to take her down. It was only a matter of time.