Hissss
'Who's there!' Ilivir shouted. Ilivir was in his human form in the dark mental void.
He was busy imagining himself as a female that he almost failed to notice another presence in the Halo of Purity. But that doesn't make sense. The only souls who are occupying the Halo are Isaac, Dark Isaac, Ilivir and maybe the deity of Purity. As far as Ilivir is aware, he should be the only soul awake at the moment.
No mater were Ilivir looks, he can't seem to find the mysterious presence.
But before Ilivir could find the unknown presence, a blinding red light flashed in front of him...
When the lilivir's eyesight cleared, he saw a human man and girl standing in front of him...
The two looked at each other.
"Hope?! What are you doing here?!" Isaac exclaimed.
"Perhaps I'm a split personality just like what Dark Isaac thought he was. A split personality can still be part of your soul." Hope said thoughtfully.
"Isaac?!" Ilivir exclaimed.
Isaac looked at Ilivir. "Hey Ilivir. You missed me? I'm back."
But Ilivir doesn't look overjoyed. In fact, he looks a little annoyed. "Were have you been? Don't tell me you were really uncouncience in your uncouncience. And who's the little girl? Let me guess. She is your feminine personality. Don't tell me she's going to be fighting for control too."
Isaac is just received to see that Ilivir is okay.
"It's good to see you again Ilivir." Then he noticed that Dark Isaac is missing. "Were's Dark Isaac? Did the evil spirit got to him already?"
"Evil spirit? What are you blabbing about? You and Dark Isaac were both knocked uncouncience when that cloud brat hit the Halo of Purity." Ilivir explained.
Does he mean Nat?... Isaac recalled what happened before he met Angela/Hope. He lost control of his body to Dark Isaac and despite his and Iliver's best efforts, they couldn't take back control... And then Nat somehow got her hands on a well crafted metal sword and started fighting back. He remembered cheering for Nat's success and then... nothing. She striked the soul gem and he was suddenly in the red mental void with Angela.
While Isaac was thinking to himself, Ilivir summoned a sword. It represents the memory of the sword Ilivir had when he first became a paladin. He pointed the Sword threatenly awards Isaac.
"I-Ilivir?! What are you doing?!" Isaac exclaimed.
"If you think you can reclaim your body just like that, then you are dead wrong. Without you or Dark Isaac around, I had to take care of your body by myself, and during that time, I realized something. My dream is to experience what it's like to be in different bodies. Be it a different gender or a different species. In other words, I dream of having the power to shapeshift. I took controlling your body to realize that dream. And your body provides me with the power to transform." Ilivir held his sword firmly towards Isaac. "If you want this body back, then you have to fight me for it!!!"
Isaac rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I don't care about my body right now. There are more important things to worry about. Right now there is a Hy-"
"SILENCE!" Ilivir screamed.
Ilivir looked serious. "Don't you dare try to dodge this battle! Every time we do fight, there was always something that prevented us from fighting at our fullest.. We never had a proper sword duel. But not anymore! I'm tired of waiting! I'm going to prove to you that corruption is a good thing! It let's us humans experience things we wouldn't be able to do normally! If handled correctly, corruption and magic can be used to benefit mankind! Don't you see that? That's why I need to fight you. I'm going to prove to you that we don't need to destroy corruption! It's a power that needs to be harnessed!" Ilivir proclaimed. "What's your reason to fight? Why do you want to destroy the source of corruption so badly? Convince me that I'm wrong through battle!"
Isaac digested Ilivir's words. He can tell from Ilivir's eyes that there is no way to avoid this battle. The man made up his mind. But what is Isaac's reason to fight?
Isaac started his journey by accepting a quest from the quest board. The quest was to find Calmach's Tome and bring it back to the client in order to receive a reward. But the real reason Isaac took that quest request was to help stop the corruption in any way he can. For as long as he could remember, corrupt creatures and magic was a integral part of his world. They may have their benefits like what Ilivir argued, but Isaac has watched helplessly as friends and family suffered tragedy due to the corruption and magic. Isaac once had a older brother who was swindled into becoming a wizard's slave. Isaac was powerless as he watched his older brother get turned into a bunny girl assistant for the wizard. And to make matters worse, the wizard used his magic to erase all his memories and made him/her into a dedicated slut. The wizard basically erased his older's mind and replaced him with a stranger. Isaac was too young and weak at the time to stop it. The wizard let Isaac keep his memories of his brother out of spite. But everyone else doesn't remember that his older brother existed. To this day, Isaac hasn't seen his older brother since. And even if he did, he probably wouldn't recognize him. Then there is the mater of his best friend, Nathan being sent on a suicide mission to the crypt. And then there was the mater of Isaac's parents becoming corrupt beasts in front of Isaac's eyes. Corruption and magic may be powerful, but it can also easily ruin people's lives. They can rewrite people's identities. Isaac may have started his journey with a fetch quest for Calmach's tome, but his goals quickly evolved the more he learned about the corruption. Now he knows that mirror ore provided the power to indirectly cause magic and corruption. And some kind of unknown force has been spreading mirror ore across the multiverse. Perhaps humans don't deserve the kind of power mirror ore provides. And after seeing what happened to Hope, his goal became much more certain.
He knows what's his reason to fight now. Something has been providing power and corruption to innocent people and Isaac needs to end that spread of power.
Isaac was currently in his human form in the dream scape. He summoned the memory of the sword he had when he started his journey.
Isaac readied his sword for battle. "My reason to fight is to end the spread of corruption! The powers that's being provided may have it's benefits, but they also cause tragedy and suffering. Corruption and magic can erase and replace people's identities! That the same as murder in my eyes. I'm going to end the imbalance of Power and Corruption once and for all! That's my reason for fighting! The corruption just brings sorrow." Isaac shouted.
Ilivir was grinning in respect. "Alright. So we're agreed. We will have a fair sword duel between men. No magic. No corruption. No help for other souls. No interruptions. Just our human bodies, our armor, our swords and our skill. Nothing else. Agreed?"
"Agreed" Isaac said. They were both in their human forms with just the paladin armor and swords they started out with.
"Wait!" Hope exclaimed. "What about the Hydra?"
Isaac turned to Hope. "The hydra will have to wait. It looks like Ilivir wanted a fair fight from me for a long time. Swordsman to swordsman. Who's reason to fight is the right one? The sooner I give what Ilvir what he wants, the sooner we can focus on the Hydra. Stay out of the way. I don't want you get hurt." Isaac told his sister-by-soul.
Hope did as she was told. She stood in the sidelines as Isaac and Ilivir prepared for their duel.
The Hydra will have to wait. Isaac and Ilivir needs to prove who's the better fighter! Who is right and who is wrong? Who's reason to fight is stronger? They must know!