Gigolo Diaries

With unhurried steps, he walked closer to the circle until he was mere inches away. He had done the calculations: he would have about 20 seconds before the second clone appeared. In that time he needed to not only get rid of the clone. But also get to the orb and destroy it.

"Not that hard," he muttered to himself halfheartedly, stretching his limbs. As much as he might have wanted to deny it, fighting in underwear was much better than fighting with clothes on. At least the extra fabric wasn’t hindering his agility anymore

By instinct, he tried pulling out his sword. As expected, it didn’t budge.

Eros let out a frustrated sigh: he would have to fight using a sheathed sword once again. He had done it once so he could do it again, or so he thought.

With a deep breath, he activated the dragon blood technique. The aura of crimson wrapped around him, boosting his capabilities.

There wasn’t any time to waste, after one last stretch he stepped into the circle.

Without a warning, the circle lit up. It shone with the same dim black glow as before. Liquid darkness rolled out of the veins coagulating into an exact copy of him, pale and black.

If this hadn’t been a life and death scenario he would have taken a moment to admire himself. Alas, his clone didn’t give him that luxury as it started running towards him.

The clone had a grey aura around it. A mimicry of the dragon blood technique. He felt the pressure from just being near the clone and that gave Eros an idea of what those monsters had felt around him.

He couldn’t feel himself growing exhausted. So that sparked some curiosity. After all, it didn’t make sense that Lain felt drained and he didn’t. But the clone wasn’t planning on letting him brainstorm.

Without a moment of delay, the clone had arrived before Eros.

Eros was already prepared for the strike as he pushed himself to the side. However, the clone did something that he didn’t expect. It held the hilt of its sheathed sword and pulled out the weapon.

Eros’ eyes widened; by his previous assumption, since he couldn’t use the sword, the clone shouldn’t be able to use it, either. But he turned out to be wrong, terribly wrong.

The clone didn’t give him enough time to digest this error. Its legs pressed against the rocky floor and the stone beneath its feet cracked as it pushed itself forward.

Eros cursed as he raised his sword to parry the strike. The force was still great and it pushed him deeper into the circle.

Luckily, Eros’ clone wasn’t as powerful as Lain’s and he had the opportunity to stabilise himself before it was upon him again. This time his eyes sharpened; even if he currently had a handicap he wouldn’t let that cause him to fail.

He predicted the clones’ movement, stepping to the side as the sword cut the air beside him.

The clone was now open. He didn’t waste the opportunity. Putting all his strength into his sword, he brought it’s blunt edge down on the shadow’s neck.

To his surprise, the attack landed and the force of the strike twisted the creature’s neck at an odd angle.

Seeing the brutally dislocated neck, a wave of triumph flowed through Eros’ spine.

Before he could celebrate though, the creature’s neck twisted on its own with a wet sound. In an instant, it was back in place like it had never been broken.

Eros’ blade nearly fell out of his hand when he saw this.

It was now clear that he had greatly underestimated his opponent. Not only could a single clone use the sword, but it could also regenerate. At this point, it was safe to say his chances had plummeted to zero. Those chances dropped even further when he realised that the second clone had already formed.

For some reason, it took even less time than he had predicted.

He didn’t even have enough time to curse before his clone slashed at the stunned Eros.

He tried to get out of the way, but the strike still hit, landing directly on his shoulder. And in the next moment, a torrent of blood flowed from the gaping wound, running down his arm.

He desperately held the victimised hand as a wave of agony flowed through him.

Perhaps he hadn’t been too aware of how dangerous the situation was before. But as he watched the red warm liquid flow out of his body, he was once again reminded of something he had forgotten recently. He could die at any time.

For a moment, that possibility looked all too real.

His teeth clattered as he watched the second clone run towards him with a sword. The reality where he died seemed to be drawing closer and he had only just realised it.

In that moment he felt like running away. The urge overtook his system as he turned around and ran towards the edge of the circle.

But the moment he saw Lain sleeping peacefully in the distance he forced himself to stop. He couldn’t afford to be a coward right now, not when both of their lives were at stake.

However, when he glanced over his shoulder, what he saw made him take that step out of the circle. The two clones were already upon him, their swords slashing through the air, ready to cut him down.

The clones vanished the moment he stepped out of the circle.

At the same time, a thick wave of fatigue invaded his bones like a sudden unexpected arrow. It forced him to his knees as his legs buckled under the weight of his body.

"Shit, so this was what Lain was talking about."

Things were looking extremely bleak at this point as it was already a battle for Eros to keep his eyes open. Luckily, the dragon blood technique seemed to be helping him with that.

He lay on the ground for a moment, exhausted and frustrated. He hadn’t expected things to turn out like this.

His bones screamed for him to sleep, to give up. But when he looked at Lain sleeping silently, he forced himself back to his feet.

At this point, it was clear that the sword was more of a disadvantage than a boon. But he needed a weapon.

"If only this dumb sword would fucking work," he cursed, slamming it on the floor.

He pressed his fingers against his temples; at this point, it felt like he was carrying the weight of the world, and he didn’t have the ability to retreat anymore.

But he couldn’t dwell on that, he couldn’t let that stop him.

Just as he was about to begin thinking of his next move, something caught his attention. He turned his head to the sword lying on the ground without a care in the world.

And to his surprise, it was... floating