My smirk grew strained as my copy stood amongst the flames, completely unharmed, laughing at my attempt to kill him. My claws dug into my palms as I watched the only thing that could beat me walk unharmed from my attack. I knew I wasn't going to win this fight. No matter how hard I would struggle, beating him was too far out for me to reach.

My smirk grew easy once again; if I was going to die, I would die fighting for my life. I would die on the hunt, not a scared animal who gave up. I licked my lips, and my eyes focused on my adversary. I would not pass into the night without fighting all the way.

My first step was forced, my mind was still scared, but my body knew what must be done. I had to punch that smug fucker in the face at least once or die trying. The next was easier, and the rest cascaded me right towards my duplicate. His laughing never stopped as my clawed hand raked through the air fast enough that even my own eyes could hardly see it. His response was even faster than I could see; I only felt what had happened.

A hand shot out and slapped into mine, pushing it away from its target. Then an elbow impacted my cheekbone, fracturing it and sending me spiraling right into a bolder that flew from to ground into my face making me blackout for a fraction of a second. My eyes fluttered open moments later to see my face looking back. Even this close, I couldn't see a difference between us. The face smiled, "Good, you're awake. Can't have you pass out on me so soon."

Flames escape my lips and overflow onto his face. Quickly I feel a hand clamp down on my mouth, sealing it shut. My eyes widen, and I cut off my skill as my insides start to heat up rapidly. Then the hand is gone along with my foe. As I sit up, a foot lashes out into my already fractured cheekbone shattering it. My face lights up in pain, my smile becoming harder and harder to keep up as the pain infects my thoughts.

Then something flips in my mind, and the pain turns to determination. I might die here, but I had to at least leave a scar on my foe. As the next strike came, my hand shot out and grabbed it by the ankle. Then I followed up by punching the knee, but rather than the hard scale and bone I was expecting, my fist passed straight through the joint like it was jello. A punch sent me sprawling on the ground, and my hand was yanked out. I rolled sideways and pushed myself up in time to block another sweeping kick. The blow sents me tumbling backward through several trees, pulverizing them. Laying there on the splitters of the trees, I went through, and I checked my health for the first time in a long time.

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[Health 1593/1640]

That was not a good sign. After all that brutalization, I had only lost a total of 47 health. A laugh escaped my lips before racking my whole body. Even with all of my power, the best I could do was die remarkably slow. It had to be some kind of cosmic joke, right? Never mind how fuck this was, I had a job to do.

I stand up and look my cheap copy in the eyes, and his smile grows. "I was hoping to avoid this, but I guess this had to happen. You dragons are too stubborn for your own good. Don't worry, you won't die."

Then his fist was careening towards my face, and the fight was back on. We 'exchanged' blows for a minute or two, with me barely able to block each hit. I was losing more and more ground on each exchange. His foot swept my feet out from under me, and I landed in a thud. He ax kicked my prone form like before, but this time, his heel connected with my left wrist. The smaller bone in my wrist cracked, but something felt wrong. A pulse of energy surged into my wrist, and my nerves lit on fire.

In no way, shape, or form could I describe the pain I felt right then. A scream erupted out of my mouth before I knew what was happening. I didn't think that something could hurt this much ever. Even when I almost lost my arm, it wasn't even 1% of this pain. My copy said something, but I couldn't hear it over my scream. My quickly unraveling mind instantly blamed him for his, and I started to ineffectually swipe at him. I wanted to do more, but it was like someone replaced my blood with molten metal each time I moved.

Soon the pain faded, and I regained control of my mind. I stood back up, faced my foe, and spat at him. I would make him feel the pain I felt. Even after it was over, phantom pains wracked my body, and I did my best to ignore them.

Then an idea struck my mind, and I started to pour webs out of my whole body, covering it. I made the coverings over my eyes thinner so I could still see. My doppelganger seemed to take this as a challenge, and a punch was sent towards my head. Inside my cocoon of silk, I smirked again. When the punch collided with my head, the silk absorbed some of the impact, and I commanded the silk wrapped around my arm to slam into his torso, then activating momentum control not on the retaliation but on my webs, launching them on my opponent. His eyes widened as the webs covered his body before quickly vanishing in the layers of silk. In moments his whole body was covered in my webbing. I could feel him wiggle in my web, but I was not letting this little fly go.