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"Whose to say what's real and what isn't?" a familiar voice asked Ophelia-san, like someone from her past. A figure of a man suddenly stepped out from the shadows, crossing his arms as he did. The man was pure black, only the contours of his body visible. He had no face, no nose, no anything. Even his mouth was just a small gap which moved up and down like a puppet's mouth. "This reality is only a reflection of your reality, Ophelia-san. Whatever you see here reflects you; that's all," explained the figure.

The black figure simply faced Ophelia-san with neither a look of annoyance nor disdain. How could he? It didn't have a face in a first place -- just the shape of a humanoid form and a mouth. That was it. "Who am I? Who are you?" asked the figure, answering Ophelia-san's question with another question. "How can you say that this isn't your reality? What's here is based on what there in your mind. Like it or not, this is how you perceive the world; dull, empty, black and white, devoid of color."

The figure simply stood there, arms still crossed, and continued staring at Ophelia-san adamantly. His gaze never left her, not even for a moment, as if he was scrutinizing her every action while thinking to himself. This silence continued while Ophelia-san ranted on. Even when she growled at him, the figure made no reply. He was just there, staring at her, with eyes she cannot see. Listening to her with ears she cannot see. Laughing at her, amused, with a mouth she cannot even tell was there. The figure was like mocking her very existence.

The figure, however, replied with its laughter still, amused at the way things were going. How is it that the figure was still capable of laughing even at the sight of such danger? Rather, how can he still afford to stand when such a dangerous person was already in front of him, ready to pounce on him at the slightest chance she can get? It was as if the figure actually invited death to come. The figures actions were beyond stupid; it was insane.

The figure still laughed quite hard when Ophelia-san lunged at him with her powerful claws. Sure, they were powerful, but because of her rather distracted self, caused by his laughing, the figure was able to dodge that rather simply attack by stepping to the side as he still continued to laugh, now mocking her inability to secure a clean hit on his person.

Once again Ophelia-san had performed a failed lunged as the figure simply jumped up to avoid such a lunge which could prove rather deadly. As soon as he landed back down the figure stopped laugh and began to address Ophelia-san normally. "How is it that you're so weak, Ophelia-san? Why are your attacks unable to even graze me? Is this the true extent of your self? The self you've been boasting about to be o so strong? That self of yours that prides on your hatred and loneliness?" the figure asked. "How pathetic; and here I thought you were much more of a challenge."

"Don't I?" the figure rebutted with a mocking tone of voice. As soon as she neared him, the figure jumped to the side and rolled, though Ophelia-san was able to give him a few minor cuts when he did. She was fast, extremely fast. Plus, she was deadly as close range, due to her electrical claws. The figure, however, still showed no sign of fear. In fact, he was, more or less, expressionless. "You'll be surprised at how much I know about you, Ophelia-san. I know all about your problem, your life, and your infatuation with that red yarn of yours. I know it all, and yet, I don't know it at the same time. All I know is pure theory; information. I haven't seen for myself what this person, named Ophelia-san, really is."

Getting back up, the figure extended his hand which soon formed into a black blade that dripped with a strange, pink liquid. "I wonder what would happen if I take that red ball of yarn away from you? How would you feel? I do hope you'll feel something. Anything. Sad, most preferably. I want to see you express yourself. I want to see the side of this Ophelia-san that she hasn't shown to anyone yet!"

The figure disappeared and then reappeared in front of Ophelia-san. In an instant, he disappeared again, but this time he was now under Ophelia-san, just about ready to thrust his arm-blade to her abdomen.

The shadow saw this and immediately reacted to her powerful increase in electrical capacity. Seeing this, he pulled his blade-arm back and sank back into the darkness, but not before a random bolt of electricity jumped out of Ophelia-san's electrified body and entered the shadows blade-arm, causing his arm to jerk violently while sending the feeling of pain to his brain.

The shadow reappeared several feet away, his blade-arm still numb, and was probably painful due to the massive shock. Still, the shadow remained silent as if nothing had happened, though any normal human would scream out in pain right this second. The shadow simply stood there, rubbing his blade-arm.

"Ah, it seems as though you've incapacitated my arm so much that I can't feel anything else aside from the pain. Well, is there any more in your arsenal, or is that the limit to your power?" he asked.