I recently got a quest to fight "myself", an opponent with the exact same HP and sword as I:

What are effective ways to defeat one's self?

Also, I realized that if you have too much HP (by eating too much candy), this will make the quest take too long to finish. Aside from not eating too much candy, are there other ways to make this quest easier and faster to finish, like which choice of sword and other items to use?

Do the effects of the swords activate when fighting yourself? i.e. Will fighting yourself with the Life Sword make the quest longer to finish as both you and yourself (your clone) are continually healing themselves on every hit? What about the effects of the Fire Sword and the Sword of Summoning?

From a question closed as a duplicate of this one (What does the sorceress mean by being "able to surpass yourself"?):

The sorceress recently gave me an option to buy the ability to "surpass myself" in exchange for a million lollipops. I bought that ability. Afterwards, the sorceress now says this:

^{You are now able to surpass yourself. Congratulations !}

• What triggers the sorceress into selling you the ability to surpass
  yourself?
• And what does it mean if I am now "able to surpass myself"?
• What changes do the "ability to surpass yourself" do? (I'm asking this mainly to know how cheats could have a side effect on this game mechanic.)
  • An approved edit by an anonymous user in this answer states that: "The Surpass Yourself increases the damage done to the You (Clone) while not damaging You (Player), making the level completable." However, this conflicts with this other answer: "The "Surpass Yourself" spell basically prevents the real you from dying when you battle yourself. When you get down to 0 health, the real you will be given 1 health, allowing you to complete the level.". Can anyone confirm how exactly the game mechanics work here?