Samuel's POV
Quest: Echo of Nullis Aeternum – Commencing
Target: The Eternal Reflection
Status: System Connection Unstable – You Are On Your Own
—
The air between us was still.
He—the other me—stood about ten feet away. Same height. Same build. Same face.
But there was something in his eyes that chilled even me.
Not rage.
Not pride.
Emptiness.
The kind of void you don't crawl out of.
He wore a darker version of my armor, jagged and scorched, fused with something like eldritch bone. His Gauntlets weren't alive like mine—they were dead, frozen relics, crusted with the screams of realities long erased.
"You look pathetic," he said, his voice colder than any void. "Still clinging to willpower. To love. To memory."
"You call yourself a king? You're a child."
I took a step forward.
"You're just a corpse with my face," I growled. "And I'm about to bury you twice."
He smirked.
"Then let's see how long your convictions last."
The clash began in silence.
He moved like thought. I barely had time to raise my arms as his void-wrought blade came crashing down.
I blocked with my Gauntlets—barely—the shockwave blasting the ground beneath us into fractal shards. My feet skidded back.
I growled, launching Blade Tempest – Chaos Variant in a sweeping arc. He responded with Null Rend, dispersing the slash like it was a paper toy.
He was matching my every move.
Because he was me.
—
I leapt, charging Astral Rend, a comet of violet wrath streaking across the black void.
He smirked.
Vanished.
Reappeared above me, slamming his knee into my spine, driving me into the glass ground. It shattered, but I recovered mid-crash, flipping with a roar and smashing a fist into his gut.
He caught it.
Smiled.
"I remember being this weak," he whispered.
Then he blasted me with Reality Inversion, and my skills locked out—
System Suppressed.
Inventory Disabled.
Cooldowns? Reset—negatively.
My nose bled from the force.
"He's cutting me off... He's not just a copy—he's a system-less version of me operating on raw essence…"
"He's what I could become—if I stopped caring, stopped holding on, stopped being human."
I spat blood. Stood.
"Then I'll remind you why we started this path in the first place."
I slammed my fists together.
"Knightfall Verdict – Initiate."
My form ignited in jet-black fire. The crown of the abyss surged above my head. My presence tripled, quadrupled.
He raised an eyebrow.
"There it is."
He took a stance. No skills. No buffs. Just pure lethal intent.
"Come then, king. Let's end this."
And then—
The real battle began.
________________________________________
Samuel vs. The Eternal Reflection
Location: Nullis Aeternum – Outside Reality
Mode: Knightfall Verdict (Active – 42 seconds remaining)
---
My body was fire and blade.
Every cell sang with raw, unfiltered destruction.
This wasn't power from the System.
This was me, unshackled.
I launched forward, Voidstep chaining with Soul Echo: Wrathforge, my fists hammering like meteor impacts. The Eternal Reflection met me midair, no system, no skills, just instinct.
CLASH.
Steel broke. Wind split. The ground fractured into celestial splinters.
CRASH.
I drove him through a pillar of obsidian ice, spun behind, kicked him upward with Fangfire Overdrive, then appeared above with both gauntlets burning—
He grabbed my wrists mid-air.
"Predictable."
He pulled me into him—headbutted me with a thunderous CRACK that shattered part of my helmet.
I staggered back. Blood ran from my temple. He didn't give me a breath.
He swept low, catching my knees, sent me airborne—then blurred behind me and dropkicked me from the sky into the endless dark. A shockwave of black aurora expanded outward as I hit the surface, carving a crater miles wide.
"Tch… bastard fights like a war god on a bad day."
"System—reactivate skills—"
[System Reboot: 17% – External Interference Detected]
"Fine. I'll kill him with my own hands."
I stood, breath ragged, gauntlets glowing again.
Suddenly, his blade extended—a black, formless construct, shaped by his will alone. He charged, no aura this time. Just a blurred flash.
I roared and met him halfway.
Fist vs. Blade. Will vs. Emptiness.
Our blows collided—
BOOM.
The impact created a ripple that tore a hole in the sky. The stars above Nullis Aeternum glitched, flickered like dying data. Reality screamed.
My gauntlets cracked. His blade flickered.
Still, we fought.
Blow after blow.
Grunt after grunt.
Every strike felt like trying to punch a concept—like I was fighting what I could become if I gave up on everyone.
He didn't laugh.
He didn't monologue.
He just wanted to erase me.
—
I slipped under his guard.
Drove my knee into his ribs. He spat blood.
I surged forward with Devourer's Pulse, my gauntlets sucking in his lingering void force—and then I spun, activated Crownbearer's Dominion, and slammed him into the throne behind us.
"You're strong," I panted, blood in my mouth, "but you forgot something—"
"I have people I'll burn worlds to protect."
I raised my hand—**
Reality Sever – Full Charge.
"And you're just a what-if."
Then I swung.
---
[Reality Sever – Direct Hit]
[Eternal Reflection – Core Fracture Detected]
[Stability… breaking.]
---
His body cracked like porcelain.
He looked at me—not with anger.
With… relief.
"Good," he whispered.
"Then you're ready."
Before I could ask what he meant—
He exploded into black stardust, and the sky of Nullis Aeternum collapsed into silence.
---
[Quest Completed – Echo of Nullis Aeternum]
[You have conquered yourself.]
[System Update: Core Access Permission Gained – ??? Tier]
[Trait Unlocked: Crown of the Broken Mirror]
---
As I stood alone amidst the dying void, the throne ahead of me began to change—
Twisting, reshaping.
Not a prison.
Not a test.
But a gateway.
And from the throne, a single, ancient voice echoed:
"Come, Dark Knight… It's time you met the ones who built the system."