[MAGE'S POV]
"Mirror Magic: Distorting Mirror World."
The sphere of magic between my hands expanded outward, engulfing the entire pit. The very fabric of the environment twisted and warped, bending into a kaleidoscope of fragmented space. Even the choking darkness that once filled the hole surrendered to my spell.
"Welcome to my Mirror World," I said, my voice echoing unnaturally. "In this space, I control everything—your reality, your perception. You won't know right from left, up from down. The world you see… is mine now."
---
[KEN'S POV]
I muttered —Distorting Mirror World.
The pit around me shattered like glass. Darkness fractured into endless reflections, warped and stretched like a maze of living mirrors. I staggered, clutching my head as dizziness stabbed through my skull. I tried to step back, but instead, I tumbled through a mirror-like wall, slamming hard into solid rock.
Pain flared through me. I dropped to one knee, breathing raggedly, eyes squinting through the chaos. The mage approached, his steps deliberate. A gleaming purple blade shimmered to life in his hand, casting eerie light in the warped space.
Then… he split. No—he fractured. Ten versions of him stepped forward, each perfectly mimicking the other.
"You fought well, kid," he said, raising his blade. "But this ends here."
As he swung down, I gathered everything I had—my psychic energy flared, red lightning crackled around my right fist. With a roar, I slammed it into the wall beside me. The force exploded outward in a thunderclap of light and power, sending the mage flying back through his own world.
I stood slowly, limbs shaking, breath shallow. I gripped my blade tighter and closed my eyes. My vision was useless here—twisted, distorted. I couldn't trust what I saw. I'd have to rely on everything else.
---
[MAGE'S POV]
The boy stood still. I couldn't see through his helmet, but somehow… he'd stabilized himself.
Interesting.
I raised my hand, summoning dozens of mirror shards that hovered like serpents in the air, then launched them at him all at once.
---
[KEN'S POV]
I felt them.
Ten distinct objects slicing through the space toward me. But I was ready. I'd wrapped my entire body in red lightning, letting it serve as a detection net. Anything that touched it—even grazed it—sent feedback to my mind.
The first three I dodged with a subtle tilt of my head. The rest? I brought my blade across in a horizontal arc—lightning surged out in a blazing wave, obliterating the incoming shards. I smirked beneath my helmet.
I turned toward the direction they came from—and dashed.
Lightning coiled around me like a cloak, and suddenly, I felt it. My energy brushed against his mirror wall.Found you.
I swung my blade, charged with psychic energy and lightning, into the mirror wall. But this time it didn't reflect my attack back.
My blade struck and bounced. I leapt back.
"Looks like you're running low on magic," I taunted, a grin tugging at my lips. "Let's see how much damage your so-called ultimate defense can take."
I expanded my lightning outward—covering the entire battlefield. Normally, spreading my lightning like this would be suicide. But with my enhanced brain activated, my deep-layer cognitive processing kicked in.
Electric fields. Psychic echoes. Micro-vibrations.
Every twitch of his muscles, every breath, every shift in the air—I felt it all. I visualized his body and the entire pit as a mental simulation.
I didn't need my eyes anymore.
With my blade surged full of energy, I dashed forward.
The mage launched mirror fragments—dozens of them. I twisted, slid, leapt—cutting down shards with precision and sending lightning slashes that arced across the distorted space.
Each strike cracked his defenses further. The final slash hit like thunder, shaking his mirror wall.
It began to shatter.
The mage's face twisted in disbelief. "Impossible… this shouldn't be happening!"
In desperation, he summoned two fractured clones.
Mid-dash, I stabbed my blade into the ground—lightning exploded upward in twin chains, ripping through the distorted space and tearing his illusions apart.
The mage stared, stunned. "This is… this is impossible …?" he muttered.
Then, he raised his hand and dispelled the Mirror World. The twisted space collapsed back into grim reality. He gathered what little magic he had left, enhancing his body and leaping upward at the opening of the hole, trying to escape.
I wouldn't let him.
I coated my body in psychic energy and lightning, then launched myself after him.
---
[MAGE'S POV]
As I ascended, light finally returned—and my foot reached for solid ground.
But I froze.
His killing intent hit me like a wall. Time slowed. In that instant, he appeared before me—a demon clad in red lightning.
---
[KEN'S POV]
I surged through the air, my blade glowing like a star.
With all my strength, I plunged it forward—lightning erupted in a sphere as it clashed with his mirror wall. It cracked—then shattered—into a burst of magic and glass.
My blade pierced his heart.
We crashed into the ground like meteors. Dust exploded outward.
I rose slowly, pain screaming from every nerve. My HUD flashed red warnings. My suit showed a hologram of my body—everything was severely damaged except my legs.
I ignored the alerts.
I walked toward the mage, who lay in a pool of his own blood, eyes dimming. He coughed, but smiled faintly.
"To think… I lost to a kid," he muttered.
I stood over him, blade in hand.
"Before you finish me… let me give you two warnings," he rasped.
"I don't need your warnings," I said coldly.
"You may think you don't… but trust me. You will."
I narrowed my eyes. "Talk."
"First…" He coughed blood. "Abandon your revenge. If you keep chasing the Solar Knight Order… they'll turn your life into a nightmare,They will make you beg for death."
I said nothing.
"Second… there's someone stronger than me. A mage. Far stronger. He's also part of the Black Ravens… and I'm sure that he's on his way here now. When he arrives—he will kill you and your friends."
I tensed. "Name?"
"Johan."
"...That all?"
He nodded weakly.
I raised my blade, red lightning spiraling upward into the sky.
"Then die."
I slashed. Lightning split the air as his head was severed in a final burst of energy.
The storm above roared.
My body finally gave out. I dropped to my knees, blade plunged into the ground. My helmet retracted, revealing a bruised, bloodied face. I whispered to no one:
"I hope the others are doing better in their fights…"
---
[JOHAN'S POV]
I walked slowly through the forest, dragging the girl by the hair across the dirt. She groaned in pain, but I didn't care.
A flash of red lightning burst in the distance—from the direction of the colony.
I narrowed my eyes. "Bartra's magical signature… it's gone."
So. He'd been killed.
"To think he'd die… to a bunch of kids."
I glanced at the girl.
"Looks like your friends just made a very, very bad mistake."