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The Mirror was gone. But the fracture it left behind… remained.
Yun Che stood in the ruins where stone met starlight, breath shallow, body trembling. The wounds on his skin were nothing compared to the fracture within — a soul shaken by reflection, yet anchored by the truth he chose to carry.
Jasmine watched him. Silent. Still. Her eyes traced the curve of his shoulders, the bent of his spine, the scars that hadn't been there before.
"You came back," she whispered.
"I had to," he answered. His voice wasn't broken. It was reborn.
---
They didn't speak for a long time. The ruins around them breathed ancient silence, broken only by the soft rustle of wind through shattered columns. The moonlight no longer hid from them.
Yun Che stepped forward. Jasmine met him halfway.
She didn't ask what he saw. He didn't ask what she feared.
They already knew.
---
A ripple stirred across the space — divine energy stretching thin. And in that flicker, a voice called from beyond the boundary of realms.
"The Mirror is broken. The traitor returns. You must act."
It was the Divine Council. Watching. Judging. Waiting.
Jasmine's mark ignited faintly. Yun Che's aura flared — just enough to silence the air.
"We don't answer to gods anymore," he muttered.
Jasmine smirked. "Then let's make them remember what fear tastes like."
---
Elsewhere — far beyond the Sky Realm — an ancient woman cloaked in stardust awoke. The Ancestral Sword twitched in its slumber. And the Evil Infant…
She opened her eyes fully.
Not in rage. But in curiosity.
"So, the boy found the crack in destiny." "Let's see if he dares to break it open."
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That night, Yun Che did not sleep. Neither did Jasmine.
They stood side by side, facing the horizon. A new storm was rising — one forged not by heaven's will, but by the hearts of those it once tried to bury.
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