I felt something wrong rising inside me.
The air thickened instantly.
Each pulse of the mirror hit like a drum, sending waves through the blood covering the floor.
Red circles rippled under my feet, as if the arena itself was watching me.
My reflection kept staring.
Its lips moved.
No sound crossed the surface.
But I knew.
It wanted to speak.
And it was waiting for me to step closer.
Behind my reflection, inside the mirror, the blood stirred.
A shapeless mass rose from the pool.
Dripping.
Shivering.
Slowly taking form…
Until it became an exact copy of me.
I watched myself through the glass.
Same face.
Same body.
Same posture.
But heavier.
More grounded.
Then it moved.
A massive fist lifted —
ready to crash down with full weight.
My heart lurched.
I spun around instantly.
Nothing.
Empty air.
Then a sharp cry — like glass exploding — ripped the chamber apart.
Metallic.
Piercing.
Everywhere and nowhere.
A final hiss, a shatter that stabbed my eardrums.
Pain didn't come first.
First came the sound.
Then the vertigo —
a pull inside my skull, dragging everything down.
The world collapsed.
Colors folded inward, swallowed by a single black point.
Darkness.
Absolute.
No sound reached me, or maybe I just couldn't hear.
Only a dull thump at the back of my head —
like my own blood pounding on a locked door.
I fell.
I don't remember a blow.
A hand.
A presence.
Only the sensation of being thrown backward, landing on something cold and soft —
the pool of red shifting slowly beneath me.
Everything vanished into the dark.
A last flicker — shards of light floating —
then nothing.
When I came back, the world returned in pieces.
Iron.
Blood in my mouth.
My face numb and heavy.
I pushed myself up, gasping.
The images wouldn't align.
What hit me?
Where did that shatter come from?
No answers.
Just a hole in my mind.
As if someone had scraped an entire memory clean.
I stared at the intact mirror.
Unbroken.
Silent.
I tried to reconstruct what I'd lost, but it was a black void.
Everything blurred — silent, empty images, like someone had torn them out.
Only three pieces remained.
Sharp.
Cut into me:
— that piercing cry, crystal and violent
— the cold certainty that there had been nothing behind me when I turned
— and the raw truth: something had hit me hard enough to rip me out of consciousness
I touched my cheek.
It burned.
A bruise was already swelling.
Around me, the blood pool shimmered.
The torches flickered red.
And the mirror stood — flawless.
Untouched.
Nothing explained the sound.
Nothing explained the force that threw me down.
Only those three truths.
And an empty space where a memory should've been.
I stayed there, breath tight, unable to understand —
and that was maybe the worst part.
Kael tried again.
He stepped toward the blood mirror once more.
His reflection waited.
Same predatory smile.
Then, like before, the blood behind it churned —
a shape rising from the liquid, molding into his double, ready to strike.
Kael repeated the same defensive motions as earlier, turning fast with mechanical precision.
But this time, he changed the pattern.
His foot shot forward, slicing through the air toward the mirror.
A hit.
Small — but real.
He felt the impact.
The entity took the strike.
It wasn't an illusion anymore.
A tense smile crossed his face.
Finally, a real fight.
But the creature already sank back, swallowed by the crimson surface.
The mirror sealed with a liquid shiver before he could follow through.
Kael staggered.
Two emotions clashed inside him.
Rage — for letting it slip again.
And joy — raw and sharp.
He understood now.
Kael struck the mirror.
His fingers slipped through.
No resistance.
Only liquid.
Heavy.
Red.
A growl rose inside him.
He thought he had it.
He didn't.
Another dead end.
He clenched his teeth.
Looked down.
The blood rippled softly.
As if breathing.
He crouched.
Dipped his hands.
Cold liquid crawled up his arms.
His palms soaked.
Sticky. Heavy.
He raised his head.
His reflection had changed.
Its lips trembled.
Its eyes widened.
A silent scream distorted its face.
Broken.
Afraid.
Kael understood.
He lifted his soaked fists.
And struck.
Again.
Again.
Again.
This time — a sound shattered through the chamber.
Sharp. Real.
Each hit made the mirror vibrate.
It was no longer an illusion.
It was tangible.
Dark cracks ran beneath the surface.
The reflection twisted.
The double stepped back.
Then surged forward.
The mirror burst into a spray of blood.
The copy emerged whole.
Same face.
Same gaze.
Same weapon.
Kael stepped back.
A cold spike pierced his gut.
He had freed it.
His perfect double.
The chamber vibrated.
The mirror pulsed.
Then a system window snapped into existence, frozen in the air:
⟡ [ Interface — Vacillant Throne Trial ] ⟡
Main Objective: Defeat your Double.
Secondary Objective: Surprise your Double.
Hidden Objective: Two began, only one will end.
Their auras erupted at the same instant.
A silent roar.
Invisible, crushing.
The air shook.
The floor cracked.
Fissures crawled toward the walls.
⟡ [ Domination Aura — Activated ] ⟡
Mutual oppression.
Territory contested.
Two predators.
Neither yielding.
Their eyes ignited.
Black and gold.
Nyx's Eye.
Tracking. Focus.
⟡ [ Nyx's Eye — Tracking: Active ] ⟡
Target marked. Weak points revealed.
⟡ [ Nyx's Eye — Focus: Active ] ⟡
Precision enhanced. Instinct sharpened.
Every flaw exposed.
Every weakness lit.
Kael saw his own body as prey.
And his double saw the same.
The kusarigama moved.
Chains hissed.
Metal screamed in spirals.
Their arms moved in perfect symmetry.
Each heartbeat became an impact.
First clash.
Chains lashed out.
Same arc.
Same path.
Both blades collided.
A brutal shock.
The wave tore cracks into the floor.
Shadow fragments. Blood spray.
Then came the barrage.
A storm of attacks.
Left. Right.
Front. Back.
Chains snapped like demonic whips.
Every strike met its twin.
Impact after impact — no pause.
Metallic thunder.
Harsh. Inhuman.
They accelerated.
Not running.
Circling.
Two beasts chasing an invisible throat.
Chains slicing air with shrill screams.
A macabre dance.
Their shadows intertwined across the blood-stained stone.
The pool vibrated.
Lifted by their speed.
First in waves.
Then tight streams.
Then spirals.
Red rose into the air.
An inverted rain.
Drops sliced upward, dragged by centrifugal force.
Every swing tore pieces off the ground.
A crimson cyclone formed.
Black shadows and red blood tangled.
Whirling.
Two identical figures drowned in the storm.
Their eyes met.
Identical.
Unforgiving.
A single heartbeat.
Then another impact shook the chamber.
The cyclone hammered the arena.
Red and black.
A frozen vortex of chaos.
Inside the maelstrom — two shapes.
Flickering.
Blurring.
Appearing and vanishing between reflections of suspended blood.
The first belonged to Kael.
Umbra.
Cold shadow.
Heavy.
It crushed him from inside.
Stole his breath.
Shook his bones.
Every step rang like a sentence.
The second rose behind the Doppelgänger.
Thicker.
Hotter.
Red.
A pulsing shape.
Primal.
Demonic.
Each heartbeat struck like a drum.
Heat surged — acrid, suffocating.
The room smelled of burnt iron.
The whole chamber shook with hunger.
Blood-hunger.
Two shadows.
Two burdens.
Two forces at war.
Kael bent under it.
His veins screamed.
Umbra sawed through his neck, squeezed his lungs.
Every breath tore him apart.
His knees threatened to snap.
His double advanced — pushed by the red beast.
Each step swelling its tide.
Every movement calling for slaughter.
A brutal surge.
Relentless.
Their eyes locked.
Two burdens collided.
The cyclone roared again.
Time ripped.
An instant suspended.
Shadow and blood crashed at the center.
Eclats retombaient comme pluie sale.
Kael inhaled.
Rough.
His lungs burned.
His muscles screamed.
One step.
Another.
Still circling.
Still bound to that mirror.
And in the chaos… a thought bloomed.
He walked.
Slowly.
Eyes on the reflection.
Mind elsewhere.
Each step revealed a flaw.
His double fought well.
Struck hard.
Perfect form.
But his beasts?
No.
Not Umbra.
Not the red demon.
No scars.
No history.
Kael understood.
He had never fought with them.
Never felt their claws.
Never paid the price.
I did.
Every step with Umbra had broken him.
Every breath of the blood demon had carved him open.
Kael knew their hunger.
Their venom.
Their limits.
The Doppelgänger didn't.
The plan formed.
Simple.
Cruel.
Stay with Umbra.
Always inside its range.
And force his double away from its beast.
Not too fast.
Not obvious.
Just enough to stretch the bond.
Just enough to drain him.
A hard smile cut across his face.
This time, he would be the predator.
The Doppelgänger drifted away.
The bond stretched.
The red beast pulled harder.
Magia plummeted.
Fast. Too fast.
The red mass trembled.
Each pulse drained it.
Its body shrank.
Colossus to carcass.
Every red shard burned away into nothing.
Kael seized the opening.
His lips moved.
One word.
— Devour.
Umbra leapt.
Jaws wide.
A snap.
Sharp. Final.
The demon screamed.
Its flesh burst.
Its body torn apart.
Crushed.
Swallowed.
The Doppelgänger staggered.
Color drained.
Eyes dulled.
Red fading into white.
Nothing left.
No beast.
No Magia.
Alone.
He laughed once more.
Dry.
Sarcastic.
Then the sound died.
His eyes shook.
His features stiffened.
Fear rose.
Pure.
Primal.
Fear of the end.
Kael stepped forward.
Chains clinking.
Eyes burning.
His voice lashed out.
— Tell me.
What must I do for the hidden objective?
Silence.
The cyclone gone.
Only the confrontation remained.
The Doppelgänger smiled.
Lips shaking.
A thin breath.
One word:
— Eat me.