The silence was broken.
The Mirror was back.
Not as a reflection.
Not as a surface.
It shifted.
Every movement, every ripple, every thought Kael had it anticipated instantly.
Not by seeing him.
Not by reading reality.
By being him.
Kael raised a hand.
The Demon Realm bent at his will.
Realms stacked inside him quivered.
Stories reshaped.
And the Mirror copied it perfectly.
No distortion. No delay. No escape.
This time Kael said softly,
I'll fight not with my power.
I'll fight with myself.
Every strike Kael imagined the Mirror mirrored.
Every rewrite he attempted, the Mirror preempted.
Every narrative he tried to impose, the Mirror aligned against him perfectly.
It was no longer just a reflection.
It was a test of Architectural Authority itself.
He had to fight his own existence.
Nyx's eyes widened.
He's facing himself.
Selene whispered Not just power. Every idea every plan every authority he holds mirrored.
Vorin clenched his fists.
Can he even win this.
Kael's calm voice carried to them.
Yes. But I won't do it the way anyone expects.
Kael stopped pushing.
Stopped rewriting.
Stopped asserting authority.
He split himself conceptually.
Not physically.
Not temporally.
One half remained as the Architect.
The other half existed outside reflection.
The Mirror had nothing to mirror.
The Mirror dissolved.
Not destroyed.
Not erased.
It simply disappeared because it could no longer exist without him.
Kael exhaled.
The silence returned.
Good he said.
I've reclaimed myself.
Kael Veyris smiled faintly.
I am more than authority.
I am beyond reflection.
And with that, he turned forward ready for what no story or entity could anticipate.