The explosion Siron unleashed tore through the enchanted forest like a raging storm.
The ground cracked, stones flew through the air, and a cloud of dust swallowed everything in its path.
When the chaos finally settled, an unnatural silence followed…
Siron stood at the center of the devastation, his cloak fluttering faintly as his calm gray eyes scanned the ruined clearing.
A slow, cold smile curved his lips.
"Now," he murmured, almost amused,
"who survived … and who ended here?"
From the distant shadows, the Shadow watched in rising alarm.
This was not what he had planned.
This was not a test.
I ordered restraint, his thoughts hissed.
Not slaughter. Why did you push it this far, Siron? Fool…
The dust stirred again.
Footsteps broke through the haze.
Siron's eyes narrowed.
Ryan emerged from the smoke … but he was no longer the same.
The right half of his body burned with vivid violet light, raw and unstable.
The left was wrapped in shifting gray energy, alive and unfamiliar … a perfect reflection of Siron's own aura.
Even his hair had changed, split cleanly between purple and gray.
And in his hand..
Not a staff.
A blade.
Forged from opposing forces, gray and violet intertwined into a single, impossible sword.
For the first time, Siron froze.
"You !!" he shouted, disbelief cracking his composure.
"You copied my aura?! How can one boy carry my power?!"
Ryan did not answer.
His eyes were cold, distant, as if he himself had not yet understood what he had become.
From afar, the Shadow whispered in awe and dread,
"The Mirror Shift …
His second transformation has awakened."
Then a weak voice rose from beneath the broken stones.
"Ray…"
Ryan turned instantly … and stopped.
Eileen lay on the ground, motionless.
Her right arm was gone.
Her right leg torn away completely.
Blue healing light struggled desperately around her, forming and collapsing again and again, unable to stabilize.
Ryan stepped closer, shock carved into his face.
"Eileen…?"
His voice barely held.
"What… happened?"
She lifted her head with effort, her voice no more than a breath.
"My power… didn't recover after the test.
I couldn't protect myself from the blast…"
Siron noticed she was still breathing.
A mocking smile spread across his face.
"Still alive?" he said lightly.
"Then the error must be corrected."
Dark energy gathered in his raised hand, dense and lethal.
The Shadow felt panic strike him.
He's going to kill her.
Ryan won't move … he never protects anyone.
Then I will.
Dark lines formed beneath Eileen, a transfer circle drawn in haste … a spell meant to remove her from the battlefield for mere seconds.
But Ryan vanished.
He reappeared in front of Eileen just as Siron released his attack.
The collision shattered the air like thunder.
Siron was hurled backward, skidding across the ground as the transfer spell collapsed before it could activate.
The Shadow froze.
"He… protected her?"
Ryan… protected someone?"
Siron rose slowly, fury burning through his calm.
"You dare stand between me and the one I sentenced to die?"
Ryan knelt beside Eileen, pressing his hand over her wound.
A faint violet glow flowed from his palm … an attempt to heal.
The moment it touched her, the blue aura reacted violently.
The energies clashed.
Ryan was thrown back as if struck.
He stared at his hand, stunned, then at Eileen.
"Even healing…" he whispered.
"…rejects me?"
The Shadow watched in disbelief.
"Her blue aura refuses his violet energy…
This was never written in any record."
Siron stepped forward again, rage twisting his features.
"You still resist?"
"Very well, Mirror Boy. I will break you first."
The clash resumed … gray steel against violet force, sparks ripping through the air with every strike.
Eileen lay behind them, barely breathing.
The Shadow hovered at the edge of the battlefield, uncertain whether this was still a trial … or the birth of something far greater.
Deep within the forest, far from the destruction, a small wooden hut rested among ancient trees.
Inside sat a fairy with bright red hair, her face hidden behind a white mask.
She worked quietly, mixing herbs and simple healing blends.
Her name was Sera.
The forest had sheltered exiles and lost souls for centuries .. but never a battle strong enough to shake the air itself.
The door burst open.
"Sera!" a tiny fairy cried, trembling.
"There's a battle! A terrible one! The auras are colliding … the air is screaming!"
Sera rose at once.
"A battle… in this forest?"
She didn't hesitate.
As she ran between the trees, the world shifted around her.
Auras brushed against her senses like waves.
Gray … violent, crushing.
Violet—unstable, raging.
Blue—fading, desperate.
Dark—watching from afar.
Then …
Something else.
A fifth aura.
Chaotic. Fragmented.
Something that shouldn't exist.
"Five…?" she murmured.
"But there were only four…"
She reached the edge of the clearing and froze.
Three figures stood in the center.
Siron.
Ryan.
Eileen.
The fourth aura … dark and distant … belonged to the Shadow.
But the fifth …
Her eyes lifted to Ryan.
"He carries two auras…" she whispered.
"Purple… and gray.
So that fifth presence… was him."
Her gaze fell to Eileen.
The blue light struggled again and again to rebuild what was lost … and failed every time.
Sera rushed forward, kneeling beside her.
"Please…" Eileen whispered.
"Help me…"
Sera examined the wounds, the fading blue glow.
"Your power is trying," she said softly.
"But not like this. I can only stop the bleeding."
She raised her voice.
"Fairies .. red barrier. Now."
Tiny figures surrounded Eileen, threads of red light weaving together, slowing the bleeding and holding her life in place.
Not healing.
But preserving.
Ryan turned mid-clash, instinct screaming.
He saw the masked woman.
The red light.
The fairies.
Fear flickered through his eyes.
"Who is she…?"
"Is she with Siron…?"
From the shadows, the Shadow whispered in shock,
"A red fairy… here?"
Even Siron paused.
"A fairy," he muttered darkly.
"As if this chaos needed more…"
Sera rose slowly, placing herself between Siron and Eileen.
She did not speak.
She didn't need to.
Her presence alone declared the truth …
The battle in this forest
was no longer what anyone intended.
And from this moment on,
nothing would remain the same.