The sky above the Hollow Veins fractured like glass.
Not metaphorically—Kael saw the lines. Shimmering cracks zigzagging through the firmament, seeping ethereal mist into the atmosphere. A shimmer of something not of this world bled through the seams. He could feel it pressing against his skin like frost and flame at once.
And then he felt it again—the same pulse he had felt when he resisted the Eye of Eternity.
But this time, it wasn't an eye watching him.
It was… a reflection.
He stood alone on the obsidian platform, Lyra and Drayke still recovering from their battle with Velhara's Paradox Echo. Zera stood a few paces behind him, arms crossed, silver eyes narrowed.
"What the hell is that?" Drayke rasped, one hand on his scorched gauntlet. His flames had gone dim since their last clash. He hadn't recovered fully—and neither had Kael.
Kael didn't answer. His own reflection shimmered in front of him—no, not a reflection. A being.
It looked exactly like him.
Same stance. Same armor. Same ash-gray hair tousled and spiked. Same dead-serious eyes.
But its aura was off. The colors were wrong. Where Kael's aura shifted like smoke and embers, this one was crystalline and jagged, pulsing with corrupted light.
It stepped forward.
Kael tensed. His fingers curled over Liminal Fang's hilt. "Is that… another Echo?"
"No," Zera said softly. "That's you. Or rather, a version of what you could become."
The doppelgänger tilted its head and grinned. It whispered in a voice twisted and broken:
"Haaah… what a strong aura."
Kael's blood turned to ice.
No one else should say that. No one else could.
Without thinking, he leapt forward. Blades drawn, eyes sharp. His Aura surged—Ashen, wild, alive. A burst of Burnout Dash shot him toward the figure, and in a blur, his blade clashed against the twin's.
A flash of sparks.
Kael grunted—then skidded back, boots scraping against obsidian.
The doppelgänger didn't move. It stood still, smiling. Mocking.
"I didn't say it was a compliment," it said. "I said it because you're finally worth killing."
Kael's teeth clenched. "Then come try."
The doppelgänger moved.
It didn't Dash—it phased. Like it bent the air around it, flickering between timeframes. Kael barely had a moment to react. He crossed his blades in a defensive X, just in time to block a flurry of strikes that came from every direction.
Drayke cursed behind him. "Shit, he's copying your moves."
"No," Lyra murmured. "He's perfecting them."
Kael staggered, a slash grazing his shoulder—his blood flicked into the air, sizzling against the obsidian stone. He fell into Revenant Form—ashen tendrils snaked around his arms, cloaking him in a second skin of flowing aura.
Then he activated Soul Scorch.
Ash flared from his strikes, carving crescent burns through the air. The doppelgänger weaved around them like water—until Kael feinted low, then brought his knee up into its chin.
The strike connected—barely—but the doppelgänger vanished into mist mid-impact.
"Tch," Kael muttered. "He's adapting too fast."
"You're not just fighting yourself," Zera said calmly. "You're fighting your potential. The part of you that wants power without limit. The part of you that will burn everything if it means becoming the strongest."
Kael hesitated, breath ragged. "Then I'll carve my own path."
The twin reappeared above him—hands glowing black with an unfamiliar skill: Void Wreathe.
Kael's eyes widened. That was his move. But he hadn't even unlocked it yet.
"How the hell does he know what I'm going to become?"
The twin crashed down.
Kael raised his blades—too slow.
And then—
CLANG.
A flare of golden light burst between them. A shield of radiant feathers. Lyra.
"Not alone," she said, sweat streaming down her face. "Not this time."
Drayke roared from behind, fist igniting again. "If we're punching destiny in the face, count me in!"
They charged together—Kael, Lyra, Drayke.
The twin shifted again, face twisting into a manic grin. The battlefield erupted in chaos—shadow clones, corrupted aura constructs, time-fractured attacks. Each of them faced a piece of the future Kael could become.
Kael struck left—cleaving through a tendril of obsidian.
Lyra blocked a barrage of spectral daggers with a celestial barrier.
Drayke tackled a clone, flaming fists shattering the illusion.
Together, they fought in sync—like a unit.
But then, the twin whispered again, this time into Kael's head.
"They'll leave you. They'll fear you. When you become me... they'll be the first to fall."
Kael paused for half a second.
It was enough.
The twin pierced his guard, palm thrusting forward—right into his chest.
A ripple of dark aura surged into Kael's core.
His knees buckled.
Vision blurred.
And then…
He was elsewhere.
He stood in a field of ash. Alone.
The sky was black. The world was gone. Nothing but ruin.
And in front of him—again—was himself. But not corrupted. Not violent. Just… tired.
"Why do you keep fighting it?" the other Kael asked, voice gentle. "We could end all this suffering. All this war. You know the truth now."
Kael staggered forward. "That's not me. That's you, broken by the system. I'm not giving in."
"You will. One loss at a time."
Kael clenched his fists.
"I'm not here to dominate this world," he said slowly, fire building in his chest, "I'm here to change it."
A pulse of Ashen Aura exploded outward, burning away the vision.
Back in the Veins, Kael surged upward with renewed power.
Ashen Domain: Resonant Core—unlocked.
His blades burned brighter than before. His eyes shimmered with light and storm. The twin flinched—and Kael struck.
One clean slash.
The twin dissolved into sparks, whispering with a smirk: "We'll meet again."
Silence.
Drayke panted. "Is he gone?"
"No," Kael said softly. "He's just waiting. Inside me."
Zera stepped forward. "You've taken another step, Kael. But be warned—the stronger your aura becomes, the thinner the veil gets. Soon, the real Eternals will come."
Kael looked up at the fractured sky.
A sliver of gold bled through.
And something beyond it stirred.