Ari confronted her clone in a fierce battle, pushing her light magic to its limits with attacks like Star Clap, Luminous Cascade, and Celestial Vortex, ultimately shattering the clone and awakening a deeper level of strength and clarity in herself. Meanwhile, Tracey faced the illusion of Ashenfang, reliving painful memories and testing his will. Through relentless fire-based combat and strategic maneuvers, he overcame the trial, channeling his emotions into a final devastating strike. Both emerged stronger, having faced reflections of their past and potential, ready to confront the challenges ahead.
Dawn's breath quickened.
The walls around her weren't walls anymore — they were screens of memory.
Her village… laughing, dancing, alive. Then — darkness.
A scream.
Then another.
Blood on the ground. Bodies falling like cut branches. Elders. Children. Her grandparents.
All of it looping again and again, refusing to fade.
"No… stop… STOP!"
From within the blood-soaked memory, a silhouette emerged — stepping out of the smoke.
It was her.
Her own face.
Her own voice.
Her own shadow.
Clone: "Still hurts, doesn't it?"
Dawn staggered back, gripping her iron staff tightly.
Dawn: "Who are you?! Why do you wear my face?!"
The clone walked toward her slowly, expression calm — almost disappointed.
Clone: "Wrong question. Don't worry about who I am. Worry about who YOU are."
She reached forward and tapped Dawn's spinning rod.
The water magic fizzled out. Like it had never existed.
Clone: "The girl whose village was slaughtered… the girl who never once tried to find out who was truly behind it. You smile with your friends. You fight beside them. But you've forgotten the real goal, haven't you?"
Dawn's hands trembled.
Dawn: "I haven't forgotten! I—"
Clone: "Really? Then tell me — do you remember your grandparents' faces? Do you remember how they died?"
Dawn froze.
She didn't move.
She didn't speak.
She couldn't.
The clone leaned in, whispering into her ear.
Clone: "And the one who killed them… is closer than you think."
Dawn's eyes widened.
Clone: "One of your 'friends' knows everything. He knows who that woman was. He knows why she attacked. He knows your past… better than you."
Dawn's voice cracked.
Dawn: "…You're lying."
Clone: "Then answer me this."
She tilted her head — smiling cruelly.
Clone: "Why does Imperial's magic feel just like hers?"
…
Dawn's heartbeat stopped for a second.
Then—
"SHUT UP!"
She roared and launched forward with a spinning water strike, iron rod twisting like a raging tide.
Clone raised her arms calmly.
Clone: "Good. That's it. Come."
She smirked.
Clone: "If you want the truth—if you want revenge—"
She spread her arms wide.
Clone: "—THEN DEFEAT ME."
The clone dashed forward.
Water Fang: Piercing Current!
A spear of water shot toward Dawn. She spun aside — but the tip clipped her arm, cutting through her sleeve. She gritted her teeth, rotating her rod.
Water Shield: Tide Wall!
A thick wall of water gushed up, blocking the rest of the attack — the pressure still pushing her a step back.
The clone didn't let up.
Water Slash: Serpent Flow!
Curving blades of water whipped through the air. Dawn blocked one with her rod — but the second caught her side, blasting her off her feet. She hit the floor and slid across the soaked ground.
The clone leaped high.
Water Vortex: Drowning Spiral!
A swirling column dropped like a hammer. Dawn rolled away and slammed her rod down.
Water Wheel: Crushing Stream!
A spinning water disk rose, clashing with the spiral midair — the explosion sending both of them stumbling from the backlash.
The clone thrust its palm.
Water Jet: Rapid Torrent!
A high-pressure stream struck Dawn square in the chest — lifting her and slamming her into the wall. Water splashed around the impact. She gasped but planted her rod to stay standing.
The clone swept its arm.
Water Blades: Thousand Cuts!
A storm of crescent slashes flew. Dawn spun her rod.
Water Drive: Flowing Barrier!
A rotating sphere shielded her — but each blade chipped into it, cracking it layer by layer. One broke through, slicing her shoulder, spinning her sideways.
But she forced through the pain — smashing the rod into the floor.
Water Surge: Rising Pillar!
A geyser exploded beneath the clone — launching it into the ceiling. Cracks spread on impact.
Dawn followed.
Water Spiral: Dragon Ascend!
She twirled upward with a spiraling torrent. The torrent hit the clone midair, drilling it higher — but the clone reacted fast.
Water Crash: Abyss Drop!
A waterfall slammed downward, smashing into Dawn's dragon. Both forces burst apart, hurling them in opposite directions.
Dawn landed hard, tumbling across the flooded floor. The clone landed on its feet — immediately thrusting its hand.
Water Prison: Aqua Coffin!
Water wrapped around Dawn like a sphere and started to compress. Her bones strained, ribs creaking—
She roared silently and slammed her rod outward.
Water Burst: Crushing Break!
The prison exploded, water blasting outward like shrapnel — some hitting the clone, forcing it to stagger.
Dawn charged.
The clone met her.
Water Drive: Tidal Reaver!
A giant water blade extended from its rod — it swung downward.
Dawn spun into counterattack.
Water Drive: Whirlpool Strike!
Her rod spiraled with force. Their weapons collided — Dawn was pushed back at first, her feet sliding across the drenched floor — but then she dug in and overpowered the clone, knocking its weapon aside.
She swung again — striking the clone clean in the gut. The impact folded its body and launched it across the room, smashing into the far wall with a splash and cracking sound.
The clone rose weakly, water dripping, unstable.
Desperately, it lifted both hands.
Water Calamity: Abyss Flood!
A massive tidal surge flooded the entire arena, waves rising violently.
Dawn stared it down — unmoved.
She lifted her rod high as water spiraled around her like a cyclone.
Water Drive: Final Flow — Crashing Tide Break!
She slammed the rod down.
A colossal tidal wave surged outward — far denser and heavier than the clone's flood. It ripped through the enemy's wave, devouring it, and crashed into the clone like a falling ocean.
The clone's body disintegrated under the force — breaking into water fragments and vanishing.
The wave settled.
Dawn stood firm, chest rising slowly, water dripping from her rod — victorious.
Gray was already in the thick of combat, his clone matching his every move in a deadly reflection
The battlefield shimmered with distorted reflections. Gray's eyes locked onto his clone — a perfect replica, yet with a predatory gleam. The air rippled as the clone struck first.
Mercury Blade: Liquid Fang!
A slithering, silvery projectile surged from the clone's blade, twisting toward Gray. He somersaulted backward, Mirror Step: Reflection Leap, phasing through a fractured illusion of himself, the projectile slicing harmlessly through the mirror duplicates.
Gray retaliated instantly.
Mirror Strike: Shattered Gale!
His twin blades flickered, slicing through a reflection, sending shards of mirrored light scattering across the arena. The clone twisted midair, Mercury Whip: Silver Coil!, snapping a ribbon of molten mercury toward Gray's side. He spun, leaving a Mirror Afterimage, the mercury slashing into the wall behind him, leaving molten streaks.
The clone landed gracefully, mercury flowing across its arms like liquid armor. It raised both blades.
Mirror Prism: Reflecting Edge!
A sudden explosion of mirrored light shot outward, refracting Gray's vision. He rolled through the spray, leaving Mirror Echo: Twin Shadow, a phantom duplicate that slid past the clone, forcing it to hesitate.
Gray darted forward, blades spinning.
Mercury Fang: Twin Fang Assault!
Molten silver surged along his swords, striking like coiling serpents. The clone deflected with its own Mercury Fang, sparks and droplets of liquid metal flying everywhere. The collision blasted a crater into the floor, shards of mercury scattering like deadly shrapnel.
Both paused, circling. Gray's eyes scanned, noticing the clone's subtle pattern — slight delay before its mirrored strikes.
Mirror Trap: Glass Cage!
The clone slammed a blade into the ground, sending rising panels of reflective light, forming a semi-transparent cage. Gray ducked under, Mercury Slip: Fluid Step, sliding along the panels as the cage closed, forcing the clone to smash through the barriers to follow. Each strike distorted the reflections, making it harder to see which figure was real.
Gray seized the opening.
Mirror Flare: Radiant Slice!
He sliced upward, sending a burst of mirrored light across the arena. The clone staggered, mercury spraying from its arms. But it spun immediately.
Mercury Flood: Liquid Curtain!
A cascading wave of molten mercury poured forward, thick and heavy. Gray leapt high, spinning with Mirror Cyclone: Shattered Spin, his blades cutting through the flood midair, droplets exploding like silver rain around him.
They collided midair — twin mercury blades clashing, mirrors and molten metal mixing in a dazzling, dangerous spectacle. Gray's Mirror Edge: Reflecting Strike glanced off the clone's blade, knocking it back into a wall. The impact splintered the wall, shards of mirror and silver spraying outward, forcing Gray to roll through the debris.
Both fighters landed, circling each other like predators. Gray noticed the clone slightly favored its left side, a subtle weakness he could exploit.
Mirror Mirage: Phantom Assault!
He summoned multiple mirror images of himself, leaping in unpredictable directions, mercury streaming from all the phantoms. The clone slashed blindly, hitting only illusions, leaving openings in its own guard.
Gray darted in.
Mercury Fang: Crushing Fang!
He struck at the exposed side, the blade slicing through the clone's mercury armor. The clone staggered, molten metal dripping and sizzling on the ground. Gray rolled back.
Mirror Reflection: Shard Wall!
The clone smashed the floor, sending mirrored shards spinning upward to block Gray's follow-up. He pivoted, Mirror Step: Shattered Shadow, slipping between the shards, narrowly dodging.
Both paused, breathing heavily, surveying each other. Gray's eyes gleamed with focus. The battle had become a chess match — every attack, every reflection a setup.
The clone lunged with Mercury Whip: Silver Fang, Gray countered with Mirror Slice: Radiant Mirror, deflecting it while sliding behind a fragment of shattered mirror to force a reaction. The clone spun to follow, opening itself slightly.
Gray raised both blades overhead.
Mirror Convergence: Prism Fang!
He summoned all remaining mirror images in a spiral, their reflections blurring reality, forcing the clone to react to multiple threats simultaneously. The clone swung wildly, striking air, silver droplets splashing everywhere.
Gray landed precisely, aligning his blades with the clone's weak left side.
Final Setup:
The clone attempted Mercury Flood, but Gray redirected the torrent using a Mirror Deflection: Silver Wall, sending it crashing back. He leapt, spinning, blades enveloped in concentrated mercury streams.
Mirror Mercury: Shattering Eclipse!
The twin blades converged on the clone's exposed side in a deadly cross, spinning at impossible speed, cutting through mercury armor and mirror defenses. The impact splintered the clone into shards of silver and glass, scattering in all directions before vanishing entirely.
Gray dropped to one knee, chest heaving, blades dripping molten mercury. The shattered mirrors around him reflected his calm yet deadly gaze. The battle was over — his focus, strategy, and skill had triumphed, leaving him stronger, sharper, and ready for what came next.