The moment Erza stepped into the Gemini Gate, the world fractured.
He stood upon a floating platform of shifting mirrors, suspended in a sky of silver mist. There was no gravity, no up or down—only reflections, each one flickering between memory and distortion.
Behind him, Lysra, Auren, Seris, and Korr followed in silence, weapons drawn, faces taut with unease.
"Don't trust what you see," Seris whispered. "Or who."
✦ The Gemini Gate – Internal Warzone
They advanced through corridors that bent back into themselves. Erza saw flashes of things he barely remembered:
His father, roaring in battle before the fall of their kingdom.
A younger Erza—helpless, blood on his hands—failing to protect a crying child.
Lysra kneeling before a Dominion blade, chains on her wrists.
Auren standing alone on a broken battlefield, corpses glowing with thunder.
Seris, clutching a fading shield, screaming her brother's name.
The Gate wasn't just showing illusions. It was showing inverted truths—paths they might have taken… or still could.
Korr raised his hammer. "We're being dissected. One choice at a time."
Then the mirrors shattered.
And their reflections stepped out—distorted copies dressed in inverted tones, their auras tainted with a faint, unholy glimmer.
✦ Squad vs Inverted Squad
Inverted Lysra moved first, her daggers laced with venomous shadows. She struck real Lysra, whispering, "You kill for praise. I kill because it's fun."
The two blurred into a flickering duel, slipping between mirrored columns, blades clashing.
Auren squared off against himself—one calm, the other furious.
"You waited. I struck. Guess who survived?"
Their battle shook the mirrored floor, lightning and thunder rippling like broken waves.
Korr's double was monstrous—fused with regret and guilt, his body encased in a metallic beast-form.
"You wanted to protect them. I wanted to crush them."
Korr roared. "And I still can!" They clashed like two titans beneath fractured constellations.
And then came Erza vs Erza.
The other version wore a longer coat, torn by war, and his flame burned black-gold. His eyes shimmered with sorrow—and cruelty.
"They killed our family. I razed their capital. You forgave. I never forgot."
The two flared with Leo energy and collided, Solar Lacer vs Umbra Roar—a mirrored flame that burned backward.
They fought in silence.
Every strike was an argument.
Every block a memory.
The Gate echoed with the clash of identity.
✦ Flashback: Origin of Vel and Vyrra
Far across the Gate's mirrored halls, two beings stood atop the Core Platform—the Inverted Gemini Twins, Vel and Vyrra.
Their eyes were identical.
Their pain was not.
A mirror hovered before them—shimmering with the past.
A single child, standing in a cold observatory, reaching toward the stars. A son of a Dominion noble. A genius. An orphan.
Noctharion had found him first.
He whispered to the child:
"You are balanced. But balance is a lie."
With a single hand, he reached into the child's soul and split it.
Two halves formed—each bearing half the memory, half the will.
"Now… become truth through paradox."
Vel remembered warmth, calculation, love.
Vyrra remembered blood, abandonment, chaos.
Both were right.
Both were wrong.
And so, the Gemini Twins were born—not siblings, but a fractured soul turned weapon.
✦ Back in the Battle
Erza dropped to one knee, blood running down his cheek. His inverted self circled him.
"You're too merciful. You won't survive the stars like that."
Erza's eyes burned gold.
"I'm not surviving. I'm becoming."
He summoned the Solar Lacer—not as a blade—but a circle.
A Solar Sigil burned beneath his feet, and for the first time, Leo's Second Celestial Technique awoke:
Solar Bastion – Pride of the Golden Flame.
A wave of light erupted, burning through the mirror maze, searing his inverted self out of existence.
The other battles slowed. The real squad regained control. One by one, the doubles cracked and vanished like broken glass.
Erza stood tall as the golden light faded.
"That wasn't me. That was what I could've been if I gave in."
✦ Final Scene – Gemini's Warning
Above the squad, Vel and Vyrra appeared—standing on the mirrored sky.
Vel's voice was quiet. "You passed. For now."
Vyrra smiled wide. "But it was never about the Gate."
Vel nodded solemnly. "The next inversion begins at Capella Nexus. And the next star…"
They said it together:
"...is Virgo."
The Gate trembled.
And closed.
End of Chapter 30