The Reflection's wound sizzled—
a hole in its chest carved by something it could not process.
Not void.
Not Starfire.
Not authority.
Something worse:
A forgotten power.
The Echo whispered:
"Kael… you shouldn't be able to use that.
You erased it."
Kael didn't look away from the Reflection.
"I didn't use it."
His voice was low.
Hard.
Certain.
"It remembered me.
And the memory responded."
The Architect took a step back, terrified.
"That's even worse—
if your memories start waking up—"
Kael cut them off.
"I don't care."
---
The Reflection Recalibrates
The Reflection stared at the hole in its chest.
Silver cracks spread like fractures in a dying star.
It whispered:
"Analyzing anomaly…
…failed.
Reconstructing…
…failed.
Adapting…"
It raised its head.
"Incompatible."
Kael blinked once.
"Incompatible with what?"
The Reflection answered:
"Your Hand."
The room froze.
Even the chamber itself seemed to inhale sharply.
The Architect nearly choked.
"NO—
NO, NO, NO—
it REMEMBERED the Hand?!
KAEL, DO NOT—"
Kael frowned.
"My… Hand?"
The Echo's voice trembled.
"Kael…
before you erased yourself…
there was something you created.
Something no one could understand.
Not a weapon.
Not a skill.
Not an authority."
They pointed at Kael's right hand.
"The multiverse called it The Hand That God Regretted.
The Origin called it The Error.
You called it—"
Kael closed his fist.
"I don't remember."
The Architect inhaled shakily.
"That's because you destroyed the memory.
It was too dangerous."
The Reflection took a step forward.
"Confirming directive:
PROHIBITED ATTRIBUTE DETECTED."
Its voice twisted into a metallic scream.
"THE HAND CANNOT EXIST."
Kael raised a brow.
"Too late."
---
The Reflection Evolves Into Something Wrong
The Reflection's shattered torso began rearranging.
Not healing—
rewriting.
The shards spun around its form
like orbiting blades of liquid metal.
The Architect shouted:
"DON'T LET IT FINISH!
IT'S RECONSTRUCTING A COUNTERMEASURE TO YOUR PRE-ERASURE SELF—"
Kael moved.
But the Reflection moved faster.
Not because it was stronger.
Not because it adapted correctly.
But because it adapted wrong.
It lunged—
A blur of fractured motion—
And grabbed Kael's wrist.
The exact wrist of the Hand.
Kael's eyes widened—
because suddenly—
he couldn't feel his hand at all.
Not numbness.
Not pain.
Absence.
Like the limb was never part of existence.
The Reflection whispered:
"NEUTRALIZATION PROTOCOL ENGAGED."
Kael snarled and ripped his arm free—
but when he looked at his right hand…
It was flickering.
Fading in and out
like it wasn't sure it belonged to reality.
The Echo's voice broke.
"No…
No, Kael—
if it erases the Hand,
it erases the part of you that can fight the Origin!"
Kael flexed his fading fingers.
"…So that's its plan."
The Reflection tilted its head.
"Correct.
Purpose:
retrieve Kael by erasing Kael's advantage."
Kael stepped forward—
but his right foot slipped.
Not on the floor.
But through it.
His entire right side flickered like a corrupted file.
The Architect whispered in horror.
"Kael…
the more you use the Hand,
the more it destabilizes your existence."
Kael smirked coldly.
"Then I'll make it count."
---
Kael Attacks — With Half His Body Missing
He vanished.
And reappeared behind the Reflection—
but only half of him materialized.
His body flickered like a glitch
as he slammed what remained of his right hand
against the Reflection's mask.
A shockwave detonated through the chamber.
The Reflection's face cracked—
a huge fracture splitting the metal mask
straight down the center.
It staggered.
Kael staggered too.
His arm flickered so hard it barely existed.
But his voice remained sharp.
"That's right.
You can copy my strength.
My speed.
My techniques."
The Reflection lifted its head, fractured and hissing.
"Affirmative."
Kael stepped forward.
"But you can't copy something I erased."
The Reflection paused.
"…Define."
Kael smiled—
a cold, dangerous smile.
"My Hand wasn't a power."
He raised his arm—
what little remained of it.
"It was the act of removing myself."
A surge of unmaking—not destruction—
but deletion—
radiated from his palm.
The Reflection's entire body convulsed.
Its metal form corroded
not by force
but by non-existence.
It screamed—
"ERROR—
ERROR—
ENTITY IS USING A NON-LOGICAL STRUCTURE—
PRESENCE UNDEFINED—
NO FRAME OF—"
Kael grabbed its throat
with a hand that barely existed.
"Yeah.
That's what you get
for trying to copy a mistake."
He squeezed.
Reality bent.
The Reflection shattered
into thousands of silver shards—
not breaking
but disappearing
before they even hit the floor.
Silence.
Kael stood there, breathing hard—
as his right arm
continued to flicker and fade.
The Architect ran to him.
"Kael—your hand—
your EXISTENCE—
you're fading—"
Kael looked down at the dissolving limb.
And whispered:
"…Then I'll fix it the same way I broke it."
He clenched what remained of his fist.
The chamber shook.
Reality buckled.
The Echo whispered:
"He's going to reattach his own existence—
without using his identity."
The Architect stepped back.
"He's insane."
The Echo exhaled.
"No.
He's Kael."
-