"Mirrors don't reflect truth - only a cruel imitation of it."
-Fonk's Quote
[Act I - Mirror Suppression]
Location: Front Gate of Dragonfang Field, Eastcloud Academy
The morning light is cold and sharp. The Magic Club is standing in formation, ready.
Facing them is the fourth ranked challenger, Mirror Marauder Abel.
A crushing pressure settles over the field, hard to describe, harder to resist.
Abel is clad from head to toe in reflective silver armor, like a metal statue.
In one hand he wields a massive, curved mirror shield, and in the other a twisted, reverse-edged blade.
"I will force you to face the part of yourself... you fear most to see."
-Abel, in a hushed whisper before battle.
He steps forward, air distorting and rippling like water across the mirrored shield.
Nightzora Cang strikes first, casting the Queen of Illusions card and erecting a barrier of mental disruption.
But the moment the barrier touches Abel's shield, it recoils - every illusion turns against Nightzora herself.
Sayo Hōdō rushes to his aid, unleashing Phoenix Voice, a sonic spell meant to suppress resonance.
Even that is reflected like a ripple on a pond, hitting her in return.
-"Perfect reflection... how does he do that?"
Fonk, watching, analyzes calmly:
"He's not reflecting attacks - he's copying and distorting the spell structure itself, playing it back as a mirror echo."
Kagurain Kuren charges with raw swordsmanship, hoping to evade the technique.
But just before he reaches the shield, he is struck by his own afterimage.
He staggers back, coughing blood.
"Even movements can be copied?!"
"Act II - Black Card Response
Nightzora remembers Fonk's earlier words:
"If the queen fails - use the black jack. It's not for offense... but the key to unlocking spells."
He slowly pulls out the Black Jack card.
The moment it touches the ground, time seems to slow around them.
Ancient illusionary text appears on Abel's mirror:
"All things are mirrors - but the heart reflects nothing."
Nightzora smiles faintly.
He activates the inner subsystem of the deck: the Mind Reflection Domain.
He triggers Black Jack's core mechanism:
"Equal Exchange - I trade my flaw for your fatal point."
The mirror shield shakes violently!
Abel feels a jarring void on his left shoulder - an area suddenly incapable of reflecting any technique.
It was the heart-map flaw that Nightzora had deliberately exposed.
At that moment, the Queen Illusion is cast again.
But this time, instead of bouncing off, it pierces directly into the exposed left shoulder.
Boom!
The mirror shield shatters. Abel falls to his knees, coughing blood.
Beneath his mask: a face contorted between agony and confusion.
"...You saw through...my emptiness..."
[Act III - Past Behind the Mirror]
Before losing consciousness, Abel mumbles:
"I was... nothing more than a substitute chosen to wear the mirror armor...
I never even... had a real face..."
Fonk kneels down and taps him gently on the shoulder:
"You don't have to copy others. You can live as yourself."
Abel's eyes tremble. The mirror armor dissolves into drifting shards of light.
His true face is revealed - young, but blank, almost shapeless.
"I... am I really me?"
Fonk nods quietly:
"From now on... yes."
[Act IV - Currents Stir Again]
After the battle, the Magic Club returns to the tower in high spirits.
But Nightzora Cang remains deep in thought.
The queen whispers into his mind once more:
"You have won... but you are straying further from who you truly are."
Sayo Hōdō speaks softly next to him:
"Are you all right? Just now... you didn't seem like yourself."
Nightzora smiles and shakes his head - without answering.
In the distance, Fonk is quietly filing away a new blank card.
"Jack of hearts... Queen of Spades... Black Jack is now used."
He looks at the tall tower of Eastcloud Academy and murmurs:
"King... is it your time to awaken?"