Kyle's gaze was fixed on Lein, and he involuntarily kept backing away, step by step.
Only one thought ran through his mind:
«How!?»
Panic consumed Lein, and he frantically tried to come up with at least some kind of plan.
But…
Everything he thought of already felt doomed.
«Run? No, that won't work.
Fight? Even worse… Better to run.
Negotiate? Maybe… There'd at least be a tiny chance. But it's… minimal.
Bluff? Claim this is my god's world? Damn… Only an idiot would believe that.
Then…
What do I do? Just what!?»
Lein clenched his teeth.
«This is the end.»
"What's wrong?" Kyle asked.
Lein froze.
"Something's wrong?" he asked again.
Lein, hardly believing what was happening, stepped closer.
He carefully examined him and finally asked:
"No one… possessed you?"
Kyle shook his head.
"I just realized there's no point in keeping my eyes closed anymore."
He pointed to his eyes — so dark they didn't seem to reflect any light at all.
Lein exhaled deeply, with clear relief.
"You almost gave me a heart attack…"
Kyle smiled.
"I told you, darkness is sealed inside me."
Lein nodded.
"Yeah, you did… But so what? How did that help you know the demon is really gone?"
Kyle hesitated.
He fell silent for a moment, choosing his words. Then finally said:
"The cracks… they became much more sensitive when that demon appeared. I got curious, and I looked at him."
Lein shook his head.
"What a kid…"
«His eyes don't reflect light… That could work in our favor. The main thing is to use it right.»
Lein looked at Kyle.
"And? What did he look like?" he asked.
«Amazing… The demon didn't notice Kyle, even though he looked straight at him? Bastard noticed me, though…»
Kyle raised his hand and pointed straight at Lein without hesitation.
"He looked exactly like you. Only… he seemed angry."
Lein paused for a moment.
«The Story said the demon stole my mirror identity… That's why he was pulled into the fragment of the story. But what if he changes bodies and, for example, takes someone else's mirror identity?»
Lein thought for a while and came to a conclusion:
«There are only three options. First — maybe nothing will happen. Second — the Story will just throw him out of the fragment into reality.
And third… the most likely… the Story itself won't allow him to change his form.»
He turned his gaze to Kyle.
He looked slightly scared and confused, though he tried to pretend the demon didn't frighten him.
«He really has nothing to fear, that bastard will only notice me.»
Lein smiled faintly.
"I have good news," he said, looking at Kyle.
«The demon was in my form all this time. Either he didn't find another shell… or he's really limited in his abilities.»
Hearing this, Kyle perked up noticeably.
"What?" he asked with clear enthusiasm.
Lein calmly said:
"The demon is limited in his abilities."
After that, he mentally addressed the Story:
«Story, can those who entered a fragment leave it of their own will?»
A moment later he heard a quiet whisper, and in front of his eyes appeared a familiar Story window:
[Hint: No one can leave a fragment of the story unless they possess a divine level.]
Lein barely smiled.
«And what if a transmigrator has abilities that allow them to get outside?»
The answer came again as a soft whisper. The text in front of his eyes changed:
[Additional hint: If using abilities would lead to violating the rules inside the fragment, they will be temporarily sealed.]
Lein nodded in satisfaction.
He looked at Kyle and asked:
"You did bring food, right? Talking about my great plans on an empty stomach is unpleasant."
Kyle nodded.
"I'm hungry too. Caught a baby boar."
Saying this, he went out through the round passage.
Lein followed him. On the way, he kept thinking:
«The mirror demon can't affect us if there are no mirrors nearby.
He's probably wandering through some other space, looking for passages into reality. How unlucky for him that his ability is limited… Because he's not chosen by the system. Any change of form would make him leave the fragment of the story. And that, in turn, breaks the rules of the fragment.»
Lein entered a room with a dusty table and chairs.
In the corner of the room lay the dead body of the boar.
He winced slightly, catching an unpleasant smell.
Kyle, as if nothing happened, went up to the carcass and started dragging it by the legs, slowly hauling it toward the basement.
He stopped, looked at Lein, and asked:
"Maybe you'll help?"
Lein forced himself to smile but still nodded.
He came over, and together they started dragging the boar.
«Calm down, it's just a corpse… Just chocolate with raspberries, not blood and filth…»
On the stone floor, where they dragged the boar, stretched a creepy, still-fresh bloody trail.
Lein frowned.
"Water can also reflect reality. Just like blood. I'll carry it to the basement myself, and you clean up the traces."
"Fine," said Kyle and let go of the boar's leg.
Lein slowly went down, dragging the heavy carcass, and behind him stretched an even thicker, bloodier trail.
«Sorry, Kyle. You'll have to work a bit more.»
Thud.
With each step down, the heavy, lifeless body thudded against the stone.
Finally, reaching the bottom, Lein sighed in relief.
«How did he even manage to kill it?» Lein wondered.
He left the boar near the passage and looked around Kyle's "laboratory."
And indeed, it was…
A laboratory, damn it. And such a huge one.
Lein raised his gaze to the ceiling.
Bright white light poured from glowing stones embedded in the rock, evenly illuminating the whole room.
It was slightly bigger than the room with the table and chairs.
In the center of the room was a small table cluttered with test tubes filled with colorful liquids.
«I'd like to see him in a white coat making his potions…»
To the right along the wall stretched bookshelves crammed with thick books.
And straight ahead, at the far wall, was the workshop.
The workshop had a small smithing table, with tools neatly hung on the wall…
«Is that… a saw? And this looks like a bolt cutter… Wow. Those are some serious scissors. I wonder what he plans to cut with them?..»
Then Lein turned his head to the left wall.
There stood another cabinet — for test tubes and potions.
«Ha, my face looks so funny distorted in their reflection…»
And then Lein realized something.
His reflection…
had returned.
The entire room — the tools, the flasks, the tables, the bright light — all of it…
…reflected reality.
He instantly closed his eyes, realizing the problem.
«Calm down… There's no demon here. He already checked everything and left…»
Lein wanted to believe that.
When he was about to open his eyes, suddenly there was a screech…
And at that very moment he felt it — that alien, cold, horribly familiar presence.
To confirm his intuition, in Lein's ears came a voice so unpleasant it made him shiver:
"Here we… meet again, Lein… Edgar."
Yes…
It was the Mirror Demon.