The other shadows dissolved, leaving only two figures in the Fourth Layer: Yan Zhi and the flawless version of himself.
The air pressed down like a mountain, suffocating, crushing.
Two pairs of eyes locked. No more words. Only a verdict waiting to be delivered: who deserved to exist.
Yan Zhi moved first.
His blade sliced the air, splitting into a rain of shadow fragments that tore toward his double. But the flawless figure merely walked forward. Every shard shattered against him, as if striking a mirror harder than steel.
Yan Zhi staggered. "Why… can't my sword wound you?"
The flawless self closed in, voice calm:
"Because you still strike with doubt. A blade born of hesitation is nothing more than a knife that turns to slaughter its master."
Agony flared across Yan Zhi's chest. A wound opened where no blade had touched him. Blood dripped, searing the fractured ground.
The perfect figure raised his hand. From his palm formed a sword of pure black light—soundless, seamless, absolute.
"This is a sword born from certainty. Witness the difference between us, Yan Zhi."
Yan Zhi's body trembled. Memories flashed—Lian's smile before the betrayal, the hollow eyes of his sect's elders, his father's voice abandoning him in his past life. Each cut deeper than any enemy's strike.
"I… have always doubted," he whispered.
"I… have always feared trust."
The flawless self pressed the sword tip to his chest.
"And that is why you will die here."
But in that instant, Yan Zhi closed his eyes. He inhaled, long and steady. The shadows around him quivered, then slowly sank into his body.
"Yes… I am full of doubt," he murmured. "But that doubt is me. Wounds, betrayals, fear… they shaped my path. If I reject them, I reject myself."
His eyes snapped open. A surge of darkness erupted from within. From his chest bloomed a blade of shadow—rough, raw, but alive with his own heartbeat.
"If you are the flawless me… then I am the real me."
He raised his blade and caught the strike.
The clash split the very air apart, shaking the entire Fourth Layer to its foundations.
And their true battle… had only just begun.
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