The silence between them so loud it can crack thin glass.
Kaios's boots touched the next slab with an echoing thud, faint teal light emitting from his Gravistone shoes as his spine was gleaming with vibrant voiolet glow coming from the exoskeleton of Resonant Alloy.
The reflection on the other hand watched him descend, its eyes gleaming with that of same violet and teal mixed hue—except sharper, colder.
"Lets end the game you started, my reflection." Kaios said, his voice steady but threaded with unmasked arrogance.
The words hung in the air, reverberating against the silvery void and hovering platforms.
As the reflection heard it, his lips curled. "That's cute, are you immitating your reflection, Mister oh so..not wanting to be defeated?."
Kaios's face remained same, there was not a slight twitch of muscle, even when he heard the obvious mockery of the reflection.
"I do not need an imitation, the previous arrogance of your was just an ounce of mine." He said as his gaze still focused on the reflection. "And you took pride in it. That's all I need to know." His voice still laced with that pride.
Kaios said this calmly but, it wasn't same for the reflection. His face was now filled with intense rage and hatred.
"Y..you think... You are superior, just because you are real." It snarled.
"There was no denying in truth." Kaios replied with same steadiness.
As the reflection heard it a smile appeared as the rage and hatred faded, "Then perhaps, it is time for you see how ugly your face looks with the arrogance on it."
And before the last syllable faded, the figure of the reflection blurred— its form dispersing like a haze of winter.
Then a pulse exploded across the suspended platforms, as the runes beneath their feet lit one after another, triggered by their motions like someone activated a chain effect.
Kaios stepped back as he saw this, his eyes reading every flicker of light, and each potential trap.
His mind processing all rules that broke, all penalties that were about to come.
Rule 3, rule 2 ... Rule 6... First this slab...
With this he made the move, the Gravistone Alloy shifted downward, repulsing him from the slab. The teal boot plates of the alloy also pulsed once— then launched him diagonally mid-air.
The reflection, the root of it, also mirrored this same maneuver, but twisting at the opposite of him. As it was doing that, it used the Ferrostal to magnetize the nearby fragments of broken platform mid-flight.
Then hurling all that towards Kaios, as a meteor, with an incredible speed.
"Predictable," Kaios uttered, as he pivoted himself in the midair, his spine of Resonant Alloy behind shimmering in a soft violent glimmer.
Then a low hum pulsed from it, as a blast of vibrational energy erupted backward, propelling him just out of reach of the meteor.
The reflection's narrowed his eyes as he saw this development, but didn't wait for anything as it changed its plan, it flicked its wrist— activating the silvery bracelet.
The hour glass in the middle started to rotate automatically, while glowing white. For an instant, the surrounding rippled. Its body reversed— it blurred backward through time, before being stabilized in the position it struck.
"Recorrect" the reflection whispered.
Kaios's pupils contracted, when he heard the word. "So you're using it now."
"Yes," came the reply, followed by the sound of air tearing. "Because hesitation is the one thing you still can't eliminate."
The reflection surged forward, faster, cleaner. It had pre-seen its own failure and corrected it using the artifact. The Ferrostal Alloy diverged in mid-strike, anchoring Kaios's left shoulder through the magnetized contact.
Kaios's body jerked. For a split second, he was caught— as his Gravistone couldn't counteract both forces at once.
Think! Kaios think! He forced his mind into overdrive.
The magnetic pull from the Ferrostal was countering his Gravistone lift. But what if—
As a possible solution came to his mind, he applied it instanly. He manipulated his own Ferrostal Alloy to cling with the reflection, before using the Gravistone to make both of their polarity same.
And the moment he did that the result was explosive. The Ferrostal Alloy of his reflection was ripped apart from the middle, while both of them hurled towards opposite.
The reflection landed first, stabilized himself by rolling effortlessly. But Kaios crashed harder, the slab beneath him was cracking—still the grin in his face remained.
"Good" he muttered. "Now we're even."
The reflection tilted its head. "No. Now we're Equal."
As both raised their hands at once— three Alloys shimmered, orbiting their forms like metallic serpents. Violet, charcoal, and teal lights were being spiraled around them, their light merging into an orchestral laser show.
Then— then came chaos....
The platforms around them began to shift— each rune pulsing with a rhythm. Each shimmering one after another activating a network of runic sequences simultaneously.
This time Kaios was the one to make the first move. He stomped his right feet once— his Gravistone boots creating a repulsive shock with addition to the amplified vibrations mixed with it.
This move of his sent three slabs flipping upward. As the reflection was dashing across, Kaios magnetized one from these three slabs using the Ferrostal, hurling at the reflection to catch its movement halfway.
"Oh, trying to learn from me."
"No," Kaios said softly, eyes narrowing. "I'm learning to think ahead of you."
Kaios said as he tried to call al his fragmented alloys on the platform.
The reflection, sensing an opening as he lunged at him— only for Kaios's previous position to blur faintly. The air around distorted.
Then a heartbeat later— Kaios appeared two meters to the right.
The reflection froze as it phased through the figure of Kaios.
Kaios had used the artifact.
"Recorrect" Kaios murmured.
And then a trap triggered.
The Gravistone slab— the reflection had just stepped on was the one Kaios had subtly magnetized before the time shift. And the moment the reflection had landed, polarity switched, slinging it upward violently.
The reflection barely had the time to stabilize midair, Kaios already made his move.
He swung his hand downward, as a tendril of Resonance Alloy shifting to his first from the spine. The tendril was beating in violet pulses, before it rippled outwardly— it compressed the air around him into a vibrating sphere.
"Pulse Divergence— Divergent Fist!"
This compressed sphere of vibrations, tore through the air as it closed the reflection.
The reflection, in the mid air, made a barrier of Resonance Alloy in front it to block the sphere, while used the boot of the Gravistone to repel him further from it.
As the compressed sphere of vibrations met the Resonace Alloy, a wave of violet spread everywhere. The blow detonated with a thunder.
The Resonance Alloy of the reflection—known to store the vibrations shattered, as it could not withstand the sudden vibrations on it.
"Amazing", Kaios praised as he saw this. "You really was a reflection of mine." Again said with same condescending voice.
"Huff.. hufff.." the reflection gazed at Kaios, while huffing. As it took a large amount of burden for that sudden movement in the air.
"You still maintaining that facade..." It said, calming its irregular breathings.
Kaios didn't reply anything to that, instead looked at above.
[2:07:99]
Last two minutes... Hmph... I think the play time is over then.
"Let me show you some thing, that you can't replicate." Kaios said to the reflection, as he streched his both hands.
Suddenly all the Alloys in proximity began to tremble, even the alloys of reflection were not safe from this.
The alloys all pulled back towards Kaios, before began orbiting. Then Kaios willed and the alloys started to shift.
The alloys of Resonance came first forming an enormous semi-sphere, before Gravistone coated upon it.
As Kaios was doing this the reflection took the oppertunity and charged to tag Kaios, thinking that his mind was diverted.
But just as it approached, suddenly some of the Ferrostal Alloy came and glued it to the ground.
"Predictable..." Kaios said, still not faltering his eyes from what he was doing. "Now, just stood there, and observe how to use the alloys."
As he was saying that, a cover of Ferrostal Alloy surround the Gravistone layer. Then he hurled this semi-sphere towards the reflection.
"Wh..wha!?" Before the reflection could say anything, the semi-sphere prisoned the reflection.
Then Kaios snapped his fingers, Psion flowed from him, delivering the command to the alloys. The sphere hummed, before a large mass of debris collided with it.
But, instead of crushing the sphere, these glued to it, making another layer blocking the reflection.
"Behold"
Art of Convergence: Perpetual Prison