The shattered chamber still smelled of ozone and scorched metal.
Glass fragments floated mid-air, reflecting fractured neon streaks of Virelia outside. The Serpent's Crown—cracked but alive—pulsed violently, green-silver serpents curling like living smoke across the ceiling.
Every heartbeat echoed through the obsidian halls.
Elaris's circuits hummed.
Her wings flared faintly, glowing in sync with the runes burning along her arm.
The Mirror Engine…This isn't just another artifact.
Kael stood ahead of her, storm aura blazing along his blade. Lightning crawled across the steel, the air around him thick with pressure.
His eyes flicked toward Bloomfall.
She hovered above the cracked crown, effortless… untouchable.
Crystalline wings slicing through neon light like dark blades.
Dangerous.
Magnetic.
Unavoidable.
"Careful," Kael said, voice low, controlled—but the storm around him surged anyway."One wrong move, and the crown consumes everything."
Bloomfall tilted her head slowly.
Smiled.
Then drifted closer.
Close enough that her wings brushed past him—deliberate.
Provoking.
"Or maybe…" she murmured, voice silk over a blade,"…it chooses who deserves it."
Her gaze lingered on him.
"And you?"
Elaris's chest tightened.
A sharp pulse ran through her circuits.
No.
Not this again.
She stepped forward instantly, wings spreading, light forming around her like a shield.
The air shifted.
Claimed.
The Crown reacted.
Violently.
The spectral serpents recoiled—then lunged.
Straight at Bloomfall.
But she didn't flinch.
Didn't move.
She let them coil around her, their venomous forms wrapping her like a crown of shadows.
And she laughed.
Soft.
Cold.
"Pathetic…" she whispered."Do you really think protection can stop destiny?"
Then—
The chamber changed.
A deep hum vibrated through the floor.
Light fractured.
Reality bent.
From the center of the room—
Something rose.
The Mirror Engine.
A massive prism of fractured glass, twisting upward, spinning slowly as neon light poured through it. Reflections exploded across the chamber—
Infinite.
Distorted.
Unstable.
Burning cities.
Blood-soaked flowers blooming in silence.
Shadows swallowing light.
And—
Kael.
Elaris.
But not as they were.
Different.
Broken.
Eyes glowing.
Expressions twisted between desire… and fear.
Elaris froze for a fraction of a second.
That was enough.
"Move!" Kael's voice snapped.
He struck.
His blade carved through the air, storm aura colliding with the reflections. Lightning exploded across the prism—
But the Mirror Engine didn't break.
It shifted.
Adapted.
Every reflection changing faster than reality itself.
Elaris surged forward.
Her wings cut through the air, arcs of light slicing outward, clashing against Bloomfall's obsidian petals. Sparks erupted—light and dark tearing into each other.
"Kael!" she shouted over the chaos."Focus on the crown—not her!"
Her eyes flicked once more—
To Bloomfall.
To Kael.
And something inside her tightened again.
Danger wasn't the only thing here.