207 THE ANTIDOTE TO FEAR IS I LOVE YOU
Damen clenched his teeth. "Damnit, the anti-meta field is shutting down my meta skills!"
Even Eryn's transformation began to flicker.
Her human form collapsed, replaced by her Annunakin body… of human and alien DNA….her face change ability was like a meta ability she's developed.
Without meta powers, she lost the ability to transform into another.
Nullrose's voice trembled slightly. "Who is this girl? Why did she change form?"
"Who cares?" Mirrose snapped. "Our mission is to kill them."
Damen tried to break through the field's edge. Getting out of a meta field quickly was the only way to defeat it.
But walls of shimmering mirrors suddenly materialized, surrounding them. Within seconds, the reflections multiplied until they formed a complete dome of mirror, trapping them inside.
"What the hell, we are trapped in mirrors?" Damen complained.
He snapped his fingers as a lightning bolt struck one of the mirrors ….but the bolt of lightning emerged again from another mirror, hitting himself square in the chest.
"Damn it!" Damen cursed. "The mirror reflects my lightning attacks?"
Mirrose laughed, her voice echoing endlessly in the glass chamber. "Don't bother struggling. Nothing escapes my Mirror Dome. No matter how strong your meta powers may be they are useless before us."
Mirrose and Nullrose weren't direct killers…they were control metas, specialists meant to trap and weaken their prey.
Damen knew it.
Which meant only one thing: their finisher was coming next.
Then, the temperature dropped. The air turned thick with dread. A wave of primal terror rolled through the park.
"Fear," Damen muttered.
Most people would collapse under its pressure, but not them. The Core of Blood within their bodies suppressed the emotional attack.
"How are you holding up?" Damen asked Eryn.
"I can feel the fear," Eryn said, her voice steady, "but I don't fear it. Not yet."
A mocking laugh came from the darkness. "Not afraid? That's new," Fearose hissed. "Then let's try these."
From beneath the ground, clawed shadow beasts tore through the soil….hulking, translucent creatures that radiated pure malice.
Eryn reacted instantly.
Bone blades sprouted from her arms, glowing with alien light. Damen readied with his bare hands which was tougher than the strongest weapons.
Together, they slashed through the creatures, each strike reducing shadows to smoke and ash.
Still, Damen could feel something wrong.
"The three of you are all control metas," he said, his eyes darting between the witches of Roses. "None of you can kill us with your control skills alone."
Mirrose's laughter reverberated. "You're clever, boy…but who said control powers can't kill?"
The mirrors began to close in, the dome shrinking rapidly.
The air grew heavier as Nullrose's anti-meta field condensed, crushing their space further.
Fearose's fear intensified as more illusions twisted into nightmarish shapes.
Soon, Damen and Eryn were pressed into a space barely the size of a room. The anti-meta pressure suffocated their abilities, and the shadows began clawing their way through the narrowing space.
Their blades and fists struck and slashed desperately…but this time, the wounds hurt.
"These… these aren't illusions anymore," Eryn gasped, blood running down her arm.
The illusions have evolved into physical beings that could hurt.
Damen moved like a blur, his Autonomous Combat protocol activating. Every strike of his found its mark, tearing through shadows before they could reach them.
But there was still no way out.
The mirror walls were closing in further, the anti-meta field tightening, and even Damen's immense endurance was reaching its limit.
Eryn's body suddenly went limp, crashing to the ground. Her pupils dilated….then froze.
"Your girl is down," Fearose sneered, her voice echoing with a dozen overlapping tones. "It's only you left now, boy."
Eryn's mind had been pulled into the psychic abyss…an endless nightmare crafted by Fearose's illusion. Her Core of Blood, was only Level 2, she couldn't withstand a Rank AA psychic strike.
Damen, however, stood firm.
His Core was Level 7, reinforced by the Amulet of Calm he had assimilated months ago… together their aura shielded his thoughts like a fortress.
"It's not so easy to break my mind," Damen said coldly.
Fearose smiled faintly. "Indeed… you're far tougher than I thought."
The witches exchanged wary glances within the mirrored dome. Their target was far stronger than their report and intelligence had suggested.
"I told you," Nullrose muttered, her tone sharp. "We should've called Thornrose. She's the attack meta!"
"How was I supposed to know a mere student could resist my Rank AA fear field? I'm being humane giving them an easier way to die,…you know Thornrose's methods…its ghastly," Fearose hissed back.
Damen's eyes narrowed. "You witch murderers are pretending to be humane now?"
Lucky for himthe witchesunderestimated him and hadn't brought their true killer. If Thornrose, whoever she was, were here…. He and Eryn would already be corpses.
Still, he wasn't safe yet.
His powers were suppressed by Nullrose's anti-meta field, and Mirrose's mirror dome left no escape. Every second they wasted tightened the trap further.
"I must think of something…even if its out of the box," Damen told himself.
Then Damen made his move.
Without warning, he sprinted and jumped straight into one of the mirrors.
The witches gasped. A heartbeat later, his body reappeared from another mirror across the dome…completely intact.
"So, the mirrors are linked, like portals," Damen realized.
But that didn't solve the problem. He was still trapped inside the cage.
A thought came to his mind.
He grabbed Eryn's limp body and jumped again, vanishing into another mirror.
"What is he doing?" Mirrose barked, her voice cracking with disbelief. "He knows that won't get him out!"
Damen's voice echoed from within the mirrors. "Got a better idea? I'm open to suggestions."
He kept leaping from mirror to mirror…testing angles, timing, and rhythm.
The witches watched in growing confusion. Each jump flashed like a pulse of light through the reflective dome.
Then Damen noticed something.
With every jump, Mirrose's breathing grew heavier. Sweat glistened under her collar.
"There it is," he thought, his eyes narrowing. "She's connected to the mirrors. Every portal transfer drains her energy."
He smirked. "You built your own prison… now let's see how long you can hold it."
And he kept going….again and again, like a relentless storm bouncing between worlds of glass—each leap pushing Mirrose closer to her limit.
But even that wasn't enough to drain Mirrose's strength. Her control over the mirrored dome still held.
By then, Eryn's mind stirred…breaking free from Fearose's illusion. Her eyes snapped open, glowing faintly crimson. "Damen, what are you doing?"
"Good, you're awake," Damen said, dodging another wave of shadow claws. "We're jumping through the mirrors…it's the only way to wear them down!"
Eryn grinned. "Then drop me. I want to jump too."
He let her go, and she immediately dove into a mirror. Her body vanished in a shimmer of light, reappearing across the dome.
Fearose's psychic tendrils could no longer track Eryn's mind while she was jumping through mirrors…her thoughts flickered too fast for capture.
On the other side, the witches were losing composure.
"This is bad…I'm losing control over the girl," Fearose admitted.
"We're losing this, they are crossing my mirrors like they are jumping trampolines," Mirrose panted, her voice trembling. Her hands shook as the mirrors vibrated.
"I told you we should've called Thornrose!" Nullrose snapped. "Even my anti-meta control over them is being tested as they cross through space!"
Fearose's scowl deepened. "Hold the dome…don't let them escape."
Damen burst through another mirror beside Eryn, both laughing now, their movements synchronized—dashing, flipping, and vanishing between reflections like ghosts at play.
The anti-meta field suppressing them became less effective as they crossed through the mirrors quickly….time and space negated the field's powers on them.
Then… Eryn regained part of her powers. She's transformed back into herself again.
"This is so much fun!" Eryn shouted, her laughter echoing through the maze of mirrors.
"Me too!" Damen replied, leaping through another reflection beside her. "This is better than the amusement park at Aukouma Entertainment Complex!"
Their desperation had become exhilaration—each mirrored leap feeding a rush of wild defiance.
The prison of mirrors had turned into their playground, a shimmering labyrinth of light where every jump weakened their captors' hold a little more.
Then suddenly, their paths crossed.
Eryn collided with Damen mid-leap, their momentum spinning them together.
Their bodies met.
Their eyes locked.
….two hearts syncing amid chaos.
In that suspended instant, the mirrors around them rippled like disturbed water.
The psychic pressure of Fearose shattered, the Anti-Meta Field trembled, and even the dome itself cracked under the surge of emotion.
Eryn's breath caught as she whispered, "I love you."