The reflection’s hands thrust forward, the churning vortex of void and radiance, tearing through the air toward Adam’s chest. He didn’t hesitate. His body twisted, wings snapping open, carrying him sideways as the beam screamed past, close enough to sear the scales along his ribs. The mirrored floor where he’d been standing vaporized, leaving a smoking crater that reflected nothing.

Adam landed in a crouch, his chest heaving. A low, dry laugh escaped his throat. "Haha... seems like I underestimated you."

The reflection didn’t respond. It simply stood there, crimson eyes fixed on him, hands already raised for another strike.

Adam straightened, rolling his shoulders. Dark energy began to coalesce behind him, not in his palms, but in the air itself. Spears of shadow materialized one after another, a dozen, then two dozen, then more, each one humming with contained power, each one aimed at the reflection.

"Shadow Lance."

The spears shot forward in a devastating volley, tearing through the chamber toward the mirror image. The reflection’s hands moved, summoning its own lances, and the two barrages met in mid-air with a series of deafening cracks. Dark energy splintered, scattering in all directions, carving gouges in the floor, the walls, the ceiling.

Adam didn’t stop. He summoned more lances, and more, pushing the reflection back, forcing it to defend instead of attack. The reflection matched him lance for lance, but Adam pressed harder, his crimson eyes blazing. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I’ll do it," he snarled, his voice echoing through the chamber. "I’ll kill you until you can’t regenerate anymore, you damn copycat."

The reflection’s lips curved into a cold, familiar smile and then it moved.

Not the mirroring steps of before. This was different. Faster. Its form blurred, splitting into three afterimages, each one darting toward Adam from a different angle.

Adam’s eyes widened. He threw up his arms, summoning [Monarch’s Aegis] just as the real reflection materialized before him, its fist already cocked back, wreathed in dark energy.

[Monarch’s Pierce].

The impact slammed into Adam’s barrier, and the Aegis cracked. Adam flew backward, crashing into a mirrored pillar, the stone shattering around him. He pushed himself up, shaking debris from his wings, but the reflection was already there, a barrage of shadow lances raining down on him.

Adam dodged, twisted, leaped, his wings carrying him through the storm of projectiles. He couldn’t counter. Every time he tried to raise his hand, another lance forced him to evade. Every time he tried to close the distance, the reflection shifted, maintaining the perfect range.

His back hit the wall.

The lances struck.

Adam gritted his teeth as the shadow projectiles tore into his shoulders, his arms, his legs. Blood sprayed, dark against the mirrored floor. His regeneration kicked in, wounds sealing, but the pain was immediate, sharp.

The reflection stalked toward him, its crimson eyes gleaming.

"Give up," it said, and its voice was Adam’s voice, cold and mocking. "You can’t beat yourself."

Adam’s blood dripped from his wounds. The shadow lances had torn through his scales, and even with his regeneration working, the pain was enough to make his vision swim. He pushed himself upright, his wings spreading wide, his claws scraping against the cracked stone.

"No." His voice was steady despite the blood, despite the pain. "I just need to be more creative."

The reflection’s head tilted. "Creative?"

Adam’s lips curved into a thin, sharp smile. "You can copy my skills, my strength, even my regeneration. But you can’t copy my will." He straightened, rolling his shoulders. "Because you’re not me. You’re just a copy. A shadow. A puppet dancing on the Loom’s strings."

The reflection’s expression flickered. Just for an instant.

Adam lunged.

He didn’t use a skill. He didn’t summon dark energy or prismatic light. He simply threw himself at the reflection, his claws extended, his jaws open.

The reflection reacted, raising its hands to counter—

But Adam wasn’t aiming for the reflection. He was aiming for the floor.

His claws tore into the mirrored surface, ripping up a massive shard of glass. He spun, using his tail to launch himself upward, and drove the shard into the reflection’s chest.

The reflection’s eyes widened. Black ichor sprayed. Its form flickered, the image wavering.

"You...!"

Adam didn’t let it finish. He pulled the shard free and drove it in again. And again. And again. Each strike was wild, desperate, unpolished, nothing like the precise, efficient techniques the reflection had copied.

The reflection tried to counter, tried to summon [Monarch’s Pierce], but Adam’s relentless assault wouldn’t let it focus. It tried to dissolve into mist, but the shard was still embedded in its chest, anchoring it to the physical.

Adam drove the shard deeper.

"You’re not me," he snarled, his face inches from the reflection’s. "You’re just a copy. And copies..." He twisted the shard, and the reflection convulsed. "...break."

The reflection’s form shuddered. Cracks spread across its body, light bleeding from the fissures, darkness seeping from the wounds. It tried to regenerate, but the shard was still there, still tearing, still preventing the Ouroboros Rebirth from taking hold.

Adam pulled the shard free and slammed his fist into the reflection’s chest.

"[Monarch’s Pierce]."

The dark energy exploded through the copy’s body, shattering it from within. Pieces of the reflection flew in every direction, scattering across the mirrored floor.

Adam stood amidst the scattered fragments, his chest heaving, blood still dripping from a dozen wounds. His claws dripped with black ichor, and the mirrored floor beneath him was cracked and broken, reflecting his battered image in a dozen fractured pieces.

"Haa... haa... this is more exhausting than I expected," he muttered, wiping sweat from his brow.

Then the fragments began to move.

Adam’s eyes widened. The pieces of the reflection slid across the floor, drawn together by that same invisible force, reforming, reknitting. The cracks sealed. The wounds closed. The copy rose again, its body whole, its crimson eyes blazing.

"Oi... oi..." Adam’s voice cracked, disbelief bleeding into his words. "You’ve got to be kidding me."

The reflection’s form didn’t stop at reformation. It grew. Dark energy coiled around its body, scales rippling across its skin, wings spreading from its back, horns lengthening, curving. Its jaws elongated, teeth sharpening into fangs, and its eyes, once merely crimson, now blazed with the hungry light of a predator that had never known defeat.

The Ouroboros Progenitor.

The reflection had become a dragon.

Adam stared at the massive serpentine form towering before him, its scales black as midnight streaked with veins of silver, its wings vast and tattered, its tail coiled and ready. For a moment, he simply stood there, taking it in.

Then he let out a low, incredulous laugh.

"Seems like I really am this strong, huh." He shook his head slowly, a strange mix of pride and exasperation flooding his chest. "I don’t know why, but... I’m kind of proud."

The reflection roared.

The sound shook the chamber, cracking the remaining mirrors, shattering the silence. Adam leaped back, wings snapping open, carrying him out of range as the dragon’s claws swept through the space where he’d been standing.

"Alright, alright," Adam called out, dodging another strike. "This is going to be really dangerous. I need to think of something."