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Ch.27 - Broken Mirrors

  Silence.

  Not even the sound of her own breath could Lysa hear.

  The stone chair was cold beneath her skin, and the rune bindings burned lightly, not with fire, but with guilt.

  Around her, seven mirrors formed a perfect circle.

  But they were not made of common glass.

  Each one showed a different Lysa.

  Each worse than the other.

  The first was the child curled up in the dark closet, repeating that it was just another day.

  The second, the speechless doll, exposed as a toy for nobles to laugh at.

  The third, the prisoner of emotional plague, tied to an altar made by Sario Ulven.

  The fourth, the wild one, full of rage, who killed innocents on impulse.

  The fifth, dressed with the insignia of the System, smiling with Value 999 printed on her chest.

  The sixth... dead. Forgotten.

  The seventh... Grenda. But with her eyes.

  She did not see herself there.

  She felt herself.

  And it was like drowning.

  The voice of the true Grenda echoed through the chamber walls.

  “This is the Judgment of Mirrors. Not for me, but for you. You are your own executioner. What will it be, Lysa? The mask... or the crack?”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Lysa closed her eyes.

  And let herself fall.

  Not physically.

  But inwardly.

  In the mental abyss, everything was noise.

  Memories that didn’t fit. Interrupted dreams. Echoes of orders she never wanted to obey.

  But there, right in the center of the chaos, was a spark.

  Something that was not pain.

  Nor anger.

  It was cutting.

  Sharpening.

  A blade coming from within.

  Lysa lifted her head in the illusion and stared at the seven reflections.

  “You are not me.

  You are broken versions.

  You are masks the System wanted me to wear.

  But I break masks.”

  She extended her hands.

  And pulled the Echo of the Root with force.

  The Code inside her did not respond with violence.

  It responded with clarity.

  [Skill Acquired: Minor Reality Cut]

  [Effect: Rewrites mental illusions at the cost of temporary rune instability]

  Lysa opened her eyes.

  The mirrors shattered at once.

  Fragments of magical glass flew through the chamber—but instead of cutting, they fused with her.

  The bindings snapped, the chair broke, and she fell to her feet.

  Breathing, alive, and free.

  The door opened moments later. Two cloaked nobles entered, running.

  One wielded a living chain—made of vibrating code. With every turn, it emitted a hum that made the air tremble.

  The other held a metallic sphere high. Inside it, pulsed a dense, compressed energy. A type of magic that didn’t ask questions: it just destroyed.

  They didn’t hesitate.

  “Objective: containment of the anomaly,” said the one with the chain.

  “Direct order from the Circle,” said the one with the sphere. “Interrupt the manifestation of the Judgment.”

  But Lysa was already moving.

  The newly awakened ability pulsed like lightning in her fingers.

  She leaped between them.

  Dodged the spinning chain—by mere centimeters—and drove the Veyla dagger into the joint of the arm wielding it.

  With her free hand, she touched the sphere with two fingers.

  Activated:

  [Minor Reality Cut — Single Point]

  The condensed code inside the sphere exploded... inward.

  The noble holding it fell, his eyes extinguished and veins crystallized.

  The other tried to conjure a teleportation seal.

  But Lysa was already on him.

  “You should have stayed behind the mirror.”

  A silent horizontal cut.

  No blood, but terminal.

  The body fell whole. No shine, no command.

  Lysa breathed heavily for a few seconds and then turned toward the open door.

  The surface light flickered in the distance.

  She walked out of the cell, and the chamber behind her dissolved.

  Not by magic, but because no one else could be judged there.

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