chapter 54
Chapter Title: "Ash and Echo – The Fire That Does Not Burn"
[Lamba Academy – Underground Wing]
The chamber reeked of sweat, smoke, and silence.
Liora's knees trembled as the illusion of the crying mother vanished from her arms. Her Null Flame was crackling erratically across her fingers, unstable — not due to lack of power, but due to internal chaos.
Across from her, Zhu Zhuqing crouched like a feline ready to pounce, breathing slow and steady, her heart rate barely rising. She had not moved even an inch when the illusion appeared.
Dean Youlan's voice echoed through the chamber, cool and surgical.
"Liora, why did you hesitate?"
"She—she looked real," Liora whispered.
"She wasn't," he said bluntly. "And even if she was, if she carried poison on her skin, your hesitation would've killed you. Or your team."
Liora clenched her fists. The flame pulsed once, then again, steadier now.
Zhu Zhuqing finally spoke, her tone flat. "She has compassion. That's not weakness."
"No," Dean Youlan agreed. "It's a burden. And burdens must be wielded, not suffered."
He turned to Zhu Zhuqing. "Your flaw is different. You feel nothing. And that, too, is dangerous."
Zhu Zhuqing's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.
Dean Youlan gestured, and the lights dimmed. The walls shimmered — and suddenly, they were in a simulated battlefield. Screams, smoke, chaos.
"You'll face more than just enemies," he said. "You'll face choices."
His voice lowered.
"Today, you learn to see them before they kill you."
[Mirror Chamber – Deep Cultivation Site]
Itsuke's body remained perfectly still, suspended within a ring of floating silver crystals, each reflecting a fragment of his soul.
Within his mindscape, the Mirror Beast stirred.
Not growling. Not roaring.
But watching.
Itsuke had unshackled part of his mutation, allowing the Mirror Beast to phase out of the physical — and with it came understanding. Reflection, not just of the self… but of others.
Memories swirled: the Creator God's illusions, the way they didn't just deceive — they reshaped belief. Turned trust into knives. Guilt into chains.
The Mirror Beast spoke in thought.
"To mirror another… is to absorb them."
"Are you ready to lose who you are, in order to understand them?"
Itsuke's reply was silent — a flicker of acceptance across his soul.
Then the mutation began to evolve.
His body remained in place — but inwardly, his mind was shattered into echoes. One self analyzing enemies. Another self calculating friends. A third… remembering pain.
The Mirror Beast was no longer just a martial soul.
It was becoming a prism.
And Itsuke… was preparing to become something beyond human.
[Lamba Academy – Training Hall: Day Three]
Zhu Zhuqing leapt through a maze of flickering illusions, her shadow-steps nearly invisible. Every ten seconds, a new variable spawned — a crying child, a wounded friend, a blade from behind.
She reacted to none of the illusions.
Only the blades.
Dean Youlan raised his hand, halting the test.
"You did well," he said. "But you still lack empathy. One day, a friend may look like a threat. What then?"
Zhu Zhuqing hesitated — the first time she'd shown confusion.
At the far end of the hall, Liora stood before a controlled flame, hovering in the shape of a human silhouette.
She whispered to it.
"I won't hesitate. Not because I stopped feeling — but because I've accepted it hurts."
She punched through it, Null Flame wrapping around her arm — silent and ice-blue.
Dean Youlan watched her quietly.
"They're opposites," he thought. "One must learn to feel. The other… must learn when not to."
[Mirror Chamber – Inner Reflection: Day Seven]
In the deepest part of his consciousness, Itsuke now stood before dozens of reflections — each one a version of himself with different truths.
One believed power was love.
Another believed pain was the only teacher.
Another whispered, "No one deserves to be saved."
He began to talk with them.
Learn from them.
Argue with them.
"To understand the Creator God, I must become the narrator of my own soul."
And so he did.