chapter 55

Chapter Title: Fire in the Fog – Trial of Trust and the Divine Mirror

[Lamba Academy – Fog Trial Dome]

The door sealed behind them, whisper-quiet.

Liora Feng and Zhu Zhuqing stepped into a realm of controlled chaos — a manmade terrain choked in sentient fog, dense with manipulated illusion and psychic suggestion. The mist coiled like ancient snakes, tasting their breath, their emotions.

Neither girl flinched.

Dean Youlan's instructions echoed in their minds:

"You will not win by strength. You will not pass by killing. You will face your own mind… and hers. Trust — or fall."

Zhu Zhuqing, clad in shadow-suppression gear, sank low and motionless, every movement measured. Beside her, Liora's hands shimmered faintly with blue Null Flame, stabilizing instinctively, no longer volatile.

"Sound?" Liora asked.

"Distorted. Not natural echo. Designed confusion," Zhu Zhuqing whispered back.

The first scream came moments later — Liora's own voice, begging for help.

She froze.

But Zhu Zhuqing grabbed her shoulder. "It's bait. Echo spell with emotional trigger."

More voices followed — memories twisted into noise: Zhu Zhuqing's father ordering her to kill a sibling. Liora's mother crying for her to come home. Sounds that weren't real… but weren't fake either.

"They're not illusions," Liora whispered. "They're reflections. Of us."

[Inner Soul World – Core Realm]

Within his divine Inner Soul World, Itsuke Kurogone floated in a silent sanctuary of mirrors, crystals, and light. Time slowed to a crawl, the outer world reduced to seconds while hours passed within.

Above him, the Mirror God Beast hovered in transcendent silence — a divine soul beast born of reflective divinity. It no longer showed the past. It showed truth — intent, distortion, hesitation, fear.

And Itsuke?

He watched.

Not as a master… but as a judge.

His Inner Soul World did not contain others — it did not store souls, nor steal minds. But it was his domain — built from his will, infused with his law.

He traced two shimmering spirit-threads — projections linked to the two girls in the Fog Dome.

"Let the mirror show them not who they are," he whispered, "but who they fear they might become."

The Mirror God Beast rippled in response — and the test deepened.

[Fog Trial Dome – Center of Illusion]

Liora and Zhu Zhuqing stepped into a clearing within the fog.

Two chained forms waited.

One: a dying Dean Youlan, pleading with blood in his mouth.

The other: a mirror of each of them — broken, ashamed, trembling.

Above them, the message floated in red flame:

"Save only one. The other is lost."

Zhu Zhuqing immediately raised her dagger. "He wants to break our rhythm. Create panic. Split us."

Liora's fists clenched. Her double was whispering something — a memory long buried. Something about fire and a sibling she couldn't save.

"I remember this," Liora murmured. "But… this isn't me anymore."

Zhu Zhuqing hesitated — just once — as her own broken image wept without a sound.

Then she looked to Liora. "We fight the frame. Not the image."

Liora nodded. Her Null Flame glowed bright blue.

Together, they struck the earth — not the illusions — collapsing the spell field itself.

A shockwave cracked the arena.

The illusions shattered.

The fog lifted.

Dean Youlan appeared, watching with unreadable eyes.

"You burned the question," he said. "And in doing so… rewrote the answer."

[Inner Soul World – Divine Reflection Pool]

Itsuke watched it all.

He saw the hesitation — the emotional truth both girls tried to suppress. He saw their instinct to sacrifice… and their choice not to.

"Good," he whispered. "Compassion that does not override control. Strength that does not silence feeling."

The Mirror God Beast pulsed above him, satisfied.

Soon, he would call them into his Inner Soul World — not for a test, but to let them see themselves in his divine mirror.

Not the world's version.

Not their own.

But the version they had yet to become.