Luck

Caine's and Mirror's gazes remained locked, their shared indifference reflecting off one another, amplifying the silence that filled the platform.

Suddenly, Mirror's body exploded in a rain of golden threads and ashes as his last life was stripped away, marking his humiliating defeat.

Throughout their entire exchange, neither had spoken a word, as if silently agreeing to let the game play out in silence. Even as Mirror faded away, his expression remained stoic, quiet, and indifferent.

Caine paid it no mind, his thoughts drifting elsewhere.

'It's quite sad, but I suppose this, in a sense, crystallizes all I've lived for. All I've ever worked for.'

Caine had reached this point because he despised his lack of control. He hated being reduced to a pawn, moved at the whim of another.

His disdain was so profound that even as he killed himself, the possibility of it all being for nothing hadn't fazed him.