The First win

The weight was unbearable.

Raiyan felt his body sinking into the void, the invisible chains tightening with every passing second. His limbs refused to move. His breathing grew shallow.

A mistake.

That's what the other Raiyan had called him.

A mistake that should have never survived.

And for a fleeting moment… Raiyan believed it.

Maybe it was true. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be here. Maybe he should just—

No.

Something inside him—something deeper than instinct—rebelled.

A flicker of defiance. A whisper in the dark.

He clenched his teeth.

He had felt this before.

The nights in his childhood when hunger gnawed at his stomach, but he refused to cry.

The days when he was beaten, mocked, but still forced himself to stand.

The moments when giving up had seemed so easy… but he never did.

He had always fought.

Even when he had nothing.

Even when there was no hope.

His fingers twitched.

A crack formed in the chains.

The other Raiyan's eyes flickered with something—annoyance? Surprise?

"Still resisting?"

Raiyan's lips curled into a weak smile. "Of course."

The chains tightened—but now, they weren't just pulling him down.

They were pulling something out of him.

A memory.

---

The air shimmered, and suddenly—Raiyan was standing somewhere else.

Not the abyss.

Not the broken mirror world.

Somewhere… familiar.

He was back in the battlefield.

The one where he had first arrived in this world.

The blood-stained earth. The cold wind. The countless swords scattered across the ground.

And in front of him—

His sword.

The very same sword that had once pulsed in his hands. The blade that had whispered to him. The weapon that had shattered when he faced his other self.

But now…

It was different.

It was whole.

And something inside Raiyan knew—

This wasn't just a sword.

It was a key.

His key.

The moment he reached for it—

The chains snapped.

--

Raiyan's eyes shot open.

He was back in the void. The chains around him were gone, the suffocating pressure lifted.

The other Raiyan was still there—but this time, his expression had changed.

Something in his golden eyes had darkened.

"You shouldn't have been able to break free."

His voice was no longer calm. No longer amused.

Raiyan felt the sword in his hand. It had returned—not broken, not shattered, but different.

Lighter. Sharper.

More his.

He exhaled.

"Guess I'm not just a mistake after all."

The other Raiyan's eyes narrowed. The void around them began to shake, cracks forming in the endless darkness.

This place—it was breaking.

Or maybe, it had never been real to begin with.

The other Raiyan stepped forward. "You think this means you've won?"

"No," Raiyan admitted, raising his blade.

"But it means I haven't lost."

For the first time… the other Raiyan frowned.

And then—

The void collapsed.

---

To Be Continued…