: The Man Who Killed Me

Chapter 37

The mirror-faced man took a single step forward.

And time faltered.

The crack in the crystal floor froze mid-spread. Kaelith's breath hung still in the air. Even Nezutsu's flame sputtered like it didn't want to burn near this man.

He bowed slightly, graceful, calm — too calm.

"You won't remember me, of course," he said, his voice devoid of any echo. "But I remember you. I remember your scream. And the way the stars died when you burned."

Nezutsu took a shaky breath.

"Who… are you?"

The man removed one glove.

Where his fingers should have been, there was only glass — clear and cold, showing fractured images trapped inside each digit. Scenes of Nezutsu — past versions, dead versions — screaming, breaking, dying.

Kaelith moved to strike.

But with a flick of his wrist, she was gone.

No sound. No light. Just — gone.

"She's not dead," the man said casually. "Only paused. You and I need a moment. Alone."

Nezutsu's flame flared in fear.

"What do you want from me?"

The man tilted his head.

"To remind you of what you are."

He raised the obsidian staff.

And the past came crashing back.

Fragmented Truths

Suddenly, Nezutsu stood in a temple of black glass — its ceiling open to a dying sky.

The man stood beside him, unchanged, unchanged even across time.

A younger version of Nezutsu — older than a child, younger than now — knelt on the floor, bleeding violet light from his chest.

"This is the moment you were broken," the mirror-faced man said. "When they stole your fire. When I held the knife."

He walked over to the past-Nezutsu.

"You begged for death. But I gave you something worse. I sealed your flame inside this world. And made you forget."

The younger Nezutsu looked up, hollow-eyed, whispering one word.

"Why?"

The mirror-man didn't answer.

Return to the Vault

Nezutsu screamed, tearing free from the vision.

Kaelith reappeared beside him, stumbling, coughing, confused.

"He— He paused me. Like I didn't exist."

Nezutsu's flame exploded around them, trying to shield her, trying to burn the enemy.

But the man walked through it unharmed.

"I am made of the same fire you carry. But refined. I drank from the Well of Final Magic. You? You are just a cracked vessel."

Kaelith threw a dagger laced with star-ink. It passed through him like smoke.

Nezutsu's eyes narrowed.

"You said you killed me once. Why didn't it work?"

"Because even death refuses to keep you."

He raised his staff again.

"But I've learned since then. I'll do it right this time."

The Battle Between Echoes

Without warning, the Vault transformed — triggered by Nezutsu's panic.

Reality bent into a floating maze of shattered memories and flickering stars. Floors disappeared. Doors led to other doors. Every moment that Nezutsu had forgotten came alive around him.

—His mother's voice.—A scream in a language lost to time.—The feeling of burning while smiling.

The mirror-masked man chased him through each twisted plane, striking with his staff. Each hit didn't hurt the body — it erased part of memory.

"This is your sin," the man said, "you lived. You kept the Flame when none were meant to."

Nezutsu turned at the edge of a collapsing bridge of frozen light.

"Then maybe I'll finally learn why."

He held his breath.

And let go.

Awakening the Second Layer

The violet flame ignited once more — but this time it wasn't violet.

It turned blue.

Cool, searing, and full of sorrow.

It shaped itself into a blade.

For the first time, Nezutsu held a weapon made of his own magic — a memory given form.

He charged.

And clashed with the mirror-masked man.

Cliffhanger: The Shard of Broken Fate

Their blows shattered the false world.

As the last echo collapsed, Nezutsu stood bleeding — the blue flame flickering in his hand.

The man staggered, a fracture spreading across his mask.

"You've remembered too much," he said bitterly. "I warned them."

"Who are you?" Nezutsu demanded. "Why do I feel like I knew you once?"

The man gave a sad smile.

"Because I was you… before you became the Flame."

And then — he shattered.

Glass exploded outward, the mask breaking.

And within the falling shards, Nezutsu saw it:

A vision of himself, cloaked in black, eyes filled with ruin, standing at the center of a burning world.

His future.

His true self.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]