Chapter 98 - Legacy in Motion

Date: Late June X787

Location: Ancient Glyph Ridge — South of Oak Town

The wind shifted.

Not a breeze, not the restless breath of a summer forest — but something sharper. A vacuum. Air displaced not by weather or magic, but by something rearranging the world beneath it.

Beneath Teresa's boots, the glyph ridge began to glow in steady radial pulses, like a buried heart beating back to life after centuries of silence. She stepped back, not in fear — but to measure her balance.

Cracks spiderwebbed outward from the central Ky'run mark, forming a wide crescent basin. The ground pulsed once, then again — each beat stronger than the last.

Something was awakening.

Not a vault.

Not a presence.

A copy.

Of her.

Location: Task Force Nine Mobile Relay — Glyph Surveillance Deck

Warren adjusted his headset, fingers drumming nervously as the projection field flickered and hissed.

"She's found another site," he said, voice tight.

Kinana leaned forward, scanning the projection lines. Her eyes narrowed.

"This one isn't recording her. It's projecting her."

They both watched as a shape rose from the basin — tall, sword in hand. Teresa's posture. Teresa's readiness. Even the quiet curve of her guard stance.

But the Yoki pulse — it was wrong.

Too sharp. Too bright. Too hungry.

"It looks like her," Kinana murmured. "But it isn't her restraint."

Location: Glyph Ridge Basin

The construct finished rising.

Teresa didn't move.

It mirrored her exactly — down to the smallest shifts in breath. But its movements were just slightly off. Too jagged. Too quick to commit.

It didn't wait.

It charged.

The sword came low and wide — her Quicksword form, but sloppy, almost frantic. She parried with a subtle Phantom Step, twisting around it like water slipping past a blade. One clean slash — its forearm fell away.

No flinch.

No scream.

Just recalibration.

Location: Council Watchtower — Sealed Vault Observation Ring

Ethne stood alone at the scrying basin. Behind her, old Ky'run research scrolls lay scattered, some edges burned from hurried references.

Jura's voice crackled in from the crystal link.

"She's fighting a mimic?"

"Not just a mimic," Ethne said quietly. "A weaponized echo."

"How many nodes are active?"

"Too many. Every fight makes them smarter."

"Can we intervene?"

"No," she said. "She wouldn't let us."

A long silence.

"How long can she keep erasing herself?" Jura asked.

Ethne didn't answer.

Location: Glyph Ridge Basin — Mid-Battle

The mimic was faster now, folding her footwork into its movements. But it was too rhythmic. Too patterned.

She shifted, cutting with Void Sever. Her blade tore through its torso — it staggered.

Then — it rewound.

Not healed.

Replayed.

She narrowed her eyes.

It couldn't evolve.

It could only repeat.

That was the flaw.

Location: Fairy Tail Guildhall — Inner Table

Max lowered the crystal orb, hands shaking.

"It's fighting her."

Romeo jumped to his feet.

"Do we go? We can help!"

"No," Macao said sharply. "We wait."

"Why? She's alone!"

"She's always alone," Macao replied, voice low. "That's when she's strongest."

Kinana stepped in, expression sharp but calm.

"It isn't about numbers anymore," she said. "That thing copies her moves. But it can't copy her choices."

Romeo looked down, his voice small.

"Then what is she doing?"

Kinana rested her fingers lightly on the orb.

"Teaching it the one thing it can't learn."

Location: Glyph Ridge Basin — Final Exchange

Teresa slowly sheathed her sword.

The mimic mirrored her.

For the first time, it hesitated.

She stepped forward, hand open, unarmed.

It copied.

Their hands met the glyph ring in the center together.

She moved.

In an instant — sword in her right hand again, Claymore Arsenal re-equip. A precise thrust, no rush, no wasted force.

Her blade passed through its core.

The echo flickered once. Then dissolved, Yoki shattering into silent ash on the wind.

The glyph lines dimmed.

Silence returned.

Location: Lamia Scale — Seer's Chamber

Chelia turned to Jura, her voice almost a whisper.

"She's teaching the vault echoes how to be her."

"That's impossible," Jura murmured.

Chelia shook her head, eyes shining with worry.

"No. She's teaching them why they can't be."

Location: Glyph Ridge — Aftermath

Teresa stood among the broken glyph stones, moonlight sliding across her armor.

The construct was gone. No weapon left behind. No echo. Just the shape of her — undone.

She touched the central ring gently.

"Echoes don't protect anything," she whispered.

She stepped away.

Behind her, a faint curve etched itself into the stone.

Not a glyph. Not a seal.

A single, simple mark.

A smile.

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