Spell 32 - The Shape of Fear

The figure that had emerged from the glass had Ren's build, even his posture, but the expression was hollow, as if that part of the body had no intended function at all. The eyes were golden with small black filaments swirling inside them. It was that same pattern Ren had already seen before in the Ghosts there in Naraku, but didn't know what it meant.

Ren took a step back.

"What is this?" he said in a low voice, looking toward where Kagami was. "First Haruki, now me?... What does it mean?"

"That's not Reiji, if that's what you're thinking," Kagami explained from beyond the threshold to the room.

"I'm not really thinking about anything at this point. This place is just too weird."

Ren's focus stayed on the figure across from him as he spoke, careful of any movement it might make.

"That's a Pact Echo," Kagami continued. "It cannot exist outside this room, and it's built to test you. And... I recommend not failing this one."

"Right..."

Ren drew a slow breath, then with his fingers, he traced a symbol through the air, activating the Pact glyph along his palm. The motion had become almost second nature by now, something his body understood without needing to overthink. 

The blade responded with a glow as it slowly morphed in his left hand's grip.

"So how's it going to test me..."

But the Echo charged before he could finish the thought.

Ren brought his blade up just in time to deflect the first strike. The impact was clean, but there was no follow-up to it. The Echo pulled back immediately, readjusting after that exchange.

Ren noticed the blade it carried resembled his, morphed through a similar technique. Still, there were a few key differences: there was no symbol behind him to channel fueling energy, unlike his own Pact blade, and it also extended from the Echo's right arm, not the left.

He didn't wait for a second approach. This time, he moved first, closing the gap between them and striking as hard as he could. The Echo mirrored his move and countered instantly. The fight escalated quickly from there, as each blow was driven by instinct rather than thought.

It should have felt strange to him the way his own body moved, the way he was able to execute techniques with such precision. In the past, running had been his only truth, the only rule that ever truly applied to whatever dangerous circumstances might have presented themselves. But now, he was no longer running. He was pushing back against that current and those circumstances.

And it was not as strange to him anymore because he had learned how to start letting the Pact flow through him, and in return, it extended his reflexes into something more. He felt improvement through that. Every motion he made, he recognized as his own, but with each one, there was also something external accompanying it. Something he could wield for himself, but layered on top of something else. Kagami's signature.

Outside the chamber, her eyes flared golden. The bond was active, amplifying Ren's every movement.

Ren and the Echo clashed again, and sparks lit the floor briefly.

Ren tried to bait a reaction, but the Echo responded before he even moved to achieve it. Its counter cut across his forearm, which made Ren retreat a few steps just to regain his balance.

But the Echo lunged once again, giving him no time to breathe. And again. And then once more. It was like an animal in a hunt, unable to see anything but that blinding rage. Ren managed to land blows as well, but each time, they didn't seem to slow the damn thing down. If anything, they only seemed to enrage it further.

"It's faster than I am," he said, analyzing the Echo's posture as it was in that moment. "No... I'm too slow."

It seemed as though the Echo was sensing him at a deeper level somehow. It didn't seem like rational anticipation, but rather something more animalic. How? It didn't look like they were sharing anything except the appearance, and even that wasn't a perfect match, so how was it able to sense him?

Ren adjusted his grip. His pulse was racing, and his breathing had accelerated as well.

"What's the pattern, Ren?" Kagami's voice echoed from somewhere, Ren couldn't even tell anymore. "What do you see when you look at it?"

Ren stared at the reflection. It was chaotic. Animalic. No sense of anticipation. Just brutal force in an unpredictable way.

"Exactly," Kagami smiled. As if she had heard his thoughts as clear as water.

Ren then began to understand. This wasn't about technique or speed. The Echo was fast only because it didn't hesitate. But that lack of hesitation wasn't really balance as he first thought. It was actually imbalanced. Too aggressive in some moments, while reckless in others.

"And when do people have so little doubt in themselves and their actions become unhinged to the point of self-harm?" Kagami continued guiding him toward the final answer.

Fear. It was ruled by fear. That was the answer.

Kagami smiled and said no more.

Ren rolled his shoulders and stepped forward again.

If this was meant to mirror him in some way, feed of his own fear somehow, then there had to be a rhythm. Even fear has a pattern.

He tried to calm his breathing and let the Pact steady itself inside him.

The Echo circled him, dragging the sharper edge of the blade along one of the walls. Sparks flared, and noise rumbled deep in Ren's chest. But now that he understood what it was trying to provoke, he refused to let fear dictate his next move.

After a few moments of that, the Echo stopped in its tracks. Perhaps it was trying to reach a version of Ren that no longer existed.

Ren moved forward toward the Echo, but instead of swinging at him as he did on previous occasions, he let the Echo react first. And when the it finally lunged, Ren moved sideways, dodging the strike, then drove his blade into its hip.

The Echo staggered. The glow in its blade flickered for a few moments as well.

Ren stepped back and let it reset, but the Echo no longer had the same balance. It was adapting more slowly, as if it didn't know what to do.

But even with that imbalance, it hadn't lost its brutal force. So it went at it again. When their blades met, the contact sent sparks flying, lighting the chamber brighter for a few moments.

Through all of that, Ren saw a moment where the Echo lunged with what seemed like desperation toward him. So he used that. He dropped low under a swing and extended his arm, the one that had the Pact blade woven onto it. It was a clean blow right through the Echo's chest.

The Echo stopped and didn't finish his motion. It just kept still for a few moments.

After that, its body fractured like glass all over.

Then, for a fraction of a second, it looked directly at Ren, and the clarity in its gaze startled him. Until then, its eyes had been vacant, but in that final instant, something was there.

And then the figure shattered entirely into thin air.

As it did, the monolith from where it had come from dimmed slowly while its glyphs stopped glowing altogether.

Ren stood alone in the chamber again, breathing hard.