The Mirror Shatters - Chapter 119

"Domain Expansion: Hexed Mirror Realm."

And in one moment—everything changed.

Reality fractured.

Ren blinked, and suddenly—he saw three of himself.

Six Mahoragas towered in a circle around him, each shadowed and real at the same time.

Eight Getos floated in the sky, overlapping, multiplying, their forms laughing, twisting.

There were three suns blazing above. The ground rippled like water. The air shimmered. Nothing felt real.

Ren's mind reeled.

Everything—his sight, his hearing, his balance—everything was false.

'Ah… False,' Ren thought. 'Everything is false!'

Panic gripped his chest.

'Fuck, fuck—I can't trust anything! None of my senses!'

He clenched his jaw, blinking rapidly, trying to regain clarity—but the mirages didn't break.

'And what the fuck! It has a domain expansion?! Ah!'

He gritted his teeth, his cursed energy flaring involuntarily.

'I have to wait… Mahoraga… If he can adapt, if he can just break through—*that's the only way out of this!!'

Ren didn't hesitate.

He pushed his cursed energy outward, harder than before.

A storm of metal swirled around him—rods, shards, and blades. They spun in defensive circles, forming a metallic cyclone.

SHHHING!!! SWOOSH!!!

Ren slashed outward wildly, his sword releasing arc after arc of Flood Maw water blades. The blades shot off in chaotic directions, splashing into the mirror reality like paint on glass.

And then something occurred to him.

He froze for half a second—then grinned.

"Ah, ok… that's done."

His thoughts burned fast.

'If this is a domain… and unless Geto is outside of it… then he's trapped inside it too, right? Yes, yes! That has to be it! Otherwise he'd already be beating me to death—unless...'

Ren's thoughts stalled.

'NO. I can't trust anything! What if this domain falsifies my sense of pain too? What if I'm already half-dead and I don't even feel it?!'

He had no choice.

Ren took a deep breath—

And started chanting.

"Stitching through form...

Connecting through will..."

His sword slipped from his fingers, falling into the liquid-like ground below. His hands moved into a fast, focused hand sign:

指組み – Clasped hands with interlaced fingers.

"Thread becomes law—

Bind this domain."

"Maximum Technique: Binding of Izanami!"

And it happened all at once.

A flash of red light exploded from Ren's chest.

Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands of red threads erupted outward.

They pierced the air like spears. They lashed into the shattered concrete, the rebar, the pipes, and the metal shards floating in space.

Everything in a thirty-meter radius was bound.

The broken glasses. The debris. Even the illusions themselves are all connected.

The world turned red.

Ren stood in the center of it all, grinning.

The red stitch was everywhere.

And then—Ren smelled red.

He tasted red.

He heard red.

His body shuddered, but his smile only grew.

"Hah!" Ren whispered, eyes glowing. "It's working."

'So this domain… It's not just altering my senses. No. It's... an illusion. All of it!'

He stood still, breathing deep as clarity returned.

'The name—Hexed Mirror, huh? So it reflects and twists everything that already exists inside it. Every sense. Every movement. Like being surrounded by infinite reflections. That's what creates the illusion… It's not just a cursed space. It's a labyrinth of falsehood.'

'But my red stitch—it connected to everything... how do you mirror red?'

He stood tall.

'That's why it's working! If all there is is red, then it can only make illusions about RED!'

But then—

TICK.

TICK.

TICK…

Ren's head snapped up.

He heard it.

The sound of Mahoraga's wheel.

It was spinning.

Adapting.

Ren's lips pulled into a grin. His pulse spiked.

"He's adapted…" Ren whispered. "Now—break this domain!!"

He braced himself.

The sound didn't come from the sky.

It came from the ground.

CRACK!!!

A violent tearing sound shattered the atmosphere—like a blade cutting through glass.

The world split open.

And in an instant—

Everything returned to normal.

The illusion died.

Ren's sight, hearing, and body returned in a jolt of clarity. He looked forward and saw it—Mahoraga clashing with Geto in the distance.

Geto was fighting Mahoraga.

Ren's heart surged.

"That's… perfect," he whispered, smiling to himself.

Then—

Something clicked in Ren's mind.

A single piece.

His expression changed.

His breath stopped.

And he screamed:

"DON'T MOVE!!!"