– Chapter 54: Hiragi Versus Hiragi

The cracked mirror pulsed like a heartbeat.

From it stepped another Hiragi—identical in body, but darker in aura.

His eyes were dead.

His skin, ash-pale.

His blade—dripping with a dark liquid that wasn't blood.

Void.

Corrupted. Saturated. Starving.

"You know who I am," the double said.

"I'm the version of you that let the world burn."

Hiragi narrowed his eyes.

He felt the weight of old battles, decisions that scarred him.

"You're not real. Just another hallucination this place feeds me."

"No," the double replied.

"I'm what you could've become—if you stopped caring."

The Thousand-Faced Monk watched in silence.

Around them, the dancers froze mid-motion.

Even the flames paused—like time itself waited for this confrontation.

"To pass the Trial of Flame," the Monk whispered,

"One soul must stay. One must burn."

CLANG!

Hiragi's blade met his double's in an explosion of Void energy.

Shockwaves tore through the ritual field.

Mirror shards flew into the air, showing glimpses of both of their memories.

One shard showed Hiragi holding Airi's hand after a battle. Another showed the double slicing down an entire village to reach a monster faster. A third... showed nothing. Blank.

Because that future hadn't happened yet.

"You hesitate," the double hissed.

"You still cling to people. Feelings. Guilt. It makes you weak."

"No," Hiragi gritted his teeth, "it makes me human."

The corrupted version smirked.

"Then die as one."

They clashed again.

Each swing of their blade shattered illusions around the shrine.

The Monk's masks screamed. The altar crumbled. Fire turned to bloodied rain.

The dancers began chanting:

"One must stay. One must burn. One must stay. One must burn..."

The final blow came when Hiragi drove his fist—not the blade—into his double's chest.

"You're not me."

Void pulsed outward, disintegrating the false Hiragi into black ash.

The mirror cracked, then shattered completely.

The Thousand-Faced Monk staggered, as if the loss of the doppelgänger hurt him too.

"So you refuse the mask..."

"Then face the true festival."

He clapped once.

The sky turned white.

And above the shrine, something descended—a divine puppet of twisted wood and gold—

The Hollow God of Fire.

End of Chapter 54