Entering deeper into the cave, Yuki's magic began to work again, though Yamato's was still out. Possibly because hers was just stronger, or maybe because Yamato was not as familiar with it yet. Either way, she cast a flame on her finger tip which lit the dark, cold walls, now revealed to be artificially built or at least frequently used in the past, which was apparent by the smoothness of the rock, forming a relatively perfect square shaped hallway. Though where it led would still be revealed to them.
"What do you think of the creature, Master?"
"I found it fascinating… I've never seen anything like it…"
"I found it pretty too at first. But that roar is unbearable… And overall it's kinda gross."
"Well, either way we shouldn't confront it again without a plan… But besides that, I wonder what this place is… It reminds me a little of where we found the prophecy."
"But there are no letters on the walls. Maybe it's like a pre-chamber?"
"Maybe where we found the prophecy had this too… We entered through a wall after all, and not through an official entrance."
"You're so smart, Master! But that would mean we missed a lot back then, and maybe only scratched the surface of what was there!"
"If this cave is connected to the prophecy cave at all, that is."
"Ooh, this is so exciting! We are on an expedition in an ancient ruin as a couple, isn't it awesome?!"
"It does seem quite… Story worthy?"
"That's what I'm saying! Our grandkids will be talking about this still!"
"I don't think it will be that big of a deal…"
"To me it will be!"
After a couple of minutes they reached a spiral staircase leading even further down, with gaps of steps mist likely caused by erosion. Jumping over the gaps, they eventually reached the bottom of the stair which led into a massive hall, seemingly empty though as Yuki lit flames across the hall, a single full-length mirror stood in the center. It looked like any other mirror, with nothing remarkable about it besides some engravings on the frame. A single person with stars in the background. Upon closer inspection, the supposed mirror had no reflection at all, even though its surface seemed clean, it was pitch black at the same time as well. Yamato brushed over it trying to wish away whatever it was, but it seemed to he what the mirror was reflecting, no matter from which angle he looked at it.
"What an odd thing…"
"Maybe we should break it!"
"Why…"
"Because maybe something will happen then! It seems useless otherwise."
"I guess… It seems fascinating regardless though…"
"Booo!"
"Whatever, go ahead."
"With pleasure!"
She shot a light projectile at the mirror without hesitation, though it was reflected and hit her in the stomach and threw her away a couple of meters to the ground.
"Urgh… Is everything magic resistant now?! Enough of this!"
She summoned a golden sword and charged towards it again, slashing it but being thrown back again, even further this time.
"…Argh! Fuck you, mirror!"
She rammed it with her shoulder, and was bounced off again, though she caught herself this time and used the momentum to punch it full force with her bare fist. To both her and Yamato's surprise, she was not thrown away this time. Instead, the mirror responded as its surface seemed to turn liquid and reflected Yuki now. However it was not an actual reflection, as she looked quite different in the mirror. Her white hair was black, her blue eyes were red, and it wore her original clothes instead of the school uniform, but even that was black instead of white. At least her chest size stayed the same, she thought, as she tilted her head which of course the mirror mirrored.
"Huh… Master?"
"What?"
"Come take a look at this! It's weird!"
"…What did you do?"
"Nothing except of what you saw me do!"
Yamato stood next to her now, though he was not reflected by it at all. Then suddenly a crack formed, small at first but spreading across its entire surface only moments later.
"Uh… Are you sure you did nothing else?"
"Nothing!"
"Then we might want to back-"
Then the mirror shattered into pieces which flew towards them, then all the pieces froze mid air. What previously had been pitch black was now shining so bright that Yamato could not see anything, the whole hall being lit up as if it were on the surface. Then it turned normal again, the flash of light only lasting for mere seconds. Though it was far from over as he now barely saw Yuki being grabbed and thrown into a wall.
Of course she did not just let herself be treated like that and created a small shockwave around her which threw her attacker off. That attacker was… Herself?
"What the… What the fuck is your problem?"
"I hate you!"
The copy of Yuki with opposite features, which she had previously seen in the reflection, flew towards her again, summoning a red sword with a black hilt, identical to the one Yuki used a while aho against the Hero they fought at the prison.
"Well, I already hate you too, bitch!"
Yuki yelled as she drew her own sword, and charged at her copy. As their swords clashed, Yuki's copy only held her sword with one hand and grabbed onto Yuki's throat with the other, which Yuki used to overpower her copy and disarm her. Yuki then attacked her copy with her sword, but was interrupted by the sword of the copy flying back at her which she had to block. Realizing she was getting overwhelmed, Yuki threw her sword against her copy's, head butted her and punched her in the stomach, then pulled on her hair and threw her on the ground before stomping in her face. She took a deep breath thinking she was unconscious.
"Uhg… Crazy bitch…"
To her surprise, the copy was not unconscious, and flew up to ram Yuki into the air, which she succeeded in, as Yuki was thrown into the ceiling which began to shake the hole cave.
"Love… Love love love, is that all that's in your head?! It hurts! It hurts! And what do I get? What do I get?!"
The copy yelled before charging at Yamato, who had turned to the mirror to try finding a way to return the copy back into the mirror. Just before the copy reached him, Yuki charged out of the hole left in the ceiling and pulled on her copy's hair again, pulling her onto the ground and getting on her back trying to pin her down completely. Yuki grabbed onto her head and punched it into the ground repeatedly before snapping it around in a 180° angle, breaking her copy's neck.
"Phew… That's what you get…"
But of course, that was not it. Her copy's head snapped right back in and she threw Yuki off as she flew up and shot explosions around her. Meanwhile Yamato's mind was racing.
"Similar strength, same body, different hair and eye color… White to black and blue to red… Hates herself, Yuki loves herself… Opposites but not in everything…? In which case her name could be… And her likes would…"
"Ikuy, stop!"
The copy stopped as Yamato yelled up to her, and she instantly charged down at him. Yamato just stood there, not seeming to plan on dodging, which seemed to irritate the copy. So much so the she slowed down while trying to grab onto his neck, which he of course immediately used to grab onto her arm and use her own speed to throw her against the mirror, which she desperately tried to avoid but ended up hitting the seemingly indestructible frame with her back, which almost ripped her in half due to the speed she was still moving at.
She now laid on her side and tried to force herself up, as it seemed to still take a moment for her to regenerate. While doing so, she spoke for the first time in a relatively normal tone, with a voice identical to Yuki's.
"How…"
"You hate me and Yuki, you love everything else, and you have an urge to get away from me, and if you get pushed into that mirror again, you disappear. About right?"
"…"
"I don't think I need to explain how I got to those conclusions… What I want to know though… What are you? If I had to take a guess, then that mirror gets activated through mana by physical contact. Which is why when I touched it, nothing happened, because my magic doesn't work right now. And when Yuki rammed it with her shoulder, nothing happened either, because it was just her clothes. Only when she punched it with her bare hand, it reacted, because both the mana in her body and direct physical contact with the mirror were happening."
"…"
"You stall time to regenerate, but you wanna know a secret?"
"…What secret?"
"I'm stalling for time too."
At that moment, Yuki pierced through her copy's back from behind with her sword which she quietly retrieved while Yamato was talking, and lifted the copy up with it to throw it into the mirror like Yamato said. Though she did not go without a fight as she grabbed onto the frame with arms and legs, trying to desperately stay outside.
"No! Wait! Don't you want to know what the mirror is? What I am?! You said it yourself, you want to know! Please, don't send me back! I don't want to disappear again!"
"…Either you try to manipulate us or you have a consciousness, meaning you are your own being separate from the mirror, or the mirror itself. Either way, I don't see value in talking to you."
"No! I am not trying to manipulate anyone! I just don't want to disappear, please!"
"You keep saying disappear instead of dying, so I'm guessing you are a consciousness created just now and you will cease to exist after this. Truly tragic, born just to stop existing… Have you ever truly existed? What an interesting question…"
He said as he kicked her back and pushed her through, leaving her to slide of Yuki's sword into the abyss of the mirror again with nothing but a cry for help.