The ascent to Floor 19 was unlike any before it.
Gone were the twisted architectures and agonizing whispers. Instead, Veyne walked through a void stitched with fragments of glass. Each shard reflected a different version of himself. Some scarred, some grinning madly. One wept openly, clutching a crumbling crown. Another, robed in black and veiled in smoke, stood among corpses of gods.
Each fragment pulsed faintly, as if aware of his gaze.
And then, the darkness parted.
A vast chamber emerged—circular, its walls covered in shifting mirrors that showed not reflections, but memories from alternate lives. In the center stood a pedestal made of silver bone. Embedded within it was a heart of crystal, glowing with furious light.
A single line of script hovered above it:
Only one of you will leave.
Revelation Dominion activated.
[Floor Type: Existential Duel Trial – Shard Vault Construct]
[Objective: Defeat the Alpha Shard – your purest self.]
A figure stepped from the shadows.
It was him.
Not a distorted version, not a twisted doppelgänger—but Veyne, untouched by the Tower's corrosion. His eyes held clarity. His body was not worn by Thorns of Self or soaked in cursed blood. He bore no titles. No echoes. No weight.
This was the Veyne That Could Have Been.
And he looked… disappointed.
"You were supposed to reject the Tower," the Alpha said calmly.
"I do. Every floor," Veyne replied.
"No. You climb. You conquer. That's the Tower's will."
The chamber pulsed.
Mirrors shattered.
Fragments swirled and embedded themselves into Alpha-Veyne's skin. He became crystalline, his body refracting light in divine angles.
"You let pain define you. You wield your trauma like a badge. I chose peace."
"And where did peace get you?" Veyne asked, stepping forward.
"Out," Alpha whispered. "I escaped. I let go. I became."
He launched forward.
Their blades met—identical. But while Veyne's was wrapped in memory and thorns, Alpha's gleamed with unearned clarity.
Each strike rang with philosophical defiance.
"You chose survival," Alpha sneered.
"You chose retreat," Veyne snarled.
Their duel cracked the pedestal. Shards flew. Mirrors fell. With every blow, both remembered who they had been. A mother's smile. A friend's betrayal. A tower entrance that never should have been opened.
They knew each other's thoughts. Every feint was anticipated. Every trick already countered.
So Veyne stopped thinking.
He let the Tower's madness swirl inside him. He called upon Thorns of Self, twisting around him in chaos.
The Alpha faltered.
"You're letting yourself be unmade."
Veyne smiled. "That's how I know I'm real."
He tackled Alpha through a wall of glass.
Memories of his past lives spilled into the chamber—lives he could've lived. Some where he died. Some where he ruled. One where he never entered the Tower, content in a forgotten village.
Alpha screamed, trying to seal the breach.
Veyne hurled a thorn-spear into his chest.
Alpha shattered.
Light blinded him.
A roar filled the Vault.
And then silence.
The room reset.
The mirrors were gone. The pedestal cracked. The crystal heart pulsed once—and then fused into Veyne's chest.
[Trial Complete – Existential Duel Resolved]
[New Passive: Shardheart – Immune to internal fragmentation and mind-clones. Memory constructs are 35% stronger.]
[Title Earned: The Unwritten Self]
He stood alone, but felt… more.
Not because he had won.
But because he had rejected a perfect version of himself.
He descended the spiral stairs leading to the next floor.
And in the reflection of his blade, for the first time, he saw no other versions watching.
He was singular now.
And that was enough.
Yet as he stepped through the next gate, a flicker remained in his mind. What would Alpha have done with the next floor? Would he have tried diplomacy? Ignored it entirely? Veyne shook the thought from his head.
Ahead was not peace. Ahead was not clarity. Ahead was a staircase with no end, and a Tower that had tasted his defiance.
He clenched his fist. The Shardheart pulsed within, warm and alien.
From this point forward, the Tower would find it harder to break him.
But that didn't mean it wouldn't try.
He kept walking.