Inner Realm – Mirror Shrine of the Eternal Self
The trial had ended.
The arena dissolved.
But Anay remained still.
A calmness spread over his chest. His heart beat softly, in sync with the glow that now lived within him—Zettai Anant, no longer an object, but a presence.
As the white mist thinned, silence reigned—
Until—
Something flickered.
Inside his mind, a vision appeared—unprompted, vivid.
It was himself.
He stood, calm and powerful, holding Zettai Anant in sword form. His movements flowed like a seasoned warrior—controlled, certain. His aura shimmered like a violet flame under moonlight.
Then—gone.
The image shifted.
Now, he saw a mountain peak—familiar.
Master Kai stood there, hands behind his back, facing away from him.
Anay took a half-step forward.
"...Master?"
But the vision faded just as suddenly as it came.
He gasped softly and opened his eyes.
"What was that?"
Zettai Anant's voice emerged, deeper than before—calm, ancient.
"Fragments. From before you met him."
Anay blinked, stunned.
"Before Master Kai...? But I—"
"Now is not the time for answers," Zettai Anant interrupted, voice resonating like a bell in a cave.
"Now… it is time for the Infinite Mirror."
Anay saw a mirror
The Mirror Shrine
The mist cleared.
Anay stood in a long corridor of floating stone—lined on both sides by enormous glass-like surfaces. These were not mirrors in the normal sense. They shimmered not with reflection, but with timelines.
Each mirror pulsed with a version of him.
He approached the first one.
Inside, Anay saw himself as a student at the Academy—but withdrawn, cold, disinterested. Power radiated off him, but he used it selfishly. No friends. No bonds. Only strength.
The next mirror—he was laughing, casual, surrounded by friends, carefree. But without focus, drifting. A powerful spark dimmed by too many distractions.
Then another—he saw himself standing among the ruins of a battlefield, emotionless. Zettai Anant rested in his hand—blackened. His eyes… distant.
Every mirror revealed a possible truth.
Some Anays were arrogant.
Some broken.
Some at peace.
Some consumed by rage.
He walked slowly.
Then—
He stopped.
One mirror drew his attention sharply.
Inside stood a version of him unlike any other.
A cloak of shadows wrapped around this other Anay.
His expression: calm, almost amused.
But his aura—twisted. Crimson energy laced with black.
And he was smiling.
Right at him.
That smile wasn't kind.
It wasn't mocking either.
It was knowing.
Anay's jaw clenched.
He stared for a moment longer.
But—
He turned away.
And walked on.
Farther down the corridor, the air changed.
The mirrors stopped showing corrupted paths, failed fates, or twisted reflections pass,
Instead—
He found one glowing brighter than the rest.
In it—
Anay saw himself…
Bathed in golden-white light, eyes serene, posture gentle, presence radiant.
He wasn't holding Zettai Anant.
Because Zettai Anant was part of him.
They had fully merged—his aura and the blade's soul as one stream of luminous clarity.
There were no enemies in the reflection.
No fear.
No weight.
Only peace.
Anay stepped closer to the mirror.
And this time, instead of watching…
He walked through it.
Integration
Inside the golden light, time didn't exist.
He felt it washing through him—not forcing change, but reminding him.
That all paths were his to walk.
That balance wasn't denial—it was acceptance.
That every version of him—the angry, the confused, the doubtful, the broken—were all still him.
But this path, the one he chose now… was his truth.
As he stepped out the other side, the corridor vanished.
Stars above.
Ground below.
Zettai Anant's voice came, no longer distant.
"You've seen the selves you could have become. You've chosen who you are. Now… take your final step."
Anay thought in his mind it was me from other timelines and what was that memory.
Anay exhaled.
His aura—no longer just purple—now radiated a brilliant violet-gold, flickering with faint hints of every element within him.
He whispered,
"I'm ready."