It stood alone in the ruins of a forgotten shrine—A tall, cracked mirror, framed in obsidian and bound by chains that bled stars.
Lucian stared at it in silence.
The wind didn't blow here.Time didn't move.Even gravity hesitated, like reality didn't want to touch this place.
Lysia glanced at him. "Is this… what called you?"
He nodded. "The Mirror of Choices."
"…Sounds ominous."
Lucian stepped forward.
"It's worse than that."
[System Notification]
Forbidden Zone Detected: [Floor B94 – Mirror of Choices]Accessing this floor will trigger Conscious ReflectionWarning: Entities within the Mirror possess equivalent or greater authorityExit not guaranteed.
Lucian pressed his palm against the glass.
For a moment, it reflected nothing.
And then—it reflected him.
But not as he was.
The man in the mirror wore black armor scorched by divine fire.His eyes glowed red, but empty.His right arm was missing—replaced by raw conceptual strands that pulsed like living thought.
He looked at Lucian.
And smiled.
"You finally came, little echo."
Lucian stepped through.
And into another world.
The sky above was torn open.
Moons bled light.
Stars twisted like dying animals.
The earth cracked beneath every step, and no birds sang.
The only thing alive here…Was him.
Or rather—
The version of him that had destroyed this world.
Lucian's doppelgänger stood atop a black obelisk.
He didn't move like a human.He floated—drifting like memory unanchored by time.
Lucian spoke first.
"…What is this place?"
The other chuckled.
"A possibility. A gift. A warning."
"This is the world that happened… when I stopped forgiving."
Lucian narrowed his eyes. "So you're me."
The God of Annihilation smirked.
"No. I'm what you'll become when you get tired of holding back."
He raised a hand.
A thousand corpses rose from the broken ground—each wearing the faces of angels, kings, gods.
"They begged for mercy too."
"I gave them justice instead."
Lucian looked around.
"So you destroyed everyone."
The god nodded, slowly.
"Not because I hated them. But because I remembered everything. Every betrayal. Every seal. Every friend who turned away. Every god who smiled while driving the dagger deeper."
He floated down.
Until they stood eye to eye.
"Tell me, Lucian. When they betray you again… when your little knight dies… when that Saintess you secretly pity ends up a pawn…"
"Will you still pretend you can fix them?"
Lucian's voice was quiet.
"I don't pretend. I choose."
Suddenly—
The mirror dimension shook.
Behind the God of Annihilation, another figure stepped out.
A woman in a mirror-draped cloak.
Skin like polished glass.
Eyes that shimmered with refracted starlight.
Lucian's breath caught.
"…Naia."
She was the last thing he remembered before the seal.
His comrade. His confidant. His executioner.
Naia stepped between the two Lucians.
But she looked only at the darker one.
"He's not ready. You know that."
The god sneered.
"Then he'll break like I did."
Naia turned to the real Lucian.
Her voice trembled.
"Do you remember me?"
Lucian hesitated.
"…Not enough."
She stepped closer.
"Then let me show you."
She touched his forehead—
And memory crashed in.
—A thousand years ago—
Lucian laughing with Naia under the silver tree of worlds.
Fighting side by side against the Void Hosts.
Her holding his hand in the dark after he lost control the first time.
Her whispering:
"If you ever fall… I'll be the one to stop you."
Then—
Her weeping…As she plunged the blade into his chest.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You chose mercy. And they used it to destroy you."
Back in the present—
Lucian staggered.
Naia caught him.
Tears brimmed in her mirrored eyes.
"I sealed you because you were better than us. Because you kept choosing compassion… when we chose control."
Lucian looked at her.
"Why are you here now?"
She whispered:
"Because I don't want you to become him."
The God of Annihilation laughed.
"Too late. He's already walking the path. Just slower."
He waved a hand.
And suddenly—
Lucian was pulled into a memory not his own.
A battlefield.
Elenya, bleeding, reaching out.
Lysia, torn apart by divine fire.
A god laughing.
Lucian—this version of Lucian—stood frozen.
Power at his fingertips.But too slow. Too hesitant.
And in that hesitation—
Everything died.
Lucian gasped and fell to his knees.
The god stepped forward.
"That's what mercy brings."
"Will you still choose it, knowing it kills those you care about?"
Lucian rose slowly.
His voice was hoarse.
"Yes."
The god snarled.
"Why?"
Lucian looked into his own eyes.
"Because if I become you…then there's nothing left worth saving."
The ground cracked.
The mirror trembled.
And the Mirror of Choices accepted the answer.
Suddenly—
The other Lucian cracked.
Not just his body.
His existence.
His truth.
He staggered, disintegrating slowly.
"You fool… you're just delaying the inevitable."
Lucian caught his collapsing echo.
And whispered:
"Maybe. But as long as I delay it… there's still hope."
As the mirror world crumbled, Naia turned to him.
Her expression unreadable.
"You chose the harder path."
Lucian nodded.
She placed a shard of her mirrored cloak in his hand.
"Then I'll walk with you this time."
He stepped back through the mirror.
Into the real world.
Where the sky was whole.
Where Lysia was still alive.
Where Elenya was still searching.
[System Update]
Trial of Reflection CompleteAuthority Increased: 21%Trait Gained: [Duality Insight] – Lucian can now sense emotional divergence in himself or others across timelinesAlly Recovered: Naia of the MirrorMemory Core Unlocked: [The Night of Betrayal] – Partial
High above, the gods whispered.
"He chose mercy. Again."
And one god—Elyon—crushed his goblet in silence.
"…Then we must make him regret it."