Kael stood looking into the distorted face, beneath the dented coffin, the face was his, he saw, but with sunken eyes and a jagged crown of bone bending backward in its place like fangs. It was not moving. It just grinned, sneering it stood, so much as to say Kael was not good enough.
He stepped closer.
The imitator did not breathe. It was not blinking. But with each beat of his heart the pressure became denser in the chamber.
> "You're not real," Kael muttered.
> "More real than your borrowed name," it rasped. "You carry power you don't understand. A name you haven't earned."
Kael's fists clenched.
He had heard enough.
He sprang forward like that, both claws bare as he leaped, blood rushing in his veins, and made no sound. The man in the coffin was able to match him move to move, though, as though his shadow and his flesh had melted together.
Quick as a wink Kael was ducking, and wheeling low, then dashing up, with a turning slash,...till his own talon was captured in its mirror image, halfway through the air, by the grip of the mimic.
> "You fight like him," it said. "But you bleed like a child."
Kael clenched his teeth and launched himself off the wall as he backflipped away. The Grimoire throbbed at his belt and pages turned without wind.
> [Blood Technique – Pulse Counter]
Mimic recognized. Blood instability rising.
The fellow that imitated attacked once more, more swiftly. Kael did not evade. it By him he faced it. Their talons clashed, releasing a wave of pressure knocking stone floor apart.
To each strike which Kael delivered the mimic returned the same number. All actions were evenly balanced. Each strategy was reflected.
Until Kael stopped fighting.
He let it hit him.
The mimic's claw dug into his shoulder... and in that moment of contact, Kael grabbed it with both hands, pulling it closer.
> "You want to act like me?" he growled. "Then feel what I feel."
> [Crimson Heart – Pulse Sync Initiated]
Type: Core Bloodline Ability
Effect: Forces Kael's Crimson Heart to sync with a target that shares similar blood or soul patterns (e.g., mimics, echoes, undead).
Function: Overloads unstable targets by injecting Kael's essence, causing disintegration or memory collapse.
Overload Chance:
95% (Blood echoes or mimics)
70% (Constructs or memories)
Resisted by conscious living beings
Duration: 3 seconds
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Stamina Cost: 20%
Visual: Crimson veins pulse visibly across Kael's body; target convulses violently before collapse.
Side Effect: Leaves Kael mildly fatigued. Cannot be interrupted once cast.
---
His heart exploded in his chest. Not literally, but spiritually. A surge of raw blood power flooded outward, not to destroy, but to invade.
The mimic jerked violently. Its eyes widened as Kael's essence poured into its form like wildfire.
> "You're not me," Kael whispered, fangs bared. "You're a memory someone left behind. I'm the one who's still breathing."
There was a scream of the mimic. Not pain, but yet more. Confusion. Denial. As though it has just come to realize, way too late, that it was nothing but a test.
The body leaned back and dissolved to pieces of ash and blooddust. Kael missed his footing, kept himself up against the coffin.
The chamber dimmed.
Then, another coffin cracked open across the room.
Kael didn't move.
> "So it's not over," he muttered, wiping the blood from his lip.
The Grimoire flipped again.
> [Burden Trial: Progress 1/5 Complete]
Only truth can kill a lie. Only memory can kill the past.
Kael turned toward the next echo, breath steady.
> "Then let's see how many lies you buried with my name."
---
End of Chapter 36
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