The sound of steel meeting steel echoed through the dead air of the Void.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Each impact sent vibrations up my arms as I tried to block the Shard's mimic strikes. It moved just like me — every motion, every stance, mirrored perfectly. Even its weapon shimmered into the shape of my rifle, glowing with unstable light.
"SK, left flank!" I shouted.
But of course, she didn't move.
"I don't take orders from you!" she yelled back, swinging her scythe at her own copy.
Her Shard dodged easily, countering with the exact same movement — a mirror of frustration. Sparks flared in the air as she twisted away.
"Dammit, SK! We're supposed to work together!"
"Maybe if you didn't shoot near my head last time, I would!" she barked.
"That was an accident!"
"Sure it was!"
Blaze stood a few meters behind us, watching — relaxed, hands folded behind his head, an amused grin on his face.
"You two argue more than you fight," he said, chuckling softly. "At this rate, the Shards are going to start laughing at you too."
"This isn't funny!" I shouted, barely dodging a blast from my mimic.
"To me, it kind of is," Blaze replied casually, smiling.
His confidence made me grit my teeth — not because he was mocking us, but because he wasn't wrong. The Shards were adapting faster than we were moving. Every swing, every shot, they learned. They weren't just copying — they were improving.
SK's scythe clashed with her Shard again, sending out a sharp shockwave that pushed me back. "Sir!" she called to Blaze between heavy breaths. "Requesting permission to eliminate Ryze's unit. She's a liability!"
"Oh, that hurts," I muttered, firing another round.
Blaze just laughed. "Denied. You'll have to play nice, SK. Teamwork, remember?"
"Teamwork doesn't work when your partner can't keep up," she snapped.
"Funny," I said. "I was thinking the same thing about you."
She glared at me, eyes blazing with anger — and that one second of distraction was all it took.
Her Shard slashed across her side, sending her tumbling backward. She hit the ground hard, rolling across the cracked surface of the Void.
"SK!" I shouted, firing a burst at her mimic to give her a chance to recover.
But my Shard used that moment to rush me. Its blade caught my arm, the impact strong enough to knock the rifle from my hands. Pain flared through me as I fell to one knee.
Blaze finally sighed and stepped forward. "Alright, that's enough."
He unsheathed one of his blades — a faint blue glow trailing from its edge.
The air rippled.
In one smooth motion, he swung.
The Shards froze mid-strike. Cracks spread across their bodies like shattered glass before they disintegrated into flickering particles, vanishing into the Void's emptiness.
Silence fell.
I lay there, panting, clutching my arm. SK stood up slowly, her expression cold but unreadable. Blaze walked between us, resting the blade over his shoulder, the ever-present smirk on his face.
"Well," he said, "that went terribly."
I shot him a glare. "You could've helped sooner."
"And ruin the fun? Not a chance," he said, chuckling.
SK lowered her head slightly. "Apologies, sir. I failed to adapt to the enemy pattern."
Blaze tilted his head. "Oh, you adapted fine. You just refused to coordinate."
"That's because she—" SK started, but Blaze raised his hand.
"Don't start. I already know. Ryze talks too much, and SK thinks too little. You're both right and both wrong."
I frowned. "So what are you saying?"
He smirked again. "That you two would make a pretty good team… if you stopped trying to kill each other."
"Ha. Good one."
SK just crossed her arms, saying nothing. She only ever seemed respectful when Blaze was around — her tone, her posture, everything changed when he spoke. But when it came to me, all that vanished.
"Training's over," Blaze said, sliding his sword back into its sheath. "You've both got good instincts, but instincts alone won't save you out here. The Void doesn't forgive solo heroes."
He turned away, walking back toward the House. His cloak fluttered in the cold wind, the light from the shattered ground glinting faintly off his armor.
SK exhaled sharply beside me. "Next time, don't get in my way," she said coldly before walking off after him.
I sat there for a while, letting the ache in my body fade. My rifle lay a few feet away, still smoking from the fight.
"Don't get in my way," I muttered to myself, mocking her tone. "Yeah, sure. Maybe if you learned how to dodge for once."
But as much as I wanted to stay mad, I couldn't shake what Blaze had said. He wasn't wrong. We were fighting against copies of ourselves — and losing. That wasn't just bad teamwork. That was something deeper.
The Shards weren't supposed to evolve that fast. Every time they appeared, they were getting smarter. Stronger.
And worse, they were learning from us.
That night, after the fight, Blaze sat outside near the dying campfire.
The flames barely flickered in the Void's hollow air, but the light danced across his face — calm, unreadable, but tired in a way I hadn't noticed before.
I watched from a distance using the scope of my rifle as he stared out into the endless dark. SK had already retreated inside, cleaning her weapon in silence.
He noticed me watching and waved lazily. "You planning to shoot me too, or just staring for fun?"
I sighed and sat down across from him. "I wasn't aiming at you. I was aiming at the Shard."
He grinned. "You almost hit SK, though. Pretty impressive aim if your goal was to get her mad."
"Not funny," I muttered.
He chuckled softly. "You two are hopeless."
For a few moments, we just listened to the fire crackle. Even in the Void, it made a sound — faint but real.
"Why do you keep pushing us like this?" I finally asked. "We're not strong just like you. We can't do what you do."
Blaze leaned back, arms resting on his knees. "You could, though. You just don't trust each other yet."
"Hard to trust someone who'd rather stab me than talk to me."
He laughed again, quiet but genuine. "Fair. But that's why I'm not giving up on either of you."
I looked at him, confused. "You're serious?"
He nodded, eyes gleaming faintly in the firelight. "If you can't trust each other, you'll never survive what's coming. Out here or out there, in this place, the Void mirrors more than your moves — it mirrors your fear. That's why the Shards adapt."
I didn't understand fully then, but I could feel the weight in his words.
When I glanced toward him again, Blaze was still smiling — that same confident grin, like nothing could ever shake him.
But for a split second, I saw something in his eyes.
Something uncertain.
Like he was thinking about more than just us.
Maybe he was planning something — for SK, for me, maybe for all of us.
Something to push us past what we were now.
Whatever it was, I wasn't sure if I was ready.