Locations:
Valley of the Dead Mirrors – where the battle between Sajibro, Jinro, and Kara intensifies.
Shadow Palace in the Kingdom – where the kingdom is attacked by Raizen himself.
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– Valley of the Dead Mirrors
The battle rages fiercely—Sajibro and Jinro against the traitor Kara. The ground cracks beneath their blades, shards of "Blades of Regret" scattering through the surrounding darkness. But amidst the gloom, a sudden rift opens—the Seventh Dimension Gate appears within the Valley.
From her mirror in the palace, Hana screams in alarm:
> "Jinro! Sajibro! Retreat now… Raizen… he's coming!"
Kara smirks cruelly, as if savoring the bad omen:
> "He has arrived… your old master, the one who taught us the throne is seized, not granted."
The battle shifts—Kara attacks with unusual savagery, his eyes vacant, his strikes soaked in hatred. Jinro withdraws with caution, while Sajibro begins to sense something wrong.
Sajibro yells while deflecting Kara's onslaught:
> "Your technique is flawed… Where's your second trick? Where's your illusion? Kara, this isn't you."
Kara responds with a twisted voice full of deception:
> "I am now what I was meant to be… Kara, who pledged to the Light and betrayed the Shadow."
Jinro roars with disbelief:
> "Liar! Kara was one of the most loyal… You're just a filthy puppet!"
Realizing Kara's eyes aren't truly his, Sajibro draws a new sword—but doesn't strike. Instead, he plunges it into the earth. A shimmering energy forms around it—"The Mirror of Origin."
The mirror glows around Kara's body in a faint red hue, but behind him appears a bound shadow screaming silently.
With teary eyes, Sajibro whispers:
> "Raizen… Heart of Souls. This is Kara's body, but his soul is imprisoned. What I see… is a false spirit planted to destroy us."
Jinro, stunned:
> "So the real Kara is inside? And he's… fighting himself?!"
The false Kara replies coldly:
> "The King had no need for his loyalty… so he gave me his body."
Sajibro, sharp as a blade:
> "You are my brother… not that."
He forms a spear of dark light and pierces Kara's chest—not to kill, but to unlock the inner realm within.
Kara's body explodes with strange energy, revealing the real Kara inside—bound by illusionary chains, his face pale, his eyes weeping.
Kara, weakly:
> "Sajibro… I didn't betray you. They took me… and rewrote everything."
Sajibro, freeing him:
> "It doesn't matter how late it was… what matters is I came."
Jinro raises his blade high and shouts:
> "Raizen… hear this! Every soul you've corrupted, we'll reclaim—one by one!"
But before they can celebrate, the earth trembles violently. A shadowy figure appears atop the mountain—Raizen, smirking:
> "So you saved him? How many brothers do you have left… before you shatter once more?"
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– Shadow Palace
Ash rains from the sky. The ceiling of the throne room slowly splits open, and from the breach descends Raizen's true form—draped in an inverted cloak of light, half his face luminous, the other half decayed like an unsolved riddle.
With a whisper cold and lethal, he speaks:
> "You've stepped out of your shadow… so let me return it to you—shredded."
He extends his hand and fires a mysterious arrow—"The Arrow of Absolute Submission"—a weapon that forces shadows to obey without mercy.
Hana falls to her knees, warning Musayuki:
> "He's attacking through the pact itself… he wants to fracture loyalty at its core."
Musayuki stands unmoving, like stone:
> "My shadows do not break… they break for me."
He lifts his scepter and draws a circle in the air—summoning a violent, merciless dark version of himself: "The Shadow of the King."
The Shadow King, in a hollow voice:
> "If Raizen sends his true power… then the throne shall answer with its dark essence."
A fierce battle erupts—waves of pure shadow energy clash. But Raizen transforms into a shifting phantom, striking from every side.
Suddenly, a new shadow appears—wearing a black iron mask, wielding a spear of dark ice… It's Kain, the fourth commander long absent since the fall of the old kingdom.
Kain, in a voice cold as frost:
> "I swore to the King… I would not fight unless the throne bled. And it bleeds now."
He joins the Shadow King. Raizen begins to retreat, mocking:
> "Ah… the old family returns. How poetic."
Musayuki raises his hand to the sky and opens a new dimension above the palace:
> "I will not let my shadow fight alone…"
From it emerge the "Seven Mirrors of Loyalty"—each reflecting the face of a returning commander.
Hana rises, performs a fifth seal, and cries with determination:
> "Your power will be divided among seven… the throne shall not fall!"
A powerful violet light bursts forth. The Shadow King drives his spear into Raizen's chest—but Raizen only laughs and melts into a false shadow, leaving behind a message carved into the wall:
> "See you in the Final Dimension—where no shadow can hide the truth."
Kain turns to Musayuki with firm resolve:
> "Our enemy has shown only his mask… but I am here, now, until my last breath."
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End of Chapter Thirteen