At the center of the dungeon stood a throne of mirrors. Each pane showed a different life: mine, hers, others. In one, I saw my sister still alive.
In another—I was the one who killed her.
The creature on the throne wore my face.
No. Worse.
It wore the version of me I was afraid I'd become.
The fire-drunk killer. The husk that didn't care anymore.
🕳️ MINI-BOSS ENCOUNTER: Echo King – The Self-Forgotten
Phase 2: "Anguish"
Lyra stepped beside me.
"Let me guess. We have to kill it before it replaces you."
"Yeah."
"And if it wins?"
"I vanish."
"Good," she said, blades out. "I've got trust issues anyway."
The fight was chaos.
The Echo King used my skills. Firebrand. Hellpulse. Even my voice. Every strike it made felt like being judged by myself.
Lyra blinked through time—dodging seconds before attacks hit. Her new skill—Temporal Spike—disrupted the echo's regenerative core, letting me land a clean shot.
🔥 CRITICAL STRIKE
🔥 Status: Burn x3
🌀 Assist Bonus: Slipstream Synergy
"You seeing a pattern?" I shouted.
"It adapts based on what you fear!"
"I'm afraid of becoming what I have to be."
"Then don't!"
That did it.
I drove both fists into its chest and detonated every ounce of fire I had.
It died screaming with my voice.
The dungeon cracked.
Reality trembled. Time looped. I saw my sister again—for a moment—and then she was gone.
Lyra touched my shoulder.
"We beat it," she said.
I stared at my hands.
"Did we?"
The System answered.
🔺 LEVEL UP: KAEL – Level 4
🎖️ Title Earned: Mirrorbreaker
🧱 +2 Strength, +1 Vitality
🩸 HP: 198/198
🔥 SKILL UPGRADED: Firebrand (E) → (D)
💥 NEW SKILL: Ashwake (F) — Upon falling below 25% HP, release a wave of flame that stuns nearby enemies for 2s. 1/min cooldown.
🔺 LEVEL UP: LYRA – Level 4
🔮 +1 INT, +2 WIL
🧠 MP: 140/140
🕓 SKILL UPGRADED: Rewind (F) → (E)
⚙️ NEW SKILL: Clockfracture (F) — Freeze a single enemy in time for 2 seconds. Does not interrupt bosses.
We stumbled out into daylight.
Still ourselves.
Still… mostly.
She looked at me.
"Same dungeon. Same enemy. Same System."
I nodded.
"But different ghosts."
And we both knew—
We'd be seeing them again.