The void held its breath.
Lucian and his double stood across from one another, two figures cut from the same cloth but stitched by different hands. The air between them rippled, bending as though it couldn’t decide who was real.
The other Lucian—taller, sharper, radiating pressure so heavy it cracked the glass plains under his boots—moved first.
The battlefield split.
Time folded into jagged fragments, seconds stuttering like broken gears. Glass islands floated upward, reversing gravity, shards slicing the air in frozen arcs.
Lucian blurred away just as a slab of stone imploded where he’d stood. Fold Step cracked space around him, snapping him onto another fragment. His jaw clenched. So this is me without limits.
The mirror raised his palm. A ripple tore through the void—[Rift Rend], amplified. The slash screamed forward, a wound in reality aimed straight at Lucian.
Lucian thrust his hand out, his own Rift Rend colliding with it midair.
A storm of warped space ripped outward, tearing shards of moon and stone into ribbons. Lucian was thrown back, spinning across floating debris. His double barely moved, cloak snapping in the storm, violet-gold eyes locked on him.
"You bend space well," the double said, voice a deeper echo of his own. "But you’re only scratching the surface."
Lucian spat blood and straightened. "Then show me."
He blinked forward—Fold Step faster than Lucian had ever managed. One second the battlefield was empty, the next his mirror was right in front of him, palm open. Time bent inward.
Lucian’s muscles screamed as his own body stuttered, slowed against his will. He forced a Fold Step, snapping free of the time cage just before a Gravity Sever cratered the fragment he’d stood on. Shards rained down, burning as they crossed warped currents.
Lucian countered. He swept his hand, compressing space into a blade and slashing at his double’s chest. The strike hit—but the double rewound himself. The wound sealed instantly, the attack undone by a ripple in time.
Lucian froze for half a beat. "...You can rewind without limit?"
His double smirked faintly. "Without fear."
He answered with a strike of his own. Dimensional Claws—ten at once—slashed through the air, carving jagged rents that hunted Lucian like wolves. Lucian twisted, bent, Fold Stepped in bursts, each movement tearing his muscles raw. Two claws grazed him, one carving across his back, the other across his thigh. Blood spilled, floating in droplets that warped into the void.
Lucian crashed onto a shard of glass ground, teeth grit, vision burning red. His double was already above him, descending with compressed space swirling around his fist.
Lucian thrust both hands up.
[Spacetime Collapse.]
The singularity roared awake, a vortex of warped gravity and frozen seconds exploding between them. His double’s fist slammed into it, space screaming as collapse met collapse. The battlefield shattered outright—entire fragments of land sucked into the black storm, reduced to dust.
Lucian felt his ribs crack as the pressure tossed him back. He coughed blood, eyes stinging, but forced his body upright again.
His double landed gracefully, cloak whispering against his legs. "You’re fighting like prey. Reaction, not command."
Lucian wiped his mouth, a grin twitching across bloodstained lips. "Funny. I was about to say the same to you."
The void blurred, time folding in layers too fast for eyes. They weren’t just fighting—they were redrawing the battlefield with every strike. Fold Steps cracked the air, Chrono Slows froze attacks mid-swing only for them to reverse a heartbeat later. Rift Rends tore the space between them into ribbons, forcing each to rebuild platforms as fast as they destroyed them.
Lucian ducked under a slash of light, folding behind his double to drive a palm into his spine. The impact bent the mirror forward, gravity twisting his body—but he rewound again, appearing behind Lucian this time, his hand raised.
Lucian twisted, skin splitting as his arm strained, catching the invisible force and redirecting it outward. The battlefield below cratered, shattering into fragments that spun into orbit.
The fight dragged on.
Every second was agony. Lucian’s body was breaking, skin split, muscles torn. His double, though cracked and bleeding in places, never slowed. He bent his wounds away, erased them with time, kept pressing forward with relentless force.
Lucian stumbled once, knees nearly buckling. His double appeared before him instantly, palm to his chest.
The force slammed into him—space crumpling, time dragging, his ribs shattering under the compression. He spat blood, the taste thick in his throat, vision dimming.
It was raw, broken, but real.
His double’s eyes narrowed. "...Why?"
Lucian grinned through the blood. "Because I’m not finished."
Space collapsed around him, twisting like a storm. Threads of golden Chrono energy wrapped his arms, bleeding light from his veins. His body screamed, but he ignored it. His hand shot forward, palm glowing.
"Rift Rend—Collapse Form!"
He tore open a wound in space that didn’t slash—it pulled. A black gash, screaming with light and gravity, ripping straight toward his double.
The mirror braced, eyes glowing, hands thrusting outward to seal it. But Lucian Fold Stepped mid-attack, appearing above him, then below, then behind—collapsing the wound from all sides at once.
His double snarled, body tearing as the collapse ripped chunks from his form. For the first time, he staggered.
Lucian pressed forward, teeth bared, every nerve alight with fire. "Not enough?"
His double’s grin finally cracked. "Closer."
He rewound again, body sealing, wounds erased. But Lucian saw it—each rewind carried strain. His double’s aura flickered faintly at the edges. He wasn’t invincible.
Lucian’s eyes sharpened. If I can’t outmatch him... I’ll outlast him.
The duel raged on. Space collapsed and rebuilt a thousand times. Time bent, slowed, rewound. Both moved faster than thought, bodies blurring in the void, fists slamming with enough force to break stars.
At last, they broke apart, hovering across from one another, both bloodied, both trembling.
Lucian’s chest heaved, sweat and blood dripping down his face. His double still stood tall, but his aura flickered again, violet-gold light dimming faintly.
Lucian’s lips curled. "...You’re burning out."
The mirror tilted his head. "So are you."
They stared for a long breath.
Then the double smirked. "Enough warmup."
The void shook. His aura exploded outward, far brighter than before, violet and gold tearing the stars apart. His body twisted, his form shifting—becoming larger, sharper, almost monstrous. His voice deepened, layered with echoes.
The system’s words carved across the void.
[Final Phase: Revealed Opponent]
[Designation: Lucian Prime]
[Rank: Beyond Measurement]
Lucian’s breath caught. His double’s eyes locked on him, glowing like suns.
And for the first time, Lucian felt it—not just pressure. Not just danger.
Something that looked down on him like he was a shadow.
Lucian Prime raised his hand. Space screamed. Time cracked.
"Now," he said, voice heavy as fate itself, "you fight what you’re meant to become."
The void collapsed into light.