---
As Kamigan heard her words, the pieces fell into place.
She was no ordinary human.
Without hesitation, he turned and bolted deeper into the cave, boots slapping the damp stone. The shadows swallowed him whole. He didn't need to look back — he'd already seen her strength, her speed. Fighting her head-on wasn't courage. It was suicide.
As his lungs burned and his heart thundered in his chest, the voice returned.
[Danger sensed. Would you like to activate special skill: Eyes of Alethia?]
Kamigan narrowed his eyes, thoughts racing. (A skill… even if I don't know what it does, anything's better than blind panic.)
He gave his answer aloud, breathless but sure.
"Activate."
[Skill activated.]
In an instant, the world sharpened. Colors deepened. Edges glowed faintly. Everything — the rocks, the air, the shadows — became more real. He glanced back.
The girl still stood at the cave's mouth… but now, above her head, hovered a glowing red figure: the number 3.
He didn't know what it meant. Didn't have time to wonder.
She moved.
No — she exploded forward, each stride swallowing meters. Kamigan gritted his teeth and pushed harder, but it was no use.
A hand wrenched his hair, and a heartbeat later, he crashed spine-first into the cave wall. Agony ripped through him. He collapsed, gasping, trying to rise—
She was already there.
She lifted him by the collar, her face unreadable. "You should know by now," she said softly, "it's futile to run."
Kamigan gave a cold, breathless smirk. "Of course it is. You're faster. Stronger."
Then, his voice turned razor-sharp. His eyes locked onto hers, unblinking.
"But who said I was running away?"
She froze. Just a flicker — a crack in her confidence.
(That look... I've seen it before — in the eyes of the Moonbane Howler right before it fell.)
Her thoughts raced. (Even when we fought that thing, he kept calm. Fought smart. I was stronger, but he— he did most of the work. If he's planned something—)
Pain hit her like a thunderclap. She staggered back, clutching her stomach.
"What… did you—" Her words broke as she fell to her knees, vomiting blood.
"What did you do to me?!"
Kamigan stood, wiping blood from his mouth. His voice was quiet.
"Don't worry. You'll have enough time to think about it... in hell."
He didn't wait. He pounced, mounting her chest. His hand gripped a stone — jagged, heavy.
And then—
BAM.
She screamed. Blood splashed his face. He raised the stone again.
BAM.
The puddle grew. Her beauty melted into gore. But still, she clung to life.
She sobbed. "Please… spare me… I was wrong… I won't do it ag—"
CRACK.
The final blow silenced her.
What remained was no longer a girl. Just pieces of something that had once pretended to be.
The stone slipped from Kamigan's fingers, landing in the blood with a quiet plunk. He stared — breathing slow, trembling.
[You have slain Spirit Beast: "Mimic."]
[Milestone completed.]
[You have earned an Echo of Time.]
[Echo of Time: Ballad of the Crazed]
And then, like a memory not his own, a poem rose to his lips.
---
"Amid the chaos, where shadows fall,
I heard the distant, fractured call,
Of hearts that bled, of minds that cracked,
Of endless wars, of truths attacked.
The world spun wild, with flames untamed,
A dance of sorrow, unnamed, unclaimed,
The cries of souls, the endless fight,
A symphony of day and night.
But in the madness, in the storm,
I sought the quiet, soft and warm,
Beyond the din, beyond the rage,
A stillness deep, beyond the stage.
Through shattered dreams and fractured skies,
I wandered, searching, asking why—
Till in the dark, I saw the spark,
A light that guided through the dark.
It whispered softly, pure and clear,
A truth so simple, yet so near,
And as the world continued to cease,
Within all this insanity… I found true peace."
---
[Echo of Time activated.]
[Description: In a time of calamity, people sang this poem as worship to a god they weren't sure existed. A messiah was hoped for… but whether they were saved or broken remains lost to time.]
[Effect: Keeps user calm and grants resistance to mental attacks.]
Kamigan collapsed beside the corpse, staring up at the jagged ceiling. The weight settled in. The face — her face — flashed in his mind again.
It was a monster… But gods, it looked too human.
So much blood...
And yet, it wasn't the color that haunted me. It was the warmth. The way it clung to my skin like guilt dressed in red.
She wasn't human. I know that. The voice confirmed it. "Spirit beast: Mimic." A creature made to deceive, to kill, to wear the face of innocence like a mask. I knew what she was. I knew what I had to do.
But still…
She bled like a girl.
She cried like one.
She begged like one.
What does that make me?
There's a line no one talks about — the one between survival and savagery. It's not written in stone or carved in law. It's something only the soul can see. And I crossed it today.
I was calm. Too calm. The poem echoed in my head like a lullaby for the damned. "Within all this insanity, I found true peace." Is that peace? Or is it just the part of me that's grown numb from the weight of it all?
They say the mind adapts. That's the terrifying part.
Because if I can get used to this... what do I become in the end?
He closed his eyes, trying to bury the image. But then — laughter. Not cruel. Not vengeful.
Cheerful.
"How did you know?" the girl's voice echoed faintly, like a whisper from another world. "And… how did you do it?"
He sat up slowly. The stone still dripped beside him. Blood painted his chest.
A grin tugged at his lips — not out of triumph, but bitter relief.
"you were strong but you failed to see the cracks in your reflection" he said, voice low, almost amused.
---