The sword swung for his throat.
Joe ducked beneath the obsidian blade, heat trailing his skin like a comet's tail. He rolled across the hourglass chamber, shattered fragments of time floating beside him like glass underwater. When he landed, he didn't hesitate.
He ran.
Not from fear. From strategy. He needed distance, a breath to think. But the other Joe didn't give him one.
"You always run," the reflection taunted, voice heavier than steel. "Even now, at your strongest."
"I'm not running," Joe snarled. "I'm choosing."
Their blades met—not steel on steel, but soul on soul. The air cracked with the force. Sparks flew like dying stars. Each strike of the reflection carved through not just matter, but memory.
Joe gritted his teeth and fought back.
"You're just everything I had to bury!" he shouted.
"And you think that makes me weaker?"
The reflection vanished—only to reappear behind him. Joe spun just in time, catching the blow with his forearm. Pain exploded. Bone cracked. But he stood.
The fifth eye on his palm widened, shedding light that trembled like a heartbeat.
He didn't know what this fight meant. What it would cost. But he did know one thing: this version of him—the one obsessed with strength, with revenge, with survival at any cost—could not be allowed to win.
Not if he wanted to stay human.
Joe feinted, then drove his elbow into the reflection's ribs. They separated again. Breathing hard. Blood dripped down Joe's jaw.
"I don't want to forget the pain," Joe said. "But I won't be you."
The reflection paused.
For a moment, it looked tired.
"I was made by your choices," it said. "Don't pretend you're better than me."
Joe didn't argue. He charged.
Their final clash was fast, brutal, and filled with silence. No more words. Just blows, blocks, fury.
When it ended, Joe's hand pierced the reflection's chest. His fingers wrapped around a crystal—the heart of the shadow.
The reflection blinked.
"You'll regret this," it whispered. "You need me."
"Maybe," Joe said. "But not like this."
He crushed the crystal.
The chamber exploded in light.
When the light faded, Joe stood alone. The hourglass chamber gone. The chains gone.
The Warden appeared beside him. For the first time, it looked smaller.
"You've passed through the Fifth Gate," it said. "You now carry more than pain. You carry understanding."
Joe opened his hand.
The sixth eye was now open.
And it was weeping.
End of Chapter 6.