A bitter wind howled through the silent halls of Headquarters Theta. The flames in the torches along the corridor flickered wildly, casting elongated shadows that danced like silent ghosts.
Kaizen Ryouma stood alone in his private chamber, drenched in cold sweat.
The mirror before him… …wasn't showing his reflection.
Instead, a figure stood in his place — tall, cloaked in black with veins that shimmered like obsidian lightning across pale skin. The figure didn't move. Didn't blink. But Kaizen could feel it watching.
A whisper slithered through the room. "Do you remember the Woundless Grave… Kaizen?"
The mirror cracked.
Kaizen stumbled backward, breath ragged, heart racing. When he looked again — the figure was gone. His own reflection had returned, wide-eyed and shaking.
He wasn't hallucinating. Not anymore.
---
Elsewhere, in a sealed section of HQ Archives…
Ayaka wiped dust from a leather-bound tome marked with crimson runes. "Shard Inheritance… Forbidden Lineage… False Kings…" she murmured.
Every record she read spoke of a being that once rose from the ruins of the Old Flame Era — a being without identity, history, or name. He wore faces not his own. He commanded shards that fed on the soul.
And one phrase appeared again and again:
> "The One Who Became the Mirror."
Ayaka's hands trembled. "Nerovar…"
---
Back at the central command chamber…
Squad Umbra's medic, Lanar, reported in with an odd case.
"Sir, Lieutenant Ferron's behavior has changed," she said. "He talks to walls. Avoids looking into mirrors. Says he 'hears the breathing of a man with no lungs'."
Kaizen's eyes narrowed. "Keep him under watch. And… seal off his room."
But inside, Kaizen already knew.
Something had entered HQ. And it was watching them — from every reflection, every shard, every flicker of flame.
---
Nightfall. Kaizen's dreams.
A woman's voice… his mother's.
"Kaizen… run."
He stood in a burning village, a dark figure holding his younger self by the throat. The figure turned — and Kaizen saw his own face… twisted, smiling, corrupted.
"No… that's not me…" Kaizen whispered.
The figure spoke. "But it could be."
Ye lo bhaii chapter 32 bhi aagaya