Lilith immediately conjured another mirror, placing it before Edward.
"Don't let their eyes meet yours."
But she was half a second too slow. The right side of Edward's body had already turned a pale, lifeless grey—stone.
"Edward!"
"I'm fine."
He grit his teeth against the agony of the Worms of Star dying within him, repairing the petrified half of his body as best he could. Glancing down at the door-shaped mark on the back of his hand, he murmured, "Lilith, tell me—doesn't the Witch Pathway have any power that can counter something like this?"
"Yes!"
Lilith nodded at once.
"The Sun. The Sun's power restrains most pathways related to curses and darkness."
That was why, in the ancient era, the Ancient Sun God had been able to singlehandedly defeat the Old Gods who had ruled humanity for millennia, leading mankind into a new epoch.
"The Sun, huh?"
Edward whispered the word—and suddenly, a tremendous surge of spirituality erupted from his body.
A blazing golden sun tore across the heavens, flooding the entire mirror world with light.
It lasted only an instant—but that instant was enough.
The countless tentacle-ridden Gorgons were burned to ash beneath streams of golden fire, while the brightest of those sunrays pierced straight toward the greatest among them—the Mirrored Original Creator, the colossal Gorgon herself.
"Aaaaah!!!"
Her scream was shrill and piercing as searing pain consumed her. Every mirror around them shattered, followed by a thunderous crack as the very world fractured like a pane of glass splitting apart.
Lilith was momentarily stunned.
"Edward, you…did you just advance to Sequence 0?!"
"Nope! Total bluff!"
He shook his head with a strained grin. It wasn't entirely false, but not real either.
What he had done was use the Fantasy to reproduce a scene he had once witnessed while "visiting" the Eternal Blazing Sun's divine kingdom—a technique possible only after his promotion to Sequence 2, which allowed him to record and project moments engraved in his memory.
But of course, such an illusion was fleeting; he was still only a Sequence 2 Beyonder. No mere mortal could replicate a god's domain.
"Come on," he said quietly. "We're leaving."
"What?"
He grabbed Lilith's hand and began backing away.
"The Door Pathway's greatest power is running for your life. I'm not dumb enough to fight to the death in someone else's domain."
As he spoke, the door-shaped sigil on his arm flared. A glowing portal manifested before them.
"We're going straight out."
With the Fantasy boost, his identity as a Planeswalker, and the uniqueness of the Door, Edward had more than enough power to open a path directly out of the deepest level of the Mirror World—
As long as he had a few seconds.
"Go!"
They leapt together toward the portal.
But the instant Edward's body crossed the threshold, Lilith shoved him forward, violently, propelling him through—while she herself stepped back.
"Lilith, you—!"
He shouted in alarm, but before he could finish, the door behind him turned to stone—solid, lifeless, grey.
Not just the door—everything the Gorgon's eyes fell upon was petrified.
Including Lilith.
And then—disaster struck.
In an instant, a dozen cataclysms broke loose at once.
"You damnable worm!"
The Gorgon's voice was ice-cold, filled with loathing.
Crack!
Lilith's stony form splintered and vanished—revealing it to be a Mirror Substitute Technique.
She had walked the razor's edge between life and death more times than one could count. Each time disaster came, she slipped away—barely, but just enough.
"Lilith, give it up."
Dozens of mirrors appeared again, encircling her. In every reflection, a Gorgon raised its right hand, aiming directly at her.
"Stop wasting time."
Then, the Gorgon smirked.
"Oh? Are you waiting for someone to save you? Someone like…Amanises?"
Lilith's face changed slightly.
"Ah, I see that struck a chord," the Gorgon continued, laughing softly. "Then allow me to tell you some bad news—Amanises never even made it to the deepest layer of the Mirror World. The one you've been seeing all this time? Every 'Amanises' you encountered in those little episodes was nothing more than an illusion I crafted through the mirrors."
Lilith's lips pressed into a line.
"Don't believe me?"
The Gorgon chuckled, lifting her hand.
"How many do you want? I can give you as many as you like."
One by one, the mirrors shifted.
In each of them appeared a golden-haired, green-eyed girl—Amanises, from each memory, each false encounter.
"So, stop struggling."
From all around, a chorus echoed in unison—
"Stop struggling."
"Stop struggling."
"Stop struggling."
"Merge with me."
"Come, now."
Each of the countless Amanises smiled faintly within her mirror, their voices overlapping in eerie harmony.
"Lilith, you are false. I am the real one."
The colossal Gorgon reached down with a vast, clawed hand toward Lilith.
"If you stop struggling now," she purred, "I might be merciful. I could leave you a sliver of consciousness—let you live on in my place, wearing your own face."
"I'll avenge you by slaying the Primordial Demoness. I'll protect that Edward you care for. I'll help you resist the Outer Gods and survive the apocalypse."
"Keep dreaming!"
The enormous hand crashed down like a falling mountain. Lilith twisted aside and again invoked her Mirror Substitute, vanishing just before impact and reappearing high in the air.
But before she could act—
Dozens of streams of blood burst from her body.
"!!!"
Her form went rigid, suspended midair, a strangled cry tearing from her throat.
"A—ahhh!!!"
From every direction, fine invisible threads had pierced through her flesh, suspending her like a puppet. The threads began to wriggle and twist, burrowing into her body like living serpents.
"Finally caught you."
The giant Gorgon's mouth curled into a grin. She dissolved into a cloud of black smoke, pouring down from the heavens, flooding into Lilith's helpless form.
Lilith's scream split the air—raw, heart-wrenching, filled with agony.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
"From this moment on," the Gorgon hissed, "Lilith will cease to exist."
"Aaaaah!!!"
"I will become the Oldest One! The true Oldest One!!"
Lilith's body began to fade, her outline turning translucent. Her features slowly shifted—her face, her figure—until, piece by piece, she had become Li Li.
A smile of triumph blossomed on her face.
"At last…it's over."
But just as she finished speaking—her smile froze.
Somehow, a silver mirror had appeared in her hand, its frame carved with intricate, ancient motifs. On either side of the mirror were ornamental eyes, set with black gemstones that gleamed with a deep, mesmerising lustre.
Soft light rippled across the mirror's surface, and a line of words shimmered into view:
"Finally caught you."
"What—?"
Schlkk.
A pale hand burst through Li Li's chest, clutching a still-beating heart.
Behind her stood Lilith, smiling gently.
"Finally caught you."
"When…when did you—?"
"The first time I used the Mirror Substitute."
"Then why—why did I—?"
"Of course I knew Amanises hadn't entered," Lilith said with a serene smile. "But I only needed her to conceal certain things for me."
"For example—you wanted to merge with me, to devour my soul and become whole again. But I wanted to use my soul to bind you, even if only for a moment."
Her tone turned quiet, dangerous.
"You thought I came to the Mirror World to be like Cheek, trying to claim the title of 'Mirrored Original Creator'? No…"
In her palm, a golden lamp appeared—small, ornate, shaped like a jewelled pitcher.
"Magic Wishing Lamp Spirit," she whispered, "my second wish is this: draw out a portion of her 'Original Creator' essence, and bestow it upon that arm bone."
She brushed her fingertips along the lamp's surface. Its wick ignited soundlessly, emitting a glow as thick as molten gold.
The light rose, flowing upward like syrup, coalescing into a blurred, shimmering golden figure.
"Not enough," said the figure coldly. "That wish alone cannot suffice. She is, after all, the Mirrored Original Creator."
Though his tone was mild, the disdain in it was unmistakable.
Lilith smiled faintly.
"Is this revenge? For last time—when I summoned you but didn't make a wish?"
"No. Just the truth," the figure replied blandly.
The Gorgon—Li Li's—laughter rang out, harsh and triumphant.
"Ah, I understand now! So that was your plan—to use this to resurrect yourself. But things didn't go as you expected, did they? You did all this for rebirth, yet to complete it, you'll have to die first. Tell me, Lilith—will your precious method still work after you're truly dead?"
Lilith said nothing.
Her grip on the heart in her hand tightened sharply—crack—and Li Li screamed.
After a moment's silence, Lilith spoke again, voice low and firm:
"Magic Wishing Lamp Spirit, my second and third wishes are—"
A second hand closed over the lamp.
"Let me handle this, Lilith."
Her body jolted. She turned—
"Edward…? Why did you come back?"
Edward flicked a finger against her forehead.
"You little brat. Just because you've lived a few thousand years longer than me, you think you're stronger, huh? You kicked me out without a word. I fought my way back here to protect you, not the other way around."
He smiled, though his tone was half a scold.
"Sure, I'm not as strong as you, but when it comes to not being afraid to die, who can compete with me?"
Lilith's voice trembled.
"No, you can't! The Door Pathway doesn't have resurrection traits. Even if I die, I might come back—you can't!"
Edward laid a hand gently on her head.
"Don't underestimate me, Lilith. Who said I'm only of the Door Pathway? Trust me, all right?"
Then he gripped the lamp tightly and said to the golden figure,
"Genie—grant the wish Lilith just made. I don't care if it counts as one wish or three."
The golden figure flickered violently, staring hard at Edward. Then his composure cracked, and his voice rose in fury.
"You—! You're Mysteries?! You—!"
"I don't care who you think I am," Edward interrupted. "Just fulfil the damn wish."
"No! I won't—and I can't—"
"You wanna test me? I'll toss you straight into the Sefirah Castle. You'll never see the light of day again, never return to your stars!"
"You—!"
"Make. The. Wish."
"..."
The golden figure seethed, trembling with suppressed rage. Finally, with a strangled sound, he spat out, "...Your wish has been granted, you damned bastard! I curse you—may you never resurrect again!"
———
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