For some damn reason, nothing.
Jaemin had torn through Horizon and Abyss, checked every sigil, every scrap, every trace of Rift dust—nothing. Not a sliver of evidence, not a single core signature tied to the five lost Coreborn. Not even in the Abyss zone.
It was like they'd never been here.
"No… that's not right, he thought. They were. I know they were."
The deeper he went, the clearer everything got.
The mist eased. The silence deepened. Like the place was exhaling.
He was now standing at the threshold of the final zone.
Singularity.
The change was instant.
It wasn't a cave anymore—it felt like a hall, ancient and wrong. Pillars stretched skyward, some snapped, others intact, and broken statues lay in silence like forgotten gods.
A small circular pool shimmered in the middle, silent, unmoving. The air was still. Too still.
And then he spotted them.
Rifthounds. A lone Golem. Eyes glinting, twitching in the distance.
But no Gravehoarders. They had vanished completely—no trail, no scent, no sign.
They were simply... gone.
Teet—teet—teet—teet—
Jaemin's gaze snapped to his clock.
10 seconds remaining.
"Shit!"
His aura ignited, bursting around him like a wildfire. A glow of pressure warped the air.
"Heuugh!"
He let out a guttural roar and charged forward—eyes wide, blades burning orange.
SLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH!
He was a storm.
In under five seconds, he cleaved through the Rifthounds like they were made of air, leaving nothing but Rift steam and bleeding silence.
Only the Golem remained, still turning, slow and clunky, distant.
Jaemin dashed.
A straight blur.
Then—
teet—teet—teet—teet—
TING!
He reached the Golem.
And then—BOOM!!
It exploded.
A pulse of dark energy and shattered stone blasted outward, flinging Jaemin off his feet like a ragdoll. Dust swallowed the chamber.
He landed hard, sliding across the stone, his clock skidding beside him.
Chest heaving.
Eyes still open.
Staring at the smoke.
"…What the hell just happened…"
"Marvellous... just marvellous, Jaemin."
The voice rang out behind him—a slow clap echoing off the broken walls of the Singularity Zone.
Jaemin turned sharply, daggers still drawn.
"Shit..."
Director Gyeongnim.
There he stood, in his dark grey coat, hands now folded after the final clap. That calm smile on his face felt too wide now, too wrong.
Jaemin's aura flickered, instinctively reacting.
"How did you even come in here? Weren't there defences? Security? How did you pass?"
Gyeongnim tilted his head.
"I didn't find any on my way here..."
He said smoothly.
"But as you see…" He motioned to Jaemin's timer, long since hit zero. "You're out of time."
Jaemin exhaled through gritted teeth.
"Now what?"
He said.
"There's nothing here. I searched every corner of this godforsaken place. Not a trace of the lost Coreborn, not even an echo."
Gyeongnim slowly began to approach.
"Of course not. Why would there be?"
That single line cut deeper than anything.
Jaemin's heart skipped.
"…What?"
His legs locked. The air felt heavier.
Sweat started dripping down his back.
Gyeongnim sighed, almost like he pitied him.
"Jaemin... the thing is... Special Coreborns are powerful. But only under proper guidance. They need control. Discipline. A leash."
His tone sharpened by a degree, but his face stayed disturbingly serene.
"And you?"
He pointed at Jaemin without malice, just certainty.
"You're walking around with a Core that's not just powerful, but Primordial. You have no mentor. No boundaries. No reason to be this lucky."
Jaemin's breathing quickened.
"What are you trying to say… Gyeongnim?"
His grip on Binary Stars tightened. The daggers hissed against the air as they sparked faintly with orange core energy.
"I'm saying what I should've said the moment I met you."
Gyeongnim said with a calm exhale.
"…You're weak, Jaemin."
That hit harder than any physical blow.
"And worse… you're unworthy to hold a Core like that."
Jaemin stood frozen. His thoughts spun. Gyeongnim continued, voice turning colder.
"You survived that Rift because of luck. Nothing more. You weren't chosen. You weren't special. You were just... there. And now you've become a problem I need to erase."
Jaemin's heart thundered in his chest.
Everything snapped into place.
This wasn't about the Coreborn.
It was about him.
"You were lucky."
Gyeongnim whispered, his words slicing through the heavy air like a knife.
"Not the chosen one."
His calm voice reverberated against the ancient stone and flickering sigils, deafening in the silence that followed.
"You did your part of the bet…"
He continued, slowly raising his head.
His eyes began to glow. A deep, seething violet—unnatural. Wrong. The colour of corruption itself.
"Now."
Gyeongnim said, lips curling into a smile so wide it twisted his face into something almost inhuman.
"It's time to play my part."
THUMP!
A sudden sound—a chorus of synchronised boots—echoed into the chamber like thunder.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!!!"
Dozens of Aether Crest operatives stormed into the Singularity Zone like a wave. Uniforms black and blue, eyes hard, pulses of energy flaring across their suits.
They didn't wait.
In seconds, they were on Gyeongnim—arms locking down his wrists, legs restrained, glowing cuffs slammed across his chest and mouth. Some even cast barrier glyphs straight onto his skin, glowing and pulsing to suppress his Core energy.
A barrier clamped over his mouth with a hiss. Core suppressors, light-encoded and reinforced with core chains, cinched tight across his body.
And yet…
He smiled.
Not in rage. Not in fear. But something colder.
Something final.
His glowing eyes locked with Jaemin's.
Jaemin froze.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Then he saw it.
That ring. A ring with a barbed edge, black and faintly pulsing with a sinister hue, worn on Gyeongnim's middle finger.
A shiver ran down Jaemin's spine.
"...No…"
Then—
His eyes widened.
"FUCK!"
Everything screamed in his head. Instinct took over—he retreated, faster than his body should've allowed—blurred movement like a meteor shooting backwards, crashing through broken pillars and rubble.
He didn't breathe. He didn't blink.
He moved.
Because a split second later—
SHINK.
The faintest prick. The sound of flesh meeting metal. Gyeongnim had pressed the thorn of the ring into his finger.
Then—
KARACKTHOOOM!!!!
A blinding bolt of dark violet lightning tore the sky asunder.
The lightning slammed into Gyeongnim's body—
The chamber exploded.
No—it imploded before it exploded.
A violet inferno mushroomed out from Gyeongnim's body.
A shockwave ripped the ground to ribbons. Air shattered. Time bent. Sound died.
And then came the scream.
Not from a throat—but from the Core of Shadows itself.
The walls buckled. The ancient sigils combusted. Stone turned to light—then to dust—then to nothing. And every operative holding Gyeongnim?
Obliterated.
Not dead.
Erased.
Their bodies didn't burn. They ceased. Vaporised under a radius of pure void-charged energy, painted in a surreal, twisting violet-black storm.
Jaemin flew back, barely catching himself behind a half-shattered pillar. Rubble collapsed around him. Ears rang. Chest tight.
He peeked back into the crater of devastation.
Gyeongnim stood.
His clothes were tattered. Hair whipping in the vortex. Still smiling.
His body? Glowing at the edges—like he was being rewritten.
The Core of Shadows had awakened.
But the man who held it was still here.
And Jaemin had just become its witness.
A sharp exhale.
Jaemin panted, his chest rising and falling like it was trying to punch through his ribs. He looked again toward the explosion site—
Gone.
Gyeongnim wasn't there anymore.
"Shit—!"
Jaemin turned forward—
And there he was.
Standing just ahead. Unburned. Unshaken.
Eyes glowing a deep, unnatural violet. And smiling. That same, bone-crawling smile.
"Gyeongnim..."
Jaemin muttered.
No more words.
He lunged.
Daggers forward—Binary Stars blazing with searing light. Sparks flared as he twisted mid-air, the move so clean, so precise, it could've ended a Riftbeast—
But Gyeongnim moved.
Like a phantom.
He sidestepped with ease, letting the daggers sweep past his body. Jaemin didn't even hit fabric.
Then—
PWAP!
A solid punch, right to the gut.
"GhhHUGHH!!"
Jaemin spat blood mid-air, the wind knocked the clear out of him.
The chamber spun—
THWAK!!
A brutal kick smashed into his ribs, launching him backward like a ragdoll.
Crack-crack-crack!
Stone split from the force.
But Jaemin wasn't done.
He roared in his mind, flaring the Core of Tempest wide open.
WHOOOM—
A violent gust surged from his body, halting him midair inches before impact. Debris flew. The wind shrieked. He rebounded off a shattered column, launching himself again—
From pillar to pillar—
BLINK—DASH—SPIN—
He twisted, daggers now sparking with concentrated lightning.
A blur of motion.
He dropped in from above like a comet.
CLINK!!!
He struck—
But Gyeongnim caught it.
With his bare hands.
Both blades. Lightning crackling between their arms.
"Impressive."
The word slipped from Gyeongnim's lips like a ghost.
Jaemin locked eyes with him—
And froze.
Tears.
Tears were streaming down Gyeongnim's cheeks.
His smile didn't fade. But his eyes…
They were breaking.
"...Why the fuck is he crying?"
Jaemin's thoughts raced. His core flickered. His grip trembled.
But the tears weren't sadness.
They were grief. They were relieved. They were something darker—like a man witnessing the inevitable play out after years of planning.
"You're still too pure."
Gyeongnim said softly, almost like a whisper meant for no one.
"Still fighting for them..."
And just like that—
VIOLET FLARE!
A burst of dark energy surged between them. Jaemin was blasted back, lightning scattering around his form like shards of glass.
The Shadow wasn't just active.
It was watching.
And now it knew Jaemin's name.
THWACK!!
Jaemin's back slammed into the wall, stone shattering behind him like paper under a sledgehammer.
The entire pillar cracked. Dust rained down. His lungs burned. His ribs screamed. But—
He didn't stop.
He couldn't.
His eyes glowed orange, like fire refusing to die.
Tempest roared.
The chamber shifted.
A low wind swept in, brushing the floor—
Then the storm hit.
A vortex of core-infused wind exploded from Jaemin's body. Dust lifted, spinning into a full-scale sandstorm. Lightning crackled within it, lashing around like the wrath of gods. The wind became his cloak. The dust became his blade.
And inside that storm, Jaemin vanished.
FWIP!
A dagger bolt whistled through the storm—hit!
FWIP!
FWIP!
FWIP!
More followed. Dozens.
From all directions.
"Tch!"
Gyeongnim growled, shielding his body with shadows. But not all the bolts were blocked. A few sank deep—one to the side, one into his thigh.
FWIP—STAB!!!
One final strike.
Clean.
Direct to the chest.
Jaemin appeared, crouched, one hand pressed to the ground, the other gripping the Binary Star embedded in Gyeongnim's heart.
The elder Coreborn dropped to his knees.
A cough of dark blood.
A twitch.
And silence.
The storm died down around them, winds slowing to a soft hush.
Ash fell like snow.
Jaemin stood tall, staring down at Gyeongnim, not with rage. Not with pity.
With emptiness.
"Rest... forever now."
His voice was flat. Not a whisper. Not a command. A sentence.
Gyeongnim's head dipped. His breath was shallow. Violet flickers crawled from his chest wound—
The air shifted.
A hum... low, ancient...
Then—
WOOSH!!
A surge of violet light burst upward from Gyeongnim's body, as if something inside was pulled out violently.
It swirled, coiled in the air, him—
And took shape.
A jagged crystal, black at the core, wrapped in an eternal swirl of shadow and light.
The Core of Shadows.
Floating.
Untouchable.
Watching.
Jaemin's breath caught. His knees almost buckled.
There it was. The thing they feared.
The truth behind the Lapis Chamber.
The Core wasn't buried here.
The chamber was the Core.
And now, it was looking for its next host.
Jaemin tightened his grip around his remaining dagger.
His heart? Thunder. His aura? On edge. His thoughts?
"Am I next...?"
The Core pulsed.
The shadows twisted—
And something ancient, hungry, and sentient awakened in its gaze.
Jaemin crouched. Gyeongnim was smiling. Not in triumph. Not in peace. But in happiness.
His lips twitched. His body twitched. His mouth moved—no words. Only wheezing.
Tears streamed. Black tears.
Thick. Tar-like. Rotting.
From his eyes.
His pupils were no longer human. They were burning yellow, like sunfire trapped inside bone.
Jaemin's chest rose once—twice—too fast. His lungs weren't listening.
His hands trembled.
Then—
BOOM!
A tremor.
A low rumble, guttural, like the earth itself retching.
Stone cracked beneath his boots. Jaemin staggered one step back.
Then two.
And then—
The smoke.
It poured out of Gyeongnim.
Thick.
Dark.
Heavy.
It didn't rise like vapour.
It crept. It crawled. It bled.
From every pore in his body. And it grew. Behind him.
Something tall.
Something... standing.
A dark figure, wrapped in folds of shadow, the kind that refused light.
A woman. Or what once was one.
Veiled in pitch.
Draped in decay.
Crowned in silence.
Jaemin's breath stuttered.
His legs froze.
The chamber itself seemed to lean away from her. The sigils on the walls flickered, glitched, then died. Colour drained from the space. The world around him turned monochrome.
The air was no longer cold.
It was dead.
A pressure—like grave pressing into his lungs built in the room.
The figure moved her head. Slow. Disjointed.
Like her neck wasn't her own.
And through the folds of that veil—
Jaemin saw it.
A face twisted.
A mouth sewn shut with strands of soulthread. (Metaphorically)
Eyes... empty sockets, dripping black.
"I REMEMBER."
The voice didn't come from her mouth.
It came from everywhere.
From inside, Jaemin.
His soul flinched.
His knees nearly buckled.
He knew that face. From the Rift where he once stood. From the incident reports. From the screams in sleep.
He knew what stood before him.
The same figure whose reflection once emerged from a Rift and never returned.
The same being who dragged an entire elite squad to oblivion.
The same shadow seared into the memories of dying Coreborn.
With a whisper, breathless, horrified, and shattered—
Jaemin spoke:
"Th–The Mirror Warmaiden."
And then—
She smiled. From beneath the veil.
Even though her mouth couldn't move.
Because she never needed to smile to show her hunger.
She was never here to kill.
She was here to collect. And now—
She was looking straight at him.