The air inside the Mirror World rippled as Cai Lin raised her hand. Shards of glass lifted from the ground, rising around Akihiro like a dome. Their sharp edges caught the fractured sky, glowing with a pale, eerie light.
Her voice was low, intoxicating, a promise wrapped in danger.
"You still don't understand why I chose you, Akihiro Tsukihara. Let me show you."
The shards shimmered. Memories began to swirl within them like moving paintings — illusions made flesh.
:Childhood
The first image showed a sunlit garden. A much younger Akihiro ran across the grass, laughing, chasing butterflies with tiny, clumsy steps.
Beside him stood a teenage Cai Lin, fierce even in her youth. She shoved away older children who mocked him, standing in front of him like a shield.
The present Cai Lin's voice drifted through the illusion.
"I was your mother's friend's daughter… and I swore to protect you. Even then, I was your shadow."
Akihiro's chest tightened. The memory tugged at something buried deep inside him. He remembered glimpses — a girl's laughter, her hand pulling him out of trouble — but he had thought them dreams.
: The Betrayal
The illusion shifted. The Kagetora Clan filled the glass — proud warriors clad in black, their aura fierce, their banners high.
Then, chaos. Soldiers bearing the Hoshikawa Clan's starry banners stormed their stronghold. Fire and steel consumed everything. Screams tore through the night.
A younger Cai Lin cried out, clutching her parents' hands — only to watch them fall before her eyes.
Her voice cracked with bitterness.
"They called us unjust. Dangerous. But it was fear. The Star River wanted us erased. So they slaughtered us all."
"I was meant to die with them. But I lived. The last Kagetora."
: The Forbidden Land
The image shattered again. Cai Lin, alone, stumbled through mountains until she reached a ruin cloaked in silence — the Forbidden Land.
Inside, she found a shrine of black glass, broken and eerie. At its heart stood a cracked altar and an ancient scroll, its pages shimmering with words etched by a cultivator who once touched the Void.
"The scroll revealed how to survive the Mirror World… how to bend reflections instead of being consumed."
The illusion showed her pulled into the mirror, shadows tearing at her, her screams echoing. She nearly broke — but then, clutching the scroll, her aura flared. The shadows bent, kneeling.
One by one, her body grew stronger as she climbed the ladder: Energy → Foundation → Core → Nascent → Half Emperor → Full Emperor.
But the scenes also showed her collapsing after battles, trembling and broken. Days spent lying still, recovering from the toll of her forbidden path.
Her voice trembled between pride and sorrow.
"Yes, I became queen. But at a price. Every time I reached higher, my body cracked. My power is not free. Even now, I cannot unleash all of it without breaking."
: The Present – Her Confession
The illusions dissolved. Only Cai Lin and Akihiro stood in the barren wasteland again.
She stepped closer, brushing her cold fingers against his cheek, her violet-gold eyes soft and dangerous all at once.
"That is why I need you. The last Tsukihara, as I am the last Kagetora. Two broken heirs, bound by loss."
Her voice lowered, trembling with emotion.
"I loved you once as a child… and I love you now as a queen. That will never change."
Akihiro's breath caught. He felt her pain — her loneliness was his own. But her love was suffocating, wrapped in chains of obsession.
"Cai Lin…" His voice was hoarse. "What have you become?"
Her lips curved into a smile, sharp and tender all at once.
"What I was always meant to be. Yours."
The Beast Tide
Before Akihiro could respond, the dome cracked. The ground shook.
A deafening roar split the air. From the fractured horizon, beasts surged — creatures of glass and shadow, their claws gleaming, their forms twisted. A Beast Tide.
Dozens became hundreds, pouring across the wasteland in a flood of destruction.
Cai Lin's aura flared for a moment, but her body trembled violently. The toll of her illusions and her forbidden power left her weak. She staggered, knees buckling.
Akihiro caught her before she fell. Her breath was shallow, her lips curving faintly.
"Even queens… need rest."
The Beast Tide thundered closer, the ground splitting under their weight.
Akihiro clenched his jaw, lifting her onto his back. His voice was steady, fierce:
"Then I'll carry you."
He sprinted across the shattered land, Cai Lin against his back, her arms weakly holding him.
Half-conscious, her whisper brushed his ear — a mix of love and obsession:
"Yes… just like before. You still need me… and I still need you."
The chapter closed with Akihiro racing across the wasteland, the Beast Tide roaring behind him, carrying the Mirror Queen in his arms.