65: Shadow’s Mockery

The golden axe held high in Rena’s right hand shone so brightly, it dazzled Dan, leaving him stunned.

“I was created by the very person you loathe—Emma Tenor.
I am Rena Tenor… and by my hand, Dan, your existence ends here and now.”

At her words, Dan’s face twisted into a sorrowful expression—so much so that it reminded her of the look Tom would sometimes wear.
For a moment, she hesitated.
But then, it struck her—what had once seemed like a simple accident, the time when she and Tom nearly drowned in this very pond, had not been random at all.
It had been a prelude, a turning point meant to sever the tangled threads of fate connecting them to Dan.
A part of a designed destiny.
A trial that she and Tom had to overcome in order to reclaim their strength.

“So you truly are one of her creations… I suppose I always knew.
Still… how very disappointing.”

Dan’s expression hardened.
A sharp glint filled his eyes as he moved to lunge at her—only to be stopped.
A large hand gripped his ankle tightly.
Dark miasma coiled around his feet, and from within it emerged the shadowed figure of a man in black, his presence ominous and still.

── Rena! Use the rift Dan tore open!
Get ahead of him and block his entry into the Mirror World! ──

Once more, Tom’s voice reached her ears.
Though she hesitated for a moment, she sensed the urgency behind his words.
And she trusted his judgment.
Through all they’d been through, she had learned one thing above all: decisive action shapes destiny.
Believing in Tom’s survival, Rena gripped the axe tightly and leapt into the dimensional rift that Dan had opened.

“You brat…
You just won’t stop meddling—Wha… What!?”

Dan’s ankle, still gripped by the Tom-like figure, began to crystallize—turning into transparent glass.
The icy transformation spread rapidly.
Panicking as his legs lost strength, Dan yanked his foot away in a frantic motion.

“What is this!?
What is this bizarre power!?”

He looked down and saw the man pushing up from the ground with spider-like limbs, slowly rising.The hooded figure’s face, though partially hidden, was clearly not the youthful Tom he had once mocked as a boy.
The man’s face was marked with deep, timeworn wrinkles.
There was a weight to it—a chilling sense that he had endured far more than time alone.

“A Shadow…?
You’ve grown… more than I ever imagined.
You’re an old man now.
But what is this game you’re playing?”

Dan dangled his leg slightly, inspecting the change.
Even the new black enamel shoes he wore had turned into rigid, transparent material.
Their glossy surface now reflected the face of the shadowy man.

“A prince… in glass slippers…” the older Tom muttered, his raspy voice dripping with mockery.

Dan gave a dry chuckle.
He appeared calm, but beneath the surface, his pride seethed.
He hadn’t expected such power—especially not from him.

“A failure of creation, is that it…?
To think you’d dare stand against me with such strength—yes, that is a threat.
But you’re pitiful, too.
Your body and mind, forcefully split by Emma… I can’t help but pity you.”

Shadow Tom tilted his head slightly, intrigued by Dan’s words.
A strange spark of childlike curiosity lit up his aged features, as though he were glimpsing a world yet unknown.

“That’s why I’ll give you proper training—
a little discipline I like to call ‘recreation.’
I’ll make you a pure shadow again… fit to serve me!”

Dan plunged his arm into the rift he himself had torn open.
On the other side, Rena—who had just arrived in the Mirror World—saw it from between the fractured edges of the Eternal Mirror.
Dan’s arm was thrusting through, searching, groping for something.

From her hidden position, Rena held her breath and watched.
His movements radiated a manic desperation—a toxic mix of obsession and urgency.
It was clear that some kind of power was leaking into him from this space.

“I have to stop him before he crosses over!
Do I close that giant crack in the mirror somehow?
Or maybe… sever his arm with this axe?”

The golden axe nestled comfortably in her hand, its weight oddly familiar—both comforting and terrifying.
She remembered the last time she had driven it into Dan’s face in a wild, instinctive strike.
That memory still haunted her with guilt.

This axe… It carried a strange magic.
It drew out a person’s hidden emotions, surfacing desires like rage—or even the urge to kill.

“No. There’s no time for doubt.”

Steeling herself, Rena raised the axe once more.
She began to move, circling quietly around to the side of the mirror.

She was just about to strike—
to cleave Dan’s reaching arm in a single, clean blow—

── I’ve gained the Mirror’s power! Parallel Mirror!! ──

Dan’s roar shook the space itself.

A violent surge of energy burst forth, hitting Rena like a tidal wave.
Her balance shattered.

Dizziness spun her thoughts into chaos.
For a brief moment, it felt as though gravity itself had reversed.

Up became down.
The world turned upside down before her eyes.