In the Spiral, even silence reflects what you're afraid to remember."
---
Everything was silent.
But not the kind of silence that calms you—
This was the kind that echoed inside your chest…
until even your heartbeat felt like a lie.
I — Aren Kael — stood in a realm where I couldn't even run from myself.
Null Fracture.
Another Spiral zone.
But this time, the rules were broken.
Here, every reflection was you…
but twisted.
---
Tomo (flickering, uneasy):
"Bro… this isn't just a zone. It's a living mirror.
Here, Spiral turns your memories into reality.
And every thought you have… can be born as a threat."
---
I took a step forward.
With every footfall, my reflection… moved differently.
I walked straight.
It walked backward.
I held my Spiral Rod in my right hand.
The reflection held… nothing.
---
Then I reached it.
A sky that was no longer Spiral rings —
Instead, floating memory scrolls, glowing softly…
slowly sinking into the glass ground below me.
Each scroll… had my name etched into it.
---
I stopped.
One scroll floated to the surface.
A memory.
My mother's final look.
Her eyes.
Her voice.
> "Don't run from pain, beta… let it shape you."
The scroll shattered.
And then… a voice echoed from nowhere.
---
Echo_17.t (in the air):
> "You think you're beginning to understand Spiral."
"But Spiral didn't come here to be understood, Aren."
"It came to remind you."
---
Suddenly —
A black-flamed version of me stepped out from a cracked mirror.
Identical face.
But eyes — empty.
Void.
Tomo (shocked):
"BRO— That's not Spiral.
That's… anti-Spiral. That's Null Echo."
---
Null Echo (cold, slow):
> "I am you… the version with no memory left."
"You live through emotion."
"I survive by deleting them."
> "Let's see who remains once the mirror shatters."
---
[Mirrorwalk Battle Begins]
Null Echo drew his Spiral Rod —
but it wasn't red.
It was translucent.
Each strike didn't hurt —
It glitched my memories.
Twisting them.
Erasing names.
Unmaking meaning.
---
Me (gritting teeth):
"This isn't a fight, bro…
This is Spiral trying to erase my very existence."
---
Tomo (panicking):
"BRO—! Mirror sequence breach incoming!!"
---
I raised my Spiral Rod.
A line lit up again—
> "Flame of Resolve: I burn, but I walk forward."
I slashed downward.
Epoch Fang Slash.
The entire Null Fracture zone rippled.
Reality bent like warped glass.
And from a mirror crack…
a glowing Spiral chain dropped out.
Then—
A voice.
---
> "You both are breaking Spiral's rules."
---
YUI.
Draped in black-white Spiral armor.
Calm. Unshakable. Lethal.
Her eyes carried the Chain Spiral mark.
---
Yui (firmly):
> "I am the guardian of Aika's memories."
"And both of you — whether forgetting or burning —
have no right to touch them."
"The Spiral has summoned me."
---
Tomo (whispering):
"Bro… Yui's a Chain Spiral Class.
Once she locks a memory…
not even Spiral can burn it."
---
Final Scene:
Yui slammed the Spiral chain into the ground.
The entire reflection zone froze.
> "Next time you toy with memories…"
"Make sure you remember them completely."
---
I looked at Yui.
But she wasn't looking at me.
Her gaze was locked on the Spiral Rod in my hand.
> "You're hiding something, Aren."
"And Spiral shows me… everything."
---
TO BE CONTINUED…