Chapter 50 — The Breaking Point
The air in the Primal Chamber had grown colder over the last few days. Not the kind of cold that came from wind or lack of warmth — but the still, heavy cold of exhaustion that seeped into bone and thought alike.
Each breath felt heavier. Each movement slower.
Shin's once-cocky grin had disappeared entirely. Alicia's silence had deepened into something almost solemn. And Vaibhav — even his temper had quieted. The fire in him hadn't gone out, but it had been tempered into something rawer, quieter.
Aria stood before them at dawn, her posture sharp, her expression unreadable. Behind her, the aurora sky of the Primal Chamber dimmed to a muted gray, as if the world itself was listening.
"Today," she said, her voice echoing faintly, "you'll face yourselves."
Shin blinked. "Ourselves?"
Aria clasped her hands behind her back. "The next stage of the Primal Ascendancy — Primal Confrontation. Every cultivator must face the reflection of their inner flaw — a beast born from the fragments of your fears, pride, and weakness. Win, and you ascend to the next layer of instinct. Lose…"
Tanjiro finished for her, stepping forward, "And your mind fractures. You won't die — but you won't come back either."
The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on.
Shin smirked weakly. "Sounds fun."
"Then you first," Aria said flatly.
His grin vanished. "Wait, what—"
But before he could finish, the ground under him pulsed. A wave of crimson energy enveloped him, and in a blink, Shin was gone.
He appeared in a vast, storm-lit canyon. The ground was glassy and cracked, the air filled with streaks of blue lightning that danced like living serpents.
At the far end stood… himself.
Not just a mirror copy — but one that moved first.
The phantom Shin grinned, his eyes glowing faint white, his stance loose, fluid, dangerous. "You think you're fast?" he said, voice echoing through the canyon. "You think movement makes you untouchable?"
The real Shin tightened his fists. "I don't think. I know."
He moved — lightning-fast, a blur of motion. But before he could land a strike, his mirror twisted aside effortlessly, countered, and sent him flying with a single elbow to the gut.
"Too slow," it said.
He hit the ground, coughing, and dashed again — faster this time. The phantom sidestepped again, mocking him with his own grin. Every attack he launched, the phantom anticipated, dodged, countered, punished.
He was being dismantled by himself.
Dozens of exchanges later, he dropped to one knee, blood dripping from his lip, his breath ragged.
"Why?" Shin hissed. "Why can't I—"
The phantom laughed. "Because you move without purpose. You run, but you don't chase. You're fast, but empty. All speed, no intent."
The words stung more than the blows.
Shin grit his teeth and forced himself up. The storm roared louder, the lightning flashing around him in chaotic rhythm.
He could barely stand — but then, for the first time, he stopped moving.
He closed his eyes, breathing in sync with the storm. His instincts sharpened — not frantic, not reckless. Just aware.
When he opened his eyes, the lightning didn't blind him anymore. He moved — slow, deliberate, but precise.
His fist met the phantom's. The shockwave split the canyon.
When the mist cleared, only one Shin remained — standing tall, chest heaving, eyes glowing faint blue.
"Speed isn't motion," he whispered, recalling Tanjiro's words. "It's the will that decides where to strike."
Alicia's turn came next.
She entered a space of endless sky. Clouds twisted violently in a circle, forming a colossal vortex that mirrored her own energy. Each flash of lightning in the storm carried her reflection — countless Alicias watching her from every direction.
The moment she moved, the storm struck back.
She tried to stabilize her breathing, to find rhythm as she always did in meditation — but every attempt shattered. The wind screamed in her ears. Every failure replayed again and again, each mistake looping in endless echoes.
Her body froze, drenched in freezing rain, her heartbeat erratic.
"Why do you fight?" a voice whispered — her own, distorted and cruel. "You know you'll never be strong enough. You only endure because it's all you can do."
Her reflection stepped out of the storm — calm, flawless, untouchable. "You pretend to be composed because you're terrified of breaking."
"I…" Alicia's voice trembled. "I'm not—"
"You are fragile."
That word cracked something inside her.
The illusion repeated every moment she had failed — every helpless cry, every stumble, every bruise hidden behind her calm expression. It looped until her breath hitched, until her hands shook and she finally screamed back—
"I am not fragile!"
Her voice tore through the storm like thunder. The sky split open. The vortex shattered, and the countless reflections dissolved into streaks of light.
When silence returned, she was kneeling on the empty sky, rain dripping off her hair, her body trembling but her spirit burning steady.
"I endure," she whispered. "Because I can."
Vaibhav stood last.
He didn't speak as he stepped forward. Aria didn't stop him — just watched quietly, her eyes unreadable.
The red energy swallowed him whole.
When he opened his eyes again, he stood in a wasteland. Black sands stretched endlessly under a dark crimson sky. The air was thick with whispers, faint echoes of things buried deep.
He saw movement ahead — a shadow standing upright, back turned toward him.
"Who are you?" Vaibhav asked.
The figure turned.
It was him.
Not a phantom, not a reflection — something deeper. His eyes were reversed — black sclera, white pupils — his smile twisted but calm.
"So," the doppelganger said, voice identical, yet older somehow. "You've been pretending again."
Vaibhav tensed. "Pretending?"
"To be strong."
The shadow's steps echoed as it approached. "You act like strength is enough. But strength without fear isn't courage — it's denial."
"Shut up."
"You fight because you're scared to lose. Because you can't stand being weak."
"I said— shut up!"
He swung his fist — pure instinct. The impact shattered the air — but the phantom caught it easily, countered, and slammed him into the ground.
The dirt cracked beneath him.
Vaibhav roared, leapt up again, attacked again — but every blow, every ounce of fury, met an effortless defense.
"Anger," the phantom said, driving a punch into his chest. "That's all you have. It fuels you, blinds you, then breaks you."
Vaibhav coughed blood, stumbled, and fell to one knee. His vision blurred red.
The phantom crouched, grabbing his chin. "You don't fight to win. You fight to prove you're not afraid. That's why you'll always lose to me."
It punched again — and the world turned black.
Outside, Aria and Tanjiro stood before the glowing Primal Chamber mirrors. Shin and Alicia's reflections had already stabilized, faintly shimmering with new resonance. Vaibhav's, however, flickered violently — his life force thrashing against itself.
Aria frowned. "His essence is rejecting him."
Tanjiro's eyes narrowed. "Or he's rejecting it."
Inside, Vaibhav knelt in the black sand, bleeding, gasping, his body refusing to rise. His inner beast — his other self — stood over him, silent now, waiting.
He thought he'd be angry. He wasn't. He was tired.
For the first time, he didn't want to fight it. He wanted to understand it.
Slowly, painfully, he looked up. "You're right," he whispered. "I am afraid. I'm scared of failing. Of being weak. Of watching everyone pass me again."
The shadow tilted its head slightly.
"But I'm done fighting with anger," Vaibhav said, forcing himself upright. "I'll fight with focus."
The shadow moved — a blur of black flame. Vaibhav met it head-on. Their fists collided, the shockwave cracking the horizon. The red sky trembled.
This time, the impact didn't throw him back.
The phantom's grin faltered.
"You don't control me," Vaibhav said quietly. "I am you. And I decide who we become."
The world split open in red light — and the phantom dissolved into it.
Outside, the mirror's glow flared violently before dimming into steady crimson.
Tanjiro exhaled, his tone almost impressed. "They're breaking… but not falling."
Aria's lips curved into a faint smile. "Guess we'll have to push ourselves too. Otherwise, they might surpass us sooner than we think."
Tanjiro snorted softly. "Let them try."
When Vaibhav awoke, his body was trembling, drenched in sweat, his breath ragged. The room around him was dim, the air still thick with primal residue.
Shin sat slumped beside the wall, unconscious but alive. Alicia lay nearby, a faint smile on her lips even in her sleep.
Vaibhav tried to move, but his limbs barely obeyed. His head felt heavy — his thoughts half-suspended between dream and reality.
His vision flickered. For a brief instant, he saw his reflection in the pool of condensed mist beside him — and his eyes weren't the same.
The sclera darkened. The pupils shone faint crimson.
"I won't let this beast control me[1]," he murmured weakly, each word trembling on his lips.
"I am the beast."
The light in his eyes flared for a heartbeat — and then faded as he collapsed back into unconsciousness.
[1] Uhh… Nope. You Can't… Not for right now. You were able to achieve that because the beast inside you didn't even considered you as an opponent.