The Experiment
Celestara's meditation chamber was quiet except for the sound of Lumiel's heartbeat echoing in both worlds.
Professor Vastel hovered nearby, looking far too casual for someone supervising a potentially catastrophic ritual.
"Dual-State Projection," he said, adjusting his glowing monocle. "In theory, your consciousness will divide—one side controlling the body, the other navigating the Astral. In practice, you'll either ascend or sneeze yourself into two partially confused corpses."
"Comforting," Lumiel said.
Ayaka leaned against the wall, sipping from a flask of Whiskey of Elation. "If you start bleeding from the ears, I'm not cleaning it up."
Kuroha's tails brushed against Lumiel's leg. "Relax. Worst case, your soul gets lost and your body makes cocktails forever."
"Wonderful," Lumiel muttered. "Let's begin."
The Division
He centered his breathing.The Nihility Fire burned softly beneath his ribs, balancing between light and void.
This time, he didn't resist the pull — he steered it.His spirit slipped free, but the tether didn't break; it branched.
One Lumiel remained seated in meditation, eyes glowing faintly red.Another—his astral form—stood beside him, translucent but solid, with the Crimson Scythe gleaming faintly in his grip.
"You did it," Kuroha said, impressed. "Two of you. Twice the sarcasm."
Ayaka circled him, curious. "You look the same but slightly more tragic."
"Thanks," both Lumiels said in perfect unison.
Dual Tasks
Physical Lumiel remained seated, hands glowing with the Red Code, arranging alchemical components on his desk.Astral Lumiel stepped through the mirror into the Astral Wilds — a twilight forest where the trees whispered in binary.
Two worlds. One mind. Perfect sync.
"Body," Lumiel murmured mentally, "focus on refining dreamroot essence.""Spirit," he added, "harvest goblin cores for catalysts."
Both obeyed.
Kuroha's voice echoed in both realities.
"You're coordinating alchemy and murder. My kind of multitasking."
The Goblin Hunt
The Astral Wilds were alive with faint crimson fog and the stench of corrupted mana.Goblins skittered between roots, their eyes glowing red, clutching shards of unstable core energy.
Astral Lumiel grinned. "Perfect ingredients."
He swung the Crimson Scythe in a smooth arc — the blade hissed through mist, carving trails of Nihility Fire.Each strike reduced the goblins to bursts of light, leaving behind glowing cores that pulsed like beating hearts.He gathered them midair with a wave of Red Code script.
Meanwhile, in the material world, his physical body moved like a conductor in a symphony — pouring energy, stabilizing potions, mixing herbs.The two rhythms merged: strike, stir, slice, swirl — destruction and creation beating in one pulse.
The Resonance
As both versions of him worked, the Red Code began syncing their outputs.Each emotion Astral Lumiel felt—focus, rage, satisfaction—bled into the physical brew.Each calm breath of his real body stabilized the chaos of battle.
Ayaka watched, stunned. "He's doing alchemy through emotion."
Vastel scribbled frantically. "He's merging states of being! This isn't meditation—it's metaphysical manufacturing!"
Lumiel felt it too: every strike in the Astral fed the alchemy with vitality, while every completed potion sharpened his blade in turn.Two halves of one consciousness—mirrors feeding mirrors.
The Verdant Script
When the last goblin fell, its core shone brighter than the rest—pure, green-gold, filled with the energy of rebirth.Lumiel reached out, and the Red Code wrapped around it like vines.
Fragment V: Verdant Script detected.Law of Life and Decay initialized.
In both worlds, symbols erupted around him—patterns of leaves made of light and petals woven from code.Herbs in his lab sprouted instantly, their roots glowing. The potion turned a living emerald hue.
Astral Lumiel watched in awe as the forest itself began to heal where he stood.Every scar, every burn, every remnant of goblin corruption dissolved into flowers of red and white.
Reunion
The two Lumiels turned toward each other through the mirror's surface.Their voices overlapped perfectly.
"Creation and destruction are just phases of the same heartbeat."
They stepped forward.Body and spirit merged in a surge of light — the Red Code flowing between them like a river rejoining itself.When the glow faded, Lumiel stood alone again, panting, alive, trembling with power.
The air smelled of iron and spring.
Kuroha padded closer. "You just gardened reality with murder."
Ayaka grinned. "And somehow made it look elegant."
Cartethyia's Whisper
The mirrors along the lab wall rippled faintly.A reflection appeared—soft, luminous, half-there.
Cartethyia's voice drifted like silk:
"You've learned to exist in harmony with yourself. That's how my kind were born—when the gods finally understood balance."
Lumiel closed his eyes, smiling faintly. "Then maybe we're not so different."
"Not yet," she whispered. "But you're getting close."
The reflection faded, leaving only a faint pulse of light in the glass — a heartbeat echoing from another world.