The Void howled around them like a living storm.
Dust and static swirled together, coating the broken terrain with a faint shimmer of violet light. Each strike between Blaze and the Shard split the air with deafening echoes, sparks scattering like stars in the endless wasteland.
They moved too fast for human eyes — blades flashing, feet kicking up clouds of ash.
Every motion mirrored, every sound repeated.
The Shard wasn't just fighting him.
It was him.
Same stance. Same weapon. Same relentless drive to win.
Blaze's chest heaved as he parried another blow, the shock of it rattling through his bones. "You just don't quit, do you?" he growled through clenched teeth.
The Shard tilted its head, face glitching between static and his own reflection. Then it lunged again — faster than before.
Blaze barely dodged. The blade cut a deep line across his shoulder, searing through his coat. He hissed in pain, spinning away as his sword clattered to the ground.
He grabbed his shoulder, blood running down his arm. His breaths came short and sharp.
He couldn't keep this up. The thing was getting stronger — adapting to every move he made.
Each second that passed, it learned a little more.
He looked back toward the ruins of the safehouse behind him — their temporary shelter from the Void storms. He'd told Ryze and SK to get clear, but his eyes drifted toward it again.
Maybe… there was something left in there that could help.
He tightened his grip and dashed toward the wreckage. The Shard followed immediately, movements echoing his every step.
Inside, the house was half-collapsed — walls scorched, comms shattered, everything trembling with the echoes of the fight. Blaze stumbled toward an old storage locker near the wall, tearing it open.
There it was.
His old armor — dark steel with a faint blue sheen, the crest of the 53rd Order still etched on the shoulder. Next to it, a long-bladed greatsword pulsing faintly with dormant energy.
He stared at it, momentarily frozen.
Memories flickered — fragments he couldn't place.
A battlefield under twin moons. Laughter in the rain. A voice calling his name.
Then nothing but static.
The Shard burst through the wall behind him with a blast of light. Blaze didn't hesitate. He grabbed the armor, letting the plates magnetize and seal themselves across his body — one after another, locking into place with mechanical clicks.
As the helmet folded around his head, his HUD flickered to life for the first time in years. Data scrolled across the visor, scanning the target in front of him.
Target: UNKNOWN ENTITY — MIMIC CLASS.
Threat Level: HIGH.
Directive: ELIMINATE.
Blaze reached for his old weapon, fingers closing around the hilt. The blade thrummed to life as he drew it, a deep blue glow tracing its edges.
"Alright," he muttered under his breath. "Let's finish this properly."
The Shard raised its own weapon in response — now matching Blaze's greatsword exactly.
Two mirrored warriors stood across from each other in the ruins, the Void wind screaming between them.
Then they clashed.
The impact shook the ground, sending waves of energy radiating in every direction. The remnants of the house shattered completely, debris scattering across the barren field. Both combatants vanished in a blur of motion — blades striking faster than thunder, light flashing brighter than fire.
To anyone watching, it would have been impossible to tell them apart.
Strike. Counter. Dodge. Slam.
Each move perfect, each attack met with its reflection.
Blaze gritted his teeth, pouring every ounce of strength into his swings. But the Shard was relentless — adapting, analyzing, improving. It fought like it knew his next move before he made it.
Then, in a rare moment of clarity, Blaze remembered something from long ago — a phrase whispered during his training as a Order of the Knight:
"To defeat your reflection, you must become something it cannot copy."
He exhaled slowly. The rhythm of battle changed.
Instead of clean technique, his movements became wild — unpredictable, chaotic. He swung from impossible angles, feinting where he'd normally strike, moving with instinct instead of precision.
The Shard hesitated — its algorithms unable to predict his erratic flow.
Blaze roared, driving his greatsword down in a massive arc that shattered the ground. The shockwave flung the Shard backward, its body flickering violently, static tearing across its form.
"Yeah," Blaze said, breathing hard. "Try copying that."
But the Void wasn't done yet.
The Shard began to reform, its broken pieces reassembling mid-air, light bending around it. Its aura pulsed brighter, more violent — almost sentient.
It lunged again, faster than ever before.
Blaze braced himself, clashing blades in a thunderous explosion of force. Both fighters were now blurs of light and metal, fighting atop cracked terrain glowing with residual energy.
Then — an opening.
Blaze slid under the Shard's swing and thrust upward with all his might, driving his blade through its core. A burst of light erupted, the shockwave flattening the area around them. The Shard convulsed, its body fracturing like glass.
He pushed harder, shouting through the pain. "Go back to whatever void you came from!"
With one final surge, the Shard shattered completely — disintegrating into streams of light that vanished into the sky.
The battle was over.
Silence fell.
The wind settled.
The only sound left was Blaze's ragged breathing.
He stood there for a moment, sword still embedded in the ground. Then, slowly, he sank down onto a nearby chunk of rubble — exhausted, his armor scorched and sparking in places.
The light from the destroyed Shard still glowed faintly across the field, drifting like fireflies. Blaze tilted his head up, looking toward the horizon — the direction Ryze and SK had gone.
"They made it," he whispered.
He should've been relieved.
But instead, something inside him felt… off.
As if the Shard hadn't just mimicked his fighting style — but had taken something from him.
He touched his helmet. The HUD flickered again, random data flooding his vision — names, coordinates, old logs from missions long before he joined the 53rd Unit.
Then, for the first time in years, his name appeared on the display.
53rd Unit: Blaze — Callsign "R*** B***."
Status: Reactivated.
His head throbbed as flashes of memory hit him all at once — training with other Skyrealm soldiers, battles under alien skies, a promise made to someone he couldn't remember.
"I… was part of them?" he murmured, clutching his head. "No… that can't be—"
Before he could process it further, he heard footsteps approaching.
Two figures emerged from the dust — weapons raised cautiously.
Ryze and SK.
They had returned to check on him.
From a distance, they couldn't tell who he was. The armor — dark, angular, gleaming faintly with blue light — made him look like a completely different person. An ancient Starborn warrior standing alone among the ruins.
SK pointed her scythe warily. "Identify yourself!"
Blaze turned slightly, resting his greatsword against the rubble beside him. The visor of his helmet reflected their worried faces.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then he chuckled softly — a tired, familiar sound that made Ryze freeze in place.
"Relax," he said, voice deeper now, filtered through the armor's modulator. "You really think I'd go down that easy?"
Ryze's eyes widened. "B… Blaze?"
He reached up and tapped the side of his helmet. With a soft hiss, it retracted, revealing his face — bruised, bloodied, but smiling faintly.
"Yeah," he said. "It's me."
SK lowered her weapon immediately, relief flooding her features. "Sir! We thought you—"
"I know," Blaze interrupted softly. "Sorry. Took a bit longer than expected."
Ryze ran up to him, kneeling beside him as he leaned against the rubble. "You idiot," she muttered, tears welling in her eyes. "You scared us half to death."
He laughed quietly. "Heh… guess I still got it."
But even as he smiled, his gaze drifted toward the faint glow in his gauntlet — the armor's systems still syncing old data. His expression darkened for a moment.
"Blaze?" Ryze asked, noticing the change.
He shook his head slightly. "It's nothing. Just… old ghosts."
He looked out across the horizon — the endless expanse of the Void stretching far into the distance.
Something had awakened inside him during that battle. Not just strength — memories.
He didn't know what they meant yet.
But one thing was certain: the Void wasn't done with them.
And neither was he.