The Mindscape shifted again — its sky cracking like frozen glass, its ground shimmering with endless reflections. Striver and Layla stood together at the center of the distorted realm, surrounded by floating shards of broken stars. The air hummed with a cold, metallic quiet.
Then the quiet broke.
Hundreds of figures rose from the fractured ground, crawling out of the shimmering reflections like echoes escaping mirrors. At first they looked like wraiths, but as they stepped into the dim light, their true nature became clear — each one possessed a mirror-glass body, reflecting both Striver and Layla in twisted, shifting forms.
They didn't speak.
They didn't roar.
They just stared.
Not powerful individually…
But together?
Layla whispered, "They move in swarms. Be careful."
Striver didn't even have time to reply.
All the mirror-wraiths smiled at once, a cold, unnatural expression — and vanished.
The swarm attack began instantly.
---
The Assault of the Glass Legion
Striver darted right while Layla rushed left, the two splitting instinctively the moment the wraiths flickered out of sight. Every direction erupted with movement — flashes, glimmers, distortions. The wraiths struck from impossible angles, appearing only as flickers before attacking.
Layla reacted fast.
Her senses sharpened through training and natural talent, she dodged the first incoming attack by sliding under a slashing arm of glass. Another wraith appeared behind her — she twisted, blades forming in her hands, slicing cleanly. The creature shattered into harmless shards before fading from existence.
She moved like controlled lightning, slicing one, vanishing, reappearing, striking another. She wasn't untouched, though — thin lines of pain on her arms and legs showed where the mirror edges grazed her.
But compared to Striver…
She was doing great.
---
Striver's Struggle
Striver didn't have Layla's trained reflexes. His raw power was incredible, but his senses weren't keeping up.
He was hit from behind — then the side — then launched upward before being kicked downward. It was like the wraiths were using him as a training dummy.
Layla winced as she watched him fly across the battlefield.
"Striver, move smarter!" she shouted.
He tried — he really did — but the wraiths vanished too quickly for him to track.
Then something changed.
Striver hit the ground, rolled, and stopped. As another attack came from behind, he didn't dodge — he reached back, grabbed the wraith by its mirror-like neck, and crushed it.
The creature shattered in his grip like thin ice.
Striver smirked.
"Got one."
He dodged another slash, barely missing one aimed at his throat.
"Okay, that was close," he muttered.
Then he took a breath — and unleashed power.
He summoned black holes, white holes, and a miniature star — a mix of space-bending power he had used on Ultimate before. It wasn't strong enough for Ultimate, but against these wraiths?
They didn't stand a chance.
The tiny star detonated with burning radiance.
Invisible wraiths screamed soundlessly as they evaporated.
Striver laughed, exhausted but proud.
"You see that?! Told you I'm improving!"
---
Layla's Reality Shift
Layla raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed — but not enough to relax.
She exhaled slowly and bent reality itself.
Space froze.
Time paused.
The remaining wraiths stood suspended mid-attack, unable to move.
With a snap of her fingers, dozens of shimmering blades formed around her and shot forward, destroying every frozen wraith with precision and speed.
Striver relaxed.
Layla did not.
She stayed tense, scanning every angle. The Mindscape had rules — illusions, tricks, traps — and she trusted none of them.
Striver smirked.
"You're way too uptight—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
A wraith appeared behind him, grabbing his entire torso as if trying to drain his energy. Its mirror body began glowing with Striver's power, cracks forming across its surface.
Layla lunged toward them—
But an invisible shockwave hit them both, launching them across the battlefield.
---
The Broken Reflection
Striver and Layla landed hard. When they recovered, the wraith had already changed.
It no longer looked like the others.
It looked like Striver.
A mirrored copy of him — except cracked, unstable, flickering with stolen cosmic power. Its presence intensified sharply, its threat level rising beyond anything they faced today.
Layla's expression tightened.
"That… is not good."
Striver swallowed.
"Yeah, I can tell."
Then the Mindscape shook.
---
Across the Universes…
Far outside the Mindscape, across countless universes, Ultimate grew. His colossal form towered over star systems. With each step, galaxies trembled, planets shattered, and space folded under his presence.
He was hunting.
Searching.
Following the memory of two energies locked deep in his mind.
Striver.
Layla.
His fury rose as he remembered the weakness he had shown them before — the moment they escaped. When he sensed their presence vanish, he knew instantly:
"The Creator interfered."
Enraged, he waved his hand.
Entire light-years collapsed, erased in an instant.
"When I sense them again," he whispered, "I'll make sure they stay dead."
Then he shrank, compressing into human form before disappearing onto a nearby world.
---
Back in the Mindscape
Striver barely blocked an attack from his cracked reflection, the mirror-version striking with speed he couldn't follow. The clone kicked him, launching him toward the edge of the Mindscape — toward the endless void below.
He almost fell.
Layla teleported behind the reflection, slashing—
But the creature vanished, reappearing behind her, tapping her neck hard enough to hurt.
Not dangerous enough to kill…
But enough to sting.
The wraith vanished again.
Striver couldn't see or sense it.
Layla could.
She bent space and froze the creature just as it was about to attack Striver again.
"Get serious," she snapped.
"I am serious!" Striver shouted back, summoning a larger star — hotter, brighter, far more dangerous.
Layla held the cracked wraith still.
Striver fired.
The star exploded against the reflection, sending shockwaves throughout the Mindscape. Striver and Layla slid backward from the blast. When the light cleared, the cracked reflection was gone — erased completely.
Layla exhaled slowly.
"Finally."
Striver huffed.
"You okay?"
"Fine," she said. "But why aren't you using your powers properly?"
"I am," he repeated.
"Well, not smartly." She crossed her arms. "You're supposed to use imagination or something, aren't you?"
Striver paused.
Then face-palmed.
"Oh—right. The main thing. My actual ability."
Layla blinked. "Huh?"
Striver smiled slightly.
"Damn. You're actually amazing."
She rolled her eyes but accepted the compliment, still staying alert.
The Mindscape was never done.
And she was right.
Because the ground beneath them suddenly cracked — not glass this time, but pure darkness, like the Mindscape itself was rejecting them.
A cold whisper echoed:
"You killed the reflections.
Now face the source."
A massive shadow rose from the crack, taller than anything they'd fought so far. Its body was a shifting mirror, reflecting Striver and Layla in thousands of distorted forms.
Its eyes opened —
And reality shook.
---
The Origin Wraith Awakens
Layla grabbed Striver's arm.
"Striver… run."
He didn't move.
Because the creature spoke with his voice — a perfect, emotionless version:
"I am your imagination without limits.
Your power without control."
Striver's eyes widened.
Layla whispered:
"…that's impossible."
The Origin Wraith stepped forward as the Mindscape began collapsing around them.
Everything shook.
Everything broke.
And then—
The creature vanished.
Striver vanished with it.
Layla reached out—
Too late.