The reflections were closing in. The wet slapping of their bare feet echoed off the stone walls. Their empty, smiling faces were only a few steps away.
Lina's mind raced. They could not fight them all. Nia's blue magic was flickering, growing weak. Reyon was too empty to help. They were trapped between the chapel doors and the army of stolen faces.
But Lina remembered something.
In the basement, Nia had used a revealing spell and found the False Kai's true weakness. A reflection needs a light source.
The grand hallway was filled with moonlight pouring through the tall glass windows. The light hit the antique mirrors on the walls. The mirrors were giving the reflections their power. They were using the glass to step out into the real world.
"Reyon!" Lina yelled over the noise of the approaching monsters. "Your illusions stick to things, right? They don't fade!"
Reyon looked up. His face was pale and sweaty. "Yes," he whispered. "They stick."
"Cover the mirrors!" Lina pointed at the tall glass on the walls. "Block the light! If they have no reflection, they can't move!"
Reyon nodded. He did not stand up. He just raised his shaking hands toward the walls. He did not try to make a fake object. Instead, he pushed out a thick, sticky darkness.
It looked like black paint. The dark magic flew through the air and splattered across the tall mirrors. It stuck to the glass, blocking the moonlight completely.
The effect was instant.
The reflections let out a terrible, high-pitched scream. It sounded like a hundred windows shattering at once. Their bodies froze mid-step. Without the light hitting the mirrors, they lost their connection to the real world. They turned into stiff, frozen statues of pale flesh and black water.
"The light! Block the rest of the windows!" Lina ordered.
Nia raised her hands and blasted the tall glass windows at the end of the hall. The glass shattered outward. The heavy, dark storm clouds outside blocked the moonlight. The hallway plunged into deep shadows.
The remaining reflections in the hall froze, too.
"Go! Now!" Lina screamed.
She grabbed Kai's hand and pulled him toward the chapel. Mira and Seren ran beside them. Nia and Reyon followed close behind.
They were only ten feet from the heavy iron doors of the chapel. They were going to make it.
But suddenly, Kai stopped walking.
Lina stumbled and turned around. "Kai, come on! We have to get inside!"
Kai did not move. He was staring at his own hand.
Lina's breath caught in her throat. She looked down at his fingers.
They were not flesh anymore. They were turning clear. They looked like thick, smooth glass. The moonlight shone right through them.
"Kai..." Lina whispered. She reached out and touched his arm.
His skin was hard and cold. It felt like a windowpane.
"I... I do not feel solid," Kai said. His voice sounded strange. It was thin and echoey, like he was speaking from inside an empty jar.
"No," Lina said quickly. She grabbed his face with both hands. His cheeks were hard and smooth. "No, you are real. You are back. Reyon traded his shadow. You are out."
"I was in the dark for too long," Kai whispered. A single, clear tear rolled down his glass-like cheek. It did not wet his skin. It just slid down the smooth surface like a drop of rain on a window. "The mirror is pulling me back, Lina. My body does not belong here anymore."
Behind them, the frozen reflections began to twitch. The darkness was fading. The clouds outside were moving, and the moonlight was coming back.
"Kai, please," Lina begged, her voice breaking. She refused to let him go. She refused to lose him again. "Just walk. Please. Just walk to the door."
Kai looked at her. His eyes were still human, still full of fear and love. But his neck was starting to turn clear, too.
"Okay," he whispered.
He took one step. But as his foot hit the stone floor, it made a sharp, hard clink, like a glass bottle hitting the ground.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2026
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Next Chapter Summary for Chapter 126: Lina and the group barely make it inside the iron chapel, but Kai's condition worsens as his body turns to glass, forcing Lina to confront the terrifying truth of what the mirror really did to him.