The atmosphere was growing heavier. As the second Abyssal Pillar crumbled, a low hum echoed across the world map, audible to all players across the server. Some ignored it. Others, those who had touched the corruption, felt it as a vibration deep in their bones.
> System Notification:
Obsidian Cathedral – Awakening Phase 2 of 5 Complete.
Final Abyssal Pillar revealed: Tower of Black Mirrors.
Warning: Zone is classified as an "Unstable Nightmare Layer." Time distortion active.
Junzo, Rina, and Kai stood at the edge of a rocky cliff that overlooked a void where the laws of reality were visibly tearing. Floating fragments of landscape spiraled through the air. Trees bled shadows. Rivers flowed upwards. In the center of it all rose a spire of shimmering black glass: the Tower of Black Mirrors.
[New Zone Unlocked – Tower of Black Mirrors]
Environment: Nightmare Distortion
Zone Level: 75+ (Recommended Party Level: 80)
Respawn: Disabled
Time Dilation: 1 minute IRL = 1 hour in zone
Zone Buff: Mirror Memory – Shadow Clones of players may appear and attack at random.
> Kai (Lv. 68 – Shadow Striker): "A mirror tower that reflects your darkest self. This should be fun…"
> Rina (Lv. 69 – Arcane Empress): "Or terrifying. Time flows differently here. We could lose days if we're not careful."
> Junzo (Lv. 66 – Abyss Slayer): "We finish this quick. No hesitation."
They crossed into the tower's threshold and were immediately pulled into its distortion. No longer were they walking straight. The floor rippled under their feet. The walls flickered between obsidian glass and infinite reflections. Their own faces stared back at them older, younger, bloodied, twisted.
[System Effect – Mirror Pulse Detected]
Your reflections are studying you...
Mirror Clones Created: Junzo (Dark Slayer), Rina (Doom Empress), Kai (Fallen Shadow)
Warning: Clones possess all current skills and levels of original players.
Suddenly, the hallway darkened. A second later, Junzo was staring at his own face only colder. His Mirror Clone held a warped version of Abyss Fang, leaking reverse light. The battle began without warning.
> Dark Junzo: "You're fighting against what you'll become. I've already accepted it."
Their swords clashed in a blur of steel and light. Every move Junzo made, the clone mirrored but darker, crueler, and more efficient. Kai and Rina were engaged in similar duels, forced to fight themselves in a psychological test as much as a physical one.
> Rina: "She's using forbidden magic… that's what I was tempted to learn…"
> Kai: "Mine's not talking. He just… enjoys killing too much."
The tower was alive with flashes of spells and shadow strikes. It wasn't until Junzo broke his own rhythm moving irrationally that he managed to outmaneuver the clone and drive Abyss Fang through its chest.
[System Alert – Mirror Clone Defeated: Junzo]
Dark Slayer essence absorbed. New skill unlocked.
> Skill Gained – Abyss Echo (Passive): Your strikes echo a second time for 20% damage if attacking from surprise or after a dodge.
With Junzo's clone destroyed, he rushed to aid Rina, who was holding off her own dark version with a barrier nearly shattered. With a swift cut, he severed her clone's concentration, and Rina finished it with a beam of compressed arcane flame.
Kai's fight was more brutal. He and his clone blurred in and out of visibility, only reappearing mid-slash or after a hit connected. When it ended, both stood bloodied but only one was breathing.
[All Mirror Clones Destroyed – Floor One Cleared]
Reward: 1x Abyssal Key Fragment
Remaining Pillar Locks: 1
Next Tower Level Opening...
The tower shifted. Floors melted. Gravity twisted.
They were now standing in an enormous circular room of floating platforms, each surrounded by broken mirrors and shrouded in black mist. In the center hovered a monstrous figure: humanoid, but faceless, its body draped in glass shards and veiled with memories snippets of players' worst moments and deepest fears projected all around.
[Zone Boss Detected – The Mirror Warden]
Level 85 – Nightmare Class Guardian
HP: 22,000,000
Trait: Memory Reflection, Glass Phase, Soul Burn
Special Rule: All damage taken is mirrored back at attacker at 50% unless shielded.
> Rina: "We'll need to stagger the aggro. No solo bursts it'll reflect too hard."
> Kai: "I'll pull threat and confuse it. Junzo, wait for it to enter phase transition."
> Junzo: "Let's crack this thing."
The Mirror Warden began with Memory Glare, flooding the field with images from their past moments they wanted to forget. Junzo saw his old guild being wiped out. Rina relived the death of her sister in a previous dungeon raid. Kai saw himself standing alone in an empty friend list.
They pushed through the trauma.
Junzo activated Abyss Echo, dancing around the Warden's massive strikes. Rina deployed reflective shields to reduce the damage bounceback. Kai unleashed a barrage of poisoned shadow bolts, waiting until the Warden entered Glass Phase a state of vulnerability, where its body shattered temporarily, unable to reflect.
> Junzo: "Now!"
He unleashed Eclipse Breaker, enhanced by Abyss Awakening, dealing critical damage that shattered half its health. The boss screamed as mirrors cracked and voices echoed in a thousand directions.
Final Phase Triggered – Soul Burn Mode
Warden's glass form collapses into shadow mist.
All memory clones re-emerge as illusions.
> System Notice: Only truth can destroy the false.
The clones swarmed them. Rina used Reality Anchor, purging illusions in a radius. Kai danced between truth and lie, striking down the remaining clones with perfect precision.
Junzo struck the Warden's exposed core a crystal of fractured memories with his full power. The tower imploded.
[Boss Defeated – Mirror Warden]
EXP Gained: 3,500,000
Junzo Leveled Up: 66 → 68
Rina Leveled Up: 69 → 70
Kai Leveled Up: 68 → 69
Loot Obtained: Final Abyssal Key Fragment
Mirror Heart Core (Upgrade Catalyst)
Warden's Cloak of Illusion (Legendary – +25% resistance to mental effects)
> System Notice: All Abyssal Keys acquired. Obsidian Cathedral's main gate unlocked.
Eclipse Countdown: 30 in-game hours remaining...
Junzo looked out from the collapsing tower as the sky darkened further, a massive black dome rising in the distance the Obsidian Cathedral had fully awakened.
> Junzo: "The real battle begins now."