The mirror chamber trembled as Lu Feng clashed with his duplicate.
Soul chains met midair, sparking blue and black as their wills collided.
"I'm what the Bureau needs," said the Mirror Master. "A leader without flaws, without fear."
"You're a puppet built from fear," Lu Feng shot back. "You erased people, replaced them with shadows!"
The Mirror Master's grin twisted. "And yet everyone obeyed."
Lu Feng snarled. His chain flared brighter.
"You tried to control the narrative. But you forgot—memories live in hearts, not files."
The Mirror Master sent a barrage of mirror shards. Each showed a different version of Lu Feng—dying, failing, surrendering.
"See? You're nothing but a series of doomed endings."
"I'm also every rebirth," Lu Feng growled. "I chose to be more."
Suddenly, a surge of warmth entered him.
> **Soul-link activated…**
**Kai Lin.**
From her cell, she had activated their shared bond.
"I'm here," her voice echoed in his heart. "Don't let him decide who you are."
Lu Feng's spirit ignited. His soul chain wrapped around his doppelgänger.
> "You're not me."
> "You never were."
With a roar, he drove his chain into the mirror core.
The Mirror Master screamed, fragments of light exploding outward.
Every mirrored surface cracked, the whole room shaking.
And then—silence.
The Mirror Master's form crumbled, a whisper on the wind.
> "You chose… imperfection…"
> "No," Lu Feng said, standing tall. "I chose truth."
---
Minutes later, the Tribunal's system crashed.
Every false file. Every erased soul.
Restored.
The Bureau entered emergency reform. Dozens of agents once thought lost were named and remembered again.
And at the heart of it all—Lu Feng and Kai Lin.
---
From her now-unlocked cell, Kai Lin emerged.
Lu Feng was waiting for her.
"Took you long enough," she teased.
"You always said I needed to learn patience."
They stood in the quiet hallway, the world rebuilding itself behind them.
And without a word, they walked forward—together.
Chapter Twelve: The Fall of the Tribunal
The Tribunal Hall stood quiet.
Seven high judges of the Black Rose sat motionless, their masks cracked, their systems offline.
Kai Lin stepped into the chamber, flanked by Lu Feng and the remaining members of the Spirit Division.
"By whose authority do you enter?" one judge croaked, voice barely sustained by spirit code.
Lu Feng tossed a glowing core onto the floor—it pulsed with the Mirror Master's residual signature.
"By the authority of your god, broken."
The judges stirred in alarm.
Kai Lin raised her hand. "Your crimes are recorded. Soul Market. Identity erasure. Forced awakenings."
"Lies—" another judge gasped.
"No. Truth."
Zhao Ting stepped forward, projecting thousands of recovered documents onto the walls—each one a name, a memory, a stolen identity.
"We are not here to negotiate," Kai Lin said. "We're here to dismantle."
One by one, the judges' platforms dimmed. Stripped of power.
The Black Rose Tribunal fell that day.
And from its ruins, a new council was formed.
One not built on fear—but on truth.
---
Weeks later.
Kai Lin and Lu Feng stood in the newly reformed Bureau central hall.
A statue was unveiled—two figures side by side, one holding a sword, the other a book.
It bore no names. Only a phrase:
> "To those who chose truth over control."
Lu Feng looked at Kai Lin. "We did it."
She gave a small smile. "Almost."
He raised a brow. "Almost?"
She stepped closer. "You still owe me dinner."
He laughed.
Outside, the city pulsed with life. Ghosts still wandered. Mysteries still brewed.
But for now, they had each other.
And the truth was no longer in the shadows.