Just Extra

The underground river carried them forward. The water flowed through winding passages that slowly became wider and smoother. Naviga noticed the change first. The rough, natural stone walls were turning into surfaces that looked almost polished. At first, the difference was small. It was easy to think it was just the dim light from their essence playing tricks. But as they went further, the change became clear.

"Miss, the walls are different here," Naviga said, pointing to the shiny surfaces around them. "This does not look natural anymore."

Minerva stopped. She reached out her hand to touch the closest wall. Her fingers met something cold and very smooth. "You are right. This is ice, but not like any ice I have ever seen. It feels almost like glass."

They moved forward more carefully now. The river kept flowing beside them, but the sound seemed quieter. It was as if the strange ice walls were soaking up the noise. The air grew heavier with each step. It was thick with essence that made Naviga's skin feel strange.

After another hundred meters, the passage opened into something that made them both stop and stare. In front of them stood an archway made from pure ice. Its surface showed their reflections with perfect clearness. Beyond the archway, they could see what looked like a huge room. But the details were hard to see through the shimmering frost that hung in the air like a living curtain.

"This is definitely not natural," Minerva said quietly. "Someone made this. The question is who, and why."

Naviga studied the archway with care. She looked for any traps or formations. The ice was seamless, without a single crack or flaw. The work was extraordinary, far better than anything she had seen at the Medure estate or even in the hidden lab they had just left. Her hand moved on its own to her sword. She found comfort in the familiar weight of Black Death.

She tried to use her chip to scan the area. She sent the mental command like she had done many times before. But nothing happened. No interface appeared in her mind. No analysis started. She tried again, focusing harder, but the chip stayed silent. A cold feeling settled in her stomach. It had nothing to do with the temperature.

"Miss, I think we should be very careful here," Naviga said. She kept her voice steady even though she felt more and more uneasy. "Something about this place feels wrong."

Minerva nodded. She called her Scorching Tyrant sword into her hand. The blade's presence seemed to warm the air around them a little. It pushed back against the heavy cold. "I agree. But we have come this far. Turning back now would be a waste. There might be something valuable beyond this entrance."

They exchanged a look. It was a silent communication they had developed over their years together. Minerva would go first. Her fire essence would provide both light and protection. Naviga would follow close behind. She would be ready to help or defend if needed. It was a pattern they had made through many battles and challenges.

Minerva stepped through the archway first. Naviga followed right after. The change was instant and confusing. One moment they were stepping through ice. The next they were standing in a room so huge that its edges disappeared into darkness. But it was not the size that took Naviga's breath away. It was the mirrors.

They were everywhere. Walls of perfect ice stretched in every direction. Each surface showed their reflections with supernatural clearness. The reflections were not still either. They moved on their own, showing different angles, different moments. It was as if each mirror caught a slightly different version of reality. The effect was dizzying. It created an endless maze of identical ice walls that seemed to move and change whenever Naviga looked away.

"Miss, stay close," Naviga said. She reached out toward where Minerva had been standing just a moment before. Her hand found only empty air. She spun around, looking for her young lady. But she saw only her own reflection repeated endlessly in every direction. "Lady Minerva?"

No answer came. The room swallowed her voice. It ate the sound as if it had never been spoken. Panic began to rise in Naviga's chest. But she forced it down with the iron discipline that had kept Joseph alive through years of assassination missions. Panic meant death. Control meant survival.

She tried her chip again. She was desperate for any information about what was happening. Still nothing. Whatever force controlled this place had cut her off from that resource completely. She was alone with only her training, her essence, and her weapons.

"This is an illusion," Naviga told herself firmly. "The mirrors are showing false images. Lady Minerva is here somewhere. I just need to stay calm and figure out how this trap works."

But even as she spoke, the reflections around her began to change. Her own image started to shift. The white dress and silver eyes faded. They were replaced by something else. Someone else. A young man with dark hair and cold eyes. He was dressed in black tactical gear. Joseph. Her past life was staring back at her from every mirror.

Naviga's breath caught. She had not seen that face in years. Not since her reincarnation into this world. But the mirrors showed it now in perfect detail. Every feature was exactly as she remembered. And then the reflections began to move. They stepped out of the mirrors as if they were doorways rather than surfaces.

Dark figures emerged from the ice. They were ghostly and see-through but definitely there. They were people she recognized. Faces from Joseph's memories. The targets. The people she had killed in her previous life as an assassin. They surrounded her in a silent circle. Their expressions were accusing. Their eyes were empty.

"You are not real," Naviga said. She gripped Black Death tightly. "You are illusions created by this place. I will not be fooled by tricks."

But the ghostly figures did not disappear. Instead, more came out from the mirrors. Men and women, young and old. Every person whose life Joseph had ended for the organization that had created him. They did not speak. But their presence was accusation enough. The weight of those deaths, buried deep in Naviga's memories, suddenly felt fresh and heavy.

And then the mirrors changed again. They showed a new scene that made Naviga's blood run cold. It was the battlefield from the first chapter. The rain-soaked ground was covered with dead bodies. But this vision was different from her real memories. In this reflection, she saw Minerva lying broken and bloody on the ground. Her red hair was matted with mud and gore. Naviga watched herself stumble toward her fallen lady. She watched the light fade from Minerva's eyes as death took her.

"No," Naviga whispered. "That did not happen. I saved her. We both survived."

But the mirrors insisted otherwise. They showed the scene again and again from different angles. Each time they added more horrible details. Minerva's last gasping breaths. The way her hand had reached out for Naviga before going limp. The absolute failure of the maid who had sworn to protect her.

The ghostly figures began to close in. Their see-through forms seemed more solid with each step. Naviga swung Black Death at the nearest one. But her blade passed through it without any resistance. It was like cutting nothing but air. The figure kept coming forward. It was not bothered by the attack.

"You failed her," a voice said. Naviga realized with horror that it was her own voice. Joseph's voice. It came from one of the ghostly figures. "You failed everyone. Every person you killed. Every mission you completed. Every life you ruined. And now you have failed the one person who trusted you most."

"I did not fail," Naviga said through gritted teeth. "Lady Minerva is alive. We both survived that battle. This is not real."

But doubt crept in despite her certainty. The visions were so vivid, so detailed. What if her memories were wrong? What if she had made up a false story to protect herself from the truth? The mirrors seemed to feed on her uncertainty. The reflections grew sharper and more insistent.

Then the mirrors showed something new. They showed Naviga as a child in her first life. She was in the cold training room of the organization. She was being forced to fight another child. The other child was smaller, weaker. Naviga remembered this day. She had won the fight. The organization had praised her. But the mirrors showed what happened after. They showed the other child being taken away, never to be seen again. They showed Naviga being given extra food as a reward for her victory.

"You enjoyed it," the voice said, still using Joseph's tone. "You liked the power. You liked being the one who survived. You are not a victim. You are a monster, just like the people who made you."

Naviga shook her head. "No. I was a child. I had no choice."

"Didn't you?" the voice pressed. "You could have refused. You could have let the other child win. But you didn't. You fought to win because that is who you are. A killer. A weapon. Nothing more."

The mirrors shifted again. Now they showed Minerva discovering Naviga's secret. They showed Minerva's face filled with horror and disgust. They showed Minerva turning her back on Naviga, calling her a monster, ordering her to leave and never return.

"This is what will happen," the voice said. "When she learns the truth about you, about what you were, she will reject you. No one could love a killer. No one could trust a weapon."

Naviga felt her certainty waver. What if the voice was right? What if Minerva would hate her if she knew the truth about Joseph? The possibility was a pain sharper than any physical wound.

The ghostly figures pressed closer. Their cold presence made the air feel frozen. Naviga could feel their accusing stares even with her eyes closed. She tried to remember Minerva's smile, the trust in her eyes, the way she had stood by Naviga through so many challenges. But the false visions were so powerful, so convincing.

Then a new illusion appeared. This one showed Sister Minasa. She was looking at Naviga with deep disappointment. "I took you in," the false Minasa said. "I gave you a new life. I trusted you to protect my niece. And you have betrayed that trust. You are still the same killer you always were. You don't deserve the name Akerman. You don't deserve to be part of our family."

The words cut deep. Naviga's relationship with Minasa was one of the most important things in her new life. The thought of losing that respect, that familial bond, was terrifying.

The mirrors continued their assault. They showed Naviga alone, abandoned by everyone she cared about. They showed her back in her old life, carrying out another assassination with cold efficiency. They showed that this new life, this new identity, was just a temporary fantasy. That she would always return to what she truly was: a weapon, a killer, alone.

"You see?" the voice said, now sounding almost gentle, almost pitying. "This is the truth. You can pretend to be someone else, but you can't change what you are. The best thing you can do is accept it. Stop fighting. Let go."

For a moment, Naviga felt the temptation. The weight of all these illusions, all these doubts, was crushing. It would be easier to just give in, to stop struggling against the inevitable.

But then she thought of Minerva. Not the false, dying Minerva from the illusions, but the real Minerva. The young lady who had faced countless challenges with courage and determination. The young lady who had never once treated Naviga as just a servant or a weapon. The young lady who had become her friend.

Naviga forced herself to take a deep breath. She called on the techniques that had sustained her through years of impossible situations. She closed her eyes, blocking out the visual assault of the mirrors. She focused inward. Her cultivation. Her essence. The moon energy that flowed through her veins was real. It was hers. It was proof of who she was now.

She channeled her Moon Element. She felt it respond to her will. The cool power filled her. It steadied her mind and pushed back against the creeping doubt. She was not Joseph anymore. That life was over. That person was gone. She was Naviga Akerman. She was a maid to Minerva Medure. She was a cultivator of the Lunar Path. She was the wielder of Black Death.

"I am Naviga Akerman," she said aloud. Her voice gained strength with each word. "I serve Lady Minerva of House Medure. My duty is to protect her, to support her, to stand by her side. That is my reality. That is my truth."

The ghostly figures wavered. Their forms became less solid. But they did not disappear entirely. The mirrors continued their assault. They showed new visions now. They showed Minerva turning away from her in disgust. They showed the Medure family casting her out. They showed Sister Minasa looking at her with disappointment. Every fear and insecurity was given form and weight by the malicious magic of this place.

But Naviga was finding her center again. She remembered something Minerva had told her once, during a particularly difficult training session. "The truth is what we choose to believe in, Naviga. Not what others tell us, not what our fears whisper to us. What we choose."

She chose to believe in the bond she shared with Minerva. She chose to believe in the family she had found with the Akermans. She chose to believe that her past did not have to define her future.

Naviga opened her eyes and raised Black Death. She let her Moon Essence flow into the blade. The sword began to glow with silvery light. It pushed back the darkness of the room. She moved into the first form of the Lunar Edge Sword Arts. Her body followed patterns ingrained through countless hours of training. The movements were meditation in motion. Each step and strike was a declaration of purpose and identity.

"My past does not define me," Naviga said. She executed a perfect Crescent Moon slash. It sent an arc of moonlight through the nearest ghostly figure. This time, instead of passing through harmlessly, the energy disrupted the illusion. It caused the figure to flicker and fade. "My failures do not control me. I choose who I am. I choose to be someone worthy of the trust Lady Minerva has placed in me."

She continued the sword forms. She moved through the room with growing confidence. Each strike was both a physical and mental declaration. The Phantom Moon Step carried her between mirrors. Her footwork created afterimages that confused the illusions. The Eclipse Slash sent shadows cutting through the false visions. It dispersed them like morning mist under sunlight.

The mirrors fought back. They showed her more painful memories. They showed more possible failures. But Naviga had found her center. That core of self that even death and reincarnation had not destroyed. She was not running from her past anymore. Joseph's memories were part of her. But they were not all of her. She had been given a second chance. A new life. And she had chosen to use it differently.

"I killed people in my past life," Naviga acknowledged. She cut through another ghostly figure. "I was a weapon created by evil people for evil purposes. But I was also a victim. A child who had no choice. That does not excuse what I did. But it also does not mean I must remain that person forever."

The room seemed to shudder around her. It was as if her words carried physical weight. The mirrors cracked slightly. Their perfect surfaces developed hairline fractures.

"Lady Minerva is alive," Naviga continued. Her voice grew stronger. "I know this because I can feel the bond between us. The connection that has developed over years of service and trust. These visions are lies designed to break me. But I will not break. I refuse to break."

She reached the center of the room. The largest mirror stood there. This one showed the most vivid illusion yet. Minerva's death played out in agonizing detail. But Naviga did not flinch away from it this time. Instead, she stared directly at the false image. She spoke with absolute certainty.

"This did not happen. This will not happen. I swear on everything I am, everything I have become, that I will protect Lady Minerva with my life. That is my purpose. That is my choice. And no illusion, no matter how convincing, can take that truth from me."

She raised Black Death high. She channeled every drop of Moon Essence she could gather. The blade blazed with silver light so intense it washed out every other color in the room. And then, with all the force of her conviction and cultivation, she brought the sword down in a devastating Eclipse Slash.

The strike connected with the central mirror. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the ice began to crack. Lines spread from the impact point like a spiderweb. The cracks widened. Light bled through from somewhere beyond. With a sound like breaking chains, the mirror shattered completely.

The illusions vanished instantly. The ghostly figures, the false visions, the endless reflections—all of it disappeared as if it had never existed. Naviga found herself standing in a much smaller room than she had thought before. She was surrounded by broken pieces of magical ice that were already starting to melt.

And across from her, also lowering her sword, stood Minerva.

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