The blue-purple flashes and red spiral created a mirror circle, resembling the infernal crater in the ruins of Yamato. Inside that mirror, Izanami was no longer just a spiral deity but a being forced to confront the consequences of her own actions. The roads that were once filled with souls now only echoed the whispers of names that had been erased.
Izanami, standing amidst the runes, her cynical smile not yet fully faded, her gaze teasing death.
Izanami points to the mirror with a challenging tone, "Do you think this reflection can hurt me, human? I am Spiral! I am eternal—names, time, everything belongs to me!”
Fitran, standing with dried blood on his arms, his cold gaze, his voice calm like an executioner who has often ended lives.
Fitran moves closer with a cynical smile, "Eternity is merely an illusion, Izanami. Your shadow will never be able to escape." He looked at the mirror, "Even eternity can shatter if it refuses to face its own shadow. This mirror is not just glass, here all the names you have snatched away finally speak."
The light of the mirror illuminated thousands of faces—lost babies, blood-soaked soldiers, mothers who never ceased their wailing. Each face is a remnant of the world left behind by the spirals, cursing, demanding, remembering.
Izanagi, trembling steps, voice cracking while still trying to challenge,
Izanagi crosses her arms in a tone feeling trapped, "Silence… this is an illusion… I have erased all of you! The world needs to forget, not remember."
The face of a child spirit, eyes wet with wounds that never heal, appears from the mirror, a faint voice piercing through. Izanagi stops, her heart quivering.
The child supports the weight of a head filled with memories. "You said the world was better off without me. But my mother has cried for hundreds of years after I left."
Fitran stands calmly, observing, a cunning smile etched on his face. "What does that crying mean if the world only leaves behind meaningless memories? Do you not feel that she has forgotten you?"
The face of a warrior spirit, blood dripping from his chin, sharp gaze piercing through. Izanagi bows her head, guilt burning within her.
The warrior spills forth injustice. "You took my name, but my vengeance still lives in this world. Your spiral can never erase the pain," he says, grasping at emptiness.
Fitran tilts his head, staring without fear. "Vengeance? Just an illusion you cling to, man. In this world, only the strong hold meaning." His smile reveals his indifference.
The face of an old spirit, trembling hands reaching towards Izanagi, voice like dry leaves swept by the wind. Izanagi feels the cold wind brush her neck.
"You bring emptiness, Izanagi. But there is no meaning. You don't even know who you are without our names." His emotions surged, disappointment overwhelming him.
Fitran shook his head, serious. "Fool, let them take you away. You are just one of the many souls left behind." He stepped forward.
Izanagi’s body began to crack, her spiral skin glowing then shattering into tiny fragments, only to grow back—yet increasingly frail. In the mirror, she saw herself endlessly changing faces: Deity, baby, human, monster, then entirely void. The voices of thousands of whispers shook the space around her.
Izanagi, gasping, her voice breaking, her hands reached for the circle as if wanting to escape. "I… I am the beginning and the end! You are merely memories that must be erased. This world thrives on forgetfulness!”
Fitran furrowed his brow, his gaze sharp. "Beginning and end? Or just an illusion you created to soothe yourself? Do you think running from us can change your fate?"
Fitran looked at the mirror, his voice cold and full of nails. "You are afraid of becoming void, Izanagi. All your spirals are just a way to cover the hole within yourself. But sins cannot be continuously left behind. You can run from names, but not from the reflection of your destruction." He stepped closer, his aura pressing down on Izanagi.
The circle of the mirror sharpened into a corridor of time: Izanagi was forced to retrace every betrayal. Every name erased, Fitran's voice pierced the silence, with a cold tone, "Every step of yours is bound to past sins, Izanagi. Have you forgotten who you are?"
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Cracks in his body morphed into black lines, like the roots of a dead tree spreading. The face of his mother, her eyes burning with intensity. Izanagi jolted, his eyes widened, "Mother, don't go!"
“Give me my child back! The world does not belong to you alone, Izanagi!” His mother's voice echoed in his mind. Izanagi covered his ears, hunched over, the sound turning into a wail of torment. He groaned, "Enough! I... I will…”
Faces in the mirror now screamed in unison, the sound scorching the air. Fitran stepped forward, a cynical smile spreading on his lips, "Return our names! Return the meaning of the world!”
Izanagi fell to his knees, his spiral aura slowly dissipating. His body became transparent, his empty eyes staring at the mirrors of sin, powerless to object. Fitran stood at the threshold of the circle, a look of triumph in his gaze, "Look at yourself now, Izanagi. How does it feel to see those ghosts?"
A voice almost pitiful yet still cold, "Now you know, Izanagi—what truly endures are the wounds forgotten. There is no hope for one like you.”
Saburo whispered to Kaoru and Daichi, his voice trembling, "Is this the end? Or will Izanagi rise again?”
Kaoru, eyes swollen, gripping the glyph pendant tightly, speaks with tension and dimming hope, "As long as names can still be called, the spiral cannot fully win."
Daichi, raising his head, voice soft, "Fitran… is he human, or just a mirror deceiving the world?"
Rune of Reflection trembles. Spiral energy and void neutralize each other, causing the mirror circle to ripple like the surface of water. Izanagi's body weakens further, his face shifting—sometimes in fear, sometimes in anger, sometimes completely vacant. Izanagi, body trembling, approaches, pleading with a choked voice, "Fitran... will you let me perish here? Why are you doing this?"
Fitran, staring coldly, steps forward with determination. "Because, Izanagi, there is only one way to change this world. You must let go of yourself so that others can survive."
Izanagi, his last voice nearly fading, hoarse, pleads with Fitran. "What… do you want now? I am already trapped, already regretful. Isn’t that enough?"
Fitran, without looking at him, replies in a low voice, full of certainty, "Regret is merely a feeble perspective. What this world needs is the strength to begin anew, even if it means burying everything."
Saburo, knees trembling, glares at Fitran with hatred. "Do you want to become the next Deity, Fitran? Or a monster rewriting the world?"
Fitran, laughing cynically, the light in his eyes shining cruelly, speaks with disdain, "Deity? No one needs a deity in this shattered world. Monster? This world is more honest if ruled by devils. I am merely painting new lines in the world you know."
Amidst the thunderous voices of spirits, the mirror's light casts Izanagi's shadow in every direction—each reflection carrying a name once erased, now returned to the world for a brief moment. Saburo and Kaoru hear the voices of their long-lost family; Daichi holds back tears as his brother's voice emerges from the crack of light.
Saburo, trembling, sounds desperate. "I hear… my father's voice… He still remembers my name. I… I still exist!"
Kaoru, softly, slowly, as if afraid that the voice might vanish again, "Mother… please don’t leave again… Please stay here, even if just for a moment…" He clasps his hands, sobbing. "I can’t be alone."
Daichi, closing his eyes, whispers one name. "Riko… I promise I won’t forget again…" When her name is heard, his head bows, as if bearing a weight. "But… what if all of this is just an illusion?"
The mirror's aura absorbs the red spiral within Izanagi, making her smaller, weaker. The voices of the spirits begin to fade. The spiral deity is now merely a fragile silhouette, standing amidst a sea of names risen from emptiness.
Izanagi, her voice almost breaking, appeared more like a shadow.
“World… you… will never truly be free. The Spiral always returns. Names are always swallowed by time.” She stared towards the light, hope lost.
Fitran, with a cynical smile, gazed sharply at the young people.
“Perhaps it is true. But today, you rewrite your own world. As long as one name endures, the Spiral must wait outside the door.” He stepped closer, a cold feeling enveloping the atmosphere.
“Are you brave enough to create chaos?”
Saburo, looking at Fitran with a mix of fear and respect.
“Where will you go, Fitran?”
Fitran, his smile flat, walked away from the circle of runes.
“To a place where old sins wait. A new world needs new writers—and I still owe a debt to the darkness.” He closed the distance, his voice a whisper, "Remember, every choice has its price." He vanished into his own shadow.
The last light of the mirror subtly erupted. Izanagi's body collapsed, transforming into a rain of fragments of light that slowly vanished into the air. No souls remained. No Spiral threatened. Only silence—and names that could now be spoken without fear.
Kaoru, her voice broken, fought back tears. Her eyes swollen, she trembled, “Will we still be able to call each other's names without worry tomorrow?”
Daichi, gazing at the sky, his breath ragged, speaks with determination, "We risk everything tonight. If we survive until tomorrow, we must be the first to call all the names left behind."
Saburo, looking down, his hands gripping the ground, his face resolute, "We will remember. We must endure."
Fitran pauses at the brink of the ruins, his gaze sharp and cold as he looks at the fading mirror. In his eyes, there is no warmth—only dark without a bottom, "This world has collapsed, but why do we struggle?"
Fitran, the last voice of that night, almost unheard, his back turned to the dimming light, "This world is not worth saving. But as long as there are those who refuse to be erased, no matter how strong the spiral is, it can never truly win."
The Rune of Reflection slowly fades away. In the north of Yamato, that night became a different night: for once, there were no Deities or monsters that won—only the last of the humans, uttering the names they carried from the destruction, even knowing the world would never be perfect.

