CHAPTER 80: CHAPTER 80 – THE FIRST CHALLENGER

The storm of broken glass settled into uneasy silence.

Fragments floated in slow orbit around Ren, catching and scattering the pale silver glow of the rift above. His new crown shimmered jagged and incomplete across his brow, shards jutting like teeth of a broken halo. Every step he took pressed authority into the ground itself, making the mirror-realm tremble as if reluctant to bear his weight.

The shard-winged girl stared, wings twitching in awe and unease. She whispered his name like it was something sharp.

"Ren..."

He glanced at her, his fractured eye flaring with cold light. It was him, and yet... not only him. Layers of voices whispered beneath his words, reflections tethered to his will, their murmurs a chorus only he truly commanded.

"They kneel," Ren said simply.

He wasn’t exaggerating. All around, the distorted reflections of himself—monsters of shattered identity—bowed. Some pressed their faces to the fractured ground. Others bent halfway, trembling, their grotesque shapes quivering as if afraid the crown might cut them down at any moment.

Not all submitted. A few still snarled in the shadows, crouched low, ready to resist—but even they hesitated.

The shard-winged girl finally spoke louder, though her voice trembled. "You... you’ve bound them. You’ve bound yourself to them. Do you even realize what that means?"

Ren tilted his head, smirking. "It means they’re not my ghosts anymore. They’re mine to command."

Her silver eyes flashed with alarm. "Or you theirs. That crown—it isn’t only power. Every shard you wear drags their weight deeper into you. The more you take, the thinner the line becomes between you and them."

For a moment, the weight of her warning seemed to pierce through. Ren’s grip on his blade tightened. He could still hear them—the voices of those fractured selves—some whispering obedience, others laughter, others crying to be free.

But then his grin sharpened. "Let them whisper. Let them scream. I’ll carry it all. That’s what makes me stronger than them."

The shard-winged girl looked away, her wings curling inward as though shielding her. She murmured something he almost didn’t catch. "Or it’s what makes you something not even human anymore."

Before he could reply, a harsh laugh cut through the silence.

From the edges of the broken horizon, a ripple spread. Figures stepped forward—the Mirror’s Rebellion. They had been watching, silent, hidden behind the storm. Now, one by one, their silhouettes emerged.

A tall boy with glass splinters jutting from his arms clapped mockingly.

"Well, well. Our little Ren finally learns how to crown himself."

Another, cloaked in flowing black mirror-dust, tilted her head with a sly grin.

"I told you, didn’t I? He’s not just a survivor. He’s... dangerous."

Whispers rippled through the gathered rebels. Awe. Fear. Hunger. Some bowed their heads in recognition. Others narrowed their eyes, fists clenching, unwilling to submit.

Ren didn’t move. His crown glowed faintly, shards orbiting lazily. He let their gazes weigh on him, let the tension build until even the air seemed to hold its breath.

Then he raised his blade just slightly, pointing it toward the rebels without a word.

The message was clear.

The shard-winged girl inhaled sharply. She could feel it too. This wasn’t just Ren wearing a crown. This was Ren demanding something from everyone who stood before him: a choice.

Kneel. Or break.

The Mirror’s Rebellion had come here to test him. Now, in the aftermath of his coronation, it was Ren who would test them.

The battlefield was no longer just a storm of fragments.

It was a throne room.

And Ren stood as the crowned king of shards.

The shards hummed like veins of light across Ren’s crown, each fragment resonating with the pull of memory and self. Every orbiting piece shimmered faintly with the weight of lives that had been erased but now lived again through him. The fractured air was heavy, brittle, ready to shatter if anyone dared move too violently.

The Mirror’s Rebellion stood in a half-circle before him. Some gazes glittered with awe, others with fear. Still others sharpened with hunger, seeing in Ren’s new form not a leader—but a rival to crush.

The tall boy with glass splinters in his arms grinned wide. "So this is it, huh? The Pane’s ’chosen experiment.’ Crowned in shards, ruling over broken selves like pets." He spat a sliver of glass to the ground. "Tell me, Ren. You think a crown makes you king?"

Ren didn’t blink. He let the boy’s words fall into the silence, then stepped forward. The ground cracked beneath him, glass trembling outward like a spiderweb. The crown pulsed once, and the distorted selves bowing at his feet pressed themselves flatter, trembling.

"A crown doesn’t make me king," Ren said, his voice carrying more weight than his body should’ve allowed. "The choice does."

The girl in black mirror-dust tilted her head, eyes narrowing as she studied him. "Choice?" she asked.

Ren pointed his blade at the circle of rebels. The shards above his head pulsed brighter, responding to his intent. His fractured eye gleamed cold fire.

"Kneel. Or break."

The words hit the rebels like thunder.

For a heartbeat, no one moved. Then, slowly, one rebel dropped to one knee—a woman whose reflection-body was covered in cracks, as if she’d been shattered too many times before. Her voice shook. "He bears the weight. More than any of us ever could. I’ll follow."

Another followed, then another. Knees pressing to the glass ground, voices murmuring their submission, the sound swelling like a tide.

But not all.

The tall boy with glass-splinter arms laughed, his voice ringing sharp and ugly. "Pathetic. Bowing to someone who doesn’t even know what he’s becoming." He spread his arms wide, shards jutting from his flesh. "If this crown really means he’s king—then let him prove it. Against me."

His body cracked with energy, the shards embedded in him glowing a furious red. His distorted reflection-self howled behind him, rising like a phantom to echo his defiance.

The girl in black mirror-dust didn’t kneel either. Her sly grin widened, dark hair falling into her eyes. "Now this," she whispered, "this I want to see."

The shard-winged girl at Ren’s side tensed, wings flaring in alarm. "Ren—be careful. The crown amplifies you, but it also chains you. If you burn too hard, the shards won’t just obey—you’ll fracture with them."

Ren only smirked. His blade lifted in one steady arc, and the shards orbiting his crown spun faster, streaks of silver light cutting through the broken horizon.

"If he wants to break," Ren said, his voice laced with quiet fury, "then let him be the first."

The tall boy roared and charged, glass shattering with every step.

The crown flared. The shards sang.

The first challenger to Ren’s throne had stepped forward.

The Mirror World quaked.

Ren’s crown of shards flared bright, its fractured lights slicing shadows across the Pane like streaks of moonlight on a bloodied mirror. The tall boy with glass splinters in his flesh didn’t slow—his body burned red, shards embedding deeper into his arms until they jutted like blades. Every step left fractures on the ground, spreading like veins beneath the Pane’s surface.

"You think you can command us with a crown?!" the boy bellowed, his voice booming like a war drum. "I’ll tear it from your skull and wear it myself!"

His phantom-self surged forward behind him, a twisted silhouette of his form—taller, sharper, its jaw unhinged in a scream that never stopped.

Ren tightened his grip on his blade. The shards orbiting his crown spun faster, their hum resonating with the beat of his heart. He didn’t flinch, didn’t step back. His fractured eye burned like a furnace of silver fire.

"You want to test me?" Ren said, his voice low but carrying across the Pane like a crack through glass. "Then I’ll carve your name into the shards myself."

The boy lunged, bringing both arms down in a vicious swing. The shards jutting from his skin lengthened into spears, meant to impale Ren outright.

But Ren moved.

He didn’t dodge. He stepped through. His blade cut upward in a single arc, shards from the crown streaking in its wake. The Pane itself screamed as the strike split light and shadow in half. The boy’s spear-arm shattered in a spray of glass splinters.

"AGHHH!" the boy howled, stumbling back, phantom-self writhing as its arm broke along with his. Shards rained down, slicing his skin and embedding deeper into his body.

Ren didn’t relent. He strode forward, shards orbiting tighter, faster, each glowing brighter than before. With each step, the air bent—his will pressing down like weight on every rebel present.

"Do you see it now?" Ren’s voice was colder than the Pane’s dead silence. "The crown doesn’t beg for loyalty. It takes it."

The boy roared again, staggering upright, madness flooding his broken eyes. He slammed his remaining arm into his chest, shards exploding outward in a storm of crimson. His phantom-self expanded, towering over Ren like a demon of jagged glass.

"You can’t kill me!" he screamed. "I am a shard too! I am—"

Ren cut him off.

The shards of his crown split outward, spinning like a thousand silver razors. With one motion, Ren thrust his blade forward—and the shards followed, impaling the phantom-self in mid-scream.

It shattered into dust.

The boy froze, eyes wide. His remaining arm dropped, shards crumbling away from his skin. For a moment, he just stared at Ren, mouth trembling as if words could still come.

Then his body cracked. Shards split from within him, bursting outward. He screamed once—cut short as his form collapsed into fragments of mirror-light, scattering across the Pane.

Silence followed.

The crown hummed, shards circling calmly once more.

Ren lowered his blade. His voice was quiet, but every rebel heard it as if it had been whispered into their skulls.

"Let this be the only warning," Ren said. "Challenge me—and you become nothing but dust in the Pane. Kneel... or break."

One by one, the rebels fell to their knees.

Even the girl in black mirror-dust, though her smile never faded. She bowed her head just enough to obey—but her eyes glittered with something else. A promise. A hunger.

The shard-winged girl at Ren’s side whispered, almost trembling. "Ren... you’re changing."

Ren didn’t answer. The crown pulsed once more, and in his fractured eye, for a fleeting instant, he saw it—

Not the Pane. Not the rebels.

But himself. A darker version, grinning, buried deep in the crown’s glow.

Watching.

Waiting.