The Villain's Story

?Just like before, in the exact same way, the mirror world escaped from 'Ezra' and established itself in the world of the tower.

Consuming the monster, who instead of feeling afraid seemed to be happy at such a sight. The black outer covering of the domain expanded and set itself in the world. The inside of the world, Ezra's personal domain.

The audience this time, as well, were unable to watch the events inside the domain, they could only see the black ball move and swing like it was alive...or something was breaking out of it.

Or someone.

***********

"Yes... This is it."

Alan exclaimed as he closed his eyes and embraced the feeling of the domain encompass him. He wasn't doing this for joy or happiness, but instead to check if this domain was the real deal. Whether it lacked or not.

Alan had previously been trapped here, and when he was, he had encountered the special way the mana moved around in this way, in the circuits in moved in, to form this domain.

This was how he know how to defeat this domain, the previous time he had done it, he was in a little bit of a precarious situation and had to do anything he could to beat this damned thing.

He was only able to do it, not by himself nor his own power. And that didn't sit right with him afterwards when he examined the fight.

He knew how this domain worked only because of his natural affinity to mana, Although he may have been clueless of the intricacies of it... He knew the source of it.

The various circuits of mana that surrounded the domain, like they were veins and arteries providing blood to a body, all originated from one single place, the Heart.

The heart, which was Ezra Fornum, standing on top of the sky like he was a deity. Concealed in his special powers, and waiting to watch his domain do its thing, and reap the rewards.

He was currently injured, this glass copy of him, which was not worse than the original was injured.

"I'm back here again."

A small bit of blood left his body and he looked again at his sides. Reflections of his current self, all around, in countless numbers.

In every direction, looking at him, the source. Whether it was from the top, or the bottom, they all rushed at him. The ones on the top stabbed with their spears, and the ones on the bottom tried to grab his feet.

They were all glass, but they felt like flesh. The ones on the sides tried to grab him, tear him, stab him.

They tried to kill him using their numbers as an advantage as Alan just watched them come, laughing, he looked towards the sky, his Dragon eyes fully active, tearing his eyes apart as he tried to use them to locate Ezra, examining the path of each circuit.

Some circuits branched off from other, larger circuits and these larger circuits did the same, it was hard to locate the main ones in the endless forest that was above. There were probably tens of millions of them.

And to locate where they all came from? When they were all tangled and mashed together? That was a hard task, but not for Dragon Eyes.

Eventually, he would be able to do it, but he just needed some time and the endurance and patience to let Dragon Eyes do their job. They would find him, he just needed to hold on.

It wasn't easy, such a prolonged usage was blinding him, not only that, it felt as if needles or spikes were being stabbed into his eyes, to keep his eyes open was a challenging task.

Furthermore, he wasn't alone. The countless glass copies of himself were coming at him with great speed, some had already approached and had been reduced to small pieces akin to grains of sand.

But they were endless, and all of them aimed for his eyes, knowing the danger they possessed.

"As if I would let you!"

Alan cast his mana outwards, whenever he could, to disperse them and reduce their numbers, but it was hardly helping. He used his limbs, and his tail to drive them all away, and kept his head straight.

He knew this was his only chance, and he would grab at eve the tiniest circuit he could which led to his destination.

Soon!

Just a little more.

The glass copies swarmed him, one grabbed the loose scales on his face and ripped them off, exposing the tender flesh underneath for the others to attack. Alan held back his scream as multiple areas of his body suffered the same fate.

Finally, as his eyes seemed to be burning to ash, he found one, singular circuit that was the source of them all. A malicious, and satisfied glint flashed in his eyes as he remembered where it led, and finally gave his eyes some rest, closing them.

"There...you are."

His voice was cold, yet there was a tinge of emotion, but this emotion was not positive, it was malicious as he discarded all the glass copies around him like they were nothing, his wings, torn to bits barely managed to support his flight.

Alan was propelling himself purely off of mana at this point, rushing towards the point where the circuit left. Like he was crazed, a madman searching for his victim.

The heart of this place, Ezra Fornum.

The copies in the directions increased, and tried to stop him, but they were met with gruesome fates as their glass bodies were eviscerated.

"There you are!"

He yelled, as he finally reached the place.

It didn't look any different from afar, but once one was close to it, they could make it out differences. It was like a boss of glass, reflecting the surrounding area. This reflection, when viewed up close, would allow one to differentiate between it and the surrounding area.

It was like a fraud, a box of lies.

The circuits all surrounded it in tandem, yet only with Dragon Eyes was Alan able to view them. Right now? They were gone. Even mana sense could not detect them here.

"There you are!"

He yelled in triumph once again as the glass copies swarmed him like ants taking down a predator much larger than themselves, covering it in their bodies, sometimes increasing its temperature or filling it with bites.

Of course, the former would not work here, so the latter was all they got.

They tore away at the tender flesh that was exposed, tearing away more and more, Until Alan would be reduced to nothing but a pile of cut meat. The box was near, and despite the attempts of the glass copies, Alan was getting closer, and closer.

They couldn't stop the crazed monster, his face had been ruined and was nothing but clawed flesh, but even that didn't stop him! Even if his body would be suffering the same fate, he would not stop.

Until he got that bastard hidden inside out of the damn box, and ripped him to shreds. Alan's claws touched the box, and a spear emerged from inside. The spear was held by a delicate hand.

It was the same spear, and the same hand.

It destroyed the head of a glass copy in its way, and stabbed Alan in the stomach, escaping from his back.

Alan stopped for a moment, but the glass copies did not relent. The spear went back as if to escape the body it had pierced but...

The hand holding the spear, as well as the spear itself, were grabbed by a pile of bony flesh, which was Alan's hand, or whatever remained of it. He used his large hand to grab a hold of Ezra.

He tried to get away, but Alan's strength, despite being drained by the glass copies, was far too much.

"Haha..."

A crooked laugh escaped the mountain of glass copies, followed by another, dreadful statement.

"You...can't escape now."

The laugh was followed by a light, a light that seemed pure, and engulfed the glass copies who reflected it everywhere.

The light soon became blinding, and it was hard to see what would happen. The glass copies, who were reflecting it, seemed to evaporate, being destroyed without a trace.

Alan's figure emerged from the mountain of copies, finally free. The source of the light was now known.

It was his mouth, his injured mouth, from which it originated and eviscerated everything. The mana inside the mouth was everything Alan had.

Everything.

All condensed into one single breath.

He raised his other hand, and with the help of his fleshy tail, he smashed the box and revealed the person inside it. Wind and glass hurriedly gathered around the person, trying to form a shield, but it would be for naught.

The wing would be dispersed, and the glass would be eviscerated, nowhere to be seen. Although the person inside the box, within Alan's grasp, was but a construct made from the tower...It seemed to accept it's fate. It showed emotion, as it's eyes looked at the ball of light with acceptance...and...

The breath was let loose, and the domain was shattered. Along with it's creator.

[You have cleared the final floor of the Tower.]