I exhaled slowly and rolled my neck once, loosening the stiffness. The excitement that had begun on the staircase had not faded. It had only grown stronger.
I did not have to wait long.
The air ahead of me rippled again, and another shadow began forming. Its shape stabilized quickly, its presence heavier than the one before. Behind it, space distorted as a circular construct manifested into existence.
A mirror.
It floated behind the shadow, perfectly round, its surface smooth and silver. It rotated slowly, its surface not reflecting the hall around us but reflecting me. Every movement I made, every shift in my posture, appeared inside that mirror with perfect clarity. Even the faint stirring of Essence within my body shimmered across its surface.
I smiled.
"Reflection," I said softly. "That is interesting."
I understood the trial for this hall was domains.
The shadow moved first.
It rushed forward, faster than the previous one, its fist aimed directly at my chest. I did not dodge. I stepped forward and threw a punch of my own. My fist did not connect with its body. Instead, the air in front of my knuckles compressed violently and exploded outward.
The invisible force struck the shadow.
And then it reflected.
The mirror behind it flashed, and the same compressed force appeared behind me instantly, slamming into my back. I slid forward a few steps, my boots grinding against the ground as I absorbed the impact.
I chuckled.
"Oh, that is fun."
The shadow attacked again, and this time I saw it clearly. The mirror did not simply reflect my attack. It absorbed it. It added its own strength to it and then returned it with greater force. It was not defense alone. It was amplification.
It punched forward, and the mirror flashed again. The combined force of its attack and my previous attack returned toward me. I responded the same way.
I punched.
The compressed air shot forward again, colliding with the incoming force. The impact created a violent distortion in the air between us. The mirror rotated faster, its surface flickering as it processed the exchange.
I could feel it adapting.
So I increased my strength.
I stepped forward again and punched once more, this time compressing more air, forcing more power into the strike. The invisible shockwave tore forward, striking the mirror directly. The mirror reflected it again, but I was already moving.
Another punch.
Stronger.
The reflection returned.
Another punch.
Stronger still.
I continued without pause, each strike carrying more force than the last. My arms moved faster, my body flowing smoothly from one strike to the next. The air compressed again and again, invisible blows hammering against the mirror faster than it could fully stabilize.
The mirror began to crack. Its surface trembled as it struggled to reflect the increasing pressure. The shadow stepped back, its form destabilizing as its domain weakened.
I did not stop.
"One more," I said, grinning.
I drew my fist back and drove it forward with everything I allowed myself to use in that moment. The compressed air collapsed inward and then exploded outward violently.
The mirror shattered.
The domain collapsed instantly. The shadow froze for a fraction of a second before cracks spread across its body. It exploded, dissolving into darkness. An old man’s soul appeared in its place. He looked at me with tired eyes, bowed deeply, and vanished. His soul energy flowed into me, merging with mine and strengthening it further.
I stretched my arm and flexed my fingers.
"That was good," I said softly. It felt like a punching session. My body felt light and loose. Before the energy fully settled, the air distorted again.
Another shadow formed. This one was different immediately.
Behind it floated a sword.
The blade hovered vertically, its surface perfectly still, while faint spatial ripples spread outward from it. Space itself bent around the weapon, folding slightly with each pulse.
"Space and sword," I said, smiling wider. "You came prepared." The shadow raised its hand, and the sword vanished. It reappeared in front of me instantly. I reacted immediately and punched forward. The compressed air collided with the blade, slowing it just enough for me to shift my body aside. The sword passed by my shoulder, leaving a thin spatial distortion behind it.
It vanished again.
And appeared behind me.
I turned and punched again, striking the air. The compressed force collided with the sword, pushing it away before it could fully form.
The shadow did not stop.
It launched another attack, this time faster than the previous two. I blocked again with another punch, but I could feel the precision behind its strikes. It was not attacking randomly. It was calculating.
I laughed.
"Good," I said. "Let us make it more interesting."
Essence surged from my core. I shaped it instantly. A figure formed beside me. A shadow made of my own Essence. Violet in color, its form identical to mine. It moved as I moved, its existence connected directly to my will.
The enemy shadow attacked again.
This time, my violet shadow moved first.
It punched forward, colliding with the sword directly. The impact destabilized the spatial ripple around it. I stepped forward at the same time and punched again, compressing the air with greater force.
The sword trembled. The domain flickered. The enemy shadow tried to stabilize it, but I did not give it time. My violet shadow struck again, followed immediately by my own punch. The combined force shattered the spatial structure holding the sword together.
The blade cracked.
The domain collapsed. The shadow froze as cracks spread across its body. It exploded a moment later, dissolving into darkness.
Another soul appeared.
This one bowed deeply before fading away, its energy merging into me.
I exhaled slowly, feeling the steady increase in my soul’s density.
"Yes," I said quietly. "This is exactly what I needed."
I did not have to move from my position for long before more shadows began appearing, one after another, each carrying a domain more refined and unique than the last. One formed with a domain of gravity, where a dark sphere hovered behind it and every step I took became heavier, forcing me to counter it by striking the space itself and breaking its control.
Another manifested a domain of flames, but the fire did not burn outward; it burned inward, trying to consume my Essence directly, forcing me to overwhelm it with raw output until its domain collapsed.
One shadow wielded a domain of duplication, where every attack I launched created copies of itself that turned against me, and I answered it by increasing the speed and density of my strikes until its domain could no longer keep up with the rate of destruction. With each fight, my excitement only grew, my body moving faster, my mind sharper, my punches cleaner and more precise.
Their domains were creative, dangerous, and powerful, but none of them were enough. One by one, they fell, their domains shattering, their forms breaking apart, their souls emerging briefly in gratitude before dissolving into me and strengthening my own.
After the last shadow disappeared, the hall finally fell silent again, and for several seconds nothing happened. Then, at the center of the hall, the ground began to move. The grey surface split apart in a perfect circle, revealing a dark opening beneath. The opening beneath it revealed a staircase descending deeper into the structure, waiting for me to continue.