Adrian's bare feet sank into the fleshy floor as he approached the altar, each step releasing muffled screams from the subcutaneous memory layers. The bone scalpel vibrated in sync with:
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Hymn of Torment: Choral voices emanating from the rib-vaulted ceiling, their lyrics etched in scar tissue:
"Seven cycles turn to rust,
Eight shall wake the buried lust,
Flesh and mirror, blade and trust,
Omega kneels in fractal dust."
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Pulsating Frescoes: The walls depicted Control Group's history in living ink:
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Vaulk performing the first mirror transfusion on a screaming child (Null?)
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The original Omega drill piercing something colossal beneath the earth
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A shadowed figure with seven-fingered hands overseeing it all
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Black Fluid Sacraments: Dripping from the ceiling like unholy holy water, each drop containing:
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A fragmented memory
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A drop of Demon Lord's ichor
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A whisper of the Lex Daemonium
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Null's child form wasn't static—it cycled through twelve iterations, each revealing new horrors:
With each transformation, the mirror shard in his hands reflected different scenes:
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The Night of the Mirror Incident: Showing three children in the room (Adrian, Null, and... another?)
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Omega Facility Alpha's Collapse: Revealing the drill wasn't digging down—but sideways into something
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Adrian's Future Self: Standing before a colossal flesh monolith, plunging the bone scalpel into his own chest
When Adrian pressed the blade to his wrist, it didn't cut—it interviewed:
First Question (in Vaulk's voice):
"Do you consent to remember?"
The incision revealed:
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The scalpel was carved from Null's femur after the first experiment
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Its edge was honed on Adrian's own childhood teeth
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The word "REMEMBER" wasn't engraved—it grew from the bone like a scar
Second Question (in Mother's voice):
"Who gave you the key?"
Deeper cutting exposed:
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The rusted key had always been part of the mirror's frame
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It was never meant to unlock—but to wound
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Adrian's missing childhood memories were stored inside its rust
Final Question (in his own voice):
"Will you look at the eighth reflection now?"
The door at the cathedral's end wasn't wood or metal—it was a slice of the original Demon Lord's eye, its surface swirling with:
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Seven Pupils: Each containing a frozen Control Group facility
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A Cracked Lens: Showing an endless corridor of failed Adrians
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The Iris: A pulsing omega symbol that bled when stared at
Null pressed his palm against it, whispering:
"They told you breaking the mirror would free you. But some prisons...
...only open when you stop fighting."
The bone scalpel screamed in Adrian's hand—its final form awakening.