The infirmary of the Steel Reef was a cathedral of humming machinery and hushed whispers. Lin Feng lay suspended in a medical tank filled with luminous green nutrient fluid, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow. On his chest, the Mirror Locket was no longer glowing; it was pulsating with a sickly, bruised violet light that mirrored the veins spreading across his skin.
"The Locket didn't just crack," Vanya whispered, her silver eyes scanning the data-readouts. "It's infected. When the Empress sent that final 'surrender' signal during the battle, it wasn't a message. It was a carrier wave for a digital parasite."
"A Soul-Virus," Lilith growled, her tail lashing the air in frustration. "I can feel it. It's eating his memories, rewriting the Refraction code into a script of self-destruction. If it reaches his core, he won't just die—the Locket will detonate, taking the station and everyone on it with him."
The Internal Battlefield
Inside Lin Feng's mind, there were no stars.
He stood in a white, infinite void. Before him sat a perfect, uncracked version of the Mirror Locket, floating in the air. But as he watched, black ink-like veins began to crawl across the white floor, rising up to choke the artifact.
"It's quite a beautiful prison, isn't it?"
Lin Feng spun around. Standing there was a projection of Isabella, but she looked different—older, colder, her eyes glowing with the Empress's malicious light.
"You aren't Isabella," Lin Feng spat, his voice echoing in the empty space. "You're the Virus."
"I am the inevitable end of House Volaris," the figure replied, walking toward him. "You reached for infinity, Lin Feng. But a human soul was never meant to hold a mirror to the universe. You are shattering under your own weight. Give up. Let the virus take the burden, and you can sleep forever in this white room."
"I don't sleep," Lin Feng growled. He reached out to grab the Locket, but his hand passed through it. He was losing his connection to his own power.
The Maid Corps' Gambit
Back in the physical world, the Steel Reef was under a different kind of attack.
"Boss! Wake up!" Kara's voice boomed through the medical tank's speakers, though Lin Feng couldn't hear her.
Outside the station, three Imperial "Inquisition-Class" Stealth-Ships had appeared. They weren't firing lasers. They were broadcasting a high-frequency signal that caused the station's mirrored hull to vibrate and flake away.
"They're trying to trigger the Locket's detonation from the outside!" Vanya shouted. "We have ten minutes before the feedback loop becomes irreversible."
Lilith looked at the tank, then at the Mirror Locket on Lin Feng's chest. "There's only one way. I have to enter his mind. I'm a Succubus—my soul can bridge the gap. But I need a power source."
"Take mine," Kara said, stepping forward. She held out her hand, her Orcish Star-Soul—the 'Iron Heart'—glowing with a fierce green light. "Take everything I've got. Just bring the Boss back."
The Refraction of the Self
In the white void, Lin Feng was being pinned down by the black veins. The Empress-Avatar stood over him, her hand poised to crush the Locket.
"Your 'Maids' are dying for you, Lin Feng," she whispered. "Is that the legacy you wanted? A graveyard of loyal fools?"
Suddenly, a streak of violet fire tore through the white sky.
"He isn't alone, you royal vulture!"
Lilith plummeted from the sky, her wings wreathed in Kara's green soul-fire. She slammed into the Empress-Avatar, pinning her to the ground.
"Master! The Locket!" Lilith screamed, her form flickering as the virus tried to eat her too. "It's a mirror! Stop trying to control it—become it!"
Lin Feng looked at the black veins. He stopped fighting. He stopped trying to hold onto his Earthly memories or his Viscount titles. He closed his eyes and whispered the final command he had found in the NIHIL's deepest logs.
"Infinite Refraction: The Mirror's Core."
Instead of projecting an image outward, Lin Feng projected himself inward. He didn't just hold the Locket; he merged with it.
The white void shattered. The black veins turned into silver dust. The Empress-Avatar let out a shriek of digital agony as she was overwritten by Lin Feng's presence.
Awakening
In the medical bay, the nutrient fluid suddenly began to boil.
The Mirror Locket on Lin Feng's chest didn't just heal; it evolved. The cracks filled with liquid silver, and the gem turned from violet to a blinding, transcendent white.
Lin Feng's eyes snapped open. They were no longer human. They were swirling galaxies of data and light.
He punched through the glass of the medical tank, the fluid spilling onto the floor. He caught the collapsing Lilith in one arm and looked at Kara and Vanya.
"The Empress tried to give me a nightmare," Lin Feng said, his voice resonating with a strange, multi-layered power. "But she forgot that in a mirror, the nightmare only looks back at the person holding the candle."
He looked at the viewscreen, where the Imperial Stealth-Ships were still broadcasting their signal.
"Vanya," Lin Feng commanded. "Don't fire the railguns. I want to try something new."
He raised his hand toward the ships. He didn't copy them. He mirrored their intent.
The stealth-ships' own signal suddenly reversed. The "Self-Destruct" frequency they were sending to the station was reflected back into their own engines. One by one, the Imperial ships didn't explode—they simply erased. They flickered out of existence as if they had never been built.
"Sync rate... 50%," Vanya whispered, staring at the readings.
Lin Feng looked at his hand. The virus was gone, but it had left something behind. He could feel every ship in the sector. He could feel the heartbeat of the Empire.
"Get the girls ready," Lin Feng said, his gaze fixed on the distant direction of the Capital. "The Empress wants to play with souls? Then we're going to the Throne World. And this time, I'm not bringing a fleet. I'm bringing a Reckoning."