Adam’s wings beat hard, carrying him through a narrow gap between two jagged stalactites as the dragon’s [Void Prism] screamed past, close enough to scorch the tips of his scales. He tucked, rolled, and emerged on the other side, his crimson eyes fixed on the massive serpentine form coiling below.

"I need to figure out how to stop its regeneration," he muttered, dodging another volley of [Shadow Lances] that tore through the air where his head had been a heartbeat before. The lances embedded themselves in the stone ceiling, cracking the mirrored surface and sending shards of glass raining down.

Adam twisted, wings folding, and dropped into a steep dive. The dragon’s jaws opened wide, a beam of prismatic light gathering in its throat. Adam’s eyes narrowed. He waited until the last possible moment, then snapped his wings open, pulling up hard. The [Prismatic Beam] shot past him, carving a trench through the stalactites above.

"[Tempest Sovereign]!"

The vortex of cutting wind and crackling lightning exploded from Adam’s palm, tearing into the dragon’s flank. Scales cracked. Black ichor sprayed. The dragon roared, twisting, its tail sweeping toward Adam in a devastating arc.

Adam met it head-on.

"[Seismic Shatter]!"

He slammed his palm against the tail, and the shockwave rippled through the dragon’s body, fracturing scales, cracking bone. The creature convulsed, its tail going limp for just an instant.

Adam pressed the advantage.

"[Prismatic Beam]!"

The lance of rainbow light shot from his palm, striking the dragon square in the chest. The beam bored through scales, through flesh, through the ancient heart that shouldn’t have been there. Black ichor bubbled from the wound, evaporating where the light touched it.

The dragon’s form flickered. Its regeneration struggled to keep up, the wound trying to close, but Adam’s beam was still there, still burning.

"Now!" Adam snarled, pouring more power into the attack.

The dragon’s roar shook the chamber. Its body convulsed, the wound spreading, the light consuming it from within. But even as it burned, its claws raked across Adam’s chest, carving deep furrows through his scales.

Adam gasped, stumbling back, his beam flickering.

The dragon’s form steadied. The wound stopped spreading. Regeneration won.

"Tch." Adam leaped back, putting distance between them. His chest heaved. Blood dripped from the fresh wounds, steaming where it touched the cold stone.

’Its regeneration is too fast. I need to overwhelm it in one shot.’

The dragon’s crimson eyes fixed on him, and Adam saw himself reflected in those hungry depths. The same determination. The same refusal to yield.

"Haa... this is really troublesome," he muttered, shaking his head. "But I won’t lose. Not to myself."

He raised his hands, dark energy gathering in his right palm, prismatic light dancing across his left.

’If I combine them again, maybe I can overpower its regeneration.’

[Void Prism].

The churning vortex of void and radiance bloomed between his palms, unstable and hungry. He poured everything he had into it, the Crown blazing on his brow, the souls of the dead screaming. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The dragon’s eyes widened. It recognized the attack. Its own hands rose, dark energy and prismatic light gathering, preparing to mirror the fusion.

Adam smiled.

"You’re too slow."

He thrust his hands forward.

The vortex shot from his palms, spiraling toward the dragon’s chest. The dragon’s own fusion wasn’t ready, wasn’t stable. It tried to dodge, but the vortex was faster.

It struck.

The dragon screamed.

The light consumed it, tearing through its body, overwhelming its regeneration. The vortex bored through its chest, and the dragon’s form convulsed, cracking, shattering.

But the wound began to close. Flesh knitting, ichor retreating, regeneration already at work.

Adam’s jaw tightened. "Tch. Still regenerating."

He pressed forward, wings beating hard, carrying him through the smoke and debris. His claws raked across the dragon’s snout, scoring deep furrows through its scales. The beast roared, lashing out with its tail, but Adam was already moving, twisting under the strike and driving his fist into its throat.

[Abyssal Pierce].

Void energy exploded through the dragon’s neck, black ichor spraying in an arc. The creature gagged, choked, its regeneration struggling to keep up.

But it didn’t stop.

A wing swept toward Adam, catching him across the chest. He flew backward, crashing into a stalactite, the stone shattering around him. He pushed himself up, shaking debris from his wings, blood dripping from a fresh gash across his ribs.

"Dammit. This thing won’t stay down."

The dragon’s jaws opened wide. Flames gathered in its throat—[Fire Breath]—a torrent of searing heat that turned the air to plasma. Adam’s wings snapped open, carrying him upward, but the flames followed, licking at his heels, scorching the tips of his scales.

He dove, rolled, twisted, but the fire was everywhere, filling the chamber, consuming the oxygen.

’Think, think, think...’

His crimson eyes swept the chamber, searching for anything, any weakness, any flaw in the reflection’s endless regeneration. The dragon’s form was perfect, its power absolute, its copycat skills flawlessly executed.

’But it’s still a copy. There must be limitations too.’

His lips curved into a cold, sharp smile.

’I thought of a great idea.’

He landed on a stalactite, perching like a gargoyle, his crimson eyes fixed on the dragon’s massive form. The beast turned, its jaws opening for another attack.

Adam’s body began to shift.

Scales rippled across his skin, dark as midnight, streaked with veins of silver. Bones cracked, lengthened, reformed. His wings spread wide, tattered but strong. His tail coiled, ready to strike. His jaws elongated, teeth sharpening into fangs, and his eyes, already crimson, blazed with the hungry light of a predator that had never known defeat.

The Ouroboros Progenitor.

Adam’s voice rumbled through the chamber, resonant and cold.

"Let’s end this, copycat."

He lunged.

His jaws closed around the dragon’s throat.

Flesh tore. Black ichor sprayed. The dragon roared, thrashing, its claws raking across Adam’s back, its tail slamming into his ribs. But Adam held on.

He bit deeper.

The dragon’s regeneration flared, trying to seal the wound, but Adam’s fangs were still there, still tearing, still consuming. He swallowed a mouthful of flesh, and the dragon convulsed, its form flickering.

He bit again. And again. And again. Each mouthful of flesh he swallowed, the dragon’s form grew dimmer, its regeneration slower. The copy was consuming itself, its own power feeding the very thing trying to destroy it.

The dragon tried to pull away. Its claws dug into Adam’s sides, trying to pry him loose. Its tail wrapped around his torso, squeezing, trying to crush him. But Adam held on.

He bit down on the dragon’s spine.

CRACK.

The creature’s body went limp. Its tail loosened. Its claws fell away.

Adam didn’t stop. He tore through flesh, through bone, through the ancient heart that had somehow survived this long. He consumed it all.

Piece by piece, the dragon disappeared into Adam’s jaws. Its wings, its tail, its legs, its torso. Until nothing remained but the head, its crimson eyes dim and fading.

The reflection’s lips moved, barely a whisper.

"You... really... ate yourself..."

Adam swallowed the last piece.

The head dissolved on his tongue, the flesh melting into shadow, the bones crumbling to ash. For a moment, Adam simply hung in the air, his body trembling, his scales slick with red blood.

Then the chamber shuddered.

The mirrors that lined the walls cracked, the reflections within them shattering into a thousand pieces. The floor beneath him groaned, the stone shifting, and a new passage opened at the far end of the chamber, its entrance framed by silver runes that pulsed with soft, approving light.

The guide materialized from the shadows, her translucent form flickering like a candle flame in a gentle breeze. Her pale gold eyes swept the chamber, taking in the shattered stalactites, the scorched stone, the remnants of the battle that had raged here.

"You have succeeded," she said, her voice echoing softly, carrying a weight that pressed against the silence. "The Path of Reflection is complete."

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed her indistinct features. Her pale gold eyes lingered on Adam as if seeing him for the first time.

"You have done something... unprecedented. You consumed yourself. The copy was not merely defeated. It was absorbed. Its essence now resides within you."

[You have consumed your own reflection, a forbidden act that bends the laws of existence.]

[New Skill Acquired: Ouroboros Paradox]

[Effect: The user has consumed their own reflection, an act that defies fate and mocks the concept of "copy." As such, the user gains immunity to fate-based attacks and copy-based abilities. Attacks that would dictate the user’s predetermined outcome fail. Skills or artifacts that replicate or mimic the user’s abilities have no effect. This skill is permanent and cannot be copied.]