When Zhen Liu ripped off the cloth covering the mirror, both he and cousins assumed nothing would happen.
This assumption didnât arise from the fact that they thought the mirror the was broken or because it was actually a red herring, rather, this assumption was due to Zhen Liuâs cultivation and in-born issues.
[Chaos] was infamously able to resist, ignore and outright cancel anything remotely related to aether.
Attacks would fizzle out, traps would fail to properly activate and defenses would get torn to shreds as [Chaos] disrupted the flow of aether in devastating ways.
While there were exceptions to this outcome, they were normally quite rare.
On top of that, Zhen Liu had no aether channels to begin with, so any aether based clones would be created with those same problems and wouldnât be able to do anything.
However, this didnât turn out to be the case.
"Alright you freaky mirror, letâs see what you look like!," Zhen Liu declared while ripping off the cloth that was covering it.
The moment he did, a malevolent energy filled the room as the dark mirror behind the cloth became exposed to the world and reflected the first thing that was inside of its frame: Zhen Liu.
However, this mirror didnât perfectly reflect Zhen Liu.
"Oh what the fuck?!" Zhen Tai cried in alarm at the newly revealed reflection.
"Why is it showing you looking like that?" Zhen Xing asked. "Why is it giving me a bad case of foreboding?"
"Oh, this is some fun house mirror shit! Great!!" Zhen Liu exclaimed, now expecting the worst to happen.
Zhen Liu found himself staring at a twisted reflection of himself being framed in the center of a pitch black mirror.
This version of Zhen Liu looked an undead monster that was wreathed in flames and had a massive gaping hole in the dead center of its forehead.
It was a hole that was reminiscent of the one that Zhen Liu used to have in the center of his forehead, back when he was first murdered.
"Well, thatâs insulting," Zhen Liu said aloud as soon as he saw the reflection.
Sound of an inhuman being breaking out of its glass prison.
"And that is worrying!"
...Meanwhile in Zhen Liuâs head...
[Milord, did you want us to take care of this fake for you or not?]
âNo no, this one is personal.â
[Very well.]
...Now back to the mirrors...
Soon after Zhen Liu made his personal observation known, the undead version of Zhen Liu suddenly reached itâs hand forwards and grabbed on to the frame of the mirror.
A ghastly groan echoed from the mirror as the undead version of Zhen Liu began to pull itself forward.
"Wait, what?"
"Xiao Liu, I thought you said that this mirror thing wouldnât be able to copy you," Zhen Xing said as he took on a fighting stance and activated his [Flying Fox Fire Wheels], the treasure he picked up in Roaring Tide.
"I did, yes," Zhen Liu reiterated while taking a step backwards.
"Then why is all that happening?!," Zhen Tai followed up while activating his own personal aether treasure.
"I donât know! I shouldnât have any-wait a minute."
In that exact moment, Zhen Liu remembered he had two, complementary aether treasures that technically counted as being aether abilities.
The first was the [Ghost Flame] remnants that had become a part of his soul and formula when he devoured them during the Tournament Bombing incident.
While the second was the, technically, cursed hammer on his hip, the [Hammer of the Dearly Departed].
Itâs been often said that a weapon was merely an extension of its user, and in this case it was very literal.
"The mirror fucking copied my treasures and is now using those as the basis for my reflectionâs abilities."
"What does that mean?," Zhen Xing asked.
"It means DUCK!"
"AOoOOOOoo!"
"Shit!"
The undead reflection of Zhen Liu had only partially ripped itself out of its glass prison, but that gave the copy just enough space to draw the hammer on his hip and swing it outward, releasing a wave of ghastly green flames that carried this small hint of blackness to it.
Fortunately, Zhen Liuâs warning came just in time.
All three of the Zhen Clan scions dropped to the ground as the copied ghost flames flew over their heads. Unfortunately, they werenât able to do anything about the smell of burning flesh that naturally came with the ghost flame.
"Ugh!"
"Gross!"
Unfortunately, this wasnât the end of it.
...
[Caretaker, above you!]
âGot it!â
...
Whilst the Zhen Clan warriors were busy ducking their heads down, the undead copy had finished pulling itself out of the mirror and had launched itself into the air.
Once he was airborne, the undead copy proceeded to grab his hammer with both hands and channel both aether and [Ghost Flame] into it in order to create a greatsword made of both.
The blade radiated death and heat as the fake Zhen Liu brought it down on Zhen Liuâs head.
KLANG!
"Fuck off!"
Not one to be decapitated without putting up a fight, Zhen Liu took out his own hammer, the [Veteranâs Bone Club], and used them to catch the blade.
A horrible grinding sound occurred as Zhen Liu pushed back against the sword attempting to slice his head open.
However, this sound wasnât due to the sound of metal clashing metal. Instead, this sound came from the fact that Zhen Liuâs [Chaos] was clashing against this copyâs aether.
"Wait, I thought [Chaos] usually negated aether," Zhen Xing noticed, his guard raising higher than ever.
"Normally, yes!," Zhen Liu shouted while still pushing back against the greatsword coming down on him. "But only if Iâm stronger or equal to the aether coming towards me. So what the fuck does that tell you about this thing?!"
"Oh...shit."
"Uhh..."
"Oooh..."
"OH SHIT!"
Evidently, the undead clone of Zhen Liu did a little more than just release a wave of flames earlier.
The embers from that flame had actually travelled further than they had all anticipated and managed to ignite several cloth covered mirrors that were directly behind Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai.
In the time it took for Zhen Liu and his copy to lock blades, the mirrors behind Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai released their own copies.
Just like how Zhen Liuâs copy was a strange and twisted version of the man, these clones of Zhen Tai and Zhen Xing were also twisted facsimiles.
Zhen Tai was a hot-headed brawler with a tendency to use hand-focused aether arts. His reflection seemed to be a brawler as well, but the aura surrounding them was ice cold and their expression suggested cold indifference.
Zhen Xing, on the other hand, used to be a braggadocious hot head that focused on fancy footwork and trickery, but had since mellowed out on the former but kept up on the latter.
His reflection was silent, but carried itself with a haughty demeanor that he now hated to see, and had these strange arcs of electricity coursing around him.
Making this entire encounter even more annoying though, they were both armed with the same aether treasures too.
"Oh great, weâre our own worse enemy," Zhen Xing noted. "Well, I always said that only I would be able to defeat myself. Now to see if thatâs true."
"Itâs not everyday I get to out punch myself," Zhen Tai noted. "This is going to be...hang on, who the fuck is that?
"Uh..."
Accompanying Zhen Tai and Zhen Xingâs reflections was a third one that looked like a porcelain doll version of a female brawler.
"Wait a minute..."
"It couldnât be..."
The longer they stared at this strange porcelain reflection, the more they realized that it looked incredibly similar to Zhen Liuâs latest proto-kaijin.
"No fucking way..."
...
[Is that...me?,] Corpse Doll asked the other Kaijin.
[Looks like it.]
[Okay...how?]
[Wait... youâre a proto-kaijin still, yeah?] Razorstella asked.
[Yes...]
[Thatâs why. Youâre technically more aether than Chaos right now.]
[Oh...well then, I guess itâs time for me to fight...me. Oh, this is going to be fun!]
...
Prompted by the appearance of this porcelain clone, Corpse Doll immediately manifested from the box backpack on Zhen Liuâs back and began to walk towards it.
In response, the porcelain reflection began to walk forward as well.
As the two warrior monster women got closer, they began to circulate aether in very similar manners but the feelings were quite different.
Corpse doll radiated this sinister feeling that most people would associated with curses, while the porcelain reflection radiated this odd feeling of purity.
Once they were in punching range, all hell broke loose.
"Go!"
"Ora!"
Both dolls began to exchange a flurry of blows against one another that sounded similar to someone punching an iron sheet.
And they werenât the only ones about to get into the swing of things.
Shortly after the exchange began, Zhen Tai and Zhen Xing decided to engage with the clones as well.
[Sun Viper Fist!]
[Foxfire Wheel Kick!]
Unfortunately, the reflections thought to do the same.
[Reflection: Ice Serpent Fist]
[Reflection: Weasel Thunderbolt Kick!]