Chapter 234: Echo-Mirror

The Behemoth came to a stop.

The enchanted brakes screamed against the rails, sending sparks across the checkpoint platform as the massive train fought to lose its speed. Seventeen armored cars shook and groaned as the momentum of the quarter-mile-long machine finally disappeared.

Screeeeech!

Then silence.

Vanguard Checkpoint Seven Alpha was a military rail junction in the middle of nowhere. Two platforms, a control tower, and a small garrison of fifty soldiers had been expecting a normal supply transport. Instead, the largest mobile weapons factory on the continent had arrived at three hundred miles per hour with six strangers standing on its roof.

The soldiers stood frozen on the platform, weapons drawn and mouths hanging open.

Team Soup climbed out through the roof hatch.

Emric came out first. He climbed onto the roof with his shield strapped to his arm, glasses still perfectly straight despite everything that had happened. His notebook was tucked into his back pocket, and somehow, he already looked ready to write a report.

"I need to file a mission report," he said. "The damage to the engine car alone is going to take forever to document."

Renna popped out next, bow in one hand and a stolen dining car cup in the other.

"WE HIJACKED A TRAIN!" she shouted at the soldiers.

The soldiers continued staring.

"She’s enthusiastic," Emric explained to the nearest soldier. "But she’s not wrong. We did hijack the train."

Cora and Sera climbed out next. They moved to either side of the hatch and stood there quietly, watching the surrounding soldiers.

Lyra came out alongside Holden. She stepped onto the roof and looked across the checkpoint, taking in the soldiers, the empty landscape, and the first hints of dawn breaking through the clouds.

"The train stopped," she said.

"It did."

"No explosion."

"The civilians are safe."

Lyra released a long breath. The tension she had carried since they boarded the Behemoth finally seemed to leave her shoulders. Her spear lowered at her side.

"Good."

A middle-aged woman wearing a captain’s insignia approached the train. One hand rested near her sidearm, and her expression suggested that this was very far from the kind of morning she had expected.

Holden stepped forward and showed her his academy credentials.

"Vanguard General Voss. This train belongs to a rogue Rank 4 artificer named Warlord Drask. He’s dead, the facility is disabled, and the Abyssal Cannon has been neutralized. I’m transferring the train and its contents to the Vanguard military."

The captain looked at the credentials, then at the enormous train behind him.

"You hijacked this?"

"Yes."

She stared at him for another moment.

"Casualties?"

"Zero friendly casualties. There are twelve unconscious mercenary guards in the rear cars. The engine car contains the remains of a Rank 3 Iron Juggernaut and Drask."

The captain blinked.

"How old are you?"

"Old enough to handle the mission. I need a containment team for the engine car. The Rank 4 propulsion core is stable, but qualified personnel should handle it. The corrupted weapons in the manufacturing bays should also be cataloged and destroyed."

"I’ll need to contact my commanding officer."

"Contact General Balthazar at Fortress Kharadon. He’ll confirm my authority."

The captain studied him for another second before finally nodding.

"Understood."

She turned and began issuing orders. The checkpoint quickly came alive as soldiers spread across the train, securing the cars and preparing containment teams.

Holden dropped back through the hatch.

The engine car was still a wreck. The floor was cratered, machinery had been torn from the walls, and pieces of the Iron Juggernaut were scattered across the grating. The Abyssal Cannon remained on its platform, its barrel cracked and frozen as Lyra’s frost continued eating into the damaged mechanism.

Then something caught Holden’s eye.

A glow.

Diamond light hovered above the spot where Drask had fallen. Brilliant colors shifted across its surface as a small chest slowly formed above the remaining ash.

The Diamond Chest.

Holden glanced around.

No one else was inside the engine car. Lyra and the Twins were still on the roof, while the checkpoint soldiers had not entered yet.

Perfect.

He reached out and grabbed the chest.

It dissolved into light and disappeared into his Inventory.

[Diamond Chest Acquired!]

[Stored in System Inventory.]

Holden looked down at the remains of Drask.

A faint breeze from the moving air system scattered some of the ash across the grating.

He stepped over it and climbed back through the hatch.

Within thirty minutes, Team Soup was airborne again.

The stealth jet moved through the pre-dawn sky, leaving the checkpoint far behind. Below them, the Behemoth sat on the military platform surrounded by soldiers who were still trying to understand how a quarter-mile-long weapons factory had suddenly become their problem.

The cargo hold was quiet.

Everyone was exhausted.

Emric had fallen asleep sitting up. Renna was stretched out on the floor with her bow across her chest, the stolen cup held against her like a prized possession. Lyra sat beside the window with her eyes closed, while Cora and Sera rested against the rear wall, their breathing slow and steady.

Holden was the only one awake.

He sat near the front of the cargo hold, where the faint glow from the cockpit instruments barely reached him. The pilot followed the coordinates Maeve had provided while the rest of the team slept.

Holden reached into his Inventory.

The Diamond Chest appeared in his hands.

He pressed his thumb against the seal.

The six petals opened.

Silver light spilled out.

Inside was a small silver disk.

It was about the size of a coin, perfectly round, with a mirror-like surface on one side and a dark matte surface on the other.

Holden looked into the mirror.

It didn’t show his reflection.

Instead, it showed a dark silhouette shaped exactly like him.

The shadow moved whenever he moved.

[Item Acquired: Rank 4 Echo-Mirror]

[Type: Active Tactical Artifact]

[Rank: 4]

[Active: Echo-Clone. When activated, the mirror instantly creates a physical shadow-clone of the user. The clone matches the user’s current rank, physical abilities, equipped weapons, and active skills. The clone exists for exactly 60 seconds before dissolving into shadow.]

[Limitation: The clone is physical and can attack, defend, and use skills. It cannot use System features or speak. The clone possesses an independent energy reserve based on the user’s current condition.]

[Cooldown: 5 minutes after the clone disappears.]

[Passive: Shadow Resonance. While the mirror is equipped, the user’s shadow can be used as a Void-Step target, extending the effective range of Void-Step by 50%.]

[Description: An artifact forged from condensed shadow and mirrored light. The Echo-Mirror does not create an illusion. It creates a second you.]

Holden turned the disk over in his fingers.

The mirror side continued showing his silhouette. The dark copy moved perfectly with him, almost as if another Holden was standing on the other side of the glass.

For sixty seconds, there could be two Holden Vosses on the battlefield.

He imagined a second Eclipse-Sun Sword cutting through an enemy formation beside him. A second body moving with Void-Step. A second fighter capable of keeping up with his current strength.

That was a serious increase in firepower.

Holden slipped the Echo-Mirror into his Inventory.

The silver light disappeared, leaving the cargo hold dark again.

"Good toy," he murmured.

He leaned back in his seat.

The jet hummed around him while the sky outside slowly grew brighter.

Then his earpiece crackled.

"Holden."

Maeve’s voice came through, clear and professional.

"I’ve updated the target list. Drask is confirmed dead. The Behemoth is in Vanguard custody. Three names crossed off, four remaining."

"Go ahead."

"Target Four. Master Korr. Rank 4, 1-Star. Earth and metal manipulation specialist. Former master smith of the Iron-Blood Empire’s military foundry division. He defected fifteen years ago, around the same period as the first Abyssal Incursion."

Maeve paused briefly.

"Korr is currently running an illegal weapons foundry on the western frontier of the Iron-Blood Empire. The facility produces corrupted Abyssal weapons and armor for the monster armies. It’s one of the Syndicate’s major supply points."

"So destroying it cuts off their weapons."

"Exactly."

"Location?"

"Deep in the frontier mountains. It’s built inside a canyon, with the surrounding terrain acting as a natural fortress. Satellite images show several defensive positions around the area and a large mercenary force stationed inside."

"How many?"

"Approximately three thousand Rank 1 and Rank 2 mercenaries. Korr also has around fifty Rank 3 enforcers guarding the foundry."

Holden glanced at the sleeping team.

Three thousand enemies. Fifty Rank 3s. One Rank 4.

And an entire weapons foundry.

The potential KP was enormous.

He opened his System interface.

[Fighter Rank: Rank 3 (8-Star)]

[Direct Breakthrough: Rank 3, 8-Star to 9-Star]

[Cost: 1,000,000 KP]

Holden stared at the numbers.

A large enemy stronghold could give him exactly what he needed.

His eyes moved across the sleeping team.

Emric still had his notebook.

Renna was still hugging the stolen cup.

Lyra looked completely peaceful for once.

The Twins hadn’t moved at all.

Holden pressed the communication button.

"Pilot."

"Sir?"

"Change of course. We’re not going to the Capital."

There was a short pause.

"Where are we heading?"

"I’ll send you the coordinates. The Iron-Blood Empire’s western frontier."

Another pause.

"That’s hostile territory, General."

"I know."

"The current flight plan has us returning to the Capital."

"File a new one. Tactical operation. Authorization from Vanguard General Voss."

Silence followed.

The pilot was clearly thinking about what he had just been asked to do. Flying a military jet into hostile territory on the orders of a teenager who had hijacked a train only hours earlier was not exactly standard procedure.

"Sir, the crew needs rest and the jet needs refueling."

"We’ll refuel at Seven Alpha. Thirty-minute turnaround. The crew can rest in shifts during the flight. It’s six hours to the frontier, so they’ll have plenty of time."

"And the team?"

Holden looked over his shoulder.

"They’re sleeping now. They’ll rest until we arrive."

The pilot hesitated for another moment.

Then came the reply.

"Understood, General. Changing course."

The jet banked smoothly.

The horizon shifted outside the cargo hold windows as the aircraft turned toward the western frontier. The Capital was left behind while the Iron-Blood Empire grew closer.

Holden settled into his seat.

The Echo-Mirror was safely stored in his Inventory. So was the Eclipse-Sun Sword and Vespera’s journal, its pages now carrying three crossed-out names.

Four remained.

He looked toward the dark window and caught a faint reflection of himself in the glass.

A small smile appeared.

"Finally," he murmured. "Someone handsome to talk to."

The reflection didn’t answer.

Holden nodded anyway.

"Yeah, I know. You’re quiet."

He closed his eyes.

The jet hummed through the sky. The team slept around him, and six hours remained before they reached the frontier.

Six hours until the next target.

Six hours until the next battle.

And six hours closer to Rank 4.

Holden let himself sleep.

The war wasn’t waiting.