I crawled back from the very edge of despair’s abyss. I clawed my way back from the shores of betrayal in the most wretched state I ever loathed. But you? You’ve disappointed me beyond words. Still so short-sighted. Still so foolish. Like children who never grow up, squabbling endlessly.
Lu Xiu’s face was deathly pale. Her once delicate, enchanting features were now clouded with confusion and despair. Her lips trembled slightly. Her usually poised frame swayed unsteadily, as if its foundation had crumbled.
“I won’t waste my breath asking why you’ve become like this.” No. For people like them—who’d sacrifice their lives for their convictions—if they chose to bury those beliefs themselves, no words could ever reach them. “But… if it’s truly you, you wouldn’t refuse me. Would you?”
They’d once been comrades who trusted each other with their backs. Confidants with a hint of something deeper.
Mentor and disciple, bound by shared ideals.
Yet the moment Mirror October returned, he’d targeted Lu Xiu—the one whose convictions had twisted most severely within the Superhero Administration—and shattered her psyche without hesitation. Her crumbling faith, her spiraling powers, her imprisonment by the Central Bureau… every step was meticulously orchestrated by Mirror October.
But stripping away all that… given what they once were, Mirror October would never deny Lu Xiu a reasonable request.
“Of course, my dear Xiu. How could I refuse you?” His voice was a lover’s whisper, clinging to her pet name. He gazed at his masterpiece—this woman who once carried herself like a head of state receiving subordinates, radiating effortless, untouchable grace, as if she scorned the entire world.
Past or present, Mirror October’s feelings for Lu Xiu remained tangled beyond reason.
He drank in her exquisite, sorrowful face. Traced the elegant lines of her body beneath the windbreaker. Lingered on the magnificent figure barely covered by cloth strips. This wasn’t lust. It was the satisfaction of an artist beholding his finest creation.
Time to reap the harvest…
“What can I give you?”
“That depends on what you’re willing to pay, heh heh.”
Mirror October never took what wasn’t owed. What he claimed was always the debt others owed the world. Those who refuse to sacrifice anything change nothing. The more Lu Xiu offered to transform her fate, the closer Mirror October would bring his perfect work to its zenith.
No one could resist this lure—especially not someone who knew him intimately. Mirror October smiled. He already knew the ending. Of course Xiu wouldn’t refuse him.
“In our first meeting… your words… that voice I could never forget…” Lu Xiu forced a ghastly smile. Step by step, she approached the slender shadow beyond the cell bars. In her grief-stricken eyes, an unquenchable flame flickered to life.
She’d never forget the weary boy she met under the noonday tree shade.
Even now, she remembered the warm breeze brushing her cheeks, the cheerful chirping of unseen birds. That boy—his frail body bearing the weight of a Dire Calamity that nearly ended the world—could barely keep his eyes open. Yet he wore a smile of pure, radiant contentment.
Just for saving everyone… he was that happy. Back then, her gaze had followed only one figure: the Legend who never bowed to catastrophe.
That day had been so beautifully perfect…
*“To save humanity, I would try anything.”* An unbroken vow.
*“With all I have and all I am, I shall guard humanity’s peace.”* An undying anthem.
This was the testament of your conviction—the very thing the hero known as “The People’s Gaze” clung to even in death. So I won’t ask why you became the criminal you once despised. I won’t ask what broke you. But… let me feel it. Let me feel everything you endured.
Only then… can I catch up to you again.
“One last thing. If my path ever reaches its limit, I will carve a new shore with absolute will. Show me… the endgame of your game… Saw.” The name tasted bitter on her tongue. Through the cell bars, Lu Xiu stretched out her hands. No matter what, she’d always yearned for him. Worshipped him. Loved him! Even if it meant shattering on the cliffs of oblivion, she wouldn’t hesitate for a second.
“If you’re truly ready… take my hand.”
Beneath pristine white gloves lay that achingly familiar shape—long, slender fingers that seemed too delicate for a man’s hand. No one would guess these seemingly boneless hands had turned the tide in countless moments of utter ruin.
*Take my hand!*
If you trust me… if you’re still my Xiu who believed in me… take my hand. As long as you don’t betray me, I’ll show you the world’s true cruelty. I’ll give you everything I’ve endured. Take my hand. Don’t let go. Not even in death.
Without hesitation!
Lu Xiu—former S-Class hero, one of the Ace Seven Riders of the Superhero Administration, the Justice Knight—reached out. Her slender fingers clamped tightly around the delicate hand before her. In that instant, she didn’t notice how her sharp, cold eyes softened with a long-forgotten peace. The faintest smile touched her crimson lips, as if she’d rediscovered a purpose worth any price.
***BOOM!***
If Lu Xiu’s earlier S-Class outburst had been a mountain flood, Mirror October’s suppressed Justice Knight power now erupted like a cataclysmic planetary collision. Overwhelming. Annihilating. The secret base—built solely to contain S-Class threats—was erased in a breath by the abyssal force licking its walls. One blink… and it was reduced to dust.
Not a single fragment resisted.
The Central Bureau researchers, dreaming of harvesting Lu Xiu’s corpse and relics after her breakdown, froze forever in that final moment.
SS-Class? *Heh.* Please. Don’t make Mirror October laugh.
SS-Class was just the ceiling of frogs in a well, mistaking their puddle for the sky. Since that was the highest rank they could fathom… Mirror October would humor their delusion. For now.
