Chapter 40: 40. The 99th Floor

Floor Ninety-Nine was different from all the others that came before it.

Owen stepped onto a platform suspended in an endless void as Stars twinkled in the darkness around him.

The platform itself seemed to be made of a crystallized element reflecting various colours off it.

There was no up or down here, no sense of gravity beyond what the platform provided.

Standing across from him was a figure.

Upon closer inspection, it was a Dragon.

But not just any dragon.

It looked exactly like Owen.

Same black scales, each one identical in placement and size. Same golden eyes that caught the starlight. Same size, same build, same muscular frame.

But its eyes were cold and blank. Devoid of the spark of life and warmth Owen felt when he thought of Yuki.

Then the tower’s voice spoke.

[This is your shadow. The version of you that could be. The you that chooses power over purpose. Domination over protection. Self over others.]

[Defeat it. Or be consumed by it.]

The shadow-Owen grinned, a cruel, vicious expression Owen had never worn on his own face before. It was his smile, his face, but twisted into something predatory and devious.

“You’re weak” it said in Owen’s voice. “You cling to that human. You pretend to care about ’balance’ and ’protecting the World.’ But deep down, you know the truth. You’re just a weak little human within. What’s your business with all that nonsensical cosmic duties? Huh!?”

It spread its wings wide as it prepared to attack.

“We’re dragons! meant to rule! dominate! To take what we want!. Why do you deny what you are?” Shadow-Owen circled slowly, never taking its eyes off him.

“You remember what it felt like to be powerless, don’t you? Watching Yuki get beaten up, watching yourself die slowly, unable to do anything about it? That helplessness?”

Owen’s claws dug into the platform, creating small cracks in the crystallized surface.

“You’ve been tiptoeing around being of Yuki, Do you know how strong you would’ve been already if you just focused on Your growth!?”

Shadow-Owen’s expression darkened. “Just die here! And let me continue outside as the true ’owen’”

Shadow-Owen launched forward, activating [Piercing Dive] with devastating speed. The sound barrier shattered around him, creating a cone of compressed air that distorted the space between them.

But Owen dodged the assault, barely, feeling the displacement of air tear at his scales.

He countered with [Dragon’s Breath], unleashing a torrent of flame that turned the void orange.

But Shadow-Owen matched him perfectly, its own flames meeting his in a collision of heat that would have vaporized steel.

The two streams of fire spiraled around each other, neither gaining ground.

The battle raged across the platform. [Shockwave] met [Shockwave], creating ripples in space that made the stars flicker.

[Momentum Shift] countered [Momentum Shift], both of them dancing through the air with impossible maneurevering.

Flames clashed against flames, claws against claws, tail whips against tail whips. Every move Owen made, Shadow-Owen predicted and countered. Every tactic Owen attempted, Shadow-Owen had already prepared for.

It was like trying to Move faster than your on reflection on the mirror.

Owen activated [Sovereignty of Space-Time], slowing the world to a crawl.

Shadow-Owen’s next strike hung in the air, creeping forward at a slower pace.

But Shadow-Owen did the same and activated Sovereignty of Space-time.

Both of them existed in the same dilated timestream now, moving at normal speed relative to each other while the world around them slowed with debris in the air.

They continued their battle in this frozen moment, trading blows that would have been invisible to any outside observer.

“You can’t beat me,” Shadow-Owen hissed between strikes, its claws scraping against Owen’s scales. “I’m everything you are and even more!. I’m you without the hesitations! You without that weak female human holding you back!”

The mention of Yuki sent a spike of rage through Owen, but he forced it himself to stay calm.

Getting angry would just make him predictable.

Owen’s mind raced as he parried another strike. ’It’s right. It knows everything I know. Every skill. Every tactic. We’re identical in power, in technique, in experience. How do I beat myself?’

They broke apart, both breathing heavily, mana reserves depleting. Shadow-Owen’s grin widened.

“You’re starting to see it, aren’t you? There’s no winning this. Not with the way you’re fighting.”

Owen’s claws scraped against the platform as he steadied himself. His mind was working through possibilities, discarding tactics, analyzing patterns.

Then it hit him.

“I don’t beat it by being stronger. I beat it by being different.”

Owen deactivated [Sovereignty of Space-Time] and stopped fighting.

He lowered his guard completely, wings folding against his back, head slightly bowed.

Shadow-Owen’s claws were inches from his throat when Owen spoke, his voice steady despite his racing heart.

“You’re right. You’re part of me. Those dark thoughts. Those selfish impulses. They exist. I won’t deny that.”

Shadow-Owen hesitated, confusion flickering across his facial expression.

Its claws trembled in the air, still poised to kill but frozen by uncertainty.

Owen continued, meeting his shadow’s gaze without flinching. “But they don’t define me. They’re part of me, but they’re not all of me. I choose what I become. Not my instincts. Not my fears. Not you.”

“What are you—”

“I’ve thought about it,” Owen interrupted. “All of it. Dominating. Ruling. Taking what I want. Those thoughts are real. They’re mine. I own them.” He straightened, his voice growing stronger.

“But I also think about Yuki’s laugh. About the way she gets excited, her tears, her sadness.”

Shadow-Owen’s expression twisted, something like pain crossing its face.

“Those thoughts are mine too,” Owen said. “And they’re stronger. Not because they’re more powerful, but because I choose them. Every day. Every moment. I choose to protect. I choose Yuki. I choose this ’nonsensical’ balance. Not because I have to. Not because of some mandate from the World. But because I want to.”

He spread his wings, and in that moment, he felt lighter than he had in floors and floors of trials.

“I choose my weaknesses. I choose my attachments. I choose to care, even when it would be easier not to.”

Shadow-Owen’s expression twisted with rage, with something that looked almost like desperation. “That’s weakness! A weak choice! You’re throwing away everything we could be!”

“Maybe…” Owen said calmly, and he genuinely meant it. “But it’s my weakness. My choice. My path.”

He spread his wings wider, feeling the void’s emptiness around him but no longer feeling small in the face of it.

“And I’m stronger for it. Because strength without purpose is just destruction. Power without choice is just slavery to your instincts.You’re everything I could be if I gave up my sense of reasoning. And that’s not strength to me, That’s just surrender to my fears.”

Shadow-Owen roared, a sound of pure fury and denial. “NO! SHUT UP!”

It lunged forward, abandoning all technique, all strategy. Pure rage drove it now, the rage of something that was being rejected, being denied its right to exist.

But this time, Owen didn’t match its movements. He didn’t mirror its tactics. He didn’t fight back the same.

He did something it didn’t predict.

He activated [Sovereignty of Destruction].

The red haze descended and fuel Owen. Power flooded his limbs. The familiar rage threatened to consume him, to turn him into exactly what Shadow-Owen represente: pure, mindless violence.

He used the surge of power, channeled the berserk state, but kept one hand on the reins of his consciousness. His rational mind stayed just barely in control, riding the edge of madness like a surfer riding a wave that could kill them at any moment.

It was the hardest thing he’d ever done till now. The rage screamed at him to let go, to stop thinking, to just destroy. But he held on, thinking of Yuki.

Shadow-Owen couldn’t replicate this. Because it didn’t have what Owen had: a reason to stay sane. A reason to control the chaos. It was all the destructive impulses with none of the restraints, all the power with none of the purpose.

It could activate [Sovereignty of Destruction], and it did, matching Owen’s red-tinged aura.

But it couldn’t control it.

Shadow-Owen became pure destruction, mindless and savage. It attacked with overwhelming force but no strategy, no tactic, no thought beyond just annihilation.

Owen moved with more precision than him, Each strike was calculated even through the red haze that clouded his vision.

Each movement was purposeful even as the rage begged him to just tear and rend and destroy.

Finally, His claws tore through Shadow-Owen’s chest. A precise strike to the center of mass, delivered with all the force of [Momentum Shift] behind it.

The shadow screamed, then it dissolved into smoke, wisps of darkness that scattered across the void like ashes.

[You have passed the trial of the self. Your path has been chosen.]

[Proceed.]

Owen collapsed onto the platform, gasping for air as his mana reserves were nearly depleted now.

His body ached from a dozen wounds he hadn’t noticed during the fight as Blood dripped onto the crystallized surface beneath him.

[Sovereignty of Destruction – Mastery: 10%]

Owen lay there for a long moment, staring up at the stars, letting his breathing slow, letting the red haze fade completely from his vision.

One more floor left.

Floor One Hundred awaited.

And somehow, Owen knew that everything before this had just been preparation for what was to come.

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