The misty blue-silver cloud of essence was becoming denser around Xera. The wand floated in the air, with Luke unable to see the details of her changes. The reaction to evolving this time was much greater than the last.

The remaining trio backed up, wanting to avoid any chance of shattering the much more deadly mirror to their left.

"That changing weapon of yours—she'd best be a bonnie upgrade after all this carry-on. It’s me who's the bright and gleaming one. What'll you do if she drops after this grand 'evolution'?" Wayfinder's words betrayed a hint of jealousy.

“It’s been a while since I’ve let you upgrade too, huh Wayfinder?” Luke immediately asked about the heart of the issue.

"Aye, it's not just about me getting a polish or a wee tune-up. Though, I'd not be lying if I said a spruce-up might sweeten the deal for a glorious compass like meself. But for you, lad, the actual prize is sharpening me abilities. That'll give you the upper hand we're needing to take on the ghastly horror that's waiting for us ahead." Wayfinder's response was laced with whimsy at his improvement but focused on the greater benefit to Luke.

Luke didn’t have to ask who the “ghastly horror” was. There was no other answer than the Spectral Lord. Sooty let out a caw, and the mist around Xera receded rapidly. She grabbed Xera, closed her eyes, and turned back to Luke. A familiar voice could be heard.

"Let go! Only my Reaver is supposed to hold me, got it? Well, maybe you're okay since you're a Reaver’s partner... Ah, whatever, it's better than being stuck on the ground or locked away. Just be gentle, okay? No rough stuff." Xera protested with her usual high-spirited flair, her mood swinging even as she spoke.

Once Sooty returned Xera to Luke, the sword-wand's exuberance was palpable. "Master! Check me out! Don’t I look amazing? I'm not only looking sharper but feeling stronger, too. With me becoming even more wander-ful! And let’s be honest, looking good is half the battle, right?" Xera's voice was brimming with excitement and a touch of pride in her new enhancements.

Luke could feel the density of the wooden shaft. He’d bet it was far more durable than any ordinary steel by now. The essence wafting off was visible. A permanent etching appeared on the crystal part of the sword wand.

An Interface table appeared without his asking. Reading over it, there were a few essential parts. First, the sheer damage increase was over fifteen for both physical and magical from its former amount. With her in his hands, his stat steal per swing went up to 4%. Wand form had made all his spells more effective.

Before going further into it, he subconsciously nodded when he saw Xera could continue to level. She didn’t need as much experience as he did. So far, it was about a third, if not less. While she only gained new abilities when she evolved, her damage still went up with levels.

He was going to need a sharp blade to pierce through plate armor. Further examining Xera, he paused momentarily when she spoke to him.

“Looking at a lady so intensely makes her blush, you know?” Xera teased.

Letting her have her moment, he continued to figure out her significant changes. To Luke, there were quite a few. The uncommon quality Xera couldn’t hold a candle to the current rare quality one.

She had gained a new passive, Essence Affinity. Casting Essence Bond on her no longer caused a cooldown, and it cost half as much to cast on her. Now that he learned Essence Bond empowers Xera, as she counts as an ally, much like it did to Wayfinder, this passive was extraordinarily useful to him. However, Essence bond seemed to have extra effects on Xera, yet again unexplained to him. He chalked it up to being a weapon designed for his class. Her sword form gained a natural twenty percent armor penetration.

That aspect of hers alone must’ve been why the hooded stone human was so adamant she was the key to leaving this place.

Xera also gained an interesting passive with its own internal cooldown. After she shifted to wand form, she released a ruinous echo on his first offensive spell, reducing the magic resistance of all affected targets by 20%. The effect would only activate once a minute, meaning he couldn’t spam change the form of Xera to abuse the new ability.

Although, no doubt Xera would find shifting so much very exciting. Lastly, the evolution requirement turned into multiple question marks. The current Xera had finally become a sufficiently powerful weapon.

Short on time, Luke stopped thinking about going overly into the details. He needed to figure out this mirror room or at least shatter some more mirrors. In the current situation, just mistakenly looking somewhere might end up killing him. The feeling was suffocating him, so he tackled more mirrors head-on.

The odd party of four walked past the mirror with siege beasts, still deciding even with Xera’s change, it would be better to leave them alone. Luke was sure taking on seventy of something designed to take on city walls would have to wait. He turned Xera back into her sword form.

Repeating the process of using Xera to view mirrors without breaking them, her excitable voice rang, “These will be fun to sword down! A lot of fiery demon types are having a feast in there. It makes me hungry to look at all that meat…that vaguely looks human in shape. Never mind. There’s about 25 of them in there!”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“And the level? What else can you see about them, Xera?” Luke interrogated.

“Oh, um, they’re all looking back at me, so they know a sword wand is talking about them now! The pesky Interface says each one is level 17, and some fancy flames are floating around them. Try me out on them. If you’re worried, they’re a better choice than the siege beasts!” Xera started to persuade Luke, likely interested in testing out her mettle.

If Luke were honest, he was eager to try out the new capabilities of Xera, but caution still won within him first. He brought Xera back, then placed Wayfinder over the sword, using his chain to keep him in place.

“Wayfinder, you take a look too. Xera’s likely too eager to test herself, as am I. I want a second opinion on those demons. I get you’re not too keen on working with Xera. Call it me taking your warning into account.” Luke asked Wayfinder to help him out, but it was more like voluntold him to do so.

Uncomfortable with the idea but understanding the severity of choosing the wrong mirror, Wayfinder reluctantly agreed. “Ai lad, you drive a good point. Let me get this over with the lassie. The sooner, the better. Then I can cleanse me chain later.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m a clean sword wand, thank you very much. It’s just a little blood, right, master? I’m not…you know?” Xera’s voice started sure, then became questioning.

Luke had no idea how to answer that and rather stay silent due to his innate nature. Instead, he sent a questioning look at Wayfinder. The compass let out an audible sigh.

“Take it as me ramblings, missy. Now, let’s look at this mirror.” Wayfinder cut through the sass and refocused on the task at hand.

“The shifting sword isn’t wrong, but she ain't right either. Around the feast of humanoid remains are 25 Infernal Lords at level 17. But under the table are twice as many imps skittering about and two groups of infernal shades floating in the air." Wayfinder continued to observe, "You even have two behemoths grazing around in the fiery plains. They’ll likely come a bit later after the rest. It’d be challenging, but the siege beasts would be even worse. I’m apt to agree with the wand sword lass.” Wayfinder cautioned but gave a much more full image of the actual situation behind the mirror.

Taking both of his artifacts back to their rightful positions, Luke’s eyebrows furrowed. A slight frown could be seen on his face. Two of the three members of his party gave their opinion, so he decided to ask Sooty for hers as well, just in case.

“Sooty, are you comfortable taking all that on with me? We could target down the wraiths and imps first. The real issue would be the Infernal Lords and the two behemoths.”

The spunky corvid paused, no longer hopping around. A flicker of doubt crossed her eyes, and then a persistent click escaped her beak. Sooty flapped up to his shoulder, readying herself.

“Two are for it. One tentatively agrees as well. I guess that settles it. If we’re going to face a group like that, then let’s not hold anything back.” Luke let the cortisol flood within his body.

Deciding he wanted as much firepower within two seconds as they could pump out, Luke again switched his Temporal North ability to Essence Lance. Then he glanced back, making sure to avoid the siege beast mirror. He realized the problem. If they fought out here, all it would take was one wrong look, and the flood of siege beasts or otherwise would likely kill him and Sooty.

Letting out a deep breath, he said. “Let me test something.”

Luke walked over to the shattered mirror from which the snake humanoids had been cleared and stepped into the mirror’s frame. His body passed through a transparent barrier, and he was in the old lair behind the mirror. The gaseous air wafted around him. A notice that he was taking damage due to the poison around him popped up. Gaining the information he needed, he stepped back out of the lair into the domain of the tomb once more.

Going into the realms behind the mirror was a critically important piece. While going into the home ground of monsters had dangers, Luke doubted it was any worse than shattering multiple mirrors at once while fighting. In the pressure of combat, who knows what could cause him to look the wrong way, even for a moment, thus shattering other mirror realms.

What if a monster was intelligent enough to know the situation of these mirrors? They could attack him, force him to look at the mirror containing the siege beasts, and he’d quickly end up a dead Reaver. Since that was the case, being able to enter into a mirror realm forcibly was a safer option, depending on how you looked at it.

“Sooty, we’ll be going into that mirror realm with the Infernal Lords and all the other blazing hellish demons. We must force our way in immediately, hit with everything we’ve got in short order. Understood?”

Sooty didn’t make any motion or sound this time. Instead, over the Reaver’s Link, a feeling of agreement was sent over. That was all the confirmation Luke needed.

“We go on the attack. You have my sword! I wonder what it’s like in there. My last Reaver decided to skip this mirror. She wasn’t as fun. She was brash and…I’ll stop talking.” Xera turned a little gloomy toward the end, an unsaid ending being hinted at.

“And you have me compass, on then. Those flesh-eating demons and rugrat flame bolt imps won’t be a match for us. We ain’t getting any younger, and the lad’s heart won’t be beating for much more.” Wayfinder backhandedly insulted their next opponents.

Letting the blood rush out of his heart, and the stale air of the tomb enter his nose, Luke cast Essence Bond on Xera. As her new passive implied, roughly half the Essence was used, and the cooldown instantly reset. Essence began to flow out of the sword wand, and runes lit up on her sword body.

Sooty let out a tense caw, her talons gripped into Luke’s shoulder. Even though this mirror was a better choice, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Instead, it would be closer to hellfire and lightning strikes. Oh, and add in a multitude of monsters.

Knowing that overthinking it would cause him to stay just before this mirror for eons, he forced his body in front of the feasting demons. His peripheral caught the twisted family feast. Every monster had their eyes on him. A few even seemed to be laughing. As if telling him he was a fool for picking this mirror. Luke turned Xera back into a wand as emotions began to bubble.

Anger rose within Luke. This world had been pushing him from the start. He turned his head to the mirror, which had already begun to crack. With his full attention on the mirror, it shattered. He stepped in before the demons could step out. Without missing a beat, the next battle began with his hand raised. A fissure ripped out from his wand, clouding the sky with its essence, asserting dominance over the sick beings in his way for survival.

With the masses of deadly beings stunned against the ground and wraiths screaming in defiance of being victims of gravity once more, a sword wand started screaming in excitement. Letting the hot waves of air hit his face. Luke ignored the now obvious human remains being feasted on by the demons. He didn’t feel anger anymore. Instead, he felt disgusted. These monsters before him would become his food instead. Luke pointed his sword wand forward.

“Essence Bond.” He whispered a predatory air surrounding his voice.