I’ve seen many of my apprentices die the first time I send them against a true mimic. They always assume it’s a fair fight since the creature can only copy their abilities and has none of its own…but who said that they can’t have their own mastery? That the mimic can’t be better than you? -Monster Hunter Huang Zhi

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I was no stranger to mirrors. In fact, I was quite fond of them. Bouncing light on reflective surfaces, twisting that light into new forms that mimicked reality, then pushing that to new heights to hone my more subtle skills…these were my first steps towards understanding the nature of the moon and it’s reflected light. I studied with mirrors for years, and in doing so, developed a particular interest in my own appearance.

After all, appearances are everything. I studied the way I saw myself, then compared it to the image in the mirror to see how others beheld me. In doing so, I crafted exactly the image I wanted them to see, that of a peerless cultivator with the presence of a tiger and the grace of a fairy.

But the Fury…

The reflection of myself that trudged through the forest was not the reflection of my image. It was a hideous monster, steeped in void mist that hung off tattered blue robes like blood. Its hair was long and ragged, left unbound to hang in matted tendrils that obscured much of its face. Chains of glowing steel wrapped tightly around its body, practically choking, and yet, its growls were perfectly clear in the quiet night.

“What a miserable creature,” Tenri whispered. I nodded in agreement. “Do you think it will have your techniques?”

“Not all of them,” I answered. Blue-tinted light shone from its chains, and even from this distance, I could feel the void fused with that light. Though I still didn’t understand the mechanism behind it, I knew from experience that the voidlight would prevent the use of Flash Forward and Flash Back, meaning I’d have to win this fight fairly.

“How are we supposed to beat something with your skills?”

“Overwhelm its mediocre martial prowess, back it into a corner, be unpredictable,” I answered.

Tenri sighed. “You say that like it’ll be easy. But, if this thing is anything like you, I’ve seen you take down six artists at the same time, and one of those was an advancement higher than you.”

“Let’s hope this one isn’t clever enough for that.”

We crept closer. My whole body began to itch as the void mist around us thickened. Even my lungs began to itch, and a cough was rising in my burning throat, threatening to give away our position. Tenri, on the other hand, looked fine.

“That technique is a handy one,” I muttered, trying to swallow back the need to cough.

“You don’t look so good,” he answered. “Why don’t you stay here. You can shoot it from this distance without issue, and I can approach more easily.”

It was a good plan. I drew my bow from my back and nocked an arrow. Meanwhile, Tenri continued forward. The plants on either side of the Fury were consumed by the void mists, leaving nothing behind but bare earth where it stepped.

Not unlike what I did to the lands of Daying, Fuyao, and all the rest… I realized. If it was some consolation, the radius where the plants were reduced to ash was small. This was no Ascendent we were facing. In fact, it even lacked the ghostly wisps that usually accompanied me when I was in my Void-touched form. Wait, don’t all powerful shades have wisps?

With a start, I realized the truth. The Chain-Bound Fury wasn’t technically a shade. Every so often, its form seemed to flicker, as if it might burst into static before stabilizing. Certainly, this gave it a rather “ghostly” appearance, as it was less than solid, but the truth was far more complex. This was the effect of a technique I once developed which I gave the rather poetic title of the Moon Moth’s Reality Dance. The title had little to do with the ability other than the fact that I’d come up with it while watching two luna moths dancing around a flower in perfect harmony.

At its heart, the Moon Moth’s Reality Dance created fake versions of myself as perfectly autonomous beings. They could walk, talk, and behave exactly like me. They had all my memories, and could even replicate many of my techniques, depending on how much qi I fed them. In fact, when done properly, no one but the most powerful of Ascendents would ever know the difference between the real me and one of these fakes.

When done improperly, however, they would be lesser reflections, unable to hold even the tiniest candle to the original. The Chain-Bound Fury was one such reflection, no doubt created during my incarceration as my qi leaked out, corrupting the Moon-Soaked Shore. I had no recollection of ever creating such a double, but my memories of the early days were hazy and muddled with madness and anger, much like the being before us.

No wonder it’s such a hideous thing…it was created from my most miserable self.

Everything was in position. Tenri was about as close as he could get without alerting the monster he stalked. He glanced back, I drew my arrow back on the string. Instead of void mist, I focused pure moon qi onto the arrow. I gave Tenri a sharp nod, and we struck.

My arrow flew forward, catching up with Tenri just as he struck. The Fury growled and whirled around, flinging its chains with a savage screech of rage, knocking my arrow aside. My breath caught as the front of the creature was revealed. Its whole front was stained black with blood from a brilliant white nail that protruded from its heart. Its eyes were red with hate, and it looked every inch a monster from your worst nightmare.

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Tenri ducked under the chain as the glowing length flew at him, driving his blade forward, but the Fury wasn’t completely stupid. It shifted back and to the left, directing the blade into one of its chains. Metal clanged against metal, and the blow was deflected, but Tenri wasn’t deterred. He rolled to the Fury’s left.

It spun with incredible speed, swiping at him with void-tipped claws that would dissolve Tenri’s flesh from his bones if he were struck. I pulled back another arrow and fired at the Fury’s shoulder. Just as it lunged at Tenri again, the arrow slammed into it. It howled, but it was little more than angry. Tenri was on his feet, sweeping upward with his sword. Distracted by my arrow, the Fury had no time to recover, and the blade struck true.

Black blood dripped to the ground, and the Fury stumbled back. Tenri’s wood qi surged along the ground, strengthening the plants beneath the Fury before they could be dissolved by his aura. Hungry roots wrapped around its feet, and it crashed to the ground.

“Finish it!” I shouted. Two arrows were nocked on my string. I aimed my bow high into the sky and released. Qi flashed through them as they pierced the misty aura to receive light from the moon above. Like stars shooting from the heavens, they reappeared just in time to slam straight into the Fury’s chest, opposite the nail.

Not to be outdone, Tenri leapt forward, trying to drive his sword through the Fury’s stomach. Just before his blow could land, the void aura around us shifted. It compressed inward in the blink of an eye, then exploded outward in a wave of void qi.

Even from my distance, I felt the potency of the void increase tenfold. My skin burned, and I felt my skin beginning to grow numb as my nerves were slowly dissolved. However, none of that mattered to me.

Across the clearing, the Fury was back on its feet and shuffling towards Tenri as if nothing had happened. Tenri, on the other hand, was on the ground with a hand pressed to his side where the explosion seemed to hit him most directly. Even with the green light of wood qi protecting him like the bark of a tree, blood was seeping from between his fingers. Close as he was to the epicenter of the intensified aura, blisters began to break out on his arms and neck.

“HEY!” I shouted. I drew back another arrow and fired it straight at the Fury’s head. It whipped around, blocking the arrow with the chains around its arm. “Leave him alone!” I drew back another arrow. This one, I infused with both moon and void. It blazed with voidlight, banishing the darkness of the mist as it streaked towards the nail in the Fury’s heart.

It hastily drew a chain-wrapped arm into the arrow’s path, and I grimaced. Of course, its weak point would be the nail. What else could it be? The original nail had been thirteen horrible inches of blessed sandalwood infused with lightning qi, driven straight through flesh, bone, and muscle by an Ascendent. I still remembered the agony that had accompanied it. I still bore the scars.

Distasteful as I found the nail to be, attacking it did have the benefit of drawing the Fury’s attention away from Tenri and towards me. It sprinted forward with a furious screech, crossing the distance with far more speed than a being wrapped in chains had any right to have. With every step it drew nearer, the void increased in potency, causing my lungs to burn with every breath, but I gritted my teeth and bore the pain.

Three arrows found their way to my string as I sprinted towards a nearby tree. The Fury was faster than me and likely stronger than me, but it didn’t have all my techniques. I sprang off the tree, twisting my body as I drew my bow. The arrows infused with harsh voidlight that only added to the burning void qi in the area. When they fired, they split into a dozen copies as Heaven’s Rain descended upon the Fury’s head.

I landed cleanly on the other side of the creature, and it whipped around in a whirlwind of loose chains and void mist. My grip on my bow loosened now that I was in close range, and my hand slid to the end of the lower limb. With a single fluid spin, I ducked under one chain before whipping my bow around. It cracked against the side of the Fury’s head, and the Fury stumbled to the side.

An orb of pure void qi appeared in the Fury’s hand, and I twisted to avoid touching it before backing up several paces. I had enough exposure to this hideous reflection’s void aura without adding to the problem.

But, the Fury was quick. Before I left its reach, a chain slammed into the side of my head from nowhere. I was dazed and briefly wondered why I hadn’t seen it coming…when I remembered that Flash Forward didn’t work in the presence of Voidlight.

I really need to look into why that is… I thought in the moments before I hit the ground. Once again, complacency and overreliance on my blooded techniques was my own downfall. I’d have to work to fix that…

The impact was like taking a horse kick to the chest. The coughing fit I’d been desperately holding back in the face of the increasing levels of void mist came pouring out all at once. My chest spasmed as the irony taste of blood filled my mouth and sprayed across the barren ground beneath me. I couldn’t stop coughing as my body desperately tried to expel the void.

Shhhhink, step, shhhhhhink, step, shhhhhhink, step.

I looked up, only to see the Fury looming over me, growling at me with my own face, twisted by hate and horror. Appearances are everything, and this was how other people saw me: nothing but a monster with a craving for death and devastation. This was the creature that was worthy of being the Demon of Misfortune.

“And what about an assumption about yourself?” Tenri’s words rang in the back of my thoughts. It was followed by my sister’s. “What’s stopping you from changing isn’t your power.”

But, I’m the monster. It’s staring me in the face… I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to see that thing.

“Tsuyuki! Does that look like the Void-touched that risked everything to save Xinya’s life?” Tenri shouted. Before I even realized it, I’d answered his question, and it surprised me. And if that was true…

“At least try to understand the gift she gave you.”

At least try…

I could try.

I squeezed my eyes even tighter. The void qi around me shifted as the Fury raised its claws. Its voidlight illuminated my eyelids and my skin burned even more…but soon that feeling was gone.

I opened my eyes. My skin was pale, my hands tipped with blackened claws, and the Fury stared down at me with surprise as its animalistic mind tried to process what had just happened. The brilliant light of a mote of voidlight hovered next to it, but the light only seemed to spark across my skin instead of burning it deep.

The Fury continued to stare, uncomprehending. I lunged, taking advantage of its stupor. My hand wrapped around the head of the nail, and I pulled with all my might.