Ten… I've… got… ten of them…

I could barely put the feeling into words. My entire body felt like it had been dragged through fire and ice, but the moment that last needle settled in my hand, something bright and wild flared inside my chest. Joy, relief, maybe even a little madness. No matter how much this trial had drained me, no matter how many times it made me wish I could strangle the system itself, I finally had them.

At last, I could use my acupuncture needles again. My own strength, my own tools, back where they belonged.

Even if my hands were shaking, even if I could barely stand, I held those needles like lifelines. Because that is exactly what they were.

The clone watched me with what looked like an amused expression, though it felt more like she was mocking every breath I took. Then she smiled. It wasn't the kind of smile I ever wanted to see on my own face. It carried nothing but pure ridicule, the quiet certainty of someone looking down on a child who dared to stand on the same stage.

She lifted her finger.

The needles resting in my palm began to vibrate, growing stronger with each passing second. The metal hummed like it was trying to escape from my grip. Before I could react, a translucent screen flickered into existence in front of me.

[Win a duel of control against your opponent: If even a single crimson acupuncture needle touches your opponent's hand, you will be eliminated and the trial will be considered a failure]

My heart sank straight to the floor. There was no way in hell I could afford to lose now. Not after everything I went through. Not with my life hanging over a blade outside this trial.

I had to remember the feeling from before, the way the needles responded to me when they were truly mine. I had to pull that control back, no matter what she tried to do. Losing here was the same as dying out there.

My fingers tightened around the metal, every part of me straining as the needles fought like living things. I felt each one struggling to pierce through my skin, pushing against my grip with a will of its own. At the same time, I reached for them with my senses, trying to pull their flow back toward me. I needed them to recognize me again. I needed them to submit.

This clash would decide everything. Whether I walked out of that chamber alive… or ended as a corpse without a single flower laid on my chest, forgotten before I ever reached the other side.

The clone stepped forward, her hand lifted with a calm confidence that made my stomach twist. So she believes she already won against me? Shit… my own face is looking down on me. How pathetic I must look right now…

After all, she had impaled me with these things hundreds of times. She knew every weak point on my body. She knew every moment my concentration would slip. And now I was in the same situation, struggling just to keep control over my own fate. That had to change…

With my thumb, I pressed the needles tighter against the center of my palm, trying to guide them with my senses the way I used to. But they refused to respond. They trembled violently, slipping from my control the moment I reached for them.

Why? I am your master, not her.

They jerked left, then right, tightening in my hand so sharply it felt like they would slip right through the small gaps in my fingers. They were thin after all, acupuncture needles so fine they were almost invisible in the sunlight if someone threw one at you. Little by little, they pressed harder against my skin, pushing deep as if trying to break through. Blood gathered along my wrist, dripping slowly to the floor.

My fingers trembled uncontrollably. I could barely keep my grip. I knew… I knew it all too well. Her control was simply stronger than mine. For a moment, the needles almost tore free.

Panic rushed through me. If even one slipped away, the duel was over and I would lose everything. My heart pounded, drowning out the silence of the trial world. The clone pushed again, and the needles rose from my palm like they were about to fly straight into her hand.

I refused to let go.

I ground my teeth and forced myself to remember. The first time I ever used my needles, the first life I took with them, how reckless I had been and how good it felt all the same. I remembered how naturally they moved with me, as if they were a part of my body rather than tools I wielded.

For a split second, I saw them tremble as they strained against her control, their speed dropping.

I must win. I have to.

I dragged every memory to the surface. Every time she destroyed me with my own weapon. Every needle that once pinned me down. Every nerve she struck without mercy. Every collapse she wrung out of my body until I could barely breathe. The pain, the humiliation, the helplessness. The endless repetition of being beaten again and again, no matter how hard I tried to rise.

Those moments burned through me now, not as defeat… but as fuel.

All of that carved something into me.

I inhaled slowly, letting that memory settle inside my chest. This time, I did not just remember the pain. I understood how she did it. The angle. The intent. The control that shaped every movement of the needles when they pierced me.

A spark finally clicked, and the needles steadied.

Their vibrations shifted, the tremble softening as my senses wrapped around them. The crimson glow beneath their polished surface flickered in response. They were mine. They had always been mine. I simply needed to reach them the right way.

My precious… I thought, a strange spark lighting in my eyes. Now it was time to kick ass. Seriously. After everything she put me through, I had a mountain of revenge to collect.

The clone's eyes widened for the first time.

She pushed back, harder than before, but this time the pressure did not tear the needles from my grip. It met resistance as if something inside me had grown claws and refused to be forced aside.

The air tightened between us as our wills clashed. My knuckles turned white. Blood ran along my fingers. Yet the needles finally listened.

One dropped fully under my control. Then another trembled back into alignment. Slowly, painfully, I pulled them toward me with the same intent she once used to destroy me.

I saw my opening.

With a quiet exhale, I sent everything forward.

The needles answered.

They shot past me in a flowing arc, curving around her defenses with a precision I did not know I was capable of producing. They struck her body one by one. A needle pierced the point beneath her clavicle. Another hit the nerve above her elbow. A third sank into the soft spot behind her knee. A fourth locked her hip in place. The last slid into the base of her neck with a soft sound.

Her entire body froze.

Her limbs stiffened. Her eyes widened. Her movements stopped completely as if the white floor had swallowed the strength out of her legs.

I stood there, breath shaking, fingers still curled as if I held the needles even though they were already pinned into her flesh.

I did it!

I had broken her control. I had reconnected with my own needles. And I had turned her own technique back on her.

For the first time since entering this trial, the clone could not move.

In that joyous moment, I didn't even notice the world begin to tremble and shift around me. I only remember blinking, and in the very next heartbeat, everything changed. I was back in the real world, still shackled, still weak… but something small hit the ground with a soft metallic cling.

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. My senses wrapped around the familiar presence in an instant. My needles. For the first time in what felt like forever, I had them back in reality.

Now it was time to escape. Time to tear myself out of this rotten prison, flee the holy capital, and find Elira. And maybe… hehe… if fate was kind enough, I could finally get my hands on that hateful Silver too.

With a faint pulse of energy, the needles slipped from my palm and darted toward the shackles. One precise strike at each lock was all it took. Metal snapped open like brittle bones. Chains fell around me in a heavy clatter, crashing onto the cold floor.

I grinned through the pain, twisting my wrists a few times just to feel them free again, no longer bound by those restraints.

Finally… freedom.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.