The next level of Trick Tower was silent.
Too silent.
The hallway spiraled downward in curves that defied logic. No lights. Just carved faces in the walls — hundreds of them. Human, animal, demon, some unrecognizable.
And they were whispering.
Leorio gagged. "What… what is this place?"
Kaen didn't answer.
He was listening.
Each face whispered different things — lies, truths, memories.
A child's scream.
A mother's song.
A Hunter's last breath.
But Kaen heard one voice above the rest.
"Kaen~"
Soft. Playful. Poisoned with delight.
"Why don't you smile for me?"
Kaen's jaw clenched.
Hisoka.
⸻
A message appeared in blood-red text across the wall:
"Only one may pass this floor without conflict. Choose your champion."
Gon stepped forward.
"So we pick someone to go ahead?"
Kurapika's eyes narrowed. "No. We pick someone to face Hisoka."
The wall pulsed again. Another message.
"He's waiting."
Killua snorted. "He's been waiting since day one."
Kaen sighed.
And stepped forward.
"I'll go."
⸻
Leorio grabbed his shoulder. "You don't have to—"
"I do."
Kaen looked at Gon.
"At the end of this… you'll need someone who understands monsters."
Then he walked into the darkness.
Alone.
⸻
The spiral tunnel led to a vast chamber lit by flame — a dozen chandeliers of hanging wax and bone. Mirrors covered every surface.
And in the center stood Hisoka, dressed in shadow-colored silk, juggling three severed hands like apples.
"Darling~!" he purred. "You came to play."
Kaen stopped ten feet away.
"No tricks. Let's do this."
Hisoka caught a hand and squeezed it until the bones cracked.
"Oh but tricks are everything."
Then, without a signal — he was there.
⸻
Kaen raised Mirror Fang — just in time.
A card shot past his ear, another buried itself in the floor between his feet.
Hisoka was gone again.
Laughter echoed off every mirrored wall.
Kaen turned slowly, reading his nen like wind on water.
No pressure. No killing intent.
Nothing.
That was the danger.
Hisoka didn't fight like a man.
He fought like a storm with a sense of humor.
⸻
"Did you like my friend, The Listener?" Hisoka's voice cooed. "He was such a dull echo. You, though…"
Kaen ducked.
A whip of Bungee Gum struck the wall beside him — yanking a mirror into shards.
Hisoka appeared behind him, hand raised.
Kaen countered—
Too late.
CRACK.
The Mirror Fang shattered.
Blood sprayed from Kaen's hand.
He dropped to a knee, stunned.
Hisoka grinned.
"Ahhh~ so the Mind Palace bleeds too!"
⸻
Kaen's breath was shallow. His aura surged wildly, flickering in every direction.
That attack hadn't come from Hisoka's hand — it came from his memory.
He'd anticipated the counter and mimicked the exact moment Kaen would use it.
He used my own timing against me…
Hisoka crouched, eyes gleaming.
"You're not like the others. You're not trying to survive. You're trying to become something."
He leaned in, face inches from Kaen's.
"Let me help you break."
⸻
Kaen's eye twitched.
Inside the Mind Palace, the mirror wasn't just cracked.
It was splintering.
Reflections twisted. Images of Hisoka — versions of him Kaen had never imagined — clawed at the glass.
"Let us in."
"Let us in."
"Let us in."
Kaen clenched his fists.
No.
You don't control me.
He took a deep breath.
Then did something he had never done before.
He shattered the mirror from within.
⸻
The glass exploded inward.
And behind it?
Not a copy.
Not a reflection.
But a new door.
Kaen stood up in the real world, blood dripping from his hands.
Hisoka smiled, ready for more.
But Kaen was calm.
Too calm.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Hisoka blinked. "Hmm?"
Kaen's aura condensed.
Bright. Sharp. Cold.
And suddenly—
There were two Kaens.
⸻
Hisoka's eyes lit up.
"Ooooh~!"
Kaen's new ability:
Echo Twin – a psychic construct of Kaen's combat instinct, born from the fragments of the mirror. It reacts to attacks before he does.
The twin lunged first — silent, burning with icy blue aura.
Hisoka's smile finally faltered.
"…Interesting."
⸻
Their battle became a blur.
Kaen and Echo Twin moved like dancers in orbit — strikes, parries, feints, reversals.
Cards flew. Bungee Gum snapped. Flames burst from the chandeliers.
And when it ended—
Kaen stood, breathing hard.
Hisoka was across the room, blood dripping from his mouth, smiling wider than ever.
"Yes."
"Yes, yes, YES."
"You're worth breaking."
And then, without a word—
He vanished.
⸻
The room went quiet.
Kaen dropped to one knee again.
His hand trembled — not from pain.
From truth.
The Mind Palace was evolving.
But it didn't care if Kaen stayed sane.
⸻
The group rushed in minutes later.
Gon shouted, "KAEN!"
Killua scanned the room, knives drawn.
Leorio stared at the blood.
Kurapika whispered, "You survived… him?"
Kaen looked up, sweat-drenched and pale.
"Barely."
"And he's not done."
He rose, and the Echo Twin hovered silently behind him.
Killua stared at it.
"Is that… new?"
Kaen nodded.
"Everything's new now."
⸻
To be continued in Chapter 15: Storm on the Roof – Kaen vs. The Phantom Memory