As the bronze wheel of the Time Cage transformed into the Lighthouse of Memory, a bone-chilling cold shot through Xuan's Golden Fissure Sigils. To the northeast, where the Flawless Sanctum once stood, blinding silver radiance erupted. The Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's remnant soul, infused with Twelve Flawless Mandates, distorted the entire sky into an endless Silvertarn Abyss. Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern convulsed violently; its wick's radiance was forcibly fractured into countless icy beams of mirror-light, carving precise geometric patterns onto the ground.
"The Mirror-Wheel Matriarch absorbed the dispersed Mandate-energy from the Time Cage!" Xing Tian's chaotic-clay form thrummed an alarm. He gripped his Sky-Cleaving Axe tighter, only to see its blade reflecting hundreds of flawless, unbroken images within the Abyss. "Damned! Granddad's own axe barely recognizes itself!"
The moment they stepped into the Abyss, searing silver light flooded Xuan's retinas. Mirrors floated everywhere, each reflecting a different "perfect outcome": Zhu Li as the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's heir, commanding absolute order; Xing Tian returned to the Blood-River Patriarch's service, a weapon of devouring; Xuan himself, assimilated into mirror-light, a puppet of the Perfected Mandate. These visions struck his mind-sea like tidal waves, feeling terrifyingly real.
"Welcome to the Hall of Ultimate Perfection." The Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's phantom coalesced from the Abyss's depths—a body woven of pure mirror-light, every inch resonating with stifling perfection. "The Time Cage's failure taught me: only by swallowing Chaos whole into the mirror can we eradicate the seed of imperfection." She gestured. All mirrors shifted simultaneously, constructing an ever-changing Labyrinth of Mirrors, trapping the trio within.
Zhu Li hurled her Starfire Lantern skyward, trying to illuminate an exit, only to see its light absorbed by the mirror-walls, strengthening the prison. "These mirrors devour ALL divergent energy!" Her voice echoed bizarrely through the Abyss. "Xuan! We must find the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's core and shatter this false perfection!"
Xuan activated his Fissure-Gold Gaze, but the Abyss's spatial laws were entirely warped; the sigils couldn't pierce the mirrors. Then, one mirror suddenly flickered with an image: Chaos-Citadel's Symbiosis Oak withering, its citizens mirrorizing. "She's attacking the citadel's symbiotic foundations!" Xuan's voice burned with fury. "The Mirror-Wheel Matriarch seeks to prove that only Perfection is Chaos's sole path."
The Blood-River Patriarch's remnant manifested within the Abyss. An arm pierced a mirror, gripping Xing Tian's shoulder: "Wretched Chaos-spawn, see yourself now. Even rebellion is ugly beneath the Perfected Mandate." Xing Tian's chaotic-clay body started dissolving into mirror-shards. But then, the symbiotic vines on his axe haft burst into light, fusing his form back together.
"Granddad's ugly mug beats your heap of sick arms any day!" Xing Tian roared, swinging his axe. The blade struck a mirror wall, scattering countless minute shards. These shards coalesced mid-air, forming the sneering countenance of the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch.
Her laughter echoed through the Silvertarn: "Struggle is futile. Your symbiosis, your choices—nothing but delusion. Gaze upon the mirrors. They reflect your deepest craving for Perfection." Her fingertip traced a mirror's surface, reflecting the trio's "Perfected Forms"—unscathed, decisive, devoid of weakness.
Xuan abruptly ceased his attack, Golden Fissure Sigils swirling at his brow. "You are mistaken." Memories materialized in his palm: battles in the Flawless Sanctum, the Flesh-Barren, the Time Cage. "True Perfection lies not in discarding all flaws. Flawless Sanctum's people embraced uniqueness. Flesh-Barren's life found symbiosis within devouring. Time Cage's spirits awakened through Saṃsāra. These imperfect moments are Chaos's truest beauty."
Cracks webbed the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's phantom. "Chaos is chaos because of imperfection! Only Absolute Order brings Eternal Peace!" She swept her arm. Every mirror in the Abyss blazed simultaneously, converging into a colossal "Perfected Crucible", seeking to assimilate the trio utterly.
Zhu Li's Starfire Lantern underwent its final metamorphosis. The wick fractured into innumerable tiny flames—each representing a Chrysalis-Breaker's will. "Starlight Flame: Collective Will of the Myriad!" She cast the flames into the Crucible. Upon contact with mirror-light, they erupted in polychromatic radiance, shattering the Crucible's perfect structure.
Vines and Pangu War Glyphs entwined into new patterns on Xing Tian's Sky-Cleaving Axe. He leapt, cleaving towards the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's core: "Hah! Even the most perfect mirror ain't safe from grandpa's cracks!" As the axe sundered the mirror-surface, the entire Silvertarn Abyss imploded. Mirror shards cascaded like crystalline snow.
Seizing the collapse, Xuan unleashed "Chaos Dao Body: Silvertarn Shatter!". Golden Fissure Sigils became chains of light, coiling around the Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's remnant soul. "See these fragments? They mark not destruction… but genesis." He embedded the Core of Choice into her core. Multifold Dao Glyphs pierced the Perfect Mandate like roots. "Chaos needs no definition by Perfection. It requires the embrace of ALL possibilities."
As the Core of Choice ignited, every mirror within the Abyss shattered in unison. The Mirror-Wheel Matriarch's remnant howled her last defiance: "I shall not… yield…" But her voice faded, dissolving into shimmering motes of mirror-light, absorbed by the Chaos sky.
Deep within the heart of the vanishing Abyss, Xuan found Pangu's stele once more: "*Perfection is not an end; but a beginning. When the Mirror-Pupil reflects its first flaw, the True World has just begun.*" As the glyphs blazed, the resonant pulse of Chaos-Citadel's rejuvenated Symbiosis Oak reached them; withered branches flushed with renewed vitality, and the mirrorizing symptoms receded from its citizens.
And deeper still within Chaos, the Blood-River Patriarch's remnant silently watched, the festering ichor upon his arms churning. A new scheme brewed. "Chaos Dao-Heart…" his whisper dissolved into the Chaotic winds, "Our game is far from done…"
Amidst the settling storm of stardust from the broken Silvertarn, each glittering mote reflected a tale of a Chrysalis-Breaker. Xuan, Zhu Li, and Xing Tian stood within this luminous aftermath, gazing at the fragments of a shattered dream of absolute order. The path ahead remained vast, yet they knew—while the courage to choose burned, no Mandate was truly inescapable.