Located in the deep underground of the Lionheart mansion was a secret room open only to descendants of the Lionheart family who had reached the Sixth Star of the White Flame Formula.

It was a place known as the Dark Room. Carmen had called it a place to destroy a world, to reflect on oneself, and to be born anew after killing oneself. Eugene had to wonder what kind of nonsense she was spouting, but he came to a better understanding after hearing Gion and Gilead’s following words.

“Are you saying this is a place where I face my apparition?” asked Eugene.

“To put it simply, yes,” answered Gion, scratching his chin. “Though I don’t know if it’s… appropriate to call it an apparition.”

“It’s like looking in the mirror, right?”

“Well, I don’t think it was quite the same as looking at a mirror. In a sense, the phantom I faced in the Dark Room was ahead of me.”

Gion, Carmen, and Gilead all gave slightly different explanations since what one saw in the Dark Room was purely dependent on oneself.

“Even their… appearance was different. So even though the projection was my own, I didn’t necessarily think it was me of the present moment.”

“They felt immature at first,” muttered Gilead. “But that was only true at the beginning. Once you begin to understand your opponent and attempt to cross blades with them, the undeveloped version of me in the Dark Room changes. It changes to the current version of yourself, followed by an improved version.”

“But that’s not only true for warriors,” Carmen said while crossing her legs and grabbing the cigar between her fingers. “No matter how good a person is at objectifying him or herself, everyone imagines an ideal version of themselves. Someone who is slightly faster and slightly stronger. Someone capable of doing something impossible for your current self.”

The Dark Room projected the ideal self. Although it didn’t imbue anyone with any actual significant changes, it would project a superior version of oneself.

“The Dark Room is a place where...