In the darkness beyond the shattered mirror surface, a familiar figure was approaching. Even as the Night Watchman began shattering the mirror, even as Doctor Schneider was about to arrive, the moment Shade saw that figure, he still felt his heart stop completely.
The pitch-black Shade Hamilton—Shade Hamilton identical to the Outlander outside the mirror—walked forth from every fragment in the depths of the mirror, clapping as his hands moved exaggeratedly from side to side.
Countless eyes within the fragments watched Shade and spoke his deepest secret:
"Humanity's greatest enemy is yourselves."
The fluttering Rhodes Cards and the surrounding blizzard seemed to freeze in Shade's eyes. It was not that the Demon had begun manipulating time again; rather, the moment he saw his own reflection in the mirror, time within his senses had completely stopped.
The image of Shade Hamilton was reflected in the Outlander's eyes. Even though he saw himself in the mirror every morning while washing up, the appearance the Demon had revealed at this moment told the Outlander with unprecedented clarity exactly what he was.
"Can you defeat yourself?"
No one noticed that silver moonlight was slowly radiating from the cracks in the shattered Stone Mirror. Stone Mirror Demon-Goth was a mirror Demon, and within this mirror that had taken the initiative to reflect the Outlander, even the pitch-black image of Shade Hamilton grew blurred in Shade's eyes.
Outside the mirror was Shade Hamilton, while reflected within it was the pitch-black Shade Hamilton. Within the mirror was the pitch-black Shade Hamilton, but what was reflected in the Outlander's eyes outside the mirror—Shade saw it clearly. It was a black moon.
"No, that is the far side of the moon, that is—"
He did not understand why he felt time had stopped, nor why he was seeing this.