"And we don't deserve forgiveness. Don't deserve mercy. We deserve execution. Deserve to face the same horror we inflicted on others. But before we die, let us fix it. Let us unmake what we made. Let us end the VOID properly. Then judge us. Then execute us. Just let us undo the damage first."Ten's corruption broke completely. He collapsed. Himself again. Free from Mordain's control. "You want us to help you? After learning you caused everything?""No. We want you to use us. Sacrifice us the way we sacrificed billions. Take our power. Our essence. Our everything. And use it to permanently end what we began." Devol looked at Kross. "Right?""Right," Kross agreed. "We're weapons. Use us to kill our own creation. Then dispose of us however humanity sees fit."Mordain screamed. "No! You're ruining everything! Confession doesn't absolve! It just exposes weakness!""Maybe," Devol said. "But it also breaks corruption. Look."Ten and Liora stood together. Themselves again. Free. The paradox s

Mara disappeared on the second day before the trial.Helena found her room empty. Belongings still there. Weapon gone. No note."She left during the night," Weave said, reading threads. "Went toward the Scar.""Why?" Ten asked."The threads won't show me. They blur around her. Like something's blocking them." Weave's face went pale. "That shouldn't be possible. I can see everything.""Not everything," the VOID said through Weave's mouth. "I can't see her either. She's hidden from both of us.""How?" Helena demanded."I don't know. But I'm curious." The VOID's presence focused. "Very curious."They found Mara at the Scar's edge. She wasn't alone. A woman stood with her. Old. Scarred. Radiating power that made reality bend."That's not possible," Kross whispered. "She's dead. I watched her die.""Who?" Sari asked."The ninth bearer. We told you there were eight. We lied. There were nine." Kross's voice shook. "Her name was Vera. She opposed the division more violently than Mordain. Trie

Ten felt it first. A tearing in his chest where he'd stored Mordain in paradox."Something's wrong," he gasped, falling to his knees.Liora grabbed him. She felt it too. The paradox prison cracking. Mordain pushing through."He's escaping," she said. "How? We trapped him completely.""The trial," Weave said, eyes tracking frantic threads. "The VOID judged everyone. Exposed everyone's crimes. That includes Mordain's imprisonment. And the VOID's judgment was that choosing for others without consent is wrong.""So it freed him?" Helena demanded."No. But it weakened the justification. Made the imprisonment questionable. And Mordain's strong enough to exploit doubt." Weave's face went pale. "He's almost through."Ten and Liora both screamed. The paradox prison shattered. Reality split. And Mordain stepped out, smiling."Thank you," he said. "Thank you for creating a reality that questions its own heroes. Makes

Weave found something in the threads that changed everything."The seventeenth reality," she said, bursting into the chamber at dawn. "The last one they destroyed before creating ours. There's something wrong with it.""Wrong how?" Ten asked."It's not fully gone. Pieces remain. Fragments. Echoes." Weave's eyes tracked invisible patterns. "And something's alive in there. Conscious. Aware. Trapped in the ruins.""That's impossible," Devol said. "We collapsed it completely. Erased it. Nothing survived.""Something did. And it's been waiting. For ten thousand years. For someone to notice. For someone to hear it screaming.""Show me," Ten demanded.Weave pressed her hands to his temples. Shared what she saw. Ten gasped.The seventeenth reality existed as fragments. Shattered pieces floating in void. And in those pieces, consciousness flickered. Billions of them. Not dead. Not alive. Trapped between. Suffering. Aware. Unable to die. Unable to live."They're still there," Ten whispered. "Ev

The answers came in waves."Yes." A farmer from Aethervale. "My family died to the VOID. If merging saves others, I'll risk it.""No." A merchant from Ironcrag. "I've built my life. My identity. I won't give it up even for existence.""Yes." A child from Dracolys. "I don't want to die. I'll try anything.""No." An elder from Starhollow. "I've lived long enough. Let me die as myself."The VOID counted responses. Displayed them for all to see. Numbers climbing. Yes and no rising equally."We need everyone," Weave said, reading threads. "Not most. Everyone. One person refusing breaks the merger. Breaks the defense. Lets the collapsed realities through.""Then we're doomed," Helena said. "Someone will always refuse. Someone will always choose death over unity.""Not if we explain better," Ten said. He raised his voice. "Listen. All of you. The merger is temporary. We become one. Stop the collapse. Then separate. Return to ourselves. It's not permanent like the Collective. It's tactical. B