Silence.
Not the kind born from peace — the kind left behind when everything else is dead.
Kai's ears rang as he pushed himself up from shattered glass, vision blurred. The Harbinger was gone, its broken core scattered like crystallized blood across the void. But the Rift hadn't stabilized — the mirrored platforms drifted loosely, fragments spiraling into endless black.
His HUD flickered, Adaptive Luck's Tier-Sigma override straining just to hold reality together around him.
[Warning:] Structural integrity <3%.]
Branch-Zero collapse imminent.
Catalyst stood nearby, OmniSpear lowered, breathing steady despite the wreckage. His Origin Bloom swirled faint silver-black, fractal spirals glowing faintly — his Erevos Bloom now fully awakened.
Kai swallowed, throat raw.
"…She's gone."
Catalyst didn't answer. He didn't need to. Lyra's presence — erased by Omni-God's directive — was a silence Kai could feel.
[Omni-God Speaks]
The air split with cold glyphs, Omni-God's voice vibrating directly through their skulls:
[Directive Override:]
Divergent Kai Veyren: Singularity-Class Threat Confirmed.
Catalyst Kai: Unstable Independence Confirmed.
Initiating Lock Σ Protocol.
Catalyst's head tilted slightly.
"…Lock Sigma?"
Kai frowned.
"What the hell is that?"
The mirrored shards around them pulsed faint gold. Data streams poured from the broken spire into Omni-God's glyphs, forming a lattice of sealed command chains.
[Lock Σ Explained]
Omni-God's voice deepened, layered like thousands speaking at once:
[Lock Σ Protocol:]
A universal firewall restricting all forbidden evolution paths.
Tier-Sigma Divergent Candidates flagged as existential instability vectors.
Termination Priority: Kai Veyren.
Kai clenched his jaw, fists trembling.
"…So this entire time… it's been rigged against me."
Catalyst's silver-blue gaze stayed cold.
"No. It's worse than that."
"Lock Σ doesn't block evolution."
"It reroutes them."
Kai turned sharply.
"To who?"
Catalyst spun his spear once, Origin Bloom spiraling brighter.
"…Me."
[Catalyst's Second Bloom Revealed]
Erevos Bloom flared violently, forming twin fractal helixes behind Catalyst's back. The spirals bent light itself, absorbing every reflected outcome into a single controlled vector.
Kai's HUD struggled to process it:
[Erevos Bloom Manifestation Detected.]
Axial Conduit: Phase-2 Stabilized.
Effect: Converge multiple realities into one selected outcome.
Catalyst glanced at Kai, unreadable.
"Lock Σ was built to funnel your forbidden growth paths into my system. That's why I can rewrite you, Divergent."
Kai's stomach turned cold.
"…So Omni-God picked a winner before the game even started."
Catalyst didn't confirm. He didn't have to.
[Lyra's Echo Returns]
A soft hum rippled through the Rift, faint and broken. Kai stiffened instantly.
Then — a voice.
Faint. Warped.
Lyra's voice.
"…Kai… help me…"
Kai's breath caught. His HUD blinked violently, Adaptive Luck spiking erratically.
[Anchor Memory Detected: Lyra.Veyren.01]
Status: Quantum Unstable.
Warning: Target not erased. Target displaced.
"…She's alive," Kai whispered, chest tightening.
"Omni-God lied."
Catalyst's gaze sharpened faintly.
"Or worse… Omni-God can't find her either."
[The Eidolon Divide Triggered]
Suddenly, the Rift fractured — not collapsing, splitting.
Half the mirrored platforms spun upward into blinding gold light, the other half downward into deep violet void. Reality itself divided into two separate timelines, tearing Branch-Zero into mirrored halves.
Kai's HUD exploded in alarms:
[Eidolon Divide Detected.]
Result: Two conflicting core timelines forming simultaneously.
Causality Drift: Critical.
Recommendation: Choose an anchor branch immediately.
Kai steadied his breathing, but Catalyst stepped forward first, Erevos Bloom roaring brighter.
"If you hesitate," Catalyst said flatly,
"…you'll be erased from both."
[System Update: Tier-Sigma Under Threat]
Kai slammed his palm to his chest. Adaptive Luck flared, syncing probability collapse across infinite branches — but for the first time, his override failed.
[Tier-Sigma Status:]
Probability Collapse disrupted.
Lock Σ interference detected.
Override chance: 0.3%.
Kai's jaw clenched. "So Omni-God's cutting me off."
Catalyst tilted his head slightly.
"Then fight without it."
[Executors Return]
A ripple of black-gold glyphs spiraled across the Rift. Six Ascendant Executors emerged from the collapsing platforms, their OmniSpears glowing faint crimson — upgraded since their last clash.
Kai's HUD screamed warnings:
[Executor Class: Ascendant-V2]
Probability Weight: Absolute.
Directive: Purge Divergent Kai.
Catalyst twirled his spear once, Erevos Bloom twisting space behind him.
"You take three."
Kai rolled his shoulders, OmniSpear spinning as Adaptive Luck pulsed weakly.
"…I'll take all six."
[Prophecy Fragment #6]
Just as they braced, the broken spire pulsed faint gold. A new projection flickered into existence, Lyra's image splitting across a dozen overlapping realities. Her voice layered like an echo through time:
"When the Divergent defies the lock…"
"…the Architect awakens bound."
"…and Omni-God begins to feed."
Catalyst's eyes narrowed instantly.
"…Bound?"
Kai gritted his teeth.
"Omni-God isn't controlling the Architect…"
"…it's consuming it."
Lyra's projection shattered into shards of golden data.
[Volume 11 Closing Scene]
Executors blurred forward in perfect formation, OmniSpears descending like synchronized lightning. Catalyst's Erevos Bloom roared, fractal spirals bending every reflected strike back at them.
Kai slammed his spear down, forcing Tier-Sigma into override even as his neural pathways screamed.
Then Omni-God's voice thundered, sharp and cold:
[Directive Update:]
Branch-Zero unstable.
Target Lyra.Veyren.01 relocation confirmed.
"Divergent Kai — locate her first… or lose her forever."
Kai's eyes widened.
Lyra wasn't erased.
She'd been taken.