The Arbiters, now conceptually reorganized and terrified, bowed their heads and vanished, leaving Malak alone in the Axiomatic Palace. He turned back to the conceptual screen, which continued to display the frantic activity of the Nexus Seven.
He zoomed the visual feed in on the garage in the Nihilistic Logic World. He could see the Gnome of Great Purpose—the arbitrary, emotionally-laden object the Executors had used to sabotage his mission.
Malak's porcelain face broke into a terrible, chilling smile of ultimate victory.
"Astra thought she was protecting them," he murmured, his voice a sound of terrifying amusement. "She thought that by turning them into Architects of Chaos, they would become conceptually immune to my design. She thought they were fighting for their freedom."
He extended his hand toward the screen, analyzing the conceptual data stream generated by the Nexus Seven's rebellion.
"But look at what they have done," Malak commanded to the empty room. "They have explicitly defined their Conceptual Flaw for me. Their resistance is fueled by their belief that Arbitrary Freedom and Meaning must be preserved—a concept utterly antithetical to Absolute Order."
"They have created their own conceptual execution warrant. I will allow their rebellion to continue. I will allow them to run, thinking they are winning. Their every frantic, chaotic act will only deepen their commitment to the flaw."
Malak retracted his hand, the porcelain regaining its perfect stillness. "When I finally capture them, their destruction will not be a messy collapse; it will be a surgical, conceptual proof that Absolute Order always defeats Chaos."
The game was no longer about fixing the Multiverse; it was about the cold, conceptual revenge against the entities who dared to choose freedom over his perfect law. Malak was ready to let his Executors run, knowing their every rebellious action was now feeding his grand, terrifying scheme to secure his eternal, absolute reign.