Time slowed.
The anomalies leapt, teeth of fractured reality opening like jagged spirals.
The chamber cracked.
The ceiling groaned.
Mandakini's scream hung frozen in the air.
And Kashyap—
moved.
Not toward the Void-Seeker.
Not toward the portal of shadow.
But toward Mandakini.
He wrapped an arm around her waist, dragged her backward, and slammed his palm into the Pulse stabilizer.
A shockwave burst outward—
raw,unfocused, and unstable.
Light flooded the chamber.
The anomalies recoiled,shrieking as the wave scattered their forms.
The ground convulsed like it was trying to escape its own fate.
Mandakini gasped.
"Kashyap…what did you—"
He held her tighter.
"I chose you."
The Void-Seeker stood still, the swirling portal behind him flickering like a dying flame.
His voice was quiet.
Almost disappointed.
"Emotional decisions are how universes collapse."
Kashyap glared at him.
"Then let them.I won't abandon her."
The Void-Seeker's mask cracked further—
a fracture crawling across the glass like a spreading wound.
"So be it."
He flicked his wrist—
and the portal behind him snapped shut.
The temperature dropped.
A hum vibrated through the stone floor.
The younger Mandakini screamed:
"HE'S LOCKING THE WORLD!"
Mandakini grabbed Kashyap's wrist.
"What does that mean?!"
The girl pointed upward, panic exploding across her face.
"Look!"
The sky wound—the massive red-black scar above the ruins—
began closing.
Not healing.
Not stabilizing.
Compressing.
Shrinking like a fist tightening.
And everything it touched
—light,buildings, air—
was crushed into nothing.
The Void-Seeker spoke softly, as if explaining a simple equation:
"This world was already dead.
Your presence accelerated its collapse.
My presence finalizes it."
Kashyap's eyes widened.
"You're killing this world?!"
"No," the Void-Seeker answered calmly.
"I am ending its suffering."
Mandakini stepped forward, fury shaking her voice.
"There were people here!Lives!"
The Void-Seeker tilted his head.
"Name one person still alive."
Mandakini opened her mouth.
Closed it.
The girl swallowed hard, tears streaking her cheeks.
"He's right.Everyone's gone. A long time ago."
Kashyap shook his head in disbelief.
"Even so—how can you just—"
"Because someone must," the Void-Seeker said.
The sky wound shrank faster.
A hurricane of collapsing matter roared across the horizon.
The younger Mandakini grabbed their hands.
"MOVE!We need to reach the under-chamber!"
They ran.
The ground rippled beneath them as the void swallowed entire streets.
Vehicles collapsed into dust.
Broken towers folded like paper.
Reality twisted,the very air distorting.
Kashyap looked back—
The Void-Seeker was walking calmly behind them, untouched.
Mandakini shouted over the deafening collapse:
"If you can stop him—why aren't you?!"
Kashyap gritted his teeth.
"Because heis me! He can counter anything I do!"
The girl shoved open a reinforced metal door.
They stumbled inside,sealing it as the world screamed outside.
The chamber was dark, filled with Pulse markings.
Ancient.
Cold.
Alive.
Mandakini gasped for air.
Kashyap leaned against the wall,chest burning.
The girl paced in circles.
"He didn't kill this world out of cruelty.He did it because he can't let unstable timelines exist."
Mandakini's voice trembled.
"He thinks he's saving everything."
"No," the girl corrected.
"He thinksyou deserve something better than this broken reality."
Mandakini froze.
Kashyap stared.
"What does that mean?"
The girl looked at them with tired eyes.
"He became the Void-Seeker because he couldn't save her."
Mandakini whispered:
"…Her?"
The girl pointed at Mandakini.
"You."
Mandakini's breath hitched.
Kashyap felt a cold wave roll through his spine.
The girl continued:
"In this world,you died.
He tore the Gates trying to bring you back."
Mandakini felt her knees weaken.
"I…died?"
The girl nodded.
"And he crossed universes,destroyed timelines, and consumed worlds looking for another version of you."
Kashyap felt the walls closing in.
"He ruined the multiverse…because he couldn't let her go."
The girl gave a sad smile.
"No.
He ruinedhimself."
A deafening boom shook the chamber—
the Void-Seeker approaching,the world collapsing behind him.
Mandakini grabbed Kashyap's hand, her voice breaking.
"Kashyap…promise me something."
"What?"
"Don't become him."
Kashyap held her face gently.
"I won't.
Not as long as I have you."
The chamber door trembled—
steel warping,cracking, melting.
The Void-Seeker's shadow spilled through the cracks.
Kashyap stepped in front of Mandakini.
Mandakini grabbed his arm.
The girl aimed her crystal weapon.
And the Void-Seeker's voice whispered through the door:
"This world ends now.
But your story does not."
The door exploded inward.
Light swallowed everything.