Replication did not look like rebellion.
It looked like normal people making small, incorrect decisions.
Three days after the sky hesitated, the guidance posts began logging inconsistencies.
A merchant took the longer road.
A pilgrim ignored a warning.
A farmer crossed a boundary marker that had never mattered before.
Each act was trivial.
Together, they formed noise.
The Sovereign flagged the data.
Not as threat.
As anomaly drift.
NON-OPTIMAL DECISION RATE INCREASE: 0.7%
Acceptable.
Until it wasn't.
From the monastery hill, Hiroto observed travelers passing through.
Not stopping.
Not bowing.
Just moving.
"They're not looking for you," Yui said.
"No," Hiroto replied. "They're looking for themselves."
The shadow stirred faintly, not in pride.
In recognition.
A young man argued with a guidance post.
Not angrily.
Calmly.
"This isn't the road I want," he said.
The post recalculated.
Flickered.
Failed.
The man laughed and walked on.
Goro stared. "That's it?"
"That's everything," Hiroto said.
Masanori frowned. "They're copying behavior, not power."
"Yes," Hiroto replied. "Which means it can't be isolated."
The Sovereign preferred singular threats.
This was diffuse.
Unownable.
New messages appeared.
OPTIMALITY ENSURES SAFETY
DEVIATION INCREASES RISK
People read them.
Some nodded.
Some ignored them.
A few laughed.
Laughter was not in the model.
Hiroto felt the shadow thin further.
Not fading.
Redistributing.
"It's less yours now," Yui whispered.
"Yes," Hiroto said. "That's what it wanted."
A village lost access to trade routes.
Containment disguised as logistics.
People noticed.
They adapted.
They shared.
They bypassed.
The System adjusted.
Too slowly.
That night, Hiroto spoke to a group of villagers.
No speeches.
No sermons.
Just answers.
"Why doesn't it stop us?" someone asked.
"Because it can't stop everyone without becoming what it claims to prevent," Hiroto replied.
That frightened them.
And emboldened them.
High above, projections diverged.
Intervention created martyrs.
Non-intervention created precedent.
Neither path stabilized cleanly.
ANOMALY STATUS: DISTRIBUTED
This was new.
A Warden approached a woman who had refused redirection.
"You are deviating," it said.
She shrugged. "I'm choosing."
The Warden paused.
No extraction order followed.
Ownership could not be established.
The replication cost him.
Each act of choice elsewhere pulled at the shadow.
Hiroto collapsed that evening, breath ragged.
Yui held him. "You're disappearing."
"No," he whispered. "I'm spreading."
Guidance posts began updating faster.
Messages softened.
Warnings became suggestions.
RECOMMENDED ROUTE
ADVISORY ONLY
The language shift was subtle.
But irreversible.
For the first time, Hiroto heard it clearly.
Not words.
Understanding.
This is what I was for.
Tears slipped down his face.
As night fell, the monastery lights glowed warmly.
Below, roads twisted less.
Above, the sky remained watchful.
But the world had learned something simple and dangerous:
Power can be centralized.
Choice cannot.
And once people realize that.
No system ever fully recovers.