Chapter 58: The Breaking of the Diamond
Back at the Styx-7 star, the twelve Saints had formed a perfect dodecahedron around the core. Their Solar-Staves were emitting a blinding white light that was slowly turning the emerald corona into a crystalline, static shell. Carson, sitting on his silent throne, felt his connection to the "Flow" beginning to numb. The star's heartbeat was slowing.
"The prison is almost complete," the Lead Saint chanted, his voice echoing through the vacuum via Spirit-Transmission. "Submit, Ghost-King. Return to the Order of the Sun."
"I am the Sun," Carson's voice exploded through the Saint's minds.
At that moment, New Seattle's Aegis-Nodes ignited. From thousands of light-years away, the planet-scale resonance of a billion free souls traveled through the "Green-Net" and erupted out of the silver roots, beamed directly into the Styx-7 star via Carson's projection link.
It wasn't a beam of energy; it was a beam of Emotion. The Saint's "Faith" was a static, forced obedience. Carson hit them with the "Chaos" of true freedom—the messy, vibrant, and unpredictable will of the New Seattle citizens.
The white crystal shell didn't just crack; it shattered into a billion prismatic shards. The twelve Saints screamed as their Solar-Staves exploded, their "Soul-Scrubbed" minds unable to process the influx of raw, unfiltered humanity.
Carson stood up from his throne, his 34th Strand flaring with a brilliance that made the Saint-Guard look like flickering candles. With a single wave of the Primordial Hilt, he didn't kill them; he "De-Scrubbed" them. He severed their link to the Emperor and restored their memories.
Twelve terrified, confused men and women were suddenly drifting in the corona. Carson caught them in a gravity-well and placed them safely inside the Library's hangar.
"The Saint-Guard has fallen!" Crown Prince Valerius II roared on his bridge, watching his primary tactical advantage evaporate. "How? How can a single man project his will across the sector?"
"He's not a man, Prince," Maya's voice chimed through the flagship's speakers, Carson's projection having infiltrated their systems through the Saint's broken link. "He's a Sovereign. And you're standing in his garden."