The Arbiter's shard flared, its voidfire needles vibrating like struck strings. For a moment, the formless tide pressed harder, as if testing the truth of Leon's defiance. But the marrow flame did not collapse. It sang louder—discordant yet unyielding—forcing the Origin Pulse to break into rivulets of pale ash that scattered across the battlefield like dead verdicts.
The Arbiter Below tilted its helm, unreadable. Its voice struck like stone tablets cracking.
"Assertion… recorded. But the ledger has more than one page. Second measure: Absolute Return."
The battlefield inverted. The marrow chains bent backward, time and causality folding in on themselves. Wounds reopened on Naval's body, blood spraying from strikes he had already endured. Milim's fist shattered again, the bones breaking as if her earlier clash had just replayed. Roselia gasped, her shield fracturing in the same pattern it had against Vaer'Zhul's nightmare chains.
