The starlight above Capella Nexus pulsed with an unnatural rhythm.
What should have been a constellation of harmony—Virgo, the Weaver of Fates—now blinked in jarring spasms, like a heart struggling to beat in time.
Erza stood on the edge of the Nexus citadel, staring up at the sky.
He wasn't alone.
Behind him, Councilor Saelra of Virgo, clad in robes laced with golden thread and stardust silk, stood tall. Her eyes were veiled with thin silver mesh, yet her sight pierced beyond mortal senses.
"The Virgo Gate hasn't opened," she said softly.
"It's fraying."
✦ The Loom is Breaking
Inside the Nexus citadel, threads of fate wove through crystal chambers. The Virgo Dominion maintained its order not through military strength—but through probability control, manipulating the likelihood of certain events.
That was their domain: Weaving outcomes, thinning chaos.
But lately… the threads had begun to snarl.
One Guardian went mad.
Ships destined to arrive simply never left—erased from the probability chart.
Families woke up to find children they never remembered birthing. Others vanished, becoming unwritten.
And then came the message, carved in inverted starlight:
"The next inversion shall not burn your homes. It shall rewrite your choices."
"Prepare to regret what you never did."
✦ Erza's Arrival and Tensions Rise
Erza and his squad arrived as honored guests, but the Virgo Ascendants weren't welcoming.
Councilor Saelra approached him with a calm face, but behind her stood a Virgo Commander—eyes cold, arms folded, jaw clenched.
"You brought a flame into a weave. Fire tears thread," he said.
Erza didn't flinch. "I'm not here to burn it. I'm here to stop it from unraveling."
"Let's see if you can do that without breaking anything."
Auren muttered behind him, "Friendly people, these fate-weavers."
✦ The First Ripple
That night, something subtle changed.
Korr awoke in his room to find a note on his pillow, written in his own hand—but he'd never written it.
It read: "Don't let her die this time."
Lysra saw her reflection blink out before her.
Seris forgot the name of her childhood home—she knew the memory was gone, like a page ripped from her own mind.
And Erza… Erza dreamt of himself standing on a battlefield of silver thread.
At his feet, the bodies of his squad.
"This time," his dream-self said, "choose them."
✦ Meanwhile – The Inverted Loom
At the heart of the broken Virgo Gate, within a realm of stuttering possibility, stood the next enemy:
A woman with no face. Only a veil of uncut thread over an empty head.
She was called Vethriss, the Virgo Wraith.
And she spoke only in threads—unspooling answers, tangling lies.
At her side stood Noctharion, cloaked in cosmic void.
"She will not fight them with might," he said. "She will force them to question."
Vethriss moved a single finger. In distant timelines, Erza made mistakes.
She wove them together.
And smiled.
"He will lose the moment he begins to hesitate."
✦ Council Dissent
Back in the Dominion Council, arguments brewed.
Councilor Draym of Aries demanded they recall Erza.
"He's unstable. That Solar Bastion was unregistered. He's diverging from sanctioned constellation behavior."
Councilor Saelra stood firm.
"And yet he succeeded. We don't need order. We need results."
The Chairman remained silent.
But in private, he sent a message.
"Activate the Sigil Override. If Erza goes rogue…"
"Shatter the Leo Core."
✦ Erza's Resolution
As stars twisted above Capella, Erza stood in the central loom hall—threads of fate circling him.
He extended his hand.
The Leo Sigil flared to life.
The flames didn't lash out.
They followed the thread.
Warming it.
Strengthening it.
Seris watched with wide eyes. "You're not burning fate."
"I'm choosing it," Erza said softly. "One thread at a time."
And somewhere deep in the Gate… the Wraith blinked.