CHAPTER 110 – Xiao Xi's Most Devastating Choice
The wind howled, not with air, but with raw narrative friction, as reality bent and stretched toward the First Root's vortex.
Shen and Ling tried desperately to shield themselves and Gu, pouring their remaining power into a protective barrier,
but even their combined forces fractured under the relentless, gravitational pull of the consuming void.
Shen gritted his teeth, veins bulging in his neck.
"We… can't… hold… the barrier's breaking!"
Ling cried out, tears streaming down her face as the ground dissolved around them:
"Xiao Xi, what do we do?! We have no time left!"
The Root Protagonist struggled to stabilize the collapsing zone, trying to slow the timeline's consumption.
"Xiao Xi—listen to me! If we destroy him now, the world dies with him!"
Xiao Xi froze in horror, the command contradicting everything she knew.
"What?! Why?!"
"His corruption has threaded itself into every part of the world! He's using the timeline as a lifeline!" the Root Protagonist yelled over the apocalyptic storm.
"If he dies too quickly—this timeline collapses completely into the void!"
Xiao Xi trembled, the devastating choice laid bare before her.
"So I can't kill him?"
"No!"
"Not yet! You have to separate him from the timeline first!"
But the First Root grew larger, hungrier, roaring with malignant glee:
"ALL OF THIS,
ALL OF YOU,ARE MINE!
NO ONE ESCAPES ENTROPY!"
Gu's voice whispered inside her mind, a final vote of confidence from the one whose life depended on her choice.
"…Xi… I trust you… whatever you choose…"
Her chest tightened painfully, the grief and resolve merging into cold clarity.
She faced the vortex—faced destruction—and made a choice that shook the universe's foundations.
She whispered, her voice barely audible but firm:
"…Then I'll seal him."
The Root Protagonist's eyes widened in profound shock.
"That could trap you too! You would be sealing raw entropy into your own Core!"
Shen shouted, horrified, seeing the self-sacrifice inherent in the act:
"DON'T DO IT! THERE MUST BE ANOTHER WAY!"
Ling cried, reaching out a trembling hand:
"Xiao Xi—no! You just got back!"
Gu whispered weakly, the fear and love mingling in his fading consciousness:
"…Xiao Xi… don't leave me…"
She smiled gently, a warrior's final, serene expression.
"I'm the Root.
You are my core.
This is my final responsibility."
Her immense wings of gold-laced chaos unfurled, blocking out the light of the collapsing sky.
Her eyes glowed an impossible, transcendent violet and gold.
Her voice rang like the birth of a star, sealing her fate:
"I will seal the First Root inside myself."
The world went still,
as everyone realized she was about to become the prison of primal chaos, sacrificing her freedom, perhaps her sanity, to save her world.
And then—
Xiao Xi flew straight into the terrifying, consuming heart of the vortex.