The warning came too late.
Vasundhara's head snapped up, eyes widening as the Archive's outer layers screamed with incoming distortion.
"A reality just went dark," she said.
"Council strike.Full erasure."
Agastya slammed his staff into the floor.
"Which world?"
Vasundhara closed her eyes—
then opened them,voice hollow.
"Vasudha."
Mandakini's breath caught.
"That's a civilian world,"she said.
"No defenses.No Guardians."
Viraj swore under his breath.
"They're making an example."
Kashyap felt the resonance stir—uneasy, pulling.
"Can we reach it?"he asked.
Vasundhara hesitated.
"Yes,"she said.
"But if you intervene,the Council will mark you permanently. No more hiding. No more doubt."
Mandakini stepped closer to Kashyap.
"You don't have to do this."
He looked at her—really looked.
"If I don't,"he said quietly,
"then what's the point of surviving all this?"
She nodded.
"Then we go together."
Agastya raised a hand.
"No,"he said firmly.
"If the Key enters an active erasure zone,the Origin Gate will flare. The Council will triangulate instantly."
Bhrigu crossed her arms.
"So we let a world die?"
Silence fell.
Saswat spoke softly.
"We evacuate what we can. Not everyone. But enough."
Vasundhara shook her head.
"There isn't time."
Kashyap felt the pull strengthen—like a tide dragging at his bones.
"I can stabilize it,"he said.
"Just long enough."
Agastya's eyes hardened.
"You don't know that."
Kashyap met his gaze.
"I do."
Mandakini caught his arm.
"If you go alone—"
"I won't," Kashyap said.
"Because if I fall…"
He looked at her.
"…I need you to pull me back."
She didn't argue.
Vasundhara opened a Gate.
Light swallowed them.
---
Vasudha was burning.
Skies fractured into geometric shards.
Cities unraveled midair,buildings collapsing into streams of raw data.
People ran—
screamed—
vanished.
Council Enforcers hovered above the ruins—
featureless,merciless.
Mandakini's voice shook.
"This is genocide."
Kashyap stepped forward, resonance rising.
"Then I end it."
He raised both hands.
The hum roared.
Reality resisted—hard.
This wasn't alignment.
This was opposition.
Agastya shouted through the comm-field:
"Kashyap,stop! You're forcing a dead timeline back into coherence!"
Kashyap ignored him.
He pushed.
The sky screamed.
Time slowed—then fractured.
For a moment—
just a moment—
the collapse halted.
Cities froze mid-fall.
People hung suspended between existence and erasure.
Mandakini felt the strain tear through her.
"Kashyap—this is too much!"
Blood ran from his nose.
"I've got it,"he gasped.
Then—
A Council Enforcer turned its gaze directly on Mandakini.
Targeting her.
"No," Kashyap whispered.
The Enforcer fired.
Mandakini reacted instantly—
throwing up a stabilizing field.
The blast struck her instead.
She screamed.
The field shattered.
Kashyap felt something break.
Not crack.
Break.
The hum changed.
Deepened.
Darkened.
"No," he said again—
but this time,the word wasn't a plea.
It was a verdict.
He turned.
And erased the Enforcer.
Not displaced.
Not neutralized.
Erased.
The act sent a shockwave through the multiverse.
Vasudha stabilized—
partially.
Enough for evacuation.
Not enough for salvation.
Mandakini collapsed.
Kashyap caught her, hands shaking.
Her energy lattice flickered wildly.
She looked up at him, a weak smile on her lips.
"You crossed a line,"she whispered.
"I know," he said hoarsely.
"I had to."
Sirens howled across reality.
Agastya's voice was grim.
"They felt that.Every one of them."
Vasundhara appeared beside them, face pale.
"Kashyap…you just did something no Key has ever done."
He looked at the spot where the Enforcer had been.
"What?"
She swallowed.
"You killed a being created before time."
Kashyap closed his eyes.
Somewhere far beyond, the Origin Gate flared violently.
And the Council of Origin changed its stance.
Not cautious.
Not calculating.
Furious.