The Still Axis released Mandakini without ceremony.
One instant she stood in silence—
the next,she was falling.
Light bent.
Space twisted.
She landed on the war chamber floor in a controlled roll, coming up on one knee.
Every console in the room flared red.
Agastya's head snapped up.
"Impossible—no Gate signature!"
Vasundhara felt it first.
The shift.
Mandakini wasn't just present—
she was anchored.
"Kashyap," Mandakini said calmly.
He turned.
For a moment, he forgot the war.
She looked the same—
and completely different.
Her eyes held depth now.
Not age.
Continuity.
"You're back," he said quietly.
"Yes."
They moved toward each other instinctively—
then the chamber shook violently.
Viraj swore.
"That wasn't a strike."
Vayu's grin vanished.
"No,"he said.
"That was a message."
The central display tore open, overriding every system.
A symbol burned across it—
The Origin sigil.
Then the image resolved.
A world.
Green.
Alive.
Familiar.
Mandakini's breath caught.
"…Earth."
The Council's voice flooded the chamber.
YOU HAVE ESCALATED.
SO WILL WE.
The image zoomed in—
Cities.
Millions of lives.
No defenses.
THIS WORLD IS DESIGNATED
AS A LEVER.
Kashyap's resonance spiked—
controlled,but furious.
"Don't," Mandakini said softly.
He looked at her.
"They're threatening my home."
"They're testing you," she replied.
"If you react emotionally,they win."
Agastya spoke grimly.
"They've deployed something new."
The display shifted.
A structure unfolded above Earth's orbit—
vast,geometric, wrong.
"A Null Crown," Agastya said.
"Council technology designed to suppress Constants."
Mandakini felt it immediately.
A pressure against her very existence.
"They built it for me," she said.
Vasundhara's voice was tight.
"It can sever her from continuity."
Kashyap stepped forward.
"Then we destroy it."
Viraj shook his head.
"You can't.Not directly. The Crown is phase-locked to the Origin Gate."
Mandakini closed her eyes briefly.
"I can reach it,"she said.
Everyone turned to her.
"Not physically," she continued.
"Conceptually."
Kashyap frowned.
"What does that mean?"
She met his gaze.
"It means I'll have to touch the Gate."
Silence slammed down.
Agastya spoke carefully.
"That's a one-way escalation."
Mandakini nodded.
"So is threatening Earth."
Kashyap grabbed her wrist.
"No.You just got back. We'll find another way."
She squeezed his hand.
"There isn't one that ends without casualties."
Vayu muttered, "She's right."
Kashyap's jaw clenched.
"You don't get to decide this alone."
Mandakini stepped closer, voice low.
"I'm not choosing alone.I'm choosing with you."
She placed her palm against his chest.
The hum softened.
Balanced.
"Trust me," she said.
Before anyone could argue—
The chamber alarms screamed.
Vasundhara shouted.
"Enforcer signatures—dozens!They're jumping directly into the chamber!"
Reality tore open.
Hunters poured in.
Kashyap's eyes burned.
"Battle stations."
Mandakini didn't move.
She closed her eyes.
And reached.
Far beyond space and time, the Origin Gate stirred—
And for the first time since creation—
It felt recognized.