The war chamber exploded into motion.
Reality ruptured as Enforcers poured through—
black-armored forms phasing in mid-stride,weapons humming with Origin energy.
Viraj was the first to move.
"Defensive arc!" he shouted, slamming his gauntlets together.
A kinetic shield flared to life just as the first volley struck, the impact shattering half the chamber wall.
Vayu vanished in a crack of thunder—reappearing behind two Enforcers and tearing through them in a storm of lightning.
Bhrigu's voice cut through the chaos.
"Left flank collapsing—Nirbhay,with me!"
Agastya planted his staff, glyphs spiraling outward as he began folding space to funnel civilians out of adjacent realities.
Kashyap stood at the center—
Still.
Because Mandakini wasn't fighting.
She stood with her eyes closed, palm lifted, trembling slightly.
The hum around Kashyap softened—
then pulled away from him.
His breath caught.
"Mandakini…"
She didn't answer.
Her consciousness slipped beyond the chamber, beyond the battlefield—
Beyond existence.
---
The Origin Gate was not a place.
It was a condition.
Mandakini felt it before she saw it—
an infinite pressure holding everything together by sheer inevitability.
When she touched it—
The Gate recognized her.
CONSTANT DETECTED.
The words weren't spoken.
Theywere true.
She saw the Null Crown above Earth—
its lattice feeding directly into the Gate's control channels.
Mandakini reached out.
Not with force.
With continuity.
"You don't get to end what still matters," she whispered.
The Crown resisted.
Hard.
Her vision fractured—
pain flaring across every remembered lifetime.
In the war chamber, Mandakini gasped, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Kashyap felt it instantly.
The resonance screamed.
"No," he said sharply.
"You're burning yourself!"
Vasundhara shouted, "If she disconnects now, the backlash will kill her!"
Kashyap's control snapped—not into rage, but resolve.
He stepped forward.
And followed her.
---
The moment Kashyap reached for the Gate—
The Council reacted.
KEY INTERFERENCE UNAUTHORIZED.
A force slammed into him, trying to tear his resonance apart.
He pushed through.
Mandakini felt him beside her—
solid, grounding, familiar.
"Kashyap," she breathed.
"I didn't want you here."
"I know," he said.
"That's why I came."
Together, they stood before the Gate.
The Null Crown flickered.
The Council's presence surged—
cold,furious, absolute.
YOU WILL UNMAKE CAUSALITY.
Mandakini met the pressure head-on.
"Then stop building weapons out of lives."
She reached deeper—
And the Crown cracked.
On Earth, the sky rippled.
Satellites failed.
The structure above the planet fractured,pieces dissolving into harmless light.
Cheers erupted across resistance channels.
Viraj roared, "Crown destabilizing!"
But victory had a cost.
Mandakini screamed.
The Gate surged violently—
a backlash tearing through her continuity.
Kashyap felt her slipping.
"No!" he shouted.
He wrapped his resonance around her—
not erasing,not forcing—
absorbing.
Agastya yelled, "Kashyap, if you do that—!"
Too late.
The Gate flared.
Mandakini collapsed in the chamber, unconscious.
The Enforcers froze mid-attack—
then vanished,forcibly recalled.
Silence fell.
Kashyap dropped to his knees beside her, shaking.
"Mandakini…stay with me."
Her breathing was shallow—but steady.
Vasundhara scanned her, eyes wide.
"She's alive,"she said.
"But something changed."
Kashyap looked up.
"What?"
Vasundhara swallowed.
"The Gate marked you both."
Above them, reality shimmered—
and a new symbol burned briefly into existence.
Not Key.
Not Lock.
Union.
Far beyond all worlds, the Council of Origin withdrew—
Not defeated.
Not afraid.
But cautious.
Because for the first time—
The Origin Gate had responded to two voices.