(Lawless Arc: Part XXXI)
The System stopped speaking.
Not malfunctioning.
Not glitching.
Stopping — as if it recognized the futility of words when confronted by lawlessness incarnate.
Kael stood atop a ruin suspended in the Null Expanse, the place where worlds are archived before deletion, where possibilities go to be judged.
Above him, the Crown floated silently — darker now, heavier now, aware now.
It had once crowned emperors.
It had once guided devourers.
It had once smiled at the death of galaxies.
But today, it hovered uncertain.
Kael reached upward, fingers brushing its edge. The metal was cold, but the memory was colder.
"Why didn't you choose me?" he asked.
The void did not answer.
The void never answers directly.
Instead, the Crown resonated — a low hum older than sound itself, vibrating through the fabric of unreality.
Kael staggered as visions forced themselves into his mind:
A throne made of black suns.
A crown crushing its bearer.
A devourer crowned by mistake.
A king unmade by his own shadow.
The Crown dimmed.
It had not chosen him then.
It had not chosen him now.
It feared the choice itself.
Je exhaled slowly, a smirk cutting across his face.
"Good."
The System jolted awake in a final flicker:
[Recognition Logged: Crown has not chosen. Vessel has not bowed. Authority remains unclaimed.]
Kael laughed quietly.
Not triumphantly.
Not madly.
Quiet like a secret kept in the dark.
"Then I'll choose myself."
The Crown froze mid-air.
And for the first time in its existence…
It did not float above a bearer.
It floated above a challenger.
A storm of silent stars kindled around him — the multiverse whispering without speaking, watching without blinking.
Kael walked forward.
The Null Expanse opened another door.
And the Crown followed.
Not because it had chosen him.
But because he had chosen to be worth following.