The door hissed open.
Lyra stood there, her amethyst eyes blazing. The anger was a front, a thin veil over the turmoil beneath. Her gaze swept over him, taking in his pallor, the slight tremor in his hand braced against the doorframe, the raw, divine energy still crackling in the air around him like ozone after a storm.
"You're alive," she stated, her voice clipped. "Good. Now, are you capable of understanding the catastrophe you've unleashed?"
Jade said nothing. His glacial gaze was a physical pressure.
"Fine. Data, since that's all you care about," she hissed, stepping past him into the room. "First, the power you released on Floor 4 sent a shockwave through the entire Tower. Every faction in the Sanctuary is on high alert. The Divine Realmists are calling you a heresy. The Vampire Courts are divided between those who want to dissect you and those who want to worship you. The Titans are fortifying their halls. You are no longer an ascendant; you are a political weapon, and everyone wants to hold the trigger."
She turned, her eyes locking onto his. "Second. Zero isn't in a normal infirmary. He's in the Core Infirmary, sealed behind reality wards. The Curator himself placed them. They say his body... flickers. That he's unmaking the healing spells faster than they can be cast. Your partner is becoming a walking paradox."
This data point hit its mark. Jade's expression didn't change, but the air in the room grew colder. The Obsidian Core within him pulsed.
"Third," Lyra's voice dropped, laced with a fear that wasn't for herself. "Seraphina. She's not just playing games anymore. She's invoked an Ancient Accord. She has the right to claim you as a ward, given your 'vulnerable state' and the threat you pose to the Sanctuary's stability. She's making her move, Jade. Today."
Before he could process this, a new, searingly bright System prompt appeared, not just for him, but undoubtedly for every soul in the Sanctuary.
SANCTUARY-WIDE DIRECTIVE: [ANOMALY NEUTRALIZATION]
TARGET: JADE [Self-Conqueror]
BOUNTY: 1 Divine-grade Artifact, 50,000 Soul Shards, Exclusive Title [System's Hand]
DURATION: 24 HOURS.
Lyra's face drained of all color. "By the gods... they've marked you for execution."
In that moment, the door to his room vanished, replaced by the smooth, unbroken wall of the corridor. The Sanctuary itself had turned against him. He was trapped.
"An interesting development," a serene voice said from behind them.
Jade and Lyra spun. There, sitting in Jade's chair as if she owned it, was Elara. Her robes were pristine white, her golden eyes alight with academic fervor.
"My offer has been upgraded," she said, not a hair out of place. "Come with me now, to the Divine Realm's enclave. We offer full sanctuary. We will protect you from this... messy business. In return, we simply wish to observe and document the fascinating paradox of your existence."
Lyra stepped in front of Jade, a futile but brave gesture. "You can't just—"
"I can," Elara interrupted gently. "The Accord is clear. A flagged Anomaly can be claimed for study by a major faction. It is this, or be torn apart by the rabble outside this room. The choice is logical."
The air grew heavy with the scent of frost and roses.
"No," Seraphina's voice cut through the tension like a scalpel made of ice. She stood in the doorway that was no longer a doorway, having bypassed the lock entirely. Her eyes were on Elara, a queen regarding an upstart. "The Accord also grants priority to the one who first staked a claim. And I have. He is my Vessel."
She turned her gaze to Jade, and for the first time, there was no seduction, no playful malice. Only absolute, terrifying seriousness.
"The games are over, Jade. You stand at a precipice. You can go with her, to be a specimen in a gilded cage, poked and prodded until the end of your days. Or you can face the mob outside, who will rip you apart for a title and a shiny toy."
She extended her hand. A scroll of black ice and blood-red script appeared in it. A Vow.
"Or," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper that promised both salvation and damnation, "you can take my hand. I will protect you. I will give you the resources to master the god-killing power locked inside you. I will shield your precious partner. All I ask in return is a single Vow. A promise."
Jade's mind, the mind of the Anomaly, calculated at lightspeed. The variables were clear. Elara's path was slavery disguised as salvation. The mob's path was death. Seraphina's path was a pact with a devil—a chain, but one that came with a weapon to break all other chains.
His eyes met Lyra's. In them, he saw a desperate, silent plea. Don't.
He looked at Seraphina's outstretched hand, at the Vow that pulsed with ancient, binding power.
He looked inward, to the throne room, where Alter-Jade grinned, surrounded by the shimmering cage of the System Quarantine.
A CHAIN FOR A SCYTHE, Alter-Jade whispered, his voice thick with ecstatic anticipation. A VOW TO BECOME THE WORLD-EATER. DO IT.
Jade's hand moved.
It was not a swift, dramatic grab. It was a slow, deliberate, and utterly cold motion. His fingers closed around Seraphina's.
The Vow-scroll flared, and its terms burned themselves into his soul:
"My protection for your promise. When the time comes, and I call upon you, you will stand by my side and grant me a single boon, of my choosing."
The power of the Vow settled over him, a cloak of icy power. The mark of the bounty on his system interface flickered and changed, now reading: [UNDER PROTECTION OF THE ANCIENT BLOOD ACCORD].
Seraphina's smile was a victory carved from millennia of patience. "Welcome to the game, my Vessel."
The wall where his door had been re-solidified. The immediate threat was neutralized.
He was safe.
He was hers.
The moment the Vow sealed, the atmosphere in the room shifted. The predatory tension didn't vanish; it was merely leashed, redirected. Seraphina's presence became a shield, a palpable, ancient authority that made the very air stiffen in deference. Elara, for all her divine composure, took a single, subtle step back, her golden eyes narrowing as she recalculated.
"The claim is recognized," Elara conceded, her voice still calm, but now laced with a sharp, metallic edge. "A predictable, if... brutish, outcome. The data from this arrangement will be fascinating nonetheless." She gave Jade a final, lingering look—not of desire, but of a scientist observing a volatile experiment—and then her form dissolved into motes of golden light.
That left Lyra.
She stood frozen, her gaze darting between Jade's impassive face and Seraphina's triumphant smirk. The hurt in her eyes had been burned away, replaced by a cold, clear horror.
"You didn't just make a deal," Lyra whispered, her voice trembling not with fear, but with fury. "You put on a collar. Do you even know what you've promised her? A 'boon, of her choosing'? She could ask for your soul, Jade! She could command you to kill Zero yourself, and the Vow would force you to try!"
Seraphina chuckled, a low, melodious sound. "Such a dramatic little thing. The terms are perfectly clear. And my Vessel is no fool. He understands the value of what he has purchased with his... word." She turned her head slightly towards Jade, her crimson eyes glinting. "Don't you?"
Jade met her gaze, then looked at Lyra. The analytical part of his mind was already dissecting the Vow's parameters. It was a chain, yes. But it was a chain he had chosen. A variable he had introduced to control a chaotic equation. Lyra's sentiment was a miscalculation. She saw a prisoner. He saw a strategist who had just acquired a powerful, if dangerous, asset.
"Your concern is noted," Jade stated, his voice devoid of all emotion. "And irrelevant. The variable has been accounted for."
Lyra flinched as if struck. The last flicker of hope in her eyes died. She looked at him as if seeing a stranger, a monster she had foolishly believed she understood.
"Accounted for," she repeated, the words flat and hollow. She shook her head, a gesture of finality. "I see. Then I was wrong. You're not worth saving from her. You're exactly where you belong."
She turned and walked to the wall that was once a door. With a faint hum, a section of it dissolved, re-forming the exit. She didn't look back as she stepped through, the portal sealing behind her, leaving Jade alone with his new patron.
Seraphina watched her go, then let out a soft, satisfied sigh. "Emotional baggage is so tedious. Now," she said, turning her full attention to him, the business-like edge returning to her tone. "To the first order of business. Your whetstone."
Jade's focus sharpened instantly. "Zero."
"Precisely. The Core Infirmary's wards are potent, but they are not designed for a paradox. They are containing him, not healing him. His condition is... unique." A flicker of genuine, academic interest crossed her face. "His very existence is at odds with reality. My resources can stabilize him, but it requires moving him. And for that, I require your assistance. The bond you share is the only thing that seems to... anchor him."
She gestured, and a viewing portal shimmered into existence in the air. It showed Zero, lying on a slab of pure light, his body terrifyingly translucent. Flickers of void-energy crackled around him, and with each pulse, parts of the healing runes inscribed in the air around him simply vanished.
"He is unmaking his own salvation," Seraphina murmured. "Your presence may be the only counterweight heavy enough to keep him from erasing himself entirely."
She looked at Jade, her expression unreadable. "The Vow guarantees my protection. It does not specify that the protection is painless. Or without risk. Are you ready to leash your partner's void, Anomaly? Or will you watch him fade into nothing?"