The Academy did not feel safe anymore.
Aerion noticed it the moment he woke up.
The air was too still. Mana currents that usually flowed gently through the halls felt disrupted—like a river being quietly diverted underground. Even the infinity mark on his palm was silent.
That scared him more than pain.
Silence meant suppression.
Aerion sat up slowly, eyes scanning the room. Lyria slept peacefully, unaware of how close the world was to shifting beneath her feet.
Good, he thought. Stay unaware.
He stood, dressed quietly, and slipped out before dawn.
In the highest observation tower, Seris Kain was already awake.
"Elowen," he said without turning. "Confirm anomaly."
Elowen's eyes glowed faintly as symbols cascaded across her irises.
"…Confirmed," she replied. "Foreign presence detected within Academy boundaries."
Nyxa appeared upside down from a beam, dangling casually. "Ooooh. So it finally showed up."
Seris's jaw tightened. "Null signature?"
Elowen nodded. "Complete absence. No mana. No fate-line. No temporal echo."
Nyxa flipped down, landing lightly. "So… the Null Apostle."
Silence followed.
Even Nyxa wasn't smiling now.
"They sent something that doesn't exist," she muttered. "That's not a warning."
"That's a declaration," Seris replied.
Aerion felt it before he saw it.
A pressure—not heavy, not painful—but wrong. Like stepping into a shadow that didn't belong to any object.
He stopped near the old garden courtyard.
The flowers there were dead.
Not withered.
Erased.
No decay. No remains.
Just absence.
"That's… new," Aerion murmured.
A figure stood at the center of the courtyard.
Tall.
Wrapped in pale robes that seemed unfinished, as if reality itself had failed to fully define them. Where a face should have been, there was only a smooth mask—featureless, blank.
And yet—
Aerion felt its gaze.
"You are late," the figure said.
Its voice was calm. Empty.
Not male. Not female.
Not alive.
"Who are you?" Aerion asked, already stepping back.
"I am designated Apostle Zero," it replied. "I am here to remove an error."
Aerion swallowed. "That error being me."
"Correct."
The infinity mark burned.
Not flaring.
Warning.
Aerion raised his hand slowly. "You don't belong here."
The Apostle tilted its head.
"Incorrect. I belong nowhere. Therefore, I can exist anywhere."
Then—
It moved.
There was no buildup.
No acceleration.
One moment it stood still.
The next, Aerion was flying.
He crashed through a stone archway, ribs screaming as he hit the ground hard. He rolled, barely managing to regain his footing before the Apostle appeared again—simply there.
Aerion conjured a barrier.
It shattered instantly.
Not broken.
Deleted.
"Mana constructs are inefficient," the Apostle said calmly. "Infinity-derived phenomena are next."
Aerion's heart pounded.
It knows.
He dashed sideways, vaulting over a wall, forcing distance.
"Nyxa wasn't kidding," he muttered. "This thing's built to kill me."
The Apostle walked.
Each step erased sound.
No footsteps.
No echoes.
Aerion's instincts screamed.
He skidded to a halt and turned—
Too late.
A pale hand pierced his chest.
Not flesh.
Not bone.
Something deeper.
Aerion gasped as sensation vanished from half his body.
The Apostle leaned closer.
"Anomaly stability decreasing," it observed. "Termination optimal."
Rage surged.
Fear burned.
And beneath it—
Defiance.
Aerion grabbed the Apostle's wrist.
For the first time—
The Apostle hesitated.
"…Unexpected interaction," it said.
Aerion gritted his teeth. "You said you remove errors."
The infinity mark ignited.
"But I don't belong to infinity anymore."
White light flared—
And stopped.
The Apostle's other hand closed around Aerion's glowing palm.
"Infinity access denied."
The light died.
Aerion screamed as the mark dimmed violently.
Something had cut him off.
He fell to his knees, gasping.
The Apostle released him and stepped back.
"Conclusion," it said. "Anomaly is more dangerous without infinity than with it."
It raised its hand.
"To preserve existence—termination must proceed."
A dagger slammed into the Apostle's shoulder.
The force sent it sliding backward.
Nyxa landed beside Aerion, blades drawn, expression furious.
"Hands off my problem," she snapped.
Seris descended moments later, aura blazing, while Elowen hovered above, symbols rotating rapidly.
"Engage containment protocol," Seris ordered.
Nyxa laughed darkly. "Containment? Cute."
She lunged.
Her blades struck true—
And passed straight through the Apostle.
"No resistance," she hissed. "It's not phasing—it's empty."
The Apostle backhanded her.
Nyxa crashed into a pillar, coughing blood.
Seris attacked next.
A complex sealing array formed instantly.
The Apostle looked at it.
The array vanished.
"Fate-based constructs ineffective," it said.
Elowen's voice sharpened. "Subject adapting."
Aerion struggled to stand, vision blurring.
I can't use infinity.
I can't let it reach the dorms.
He staggered forward.
Nyxa shouted, "Aerion, don't—!"
Aerion raised his trembling hand.
Not to summon power.
But to choose.
"I won't let you erase this world," he said quietly.
The Apostle regarded him.
"Statement irrelevant."
Aerion smiled weakly.
"Yeah," he coughed. "Heard that before."
Something shifted inside him.
Not infinity.
Not mana.
Will.
The air vibrated.
Reality resisted.
For the first time—
The Apostle stepped back.
"…Unregistered variable," it said.
Aerion's eyes burned silver.
Not glowing.
Reflecting.
"I don't need infinity," he whispered.
"I just need to exist."
The ground cracked.
The Apostle's form distorted—just slightly.
Enough.
Seris seized the opening.
"Nyxa—now!"
She threw a black sphere etched with broken circles.
It detonated silently.
Space folded inward.
The Apostle was dragged halfway into nothingness.
It struggled.
"…Data insufficient," it said. "Retreat required."
Its form unraveled.
Before vanishing completely, it looked at Aerion.
"You are not an error," it said.
"You are a contradiction."
Then—
It was gone.
Silence fell.
Aerion collapsed.
Nyxa caught him before he hit the ground.
"Idiot," she muttered shakily. "You almost died."
He smiled faintly. "Still breathing."
Seris knelt beside him, eyes intense. "You resisted without infinity."
Elowen stared at Aerion, something almost like awe flickering across her normally blank face.
"…He generated causality," she said softly. "Without a source."
Seris exhaled.
"That's worse than infinity."
Far away, in the shattered temple—
The cult knelt in silence.
"The Apostle has withdrawn," one whispered.
The voice in the dark laughed softly.
"Good."
"When contradiction grows… infinity will be forced to answer."
Back at the Academy, Aerion lay unconscious.
The infinity mark was dim.
Not gone.
Waiting.
And somewhere deep within him—
Something smiled.
Not a god.
Not infinity.
But a will that refused to be erased.