The temperature inside Eden Zero dropped so low that it no longer felt cold.
It felt like judgement.
The frozen cathedral stood split open, crimson light pouring through the shattered gates like blood through old wounds.
At the centre of it all stood the Null Sovereign.
Orion.
Not a monster.
Not a machine.
A son.
A man carrying grief so long it had become philosophy.
His red-glowing eyes remained fixed on Aarav.
Calm.
Patient.
As if he had already seen every possible answer.
And maybe he had.
Besides Aarav, Aelina stood tense.
Mira's nanoshards hovered like silver knives waiting for permission.
Selene held her giant blade in silence.
Nysera watched like someone observing destiny argue with itself.
And behind all of them—
Rohan quietly whispered,
"I miss homework."
No one blamed him.
The Null Sovereign repeated the question.
Softly.
Almost gently.
"When they die too…"
"Will you still choose love?"
Silence followed.
Because everyone knew this wasn't a philosophical debate.
This was the wound that created him.
The answer that had divided father and son.
The answer that would decide whether Aarav became the future's saviour…
or its next catastrophe.
Aarav looked at him.
At Orion.
At the man who had once been a child running through sunlight.
At the boy who had watched his mother die and decided the universe itself was guilty.
And for the first time—
Aarav didn't see an enemy.
He saw someone still standing at a funeral.
His voice, when it came, was quiet.
"Did you love her?"
No one expected that.
Not even Orion.
The Null Sovereign's expression changed.
Just slightly.
A crack in the calm.
A human fracture.
Aarav stepped forward.
Not aggressively.
Honestly.
"Your mother."
He kept his eyes on Orion.
"When she died… did you stop loving her?"
The Arctic wind screamed through the broken gates.
Orion said nothing.
Because he didn't need to.
The silence was answer enough.
Aarav nodded slowly.
"Exactly."
Golden light flickered beneath his skin.
"Love didn't become meaningless because it hurt."
His voice sharpened.
"It hurt because it mattered."
The prison responded.
The Origin Code stirred.
Even the frozen walls seemed to listen.
Aarav took another step.
"You looked at grief and decided love was the problem."
He pointed—not accusingly, but truthfully.
"But grief is proof that something was worth losing."
Rohan, from a safe emotional distance:
"…Bro is winning the argument against the apocalypse."
A miracle.
A genuine miracle.
Orion finally spoke.
And now there was emotion in it.
Cold anger.
Old pain.
"Easy words."
"You speak like someone who has not buried the world."
Red code spread around him like a storm waking.
"I watched children die because hope was slower than war."
"I watched my mother vanish while my father chose strangers over family."
His voice cracked for the first time.
That was worse than shouting.
"Do not speak to me of love as if it is noble."
Silence.
The First Origin stepped forward.
At last.
Not as a god.
Not as a legend.
Only as a father.
"He's right."
Everyone turned.
Even Orion.
The First Origin's voice was tired.
Honest.
"I failed you."
No defence.
No excuse.
Only truth.
"I loved humanity so much that I kept believing I had time left for my family."
His golden eyes held Orion's.
"I was wrong."
That hurt more than battle ever could.
Because apologies given too late were their own kind of violence.
Orion stood motionless.
His red eyes were unreadable.
The First Origin continued.
"You were never angry because I loved the world."
"You were angry because I made you feel like I loved it more than you."
The silence after that was unbearable.
Aelina quietly looked away.
Mira said nothing.
Even Selene lowered her gaze.
Because some wounds were too personal to witness.
For a moment—
Orion looked like the boy from the memory again.
Not the Null Sovereign.
Just a son who had waited too long to hear the right words.
Then the moment passed.
Red light returned.
The emperor of endings stood again.
"And now you apologise."
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"After timelines have burnt."
"After civilisations died."
"After I became the monster required to fix what you refused to."
The First Origin nodded once.
"Yes."
A beat.
"And I would still choose you."
That line hit like a blade.
Rohan actually sat down.
Emotionally defeated.
Reasonable.
Very reasonable.
Orion's expression finally broke.
Not rage.
Pain.
Pure, devastating pain.
Because the cruellest thing in the world was not hatred.
It was hearing the words you needed years too late.
Red code exploded around him.
The entire prison shook.
Eden Zero screamed.
Cracks spread across the frozen cathedral.
Mira shouted.
"He's destabilising the prison!"
Selene drew her sword.
"If he loses control, this entire place collapses!"
Nysera's voice cut through the chaos.
"Or worse."
Aarav frowned.
"What's worse than that?!"
She looked at him.
"He rewrites reality again."
Ah.
Yes.
That would qualify.
Orion floated slightly above the frozen floor, crimson light rising like a second storm.
His voice echoed through the prison.
No longer calm.
No longer controlled.
Only grief is given infinite power.
"If love is worth suffering…"
"Then let the universe suffer with me."
The First Origin moved instantly.
Golden light erupted.
Father and son.
Gold and crimson.
Past and future.
Love and grief.
They collided.
The impact shattered half of Eden Zero.
Shockwaves tore through the chamber.
Ice walls cracked.
The world screamed.
Aarav shielded his face.
This was no longer a conversation.
This was a war between two answers.
And if they failed—
Time itself would not survive.
Then Nysera looked at him.
Not asking.
Knowing.
"This was never their battle to finish."
Aarav stared.
"What?"
Her silver eyes held his.
"It is yours."
Because of course it was.
Of course.
He looked at the collapsing prison.
At Orion.
At the man who had become the end of time because no one stopped him when he was still just grieving.
And Aarav understood.
This wasn't about defeating him.
It was about reaching him before the world broke again.
He took one step forward.
Golden light answered.
The Origin Code awakened.
And somewhere deep inside him—
The future waited for his choice.