The world did not tremble.
It broke.
The Architect's seven halos aligned perfectly, forming a vertical axis of white-violet annihilation. Every fragment of the Origin Layer convulsed as the Primary Avatar channeled a force that was not energy, not magic, not physics—
but the erasure of definition.
Rossweisse gasped, unable to hide the dread tightening her throat.
"That isn't an attack. It's a rewrite."
Akeno's expression hardened.
"So if it touches us—"
"We stop existing," Xenovia finished coldly.
Rias pressed both hands to Sarah's shoulders.
"Breathe. Align with us. Do not face this alone."
Sarah did not answer.
She couldn't.
Her eyes were locked on the Avatar, each heartbeat synchronizing with the violent rhythm of Proto-Ascension spiraling inside her. The shard pulsed with dangerous regularity, as if it sensed the threshold she was about to cross.
Lilith Fragment's tone sharpened.
"Sarah. If you intercept this, you will trigger Phase Three prematurely. That could break you."
Sarah inhaled once.
Slow.
Controlled.
Then she spoke.
"Then I learn to hold it together."
Akeno's eyes widened.
"You're going to take it head-on?"
Sarah stepped forward.
"One-on-one."
Koneko snapped, fists clenching.
"You'll die."
Sarah turned her head slightly, eyes blazing with a controlled, terrifying clarity.
"That thing wants to consume my identity. If I run, it wins. If I hesitate, it wins. If I break, it wins."
She faced the Primary Avatar again.
"So I won't."
The halos aligned completely.
The Architect's voice reverberated across the entire plane.
"INITIATING ERASE-SEQUENCE: ASCENSION CANDIDATE."
Light erupted.
A column of white-violet annihilation roared toward Sarah, tearing the metallic ground into a spiraling abyss. The shockwave flung the harem backward despite their attempt to hold formation.
Rossweisse screamed, "SARAH!"
Rias reached out desperately—
too far.
too late.
Sarah met the beam alone.
Her fist connected with the edge of conceptual erasure.
The impact unleashed a detonation so violent the Origin Layer tore open in a perfect circle centered on Sarah. For a moment, she vanished in the blinding storm of white-violet force.
Rias's voice cracked.
"No…"
The beam continued, engulfing everything ahead of it, cutting a trench kilometers deep.
Then—
a second detonation.
Crimson-lilac tore out of the center of the erasure column.
The beam splintered.
Sarah walked out of it.
Her movements slow, deliberate.
Her steps steady.
Her aura disordered—but alive.
Koneko's heart stopped.
"She… survived that."
Akeno whispered in disbelief.
"No. She didn't survive it. She overpowered it."
The Architect paused mid-attack, halos rotating erratically for the first time.
"PHASE THREE INSTABILITY DETECTED. ASCENSION CANDIDATE APPROACHING ILLEGAL THRESHOLD."
Sarah exhaled.
A crimson-lilac corona exploded around her, so dense the metallic ground liquefied under her feet.
Her stats surged into view:
SARAH — PROTO-ASCENSION (PHASE THREE — PARTIAL MANIFESTATION)
Force: 260 → 530
Desire: 4200 → 9000
Agility: 90 → 310
Intelligence: 72 → 115
Identity Stability: CRITICAL (but holding)
Rossweisse's runes lit up involuntarily.
"This isn't stable—she's balancing on the edge of self-disintegration."
Rias took a trembling breath.
"But she's controlling it… she's shaping it."
Sarah lifted her hand.
Proto-Ascension condensed into a razor-thin halo circling her wrist—
not a projection,
not a flare,
a controlled conceptual field.
Even Lilith Fragment went silent for three seconds.
When she finally spoke, her voice was reverent.
"You are… rewriting the seed. Not being rewritten by it."
Sarah's gaze locked onto the Primary Avatar.
"Your turn."
She vanished.
Not teleportation.
Not speed.
She removed the delay between intention and action.
One heartbeat later—
She struck the Avatar's left torso.
Fifty meters of conceptual armor imploded.
The Avatar staggered for the first time since its creation.
"UNAUTHORIZED DESTRUCTION OF CORE LAYER. RECOMPILING BODY."
The wound tried to close.
Sarah didn't allow it.
She snapped her fingers—
a simple gesture, amplified by Phase Three resonance.
A crimson-lilac shockwave burst from the Avatar's half-regenerated torso, preventing reconstruction.
Xenovia stared, stunned.
"Her attacks… are overriding its repairs."
Akeno's voice trembled.
"That's impossible. Even Lilith couldn't do that."
Lilith Fragment nodded slowly.
"She isn't using my power. She is using her own identity as the anchor."
The harem closed ranks behind her instinctively—
even though Sarah no longer needed protection.
The Primary Avatar recalibrated instantly.
All seven halos aligned into a vertical spear.
"ASCENSION CANDIDATE THREAT LEVEL: UNACCEPTABLE.
EXECUTING TOTAL CORE DESTRUCTION."
It fired—
a direct, unfiltered beam of conceptual annihilation.
Sarah caught it.
With one hand.
The ground screamed beneath her.
Her body spasmed.
Her identity wavered.
Rias shouted, "DON'T BREAK! Sarah, focus on us!"
Akeno called out, "Let us in! Don't shoulder it alone!"
Koneko roared, "We're here! Use us!"
Sarah exhaled sharply, sweat dripping down her temple.
Then she did something none of them expected.
She reached her free hand backward.
Not blindly.
Not desperately.
With intent.
Rias grabbed it first.
Then Akeno.
Then Koneko, Rossweisse, Xenovia.
And the lattice ignited.
Desire.
Identity.
Emotional resonance.
Six consciousnesses aligned with perfect synchronicity.
Phase Three stabilized.
Sarah's aura expanded to a colossal scale—
a dome of crimson-lilac energy radiating raw defiance.
She pushed forward.
The Architect's beam fractured—
then shattered—
then winked out like a dying star.
Sarah stood unmoved.
The avatar froze.
"EVALUATION: IMPOSSIBLE."
Sarah cracked her knuckles.
"Get used to it."
The harem stepped forward behind her, formation tightening instinctively.
Rias whispered with certainty:
"She's no longer following the Ascension seed…"
"…she's rewriting it from the inside."
The Primary Avatar recalibrated rapidly.
The halos spun violently.
"ESCALATING TO FINAL PROTOCOL:
ARCHITECT CORE MANIFESTATION."
Lilith's eyes widened.
"That's the true core. What's coming next is beyond anything we've seen."
Sarah didn't flinch.
She stepped forward.
And for the first time—
the Primary Avatar stepped back.
The sky split open again.
A second presence began descending.
Vast.
Ancient.
Conceptual in a way no machine or god should be.
Sarah steadied her breath, her harem tightening formation around her.
"Let it come."
She raised her chin.
"We finish this."