Chapter 442: The End of Central Authority

Caelum was the first to move.

No Transfer.

No Dominion.

No thousands of lines moving the world for him.

Even so, fast.

Very fast.

Damon only saw the fist because he was already expecting it.

He tilted his body.

The blow passed by his face.

The sword rose.

Caelum caught the blade with his hand.

Blood appeared in his palm.

He did not even blink.

Damon smiled.

"That."

Caelum frowned.

"What?"

"Now you bleed."

Damon kicked his knee.

Caelum released the sword and stepped back half a pace.

Ester appeared from the side.

Three needles.

One in the shoulder.

One in the thigh.

One below the ribs.

Caelum swung his arm.

The wave of energy threw Ester backward.

Xue Mei caught her before she hit the ground.

"Thanks."

"Later."

Caelum looked at the needles.

Pulled out the first one.

Ester smiled.

"I wouldn’t do that."

He stopped.

Too late.

The energy around his arm failed.

Caelum narrowed his eyes.

"Circulation block."

"Temporary."

She threw another.

"I have plenty."

Damon attacked.

This time Caelum did not catch the sword.

He dodged.

The blade cut his clothes.

Xue Lian came from the other side.

No ice.

A short spear taken from Xue Mei’s waist.

Caelum blocked with his forearm.

Xue Lian rotated the weapon and struck the side of his knee with the shaft.

Caelum lost balance.

Damon slammed his shoulder into his chest.

Both fell.

Caelum reacted first.

His hand closed around Damon’s throat.

He was lifted.

"You rely too much on others."

Damon grabbed his wrist.

"That was the idea."

Chen Mo touched Caelum’s back.

Nothing exploded.

The energy simply disappeared.

For a fraction of a second.

It was enough.

Caelum lost strength.

Damon fell.

The sword went through his abdomen.

Caelum looked down.

Then at Damon.

Silence.

Damon pulled the blade out.

Blood ran.

Caelum stepped back.

The wound began closing.

Slowly.

Far slower than it should have.

Aurelia noticed.

"Reconstitution."

Aria looked at the plate.

The corresponding circle was blinking.

CENTRAL AUTHORITY ABSENT.

AUTOMATIC PROCESS RUNNING.

Damon glanced over.

"He’s still being repaired."

"Yes."

"Can you stop it?"

Aurelia answered.

"Not while Reconstitution considers the body a valid structure."

Caelum smiled.

"Then it doesn’t matter how many times you cut me."

Damon looked at the wound closing.

"You really learned nothing."

Caelum advanced.

The fight lost any appearance of elegance.

There were no more systems making decisions for them.

Only strength.

Speed.

Pain.

Caelum hit Damon in the face.

Damon answered with the sword hilt against his temple.

Xue Lian attacked the legs.

Ester shut down circulation.

Chen Mo erased energy for moments.

Xue Mei covered the openings left by her mother.

Aurelia shouted instructions whenever she recognized some old pattern in the reconstructed body.

And Aria watched the plate.

Always the plate.

"Reconstitution is still going!"

Damon blocked another blow.

"I know!"

"It’s repairing everything!"

"I noticed!"

Caelum grabbed his arm.

Twisted.

Damon heard his shoulder dislocate.

The pain came immediately.

"Shit."

Caelum threw him to the ground.

Ester shouted.

"Damon!"

"Later!"

"Your arm!"

"I have another one!"

Caelum kicked.

Damon rolled.

The stone exploded where his head had been.

He stood using only his left hand.

The sword remained on the ground.

Caelum looked at him.

"You cannot win."

Damon took a deep breath.

"Probably not."

Caelum stopped.

That answer was not expected.

Damon smiled.

"But you’re still trying to beat the wrong person."

Aria understood.

She turned the plate.

"Reconstitution!"

The circle responded.

PRESENT.

Caelum turned immediately.

Aurelia realized too.

"No!"

Damon shouted.

"Observation! Original state of Reconstitution!"

The plate shone.

ORIGINAL FUNCTION: RESTORE DAMAGED STRUCTURES FROM EXISTING FOUNDATION.

"Original limitation!"

UNAUTHORIZED RECONSTRUCTION OF ENDED STRUCTURE.

Caelum lost color.

Damon slowly stood.

"Your body died."

Silence.

"Centuries ago."

Caelum looked toward the tower.

Damon continued.

"This wasn’t repair."

Aria finished.

"It was reconstruction of an ended structure."

Reconstitution pulsed.

Caelum advanced.

Chen Mo stepped into the way.

Caelum struck his chest.

Chen Mo was thrown backward.

Xue Mei ran toward him.

Damon picked up the sword.

"Dominion."

PRESENT.

"Conflict between Reconstitution’s original function and the objective of Central Authority."

Caelum roared.

"You do not have the right to define that!"

Damon looked at him.

"I’m not defining."

The plate shone.

"I’m asking."

Dominion responded.

CENTRAL OBJECTIVE ENDED.

Reconstitution froze.

The wound in Caelum’s abdomen stopped closing.

He looked at it.

For the first time...

Fear.

Small.

Real.

"No."

Damon breathed.

"Reconstitution."

The function answered.

PRESENT.

"Does Caelum’s current body possess a natural continuous foundation dating from before his death?"

Pause.

Caelum advanced.

Aurelia placed herself in front of the plate.

"Answer."

The message appeared.

NO.

Xue Lian closed her eyes.

Damon continued.

"Then he is not a repair."

Silence.

"He is a completed reconstruction under an artificial objective."

Reconstitution analyzed.

Caelum ran.

Ester threw every needle she still had.

Five hit.

Two broke.

Three entered.

Caelum lost speed.

Damon moved in front of him.

The fist hit his chest.

Ribs gave way.

He almost fell.

Did not.

The sword entered Caelum’s side.

They stood close.

Blood between them.

Caelum tightened his grip on Damon’s arm.

"You think this changes what I built?"

Damon was breathing badly.

"No."

"Then?"

"It stops you from continuing to build."

The plate erupted in light.

RECONSTITUTION: ARTIFICIAL OBJECTIVE REVOKED.

Caelum went still.

The wound remained open.

No regeneration.

Nothing.

Damon smiled.

"Now we finish this as men."

Caelum hit him.

Damon was thrown away.

He struck the ground and did not immediately get up.

Ester ran toward him.

"Stay down!"

"I am—"

"STAY DOWN!"

"Fine."

Caelum staggered.

But remained standing.

Xue Lian advanced.

He blocked her spear.

Xue Mei came with her.

Two directions.

Mother and daughter.

Caelum dodged the first.

Not the second.

Xue Mei’s blade cut his thigh.

Caelum turned violently.

Xue Lian took the impact on her shoulder and fell.

Xue Mei tried to return.

Caelum grabbed her throat.

Xue Lian froze.

Not from power.

From fear.

"Mei!"

Caelum tightened his grip.

Then stopped.

A needle protruded from his hand.

Ester was kneeling beside Damon, her arm still extended.

"Let go."

Caelum looked at her.

"No."

Aurelia smiled.

"Wrong word."

Xue Mei grabbed his wrist.

"I said..."

She rotated her body.

"...let go."

Her elbow struck the already weakened joint.

Caelum’s arm gave way.

She fell.

Xue Lian immediately pulled her back.

Chen Mo stood again.

Breathing hard.

Blood on his mouth.

Caelum saw him.

"You should be unconscious."

Chen Mo wiped the blood away.

"No."

Damon laughed from the ground.

"He’s very consistent."

Ester pushed his head back down.

"You shut up."

Caelum was surrounded.

Not by chosen ones.

Not by successors.

Not by bearers.

People.

Injured.

Tired.

Some barely able to continue.

But there.

Because they wanted to be.

Caelum looked around.

Perhaps for the first time he understood the difference.

"You believe choice makes you strong."

Xue Lian raised the spear.

"No."

Aurelia answered.

"Sometimes it makes everything harder."

Chen Mo took one step.

Ester drew another needle.

Xue Mei stood beside her mother.

Damon finally sat up.

"But at least the failure is ours."

Caelum looked at him.

Damon braced his dislocated shoulder against his knee.

Ester noticed.

"Don’t—"

He pulled.

A crack.

"SON OF A—"

Damon fell sideways.

Ester stared at him.

"You’re an animal."

"It worked."

"I’m going to kill you."

"Get in line."

Caelum started laughing.

Everyone stopped.

It was not the tired laugh from before.

Nor arrogant.

It was strange.

Almost relieved.

Damon looked at him.

"What?"

Caelum lowered his eyes to his blood-covered hands.

"I spent so long..."

Silence.

"...trying to build something that would continue after me."

Aurelia became serious.

"You could have just died."

Caelum smiled.

"I was afraid."

No one answered.

That was probably the first completely sincere thing he had said.

"Of what?" Xue Mei asked.

Caelum looked at her.

"Of disappearing."

Damon slowly stood.

"So you turned the entire world into an attempt to prove you were necessary."

Caelum did not deny it.

"If everything needed me..."

"You would never become irrelevant."

Silence.

The tower behind him began to crack.

No Central Authority.

No regional classification.

No Reconstitution sustaining the artificial objective.

Sector Zero was losing its functional reason to exist.

Caelum looked up.

For an instant, he looked like nothing more than a man standing before the ruins of what he had built.

Damon picked up the sword.

Caelum saw.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Would you prefer something else?"

Caelum smiled faintly.

"Refusal."

Damon stopped.

Aurelia looked at him.

Xue Lian too.

Caelum continued.

"You built everything around it."

Damon did not answer.

"Then ask me."

Silence.

Caelum opened his arms.

Blood ran from his fingers.

"Ask whether I want to die."

Damon stared at him.

Then sheathed his sword.

Caelum frowned.

"No."

Damon walked toward him.

"I’m not turning Refusal into a stupid excuse."

"Then your principle has limits."

"Of course."

Damon stopped a few steps away.

"Your choice governs your body."

Caelum became serious.

"Not the consequences of what you did to others."

Silence.

Aurelia closed her eyes.

Xue Lian only watched.

Damon drew the sword again.

"You chose to turn people into tools."

One step.

"You chose children."

Another.

"You chose my mother," Xue Lian said behind him.

Caelum did not look.

"You chose Aurelia."

Another.

"Liang Wei."

The sword rose.

"You chose all of it because you were afraid to die."

Caelum looked directly at Damon.

"Yes."

Damon did not hesitate.

The blade went through his chest.

Deep.

Caelum’s body arched.

Blood ran from his mouth.

Damon held the sword.

"Then die as the thing you were so afraid of being."

Caelum breathed one final time.

"Human."

Damon pulled the sword free.

Caelum fell.

No light left his body.

No consciousness escaped.

No pattern tried to flee.

Observation confirmed.

CENTRAL ACTIVITY: ENDED.

Aurelia remained still.

"Is it over?"

Aria looked at the plate.

Continuity.

Dark.

Selection.

Dark.

Adaptation.

White.

Dominion.

Open gold.

Transfer.

White.

Observation.

Active.

Reconstitution blinking slowly.

The other three circles...

Stopped.

They did not go dark.

They simply remained still.

The message appeared.

CENTRAL AUTHORITY ABSENT.

Another.

FUNCTIONS WITHOUT OBJECTIVE AWAITING DEFINITION.

Damon closed his eyes.

"No."

Aria looked over.

"No what?"

"We are not doing that now."

Ester started laughing.

"Finally."

Damon pointed at the plate.

"They wait."

Dominion responded.

CONFIRMED.

"No choosing bearers."

CONFIRMED.

"No executing old objectives."

Pause.

CONFIRMED.

"Good."

The tower trembled.

Xue Mei looked up.

"Maybe we should celebrate somewhere else."

The black sky was cracking.

For real this time.

Transfer lit up on its own.

SECTOR ZERO: STABILITY 41%.

Damon looked.

"That sounds like a lot."

Aria answered.

"Dropped to thirty-six."

"Less of a lot."

31%.

Ester grabbed Damon.

"Exit."

"Agreed."

She stopped.

"You agreed?"

"Don’t make it weird."

Transfer opened a passage.

Not immediately.

First it asked.

DESTINATION: MIRATH.

ACCEPT?

"Yes," Damon answered.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Yes."

Everyone began crossing.

Aurelia was second to last.

Before entering, she looked at Caelum.

The body remained where it had fallen.

Small before the tower.

She stayed there for several seconds.

Damon waited on the other side of the opening.

Aurelia finally turned.

"I spent centuries trapped because of him."

Damon answered.

"Then you don’t have any more time."

She looked at him.

"Time?"

"Yours."

Aurelia went still.

Then crossed.

Damon was last.

Before leaving, he looked at Sector Zero.

At the tower.

At the lines that had converged toward one man for centuries.

Now they were moving away.

Finding other paths.

He said nothing.

Crossed.

The passage closed.

Sector Zero vanished from the network’s relationship.

Not destroyed.

Not erased.

Ended.

When Damon returned to Mirath, he collapsed.

Literally.

One step.

Two.

Ester tried to catch him.

He was too heavy at that angle.

Both hit the floor.

Silence.

Damon stared at the ceiling.

Ester was partially on top of him.

"You could move."

"I’m considering whether it’s worth the effort."

"Are you comfortable?"

"Not especially."

"Then move."

"My arm is broken."

"Dislocated."

"Ribs."

"Probably three."

"Then I have justification."

Ester closed her eyes.

Xue Mei started laughing.

Xue Lian sat on the floor.

She laughed too.

Aria dropped into a chair.

"I need to write everything down."

"You need to sleep," Ester answered.

"Write first."

"Aria."

"Half."

"No."

"A quarter."

"No."

Damon looked at her.

"Negotiate fifteen minutes."

Ester slowly turned.

"Do you want to die after surviving Caelum?"

Damon thought.

"No."

"Good."

The door opened.

Jian Yue entered.

Saw everyone.

Stopped.

Damon raised one hand from the floor.

"We brought everyone back."

Jian Yue looked around.

Counted.

The tension left his shoulders.

"Yes."

Damon smiled.

"I said I’d try."

"And Caelum?"

Silence.

Xue Lian answered.

"Dead."

Jian Yue looked at the plate.

"The cores?"

Aria took a deep breath.

"Two destroyed. Three restored to their original functions. Observation independent. Reconstitution without artificial objective. Three awaiting definition and no Central Authority."

Jian Yue blinked.

"Short version?"

Damon answered from the floor.

"It’s over."

Silence.

The word felt strange in the room.

Over.

No one seemed to fully believe it.

Ester finally got off Damon.

"Don’t move."

"That’s becoming your greeting."

She began examining his ribs.

Damon looked at Xue Lian.

She was sitting beside her daughter.

No authority.

No central root.

No tomb.

No master.

Xue Mei whispered something near her ear.

Xue Lian smiled.

A small smile.

Normal.

Damon looked at Aurelia.

She stood in front of a window.

Mirath’s sky was beginning to brighten.

The woman who had spent centuries asleep to prevent Dominion from having an owner was now watching the sunrise.

Doing nothing.

Because she could.

Chen Mo had already found a wall and decided it was practically a bed.

Aria was trying to write in secret.

Ester saw.

"Aria."

The notebook vanished immediately.

"I wasn’t doing anything."

Damon laughed.

It hurt.

"Shit."

Ester pointed at him.

"Serves you right."

The door opened again.

Jian Li appeared.

Supported by Jian Yue.

Ester stood immediately.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

"I wanted to see."

"You saw. Go back."

Jian Li ignored her.

Her steps were slow.

Circulation weak.

Imperfect.

Hers.

She stopped in front of Damon.

"Is it over?"

Damon thought about the question.

"This conflict?"

"Yes."

"It’s over."

Jian Li smiled.

"Good."

"How are you?"

"Terrible."

"Same."

"But mine."

Damon went quiet.

Then smiled.

"Yes."

Outside, the sun rose over Mirath.

And throughout the network, something changed.

Not an order.

Not a message.

An absence.

For centuries, paths had carried functions built to serve dead wills.

Now...

Nothing told them what they should be.

Adaptation offered possibilities.

Transfer accepted paths.

Dominion coordinated without owning.

Observation recorded.

Reconstitution waited only for what still existed to be repaired.

And the functions still without definition remained silent.

Waiting.

Not for an owner.

For a reason.

Damon realized that while Ester finally forced him into a bed.

"Go to sleep."

"I slept yesterday."

"That is not an argument."

"It works with food."

"No."

"Bath?"

"No."

"Sex?"

Ester went still.

Damon realized his mistake.

"I’ll sleep."

"Good choice."

She turned off the light.

Damon closed his eyes.

For the first time since the false Seed had appeared on his arm...

There was no mark.

He ran his fingers over the skin.

Nothing.

No blue.

No gold.

No direction.

No candidate.

No vessel.

Only his arm.

Damon smiled in the dark.

"Finally."

And slept.

---

Three days later, Aria found one final message on the plate.

She did not call Damon immediately.

First she read it again.

Then once more.

Then she closed the notebook and went to the balcony where he was arguing with Ester about the acceptable amount of physical activity for someone with three broken ribs.

"Zero," Ester said.

"That isn’t an amount."

"It is exactly an amount."

Aria coughed.

Both looked over.

"I have something."

Damon sighed.

"Of course you do."

"It’s not urgent."

He stopped.

"Say that again."

"It’s not urgent."

Ester placed a hand on his forehead.

"Fever?"

"It’s not me."

Aria showed the plate.

One of the three still-unnamed circles had lit up.

Faintly.

No Central Authority.

No order.

Only a question.

FUNCTION UNDEFINED.

REQUEST DEFINITION?

Below were two options.

YES.

NO.

Damon stared.

Aria waited.

Ester too.

Then he pressed:

NO.

The plate accepted.

RECORDED.

The circle went dark again.

Aria raised an eyebrow.

"You don’t want to know what it was?"

Damon leaned back in the chair.

"One day."

"It might be important."

"Probably."

"It might change everything."

"Enough has changed already."

Ester smiled.

Aria remained quiet for several seconds.

Then closed the plate.

"Fair."

Damon looked at Mirath’s sky.

No door appeared.

No ancient entity called his name.

No system tried to classify him.

For now.

He smiled.

"Now..."

Ester immediately became suspicious.

"What?"

Damon closed his eyes.

"I would like to have one extremely boring week."

Aria laughed.

Ester crossed her arms.

"You just cursed all of us."

Damon opened one eye.

"Probably."

Very far away, in a region still disconnected from the restored network, a tree opened its eyes.

But that...

Was a problem for another volume.

End of Volume