Second: Casmir yanked Thalia by the collar as she dove for the open breach, yelling for the other Transcendents to stop at the top of his voice.

Third: Deacon charged straight at Yara — or more specifically, at Ailin, who was strapped to her back.

Finn's mind processed everything as if in slow motion, his senses heightened to the maximum. But even at that, he was utterly confused by the development, trying to make sense of what everyone chose to do and why.

Barely a split second had passed, but Finn knew he needed to make a move. He had three options: stay with the others and see why Casmir had halted the Transcendents, charge for the breach right behind the two Gods, or make Deacon's charge at Ailin his priority despite not knowing the Truth Bearer's reason for doing so.

Finn was confused.

But time was ticking.

His body moved before he finished deliberating. He headed toward Deacon, activating Frame Skip to get ahead of the Truth Bearer.

For no reason besides pure gut feeling and instinct, he felt something was off with Deacon's charge at Ailin. That made the least sense of all three things that happened in that split second.

So Finn charged with everything in him, intent on reaching the confused, wide-eyed Yara before Deacon did.

Another half second passed, and Deacon, using his Truth manipulation, had shortened the truth of the distance between him and Yara significantly. But Finn arrived right in step with him.

A loud boom resounded from somewhere behind him as something seemed to be happening near the breach with the Gods and the Transcendents, but Finn paid it no mind, focused solely on Deacon as his lips parted to speak a Truth.

[Corrupt Input!]

Finn spoke first, scrambling the target of Deacon's words.

"Truth Declaration: The world rejects you."

Immediately, the space in front of Deacon twisted and squeezed at a subatomic level that rapidly expanded to the macro scale.

Instead of Ailin, who had been the target, Finn's corrupt input scrambling effect made Yara the new target.

Instantly, her body shifted and twisted as an intense wave of rejection spread from her position. The world itself was denying her existence before Finn's eyes. She folded and twisted like a singularity, a mass collapsing in on itself until it was sucked into nothingness.

Yara disappeared in an instant, utter confusion, fear, and unwillingness never leaving her eyes the entire time.

All Finn could hear was static.

What's happening?

The wrongness of it crashed over him like a physical blow. Yara… the stalwart, unbreakable Yara, whose Resilience had plowed through templars like paper, who had protected Ailin through everything, was unmade so simply… by a declaration that had been meant for Ailin.

Finn saw Deacon open his mouth to speak again, seeing as he'd failed and Ailin's body was falling to the ground, lacking the support of Yara who had carried her.

His body reacted on instinct, dashing to save Ailin from the second attack.

But Deacon's target was not Ailin alone.

"Truth: Movement is prohibited here."

Space locked down tightly, frozen solid down to the most minute molecule.

Yet Finn moved regardless — no, he didn't move. Movement required traversing space. Finn didn't move through space. He simply glitched.

In one continuous motion — something he'd never tried before — he frame skipped along Ailin's path as she remained suspended in the air, frozen still by Deacon's Truth declaration. He bypassed the laws of the frozen space entirely. Not only that, but he grabbed Ailin's form along the way and brought her into a glitch state like he was, treating her as an extension of his own Error-touched existence.

With her in his arms, he arrived out of reach of the frozen space unharmed, then calmly turned and stared at Deacon.

But Deacon was no longer where he stood.

The Truth Bearer was heading straight for the breach without looking back, as if he hadn't just attempted to kill Ailin and murdered Yara on the spot.

Finn was lost for words. His brain struggled to process what was happening at all. The numbness he'd felt in his hollow years at the academy threatened to return, that cold analytical state where people became variables in equations and emotions became irrelevant data.

But he pushed back on that and tried to understand, tried to come up with a logical explanation for the motive behind what was happening.

From where he stood, he could take in the whole view more clearly.

On the side of the Gods, Thalassa — the Storm Goddess — had just entered the breach to their world, and Nocturne, the Shadow God, was right behind her, already halfway through.

But that didn't seem to bother the other Transcendents. Thalia and Osric were fighting for their lives, overwhelmed by a barrage of attacks from Casmir and Himothy. These were attacks meant to kill, or at least stall, as Deacon drew closer.

Thalia looked thoroughly incensed and betrayed, trading blow for blow with Himothy as Casmir focused on Osric.

The disparity was obvious. Osric never stood a chance.

Needless to say, the fight on Casmir's side was over within seconds. Osric had immediately tried to flee, understanding the vast gap between his meager power and Casmir's. But it was futile. The Space Bearer ended him with a single deadly strike, shredding not just Osric but the entire area he occupied with an area-of-effect spatial attack.

Blood and viscera scattered across molten stone. Another Transcendent dead. Another companion erased.

First Yara. Now Osric. Two dead in seconds.

"She didn't agree!" Casmir turned in one quick motion and yelled to Deacon, who had arrived at their position.

"I told you not to bother. She never would!" Deacon hissed in response before focusing on Thalia, the subject of their talk.

Agree to what? Finn's mind raced. What are they talking about? What happened that I'm not seeing?

Deacon opened his mouth to make another declaration. But suddenly—

"Careful!" Casmir grabbed Deacon and warped a short distance away, saving the Truth bearer from a deadly blow that would have ended him right there.

Deacon stared back briefly at where he'd been standing. Finn was there, swiping down with a hand coated with his Invalidation spell. He swiped nothing but air, yet even the air ceased to exist for a brief moment, creating a pure black, perfect vacuum devoid of all matter before the surrounding elements rushed in to occupy the space.

The attack would have torn Deacon apart at a fundamental level. Would have invalidated his existence the same way his Truth had erased Yara.

"He's growing even stronger! Do it now!" Casmir screamed with fear in his eyes as they locked with Finn's, whose eyes glowed bright green through his mask.

A cold sweat ran down Deacon's neck, but he turned his focus on Thalia, whom Himothy bombarded like a mad bull, occupying her attention as if to keep her from doing something. She seemed about to speak, to yell out, but Himothy was so devilishly intent on preventing that.

The might with which he attacked clearly suggested that his diminished Glory from before was purely a ruse. He still had plenty left in him. Had been hiding his strength, conserving it for this exact moment.

They planned this, Finn realized with crystalline clarity. From the beginning. The exhaustion, the teamwork, the trust, maybe even the Gods? All of it was a performance!

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