"And you chose."

"I chose to burn every bridge. Absorb everything she'd taught me in three days and turn it against her." Victoria's smile was savage. "The look on her face when I attacked. When she realized I'd been learning specifically to kill her. That was worth everything."

"Did you hurt her? Really hurt her?"

"Yes. First blood from that rank of entity in a century." Victoria's smile faded. "But it cost me. Look."

She pulled her collar aside. A scar ran from her collarbone to her shoulder, it was back and not like a normal wound. Like corruption given physical form.

"That's League magic. It's eating at me slowly and I have maybe five years before it consumes me entirely."

I stared. "Five years?"

"At most. Could be three, could even be one." She covered it again. "The price of absorbing League techniques and the price of fighting at above my rank when my body was not meant for that. The price of betrayal."

"Victoria....."

"Don't." Her voice was hard. "I made my choice and I'd make it again. Five years fighting at SSS-rank is worth more than fifty years living as SS-rank knowing I could have done more."

Silence stretched between us.

"The resistance doesn't know," I said finally with a tone of finality.

"No one knows except The Huntress, and now you." She met my eyes. "I'm telling you because you're leading the real fight. Because you need to know what I am and what I'm not."

"What are you?"

"A weapon with an expiration date, point me at the Council and point me at the League, point me at anything that needs to die, and I'll kill it." Her voice was cold. "But don't expect me to plan long-term. Don't expect me to build relationships. Don't expect me to be careful with my life. I'm already dead. I'm just making it count."

"That's bleak."

"That's realistic." She stood. "I'm telling you this for another reason. The technique I used against The Huntress. The one that wounded her. I can teach it."

"To who?"

"To you. To Adrian. To anyone strong enough to survive the learning process." She pulled a scroll from her coat. "It's called Fate's Severance. The technique that cuts through destiny itself. The Huntress taught it to me thinking I'd use it for the League against the Council. Instead, I'm giving it to you."

She placed the scroll on my bedside table.

"Learning it is dangerous. One in three die during the process. Another one in three survive but crippled. Only one in three successfully masters it."

"And you want me to try?"

"I want you to have the option. Because if the Council comes, when the Council comes, you'll need every advantage." She moved to the door. "Rest, heal. Read the scroll when you're ready. Or burn it if you're smart."

"Victoria."

She paused.

"Thank you for the warning and for the technique, for saving eight thousand people." I met her eyes. "And I'm sorry. About the five years."

"Don't be sorry. Be ready." She opened the door. "The League is regrouping. The Council is watching. And we're all caught in the middle. Five years, ten years, fifty years—doesn't matter if we lose. So let's not lose."

She left.

I stared at the scroll. Black leather. Sealed with crimson wax. The symbol pressed into it looked like a scythe cutting through chains.

Fate's Severance. A technique that could cut destiny itself. And a one in three chance of death learning it. I set it aside. Something to consider when I wasn't recovering from broken ribs.

The system chimed.

[VICTORIA'S TRUTH REVEALED]

[STATUS UPDATE: Victoria Steelheart]

- Rank: SSS (gained through League training)

- Corruption: Terminal (5 years maximum)

- Loyalty: 85% (cause-driven, not personal)

- Classification: "Weapon with expiration date"

[FATE'S SEVERANCE TECHNIQUE OBTAINED]

[WARNING: Learning this technique is extremely dangerous]

- Death Rate: 33%

- Crippling Rate: 33%

- Success Rate: 33%

- Effect: Cut through fate threads, destiny bonds, Council manipulation

- Requirement: S+ rank minimum, exceptional willpower

[RECOMMENDATION: Study thoroughly before attempting]

[VICTORIA'S REMAINING TIME: 5 years (estimated)]

[Use her wisely]

Five years.

Victoria had bought her power with her life.

And now she was offering to teach me the same technique.

I looked at the scroll again. Wondered if I was brave enough to try.

Wondered if I was foolish enough to refuse.

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

The next morning, I had visitors.

My entire team showed up at once. Lucille with her arm still in a sling. Seraphina in her wheelchair. Ravenna walking but moving carefully, conserving mana. Marcus looking tired but healthy. Damian as composed as ever.

"Intervention?" I asked.

"Team meeting," Seraphina corrected. She wheeled herself closer. "We need to talk about what happens next."

"I'm still recovering....."

"We all are. That's not what I mean." She looked at the others. "We need to talk about the team and about the faction, whether we're still doing this."

Silence followed.

"Of course we're still doing this," I said finally.

"Are we?" Ravenna's voice was quiet. "Felix is dead. I'm permanently weakened. Seraphina is crippled for a month. You're broken. Two hundred and thirty-seven people are dead because of a fight we started."

"We didn't start....."

"We chose to resist. We chose to fight the cycles. We chose to challenge the Council." Ravenna's eyes were haunted. "And people died for our choices. That's on us."

"It's on the League," Lucille said firmly. "They attacked and they killed, its not us."

"But we gave them reason to." Ravenna looked at her hands. "If we'd just... played our roles. Been the villain that dies to the hero. Let the cycle continue. Would those two hundred and thirty-seven people still be alive?"

The question hung heavy.

"Yes," Damian said quietly. Everyone turned to him. "Those specific people would be alive but the cycle would continue and more heroes would be sacrificed to the Council's narrative. More villains would die as stepping stones, more people would live scripted lives never knowing they had a choice."

"Is that worth two hundred and thirty-seven lives?" Ravenna asked.

"I don't know," Damian admitted. "But I know Young Master believes it is. And I trust his judgment."

"Do you?" Ravenna looked at me. "Hadeon. Tell us honestly. Is breaking the cycle worth this cost?"

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