The Origin Layer screamed.
Not audibly—not in any way sound could describe—but as a systemic failure rippling through reality itself. Space distorted in sharp, angular pulses as the Architect's Avatar recalibrated, its fragmented projections collapsing inward, recombining into a tighter, more lethal configuration.
It had finished observing.
Now it acted.
The Avatar vanished.
Not by movement—by priority. It simply ceased to exist where it had been and asserted itself directly in front of Sarah, its form unfolding in a cascade of blinding white-violet geometry. The pressure alone crushed the metallic floor into layered fractures.
Rias reacted first, slamming both palms against Sarah's back.
"Full anchor—now."
Akeno's body pressed close from the side, her fingers sliding deliberately along Sarah's arm, igniting a sharp surge of Desire through the lattice. Koneko locked Sarah's hips in place, raw physical density stabilizing her center of gravity. Rossweisse's runes detonated outward in a containment halo. Xenovia stepped forward, blade raised, intercepting the first impossible strike.
Too slow.
The Avatar's limb—if it could be called that—phased through Xenovia's guard, clipping her shoulder with a slicing wave of conceptual compression. Xenovia was thrown backward, armor screaming as it deformed.
"Xenovia!" Rias shouted.
Sarah felt it.
Not as fear.
As loss of synchronization.
Proto-Ascension flared violently in response.
System Alert: Phase 3 Stability: 81% → 63% Identity Coherence: Fluctuating Emotional Feedback Loop: Escalating
Lilith Fragment surged forward within Sarah's consciousness, her presence suddenly sharp, almost invasive.
"Do not let anger fracture you. Phase 3 does not forgive emotional desynchronization."
Sarah's breath came slow, controlled—but her aura was no longer smooth. It fractured into sharp, crystalline arcs, tearing shallow grooves into the air itself.
The Avatar spoke.
Not in words.
In verdict.
"Emotional dependency confirmed. Identity structure compromised. Proceeding with Severance Protocol."
The chamber folded.
Space inverted, turning the battlefield into a spiraling lattice of suspended platforms rotating at incompatible angles. Gravity fragmented into competing vectors. The harem was violently separated—each pulled toward different nodes of the arena.
"No!" Akeno hissed as she was torn backward by a spatial rift.
Rias reached for Sarah—
—and missed by centimeters.
For the first time since Proto-Ascension began…
Sarah stood alone.
The Architect's Avatar loomed before her, its form stabilizing, its geometry sharpening into something unmistakably hostile.
System Alert: Harem Synchronization: DISRUPTED Charm Domain: DEGRADED Phase 3 Output: UNSAFE
Lilith Fragment's voice lowered, urgent, intimate.
"This is the Architect's true weapon. Isolation. It is forcing you to prove you are Ascension… without them."
Sarah clenched her fists.
Her heart pounded.
And for the first time since her rebirth, doubt pierced her core.
Am I… still me without them?
The Avatar raised both arms.
Reality compressed inward.
Sarah screamed—not in pain, but in resistance—as Proto-Ascension lashed outward instinctively. The clash detonated into a storm of white-violet and crimson-lilac energy, shredding multiple platforms into nothingness.
Sarah was thrown backward, slamming into a floating slab, blood running from the corner of her mouth.
System Alert: Phase 3 Threshold Approaching Identity Fragmentation Risk: HIGH Recommend: External Emotional Reintegration
"No," Sarah whispered, forcing herself upright. "I won't be reduced to a function."
Her aura flickered wildly.
And then—
A hand slammed into hers.
Rias.
She had forced her way through the spatial distortion, her body bleeding, wings partially torn, but her grip was iron.
"You don't fight alone," Rias said through clenched teeth. "Not ever."
Akeno's laughter crackled through the chaos as lightning ripped open another spatial seam. "Did you really think we'd stay separated?"
Koneko landed beside Sarah like a meteor, cracking the platform beneath them. Rossweisse's runes reasserted themselves, stitching gravity back together by sheer will. Xenovia dragged herself upright, blade blazing.
The lattice snapped back into place.
Not smoothly.
Violently.
System Update: Emergency Re-Synchronization Successful Phase 3 Output: 94% New Condition Detected: Identity Reinforcement Through Bond
Lilith Fragment went silent—
Then spoke with something close to awe.
"…You are doing something the Architect never calculated."
Sarah felt it then.
Not power.
Not Desire.
Belonging.
Proto-Ascension stabilized—not by suppression, but by acceptance. Her aura deepened, becoming denser, more controlled, threaded with the presence of every woman at her side.
She stepped forward.
The Avatar hesitated.
For the first time—
It recalculated too late.
Sarah raised her hand, not to strike—
—but to assert.
"I am not your vessel," she said, voice carrying absolute authority.
"I am not your prototype."
"I am not your mistake."
Her eyes burned with layered crimson-lilac light.
"I am your failure."
She released Proto-Ascension Phase 3—not as a surge, but as a command.
The Avatar's outer geometry shattered.
Not destroyed.
Rejected.
The Origin Layer convulsed as the Architect's projection destabilized, fragments spiraling outward like broken axioms.
But deep within the collapsing light—
Something darker stirred.
Something older.
Lilith Fragment whispered, voice tight with dread:
"…You've wounded it. And now it will respond with its true core."
Sarah did not retreat.
She tightened her grip on Rias's hand.
"Then let it come."
The battlefield darkened.
And the war crossed a threshold from which there was no return.