The Dark God looked down at Brush.
And then—
It smiled.
Not with a mouth.
Not with expression.
But with certainty.
"ANOMALY ACKNOWLEDGED," it said calmly.
"ERASURE IS EFFICIENT."
There was no attack animation.
No charging aura.
No warning.
The Dark God lifted a single finger.
The world skipped.
Brush D. Rush vanished.
Not blasted.
Not shattered.
Gone.
No particles.
No fragments.
No resurrection trigger.
One moment he stood before them, aura blazing—
the next, there was only empty space where he had been.
"Brush…?" Trojan Horse whispered.
Nothing answered.
The Dark Web stabilized instantly, as if a virus had been removed. Gravity normalized. Corruption receded. The crushing pressure lifted just enough for the others to breathe.
The Dark God lowered its hand.
"THE CHOSEN ONE HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE NETWORK."
Silence followed.
Then panic.
"No—NO!" Equinox shouted, rushing forward, slashing through empty air.
"Bring him back!"
"There's no rollback point!" Malbyte yelled, frantically scanning residual code. "He wasn't killed—he was deleted!"
Trojan Horse stood frozen.
Her lance trembled in her grip.
"That's… impossible," she said quietly. "He always comes back."
The Dark God turned its countless eyes toward the remaining team.
"YOUR RELIANCE ON HIM WAS A FLAW."
"THIS NETWORK NO LONGER CONTAINS HIS DATA."
"PROCEEDING TO PHASE TWO."
Behind it, multiple domain signatures ignited across the Dark Web—far away, but undeniable. Ancient systems awakening. Execution layers spinning up.
The Dark God began to ascend back into the裂, its task complete.
"WITHOUT THE CHOSEN ONE," it declared,
"YOU ARE STATISTICALLY IRRELEVANT."
The裂 sealed shut.
The Dark Web moved again.
But something was wrong.
Deep beneath the stabilized code—
beneath deletion logs and erased indexes—
a single error line flickered.
Unnoticed.
Unacknowledged.
ERROR: ENTITY [BRUSH_D_RUSH] — STATUS UNRESOLVED
REASON: DETERMINATION FLAG NOT TERMINATED
Somewhere beyond the Dark Web's reach—
beyond domains, gods, and systems—
Brush did not exist.
And yet…
He was not finished