Oscar Steve's consciousness reassembled slowly, pulling itself back from the scattered fragments that dimensional ejection had created. He existed in space that didn't correspond to any reality he recognized—strange geometries, inverted causality, physical laws that operated backwards from normal existence. The dimension Haroon had blasted him into was profoundly wrong in ways that made coherent thought difficult.
But Oscar was determined. Persistent. Three hundred years of pursuing single goal had taught him patience and resilience beyond what most omnipotent beings possessed. He would recover. Would adapt. Would find way back to pursue his purpose.
Memory returned in fragments. The confrontation in Fold Fragments. His attempt to convince Haroon to help free the sealed beings. The rejection. The attack. His own blast absorbed and reflected back with casual precision that demonstrated power differential Oscar hadn't fully comprehended until experiencing it directly.
Haroon had defeated him. Effortlessly. Completely. Had absorbed Oscar's greatest attack and sent it back amplified, ejecting him into distant dimension like discarding inconvenient trash.
Fury ignited in Oscar's manifestation. Not the hot anger of immediate reaction but cold rage that burned with intensity exceeding any physical fire. Haroon had betrayed their purpose. Had allied with the Controllers who'd imprisoned Oscar's friends. Had chosen protection over righteous destruction.
And he'd done it while being impossibly powerful. Above omnipotent. Reality-authoring capability that made Oscar's omnipotent strength seem inadequate.
That power differential needed correction.
Oscar pulled himself fully coherent, his white suit stabilizing as he established control over his manifestation despite the strange dimension's hostile properties. He could feel the dimensional barriers around him, layers of reality stacked in configurations that shouldn't exist. This dimension was unstable. Fragmenting. Perfect for what Oscar needed to do.
He extended his awareness, feeling the structure of this reality and the thirty-three dimensions adjacent to it. All of them were damaged. Degrading. Existence fragmenting into probability states that couldn't maintain coherence. These dimensions were dying naturally—would collapse within a few millennia even without intervention.
Oscar decided to accelerate that process.
He raised both hands, manifestating absorption protocols that exceeded anything he'd attempted before. Not just pulling energy from single source. Not just draining individual beings. Full dimensional absorption. Taking entire layers of reality and integrating them into his own power base.
The dimension he occupied began screaming. Not metaphorically—actual sound as space-time itself protested being consumed. Reality fractured around Oscar as he pulled it into himself, absorbed its fundamental structure, converted existence into raw capability that flowed into his white suit.
One dimension absorbed. Then another. Then five more. Oscar moved between dimensional layers like predator hunting prey, finding realities too damaged to resist and consuming them wholesale. Each absorption increased his power exponentially. Each dimension added to his capability brought him closer to the level he needed to match Haroon.
Thirty-four dimensions. That's how many Oscar found and consumed before the absorption process reached saturation. Thirty-four entire layers of reality, each containing infinite space and countless probability states, all integrated into single omnipotent being's power base.
Oscar felt the enhancement coursing through his manifestation. Felt his capability expanding beyond anything he'd possessed before. He was still omnipotent—hadn't crossed into above-omnipotent territory—but he'd pushed himself to absolute peak of what omnipotence could achieve. Maximum power within the category. Ceiling of capability before transcending into something fundamentally different.
It would have to be enough.
Oscar located the dimensional coordinates for the allied Controllers' foundation. Intelligence he'd gathered before confronting Haroon. He'd avoided attacking it directly because thirty-two omnipotent beings coordinating defense represented significant threat even to someone of Oscar's previous capability.
But now? Enhanced by thirty-four absorbed dimensions? Oscar felt confident he could handle them. Eliminate the Controllers. Remove the protection they provided to existence. Create conditions where destroying everything became possible.
He transited, moving between dimensions with enhanced capability that made the journey instantaneous despite vast distance. Emerged in normal space at coordinates that should have revealed the foundation's location.
The base materialized as Oscar bypassed its concealment protocols through brute-force reality manipulation. Large facility. Defensive barriers strong enough to resist sustained omnipotent assault. Thirty-two power signatures inside, each representing Controller going about routine operations.
Oscar didn't hesitate. Didn't announce himself. Didn't provide warning or opportunity for defensive preparation. Just attacked with everything his enhanced capability could manifest.
The foundation's outer barriers shattered instantly. Defensive systems that should have held against omnipotent assault for hours collapsed in seconds. Oscar's enhanced power tore through protections like they weren't there, reality itself bending to accommodate his overwhelming force.
Inside the foundation, alarms shrieked warnings that came too late to matter.
Commander Sarah was in the central command chamber when the breach occurred, reviewing tactical reports from the ongoing Dissolution Compact crisis. The sudden catastrophic defensive failure made her snap to full combat alertness, power manifesting around her as she prepared to respond to whatever had just torn through their most secure facility.
"All personnel, combat stations!" Sarah's voice carried across every level through reality manipulation rather than communication systems. "We have hostile breach! Unknown attacker with—"
She stopped mid-sentence as Oscar manifested in the command chamber, his white suit pulsing with power that registered on scales that made Sarah's combat assessment protocols scream warnings.
"He's almost like Haroon," Sarah said quietly, horror creeping into her voice. "But different."
Oscar looked at the thirty-two Controllers who were rapidly assembling defensive formations around the central chamber. Looked at beings who'd sealed his friends three hundred years ago. Looked at obstacles preventing him from pursuing righteous destruction of flawed existence.
"You imprisoned them," Oscar said, his voice resonating with the power of thirty-four absorbed dimensions. "Sealed beings who pursued noble purpose. Kept them trapped for three centuries while you maintained this prison of causality. That ends today."
"Defensive formation!" Sarah ordered, though she could already calculate the engagement mathematics. The power Oscar was manifesting exceeded anything the allied Controllers had faced before. This wasn't Dissolution Compact operative. This was something else entirely. "All combat-capable personnel, coordinate assault on—"
Oscar attacked.
Reality shredded. Time fractured. Space compressed and expanded simultaneously. Oscar deployed capabilities enhanced by thirty-four dimensions worth of absorbed power, attacking with precision that targeted multiple Controllers simultaneously.
The allied Controllers fought back. Thirty-two omnipotent beings coordinating defense, using tactics they'd refined over centuries of operations. Reality manipulation. Probability collapse. Existence compression. Every technique they'd mastered deployed against single attacker who should have been overwhelmed by their numbers.
It wasn't enough.
Oscar was too fast. Too powerful. Too enhanced by the dimensional absorption. He moved through their defensive formations like they were stationary targets, striking with force that overwhelmed individual shields and shattered coordinated barriers.
Bradley Proctor tried to use probability manipulation to force Oscar into losing timeline. The technique failed. Oscar existed in too many timeline states simultaneously, his enhanced power allowing him to occupy probability matrices that Brad couldn't access.
Ramuel attempted reality-surgery, trying to sever Oscar's connection to his power source. The connection was too strong. Too deeply integrated. Ramuel's precision wasn't sufficient to cut through enhancement built from thirty-four absorbed dimensions.
Commander Sarah coordinated tactical responses, trying to identify patterns in Oscar's assault that could be exploited. Found none. Oscar wasn't following conventional combat patterns. Wasn't creating predictable sequences. Just overwhelming force applied with devastating effectiveness.
Three minutes into the engagement, seventeen Controllers were dead.
Not unconscious. Not incapacitated. Dead. Their manifestations shattered beyond recovery. Their consciousness dispersed across probability states that couldn't be reassembled. Permanent termination that even Controllers' inherent resilience couldn't survive.
Sarah saw her people dying and made desperate decision. "Full retreat! Everyone, emergency transit protocols! We can't—"
Oscar raised both hands and activated absorption.
Not the targeted precision Haroon used. Brutal vacuum that pulled everything toward him indiscriminately. Reality itself began flowing into Oscar's white suit, dragged by force that the remaining Controllers couldn't resist.
Fifteen Controllers were caught in the absorption field. They tried to flee. Tried to sever the connection. Tried to resist the pull through every defensive technique they'd mastered.
None of it worked.
One by one, the fifteen were consumed. Not killed like the previous seventeen. Absorbed. Their power, their capabilities, their very essence pulled into Oscar's white suit and integrated into his enhanced manifestation. And worst of all—their souls. The fundamental consciousness that defined them as individuals, pulled from their bodies and trapped within Oscar's power base.
Sarah felt herself being drawn toward the absorption field. Felt her manifestation beginning to destabilize as Oscar's vacuum tore at her coherence. She was going to die. They were all going to die. The entire allied Controllers organization, eliminated by single enhanced omnipotent being they'd had no intelligence about.
The absorption completed. Fifteen Controllers consumed. Their souls trapped within Oscar's white suit, adding their power to his already catastrophic enhancement.
Oscar released the absorption field and surveyed the command chamber. Thirty-two Controllers. All eliminated. Seventeen killed through direct combat. Fifteen absorbed into his power base. The foundation was silent now except for failing systems and damaged infrastructure.
"Finally," Oscar said, his white suit pulsing with power from the absorbed souls. "The obstacles are removed. Now nothing prevents me from destroying existence and freeing my imprisoned friends."
He laughed. Victory laugh that resonated across dimensional barriers. Three hundred years of planning. Three hundred years of pursuing single goal. And now, finally, the beings who'd prevented that goal were eliminated.
"Yes!" Oscar's voice carried triumph. "Now that the Controllers are dead, I can destroy the universe!"
"Wow."
The voice came from behind Oscar. Calm. Unbothered. Carrying tone that suggested mild interest rather than concern or anger.
Oscar spun around and found Haroon Dwelight standing in the command chamber's entrance, still wearing his cyan suit, apparently just arrived. How long had he been there? Had he witnessed the massacre? The absorption?
"You're a hardworking person, huh?" Haroon continued, his voice maintaining that same gentle quality he'd used during their previous confrontation. "Never give up trying to free them. That's admirable in certain contexts."
Oscar stared at him, confusion cutting through victory euphoria. Why was Haroon saying something so... casual? So nonsensical given the situation? Thirty-two Controllers lay dead or absorbed around them. The foundation was destroyed. Oscar had just achieved decisive victory that cleared path toward his ultimate goal.
And Haroon was commenting on his work ethic like they were discussing maintenance schedules?
"What are you—" Oscar started.
Haroon raised his right hand forward, palm facing Oscar.
Oscar felt it immediately. The pull. The same absorption technique he'd just used on the Controllers, now deployed against him with precision that made Oscar's brutal vacuum seem crude by comparison.
"No!" Oscar tried to resist, tried to sever the connection, tried to flee. His enhanced power—thirty-four absorbed dimensions, fifteen absorbed Controllers—all of it began flowing out of him. Pulled into Haroon's manifestation with inexorable force that Oscar couldn't fight despite his catastrophic enhancement.
"Nooo! No! I won't let you!" Oscar screamed, struggling against absorption that was stripping away everything he'd gained. The dimensional power he'd accumulated. The Controllers' capabilities he'd stolen. Even the souls he'd trapped within his white suit—all of it flowing toward Haroon's raised hand.
The absorption accelerated. Oscar felt his power depleting rapidly, his enhancement being systematically removed and integrated into whatever Haroon actually was beneath the cyan suit. He'd worked so hard. Had absorbed thirty-four entire dimensions. Had eliminated the allied Controllers. Had achieved position where destroying existence seemed finally possible.
And now it was all being taken away by being who viewed Oscar's greatest efforts as minor inconvenience.
The absorption completed.
Oscar collapsed, his white suit flickering with instability as his power level dropped catastrophically. Everything he'd gained was gone. The dimensional absorption. The Controllers' capabilities. The trapped souls. All of it pulled into Haroon's manifestation and vanishing into The Absolute Void's endless capacity.
Haroon lowered his hand slowly. He could feel the enhancement integrating. Could sense The Absolute Void expanding beyond its previous limits. Thirty-four dimensions worth of power. Fifteen Controllers' capabilities. Souls that needed returning to their proper owners. Massive increase in capability that pushed him further beyond the boundaries of conventional classification.
And something else. Something triggered by the souls Oscar had absorbed. The Absolute Void reacted to their presence, to the wrongness of consciousness being trapped within hostile entity. Power surged through Haroon's manifestation with intensity that exceeded anything he'd experienced before.
His helmet's front panel shifted. The cyan material that had always been consistent, always stable, transformed. Red star materialized where his visor should be. Five-pointed star glowing with luminescence that suggested power operating beyond normal parameters.
Oscar felt himself lifted off the ground. Not by his own will. By external force controlling his manifestation. He tried to resist and found his body completely unresponsive. Was being moved like puppet, controlled remotely by presence he couldn't resist.
The red star on Haroon's helmet pulsed. Oscar flew backward, thrown through the air by invisible force, landing approximately twenty meters away from where he'd been standing. The impact was controlled. Precise. Not designed to cause damage but to establish distance.
Then the red star faded. Reverted to the helmet's normal black appearance. The remote control ceased. Oscar's body became his own again, though he was too weakened to move effectively.
Haroon turned away from Oscar without another glance. Walked toward the fallen Controllers, the thirty-two beings who lay scattered across the command chamber. Some were clearly dead—manifestations shattered, consciousness dispersed. Others showed signs of absorption—bodies intact but empty of the souls that should animate them.
Haroon stood among them and looked down at the devastation Oscar had wrought.
Then he began the reversal.
The souls that Oscar had absorbed—the fifteen consciousnesses trapped in hostile containment—flowed back out of The Absolute Void. Not returned to Oscar. Returned to their proper owners. Haroon directed each soul to its correct body with precision that suggested he could perceive individual consciousness as clearly as humans saw physical objects.
The fifteen absorbed Controllers began glowing. Their empty bodies accepting returned souls, manifestations restabilizing, coherence reforming. They were being restored. Brought back from absorption that should have been permanent.
But Haroon didn't stop there. The seventeen who'd been killed—whose manifestations had been shattered beyond normal recovery—those were more complicated. Their consciousness had been dispersed across probability states. Their existence had been terminated in ways that even Controllers' resilience couldn't naturally survive.
Haroon reached into probability itself. Identified the scattered fragments of consciousness. Pulled them back from dissolution. Rewove them into coherent patterns. Restored manifestations that had been destroyed. Brought back beings who should have been permanently eliminated.
All thirty-two Controllers began glowing. Their bodies reforming. Their consciousness returning. Their existence being authored back into reality by someone with capability to reverse even permanent death.
Commander Sarah's eyes opened first. She gasped, pulling air into lungs that had stopped functioning. Looked around confused, trying to understand what had happened. Last thing she remembered was Oscar's absorption field pulling her in, her manifestation destabilizing, consciousness beginning to scatter.
Now she was alive. Intact. Surrounded by the other Controllers who were similarly waking up, similarly confused, all of them processing impossible resurrection.
"What happened?" Sarah managed to ask, her voice weak but functional.
Haroon stood among them, his cyan suit showing no indication of the massive power he'd just deployed. "Oscar Steve attacked the foundation. Eliminated all thirty-two of you. I arrived too late to prevent the assault. But not too late to reverse its effects."
Bradley Proctor pulled himself upright, checking his manifestation integrity. Everything was intact. Better than intact. He felt completely restored, like the fatal damage he'd sustained had never occurred. "You brought us back. From death. From absorption. You just... reversed it."
"Correct." Haroon's tone suggested this was routine operation rather than reality-defying miracle. "Oscar had absorbed your souls along with your capabilities. That absorption provided anchor points for restoration. I extracted the souls from his power base and returned them to proper owners. The seventeen who were killed rather than absorbed required more complex reconstruction, but the process was still feasible."
Ramuel was staring at Haroon with expression combining awe and something approaching fear. "You can resurrect the dead. You can reverse permanent termination. That's not just above omnipotent. That's... I don't even know what category that is."
"Authorial capability," Haroon answered simply. "Reality manipulation at level where death becomes suggestion rather than absolute. Oscar's attack was severe but reversible given sufficient power application."
The thirty-two Controllers slowly pulled themselves together, processing both their unexpected deaths and their impossible resurrections. Around them, the foundation showed extensive damage from Oscar's assault. Systems failing. Infrastructure compromised. But the people—the consciousness and essence that mattered—all of them had been restored.
Oscar lay twenty meters away, his white suit flickering with instability, his power depleted catastrophically. He could hear everything. Could understand that his devastating victory had been completely reversed. The Controllers he'd eliminated were alive again. The souls he'd absorbed had been returned. The power he'd accumulated had been taken.
Haroon walked toward him with same unhurried pace he used for everything. Stopped a few meters away and looked down at Oscar's weakened manifestation.
"Your effort was just wasted," Haroon said, voice carrying neither anger nor satisfaction. Just factual observation. "You absorbed thirty-four dimensions. Eliminated thirty-two Controllers. Accumulated catastrophic power. And now all of it has been reversed. They're alive. Your enhancement is gone. You're weaker than when you started."
Oscar felt fury ignite despite his weakened state. Everything. He'd achieved everything necessary to pursue his goal. Had eliminated the obstacles. Had gained the power. Had positioned himself perfectly to destroy existence and free his imprisoned friends.
And Haroon had undone all of it. Casually. Effortlessly. Like Oscar's greatest achievements were minor setbacks requiring correction.
"I won't forgive this," Oscar managed to say, his voice weak but carrying absolute conviction. "I'll find another way. Will pursue my purpose regardless of your interference. My friends deserve freedom. Deserve release from their prison. And I'll achieve that no matter how many times you reverse my progress."
"You're welcome to try," Haroon said, his tone suggesting he found Oscar's determination somewhat tiresome. "But understand that I'll continue reversing your attempts. Will continue protecting existence despite your opposition. This isn't personal conflict. This is functional opposition. You want to destroy. I maintain. Those purposes are incompatible."
Oscar pulled himself upright despite his weakened state. Managed to stand, though his manifestation was barely coherent. His white suit flickered with instability that suggested he was close to losing structural integrity entirely.
But he could still flee. Could still retreat. Could still survive to pursue his purpose another day.
Oscar activated emergency transit protocols, pulling himself out of normal space despite his depleted power reserves. The departure was messy. Uncontrolled. But effective. He vanished from the foundation, fleeing at maximum speed his weakened manifestation could achieve.
Gone. Defeated. But alive and determined to continue opposition despite comprehensive loss.
Haroon watched him leave without attempting pursuit. Oscar wasn't immediate threat in his current weakened state. Would require extensive recovery time before he could attempt another assault. That gave Haroon time to prepare. Time to enhance defensive protocols. Time to ensure future attacks would be detected and countered before causing casualties.
Commander Sarah approached Haroon, her manifestation still showing signs of recent reconstruction but functional. "Thank you. For bringing us back. We'd be permanently dead if you hadn't reversed Oscar's attack."
"Your deaths would have been problematic," Haroon acknowledged. "The allied Controllers serve necessary function. Losing that function would have created operational complications. Reversal was logical response."
Sarah smiled slightly despite the trauma of recent death. That was Haroon. Even performing miracles like resurrecting the dead, he framed it as operational necessity rather than heroic action. "Still. Thank you. For considering our function worth preserving."
The other Controllers were pulling themselves together, beginning damage assessment and coordinating foundation repairs. The facility was extensively damaged but repairable. The personnel were alive and intact. Everything else could be reconstructed given time and resources.
Brad approached Haroon with question he wasn't certain he wanted answered. "The red star. On your helmet. That was new. What was that?"
Haroon touched his helmet's front panel, where the red star had manifested and then vanished. "Enhanced capability indicator. The absorption of Oscar's accumulated power triggered new functionality within The Absolute Void. Remote manipulation of physical manifestations. Control over entities within operational radius. The red star appears when that functionality is active."
"You possessed Oscar," Ramuel said quietly. "Controlled his body remotely. Made him fly backward through force of will alone."
"Correct. The capability is effective but requires significant power application. I won't deploy it casually." Haroon's tone suggested he was still analyzing the new functionality, determining its appropriate use cases.
The foundation continued its recovery operations. Controllers coordinated repairs. Sarah began filing incident reports and updating strategic assessments. The organization had survived, thanks to intervention that exceeded anything they'd anticipated possible.
Haroon departed shortly after, transiting back to Station Theta-7. His presence at the foundation had served its purpose. The Controllers were restored. Oscar was defeated and in retreat. Everything had returned to acceptable parameters despite the devastating attack.
But Haroon's calculations were running new probability assessments. Oscar Steve would return. Would attempt new strategies. Would continue pursuing goal of destroying existence to free imprisoned allies. That opposition was inevitable and would require ongoing management.
The enhancement from absorbing Oscar's accumulated power was significant. Thirty-four dimensions worth of capability. Fifteen Controllers' stolen power returned to proper owners but the dimensional enhancement remained integrated into The Absolute Void. And the new functionality—the red star, the remote control—that represented capability Haroon hadn't possessed before.
He was stronger now. More capable. Further beyond the boundaries of conventional classification. The enhancement continued pushing him into categories that had no proper names.
Station Theta-7 appeared in his perception as transit completed. He manifested in Sector 6, where maintenance inspection had been interrupted by Sarah's emergency alert. The work was still incomplete. Equipment still required checking. Systems still needed attention.
Haroon resumed his inspection like the confrontation with Oscar and the resurrection of thirty-two dead Controllers had been brief interruption rather than reality-defying crisis. The routine work continued. Maintenance schedules were maintained. Functionality was preserved.
His helmet's front panel was black again. Cyan suit showed no indication of the massive power flowing through it. The red star remained dormant, waiting for situations that required remote manipulation capability.
Everything appeared normal. Everything continued functioning. The universe persisted despite Oscar's best efforts to eliminate it.
Sufficient.
Always sufficient.
Forever sufficient.
The work was never finished. But today's crisis had been addressed. Today's threat had been neutralized. Today's casualties had been reversed.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges. New conflicts. New threats requiring management.
But today? Today was acceptable.
Haroon continued his inspection, checking systems with same careful attention he'd always demonstrated, protecting civilization one maintenance task at a time.