The world does not fear what it does not believe.
Now it believes.
And belief is starving.
⸻
The first city burns in prayer.
Not to a god.
To an exception.
News of the ridge collapse spreads across territories within hours. Not as rumor. As evidence. Entire regions feel the subtraction ripple as ley currents destabilize and re-route around the scar the Auditor left behind.
Jason watches the global matrices crawl with rising panic.
“The systems that feed on hybrid instability just realized something worse exists,” he says quietly.
Zane’s jaw tightens. “They realized my child is not the largest threat in the room anymore.”
“No,” Jason answers grimly.
“They realized she’s the only thing that made it hesitate.”
⸻
Virexa does not rage.
She calculates.
In the hollow chamber where
