Fate Decision

The world tilted.

Anna barely had time to register what had happened. One moment, she was standing beside Ethan, battle-ready, every muscle in her body braced for what was coming.

The next—

A searing force tore through her.

Darkness, pure and absolute, ripped into her body like a thousand claws sinking deep into flesh and bone.

She didn't even scream.

Her breath caught in her throat, her vision exploding with pain as she felt the raw force of Victoria's attack tear through her soul.

For the first time in her life—Anna felt herself unraveling.

Like her body was no longer hers.

Like she was being rewritten, erased—

Like she was ceasing to exist.

Ethan moved.

He didn't think. He didn't hesitate.

He acted.

One moment, he stood frozen in place, his mind shattering with the realization of what was happening.

The next, he was between them.

His arms wrapped around Anna's collapsing form, his body absorbing the impact of the strike that should have killed her.

A deafening CRACK tore through the battlefield as the energy collided with him.

Then—

Silence.

Ethan fell to his knees, clutching Anna against his chest.

And the world stopped.

Victoria's Shock

For the first time in centuries—Victoria was silent.

She stood frozen, hand still outstretched, watching the impossible.

Ethan had taken the hit.

Not just deflected it.

Not just absorbed it.

He had rewritten its outcome.

Anna should have been dead.

But instead, she lay in Ethan's arms, gasping for breath, still whole.

The attack had touched her, yes—but it hadn't destroyed her.

Victoria's eyes narrowed.

"You changed the result," she murmured.

Ethan slowly lifted his gaze to her, his expression unreadable. His black eyes burned.

"You still don't get it, do you?" he murmured. His voice was calm.

Too calm.

Victoria's jaw clenched. "What?"

Ethan exhaled.

Then—he smiled.

"You lost the moment I stopped playing by the rules."

And then—

The world split open.

The Death of a God

A pulse of power erupted from Ethan's body—not magic, not darkness, not even light.

Something else.

Something beyond.

Victoria staggered.

The battlefield trembled, the very sky above them cracking like glass.

Ethan slowly rose to his feet, his body no longer just a man's.

His presence expanded, stretching beyond the confines of the world they stood in.

Victoria's expression darkened.

"You've gone too far," she whispered.

Ethan tilted his head, amused. "I haven't even started."

And then—

He reached out.

Not with hands.

Not with magic.

With pure will.

Victoria's entire form jerked—her breath catching in her throat as she felt it.

Something in her soul shifted.

Something inside her cracked.

She tried to move.

To summon the shadows, to retreat, to strike back—

But she couldn't.

Ethan was inside her mind.

Inside her very being.

Victoria screamed.

A sound that shattered reality itself.

The darkness behind her trembled—and then it began to pull away from her.

Like something was peeling her apart from the inside.

"You spent your life manipulating others," Ethan murmured. His voice was quiet, almost pitying. "But you forgot one simple rule."

Victoria gasped, struggling against the force gripping her very existence.

Ethan leaned in.

"You can't control something you don't understand."

Victoria broke.

A horrible, raw, inhuman sound tore from her throat as the darkness abandoned her.

Piece by piece.

Layer by layer.

Victoria Lane—the woman who had ruled the Hollow King's realm for centuries—was unraveling.

And Ethan was the one pulling the thread.

Anna's Realization

Anna couldn't move.

She could barely even breathe.

She lay on the cold ground, barely clinging to consciousness, watching—**witnessing—**the impossible unfold.

Ethan was unmaking Victoria.

Not killing her.

Not overpowering her.

He was erasing her very existence.

Anna's blood ran cold.

She knew what this meant.

Victoria was an entity bound to the Hollow King's power—if Ethan could do this to her, that meant he had surpassed it.

Surpassed the Hollow King.

Surpassed everything.

She forced herself to sit up, ignoring the sharp pain in her ribs. "Ethan!" she called out, voice hoarse.

He didn't answer.

Didn't even turn.

He was focused.

Too focused.

Anna's chest tightened.

Because she had seen this before.

A power too great to control. A being who no longer belonged to any world.

A god being born.

And gods, she knew, were never meant to walk among mortals.

Victoria's Last Words

Victoria's form was barely holding together now.

Her once-perfect features were cracked, splitting apart like porcelain.

She let out a ragged breath, her limbs trembling, her voice—for the first time—weak.

"Ethan," she whispered.

His eyes flickered downward, watching her.

Victoria let out a breathless laugh. "You really did become something magnificent."

For a moment, just a moment, she smiled.

Then—

She shattered.

And the Hollow King's realm collapsed with her.

The End of the War

The darkness screamed.

The rift above them folded inward, sucking the abyss back into itself.

The ground beneath them stabilized.

The war was over.

Victoria Lane—the woman who had ruled shadows for centuries—was gone.

And Ethan?

Ethan stood in the center of it all, his black eyes glowing, his body still humming with untamed power.

Anna stared at him.

For the first time, she didn't see Ethan Ward.

She didn't even see Lioris.

She saw something new.

Something that no longer belonged to this world.

And for the first time since she met him—she wasn't sure if she could bring him back.