The broken wind howled softly through the Fractured Expanse after the false versions disappeared.
For several moments nobody spoke.
The silence hanging over the wasteland felt heavier now somehow, like the Expanse itself had grown irritated after failing to shake Arin's resolve. Floating ruins continued drifting slowly overhead while distant fractures spread through the sky like wounds carved into reality itself.
Riven was the first to finally break the silence.
"…okay."
He pointed vaguely into the distance afterward.
"Can we agree never to talk about whatever that was again?"
"No," Kael answered immediately.
"Unfortunately we absolutely need to talk about that."
Riven looked deeply offended.
"I hate responsible people."
Selene crossed her arms afterward while staring toward Arin carefully.
"Those things knew too much."
Liora quietly looked toward him too.
"…they weren't real, were they?"
Arin remained silent briefly before finally shaking his head.
"No."
The answer came calm. Certain.
"Those were illusions created by the Expanse itself."
Everyone listened carefully now.
Arin slowly looked toward the distorted horizon ahead afterward while tightening his grip around Vijaya.
"The Expanse is trying to stop me from moving further."
Another pulse echoed through the weapon instantly.
Stronger this time.
Closer.
Arin continued quietly,
"It creates fears. Possibilities. Failed outcomes."
Fragments of the earlier encounter still lingered faintly inside his mind. Blood-covered versions of himself. Broken timelines. Endless failure.
But despite how real they looked—
something about them felt fundamentally wrong.
Because deep inside himself, Arin already understood the truth.
"No other version of me has made it this far."
The others immediately looked toward him again afterward.
Arin's expression remained calm now despite the wasteland surrounding them.
"So don't worry about it."
Riven stared blankly for several seconds.
"…you say things like that way too casually."
"He's not wrong though," Darin answered quietly.
Liora slowly exhaled afterward while the tension inside the group eased slightly again.
Even if the Expanse continued attacking their minds—
Arin still stood here.
Still moving forward.
And somehow that alone steadied everyone else too.
The journey continued afterward.
Deeper.
Further into the collapsing wasteland where reality itself became increasingly unstable around them.
Time fractured constantly now.
At one point they walked through snowfall beneath a blazing sunset while rain fell upward into the sky around them simultaneously. Later the entire landscape froze motionless for several minutes before suddenly accelerating violently again like the world skipped forward through time itself.
Nothing remained natural here.
Even exhaustion felt strange.
Sometimes hours passed in moments. Other times a few minutes stretched endlessly like entire days.
And throughout all of it—
the final fragment kept pulling Arin forward.
Closer.
Much closer now.
By what they assumed was the second night inside the Expanse, the distortions began weakening slightly around one particular region ahead.
Not stabilizing.
Submitting.
Arin noticed it first.
The fractures surrounding the distant horizon moved differently there. More violently. Almost like reality itself struggled to contain something hidden at the center.
Then finally—
they saw it.
Everyone stopped immediately.
Far ahead beyond the broken wasteland, suspended above a massive crater where the earth itself had collapsed inward, floated the final fragment of Vijaya.
Golden-black light pulsed endlessly around it while enormous fractures spread outward through the surrounding air like chains cracking reality apart. Floating debris orbited around the fragment unnaturally while storms twisted overhead in impossible directions.
The pressure alone was overwhelming.
Even standing this far away, everyone could feel the fragment distorting the world around it.
Vijaya instantly reacted violently in Arin's hands.
Golden energy erupted across the staff while the resonance between both fragments intensified hard enough to shake the surrounding landscape slightly.
Liora instinctively stepped closer afterward.
"…that's the last one."
Arin slowly nodded.
"Yes."
The final fragment.
The last piece separating Vijaya from completion.
The weapon pulsed harder now almost like it wanted to break free from his grasp and return to itself directly.
But something else immediately became clear too.
They weren't alone.
Several figures stood scattered around the crater beneath the floating fragment.
Still.
Waiting.
The moment Arin noticed them, the atmosphere changed instantly.
The figures slowly began moving.
Dark armor covered their bodies completely while distorted energy flowed through the cracks along their weapons. None of them looked entirely human anymore. Their movements felt unnatural somehow, slightly delayed from reality itself like they existed half a second out of sync with the world around them.
Underlings of the Entity.
The group immediately became alert.
Riven quietly muttered afterward,
"…of course it couldn't be easy."
Selene drew her weapon instantly.
"I was beginning to think the universe forgot to traumatize us today."
But Arin's focus never left the figures ahead.
Because unlike the creatures from the maze or the illusions created by the Expanse—
these things were real.
And worse—
they were waiting specifically for him.
One of the armored figures slowly stepped forward afterward while dark energy spread faintly beneath its feet.
Then finally—
it spoke.
"Suryaputra."
The voice sounded distorted, hollow, almost mechanical beneath layers of something inhuman.
The word echoed across the Expanse unnaturally.
Vijaya reacted instantly again.
The final fragment pulsed violently overhead afterward while the surrounding fractures widened across the sky itself.
Arin's eyes narrowed slightly.
The armored figure slowly raised its weapon toward him afterward.
"The Entity expected your arrival."
More figures emerged from the surrounding distortions now.
Not dozens.
Hundreds.
The broken landscape surrounding the crater slowly filled with dark armored soldiers appearing from fractured space itself.
The group collectively stiffened immediately.
Even Riven looked shaken now.
"…that's definitely not survivable."
Kael quietly stared toward the expanding army afterward.
"They were waiting this entire time."
Arin remained motionless while staring toward the fragment floating above the crater.
So close now.
The final piece of Vijaya stood directly before him.
And between them—
an army born from the System itself.
Then slowly—
Arin stepped forward.
The fractured winds around the Expanse immediately intensified afterward while golden light spread across Vijaya in his hands.
Behind him, Liora quietly tightened her grip on her weapon too.
Then Selene stepped beside them.
Then Darin.
Kael.
Aira.
Riven.
No hesitation anymore.
No fear strong enough to stop them now.
Because they had already come too far together to turn back here.
The armored underling slowly tilted its head afterward while staring toward Arin again.
"You cannot escape the cycle."
Silence followed briefly.
Then Arin finally answered.
Calmly.
"…watch me."