Osita’s eyes tracked the frost. He used Selective Permeability to redirect it. He allowed the freeze to coat only the outermost layer of his shimmering cloak, creating a brittle, diamond-hard shell.

When a second Paragon, a master of Violent Kineticism, hurled a massive, invisible hammer of force at him, the strike hit the stasis-shell. The two opposing laws shattered each other in a deafening spray of conceptual glass, leaving Osita untouched in the center.

Edward unleashed a horizontal sweep of his blade, a wave of Solar Erasure that sought to incinerate everything in its path. Simultaneously, Nwadimma, sensing her opening, commanded the Supporting Shadow to rise from beneath Osita’s feet, binding his ankles to ensure he couldn’t dodge the flame.

Osita felt the heat peeling away his layers of defense. Even with his mage tower, in his domain helping with his mana reserve, he was being overwhelmed by multiple laws.

His expression shifted from calculation to grim resolve. He reached deep into his core. The price for this action was his own structural integrity, his skin began to crack like parched earth, glowing with a violet, internal fire.

"The Gate of the Discarded." He manifested a Door. Due to the nature of his domain, this door was a last result if he was unable to protect his family and needed a way to escape.

A massive, rusted iron gate erupted from the obsidian floor, standing vertically between him and Edward’s solar wave.

The solar fire slammed into the door. Osita applied Selective Permeability on the door as the flames splashed against the metal like water against a cliff, but the heat conducted through, charring Osita’s hands to a blackened crisp as he held the handles.

Nwadimma’s shadows surged to pull the door down, but Osita applied Conceptual Density to it which made it heavier and due to her current reserve was unable to affect it, instead she faced a backlash for it.

The Paragons descended all at once, a chaotic storm of elements and laws designed to shred him. Edward’s sword was inches from the iron surface, the metal melting into slag.

Osita’s vision blurred. With a final, agonizing heave, he pulled the door inward, toward himself.

The space behind the door showed nothing but stars but Osita had a destination.

As the combined weight of six Paragon-level attacks finally shattered the iron gate, Osita threw himself backward into the yawning void. The moment his heels cleared the threshold, the gate buckled under the sheer pressure, collapsing inward before exploding outward with catastrophic force.

The resulting blast rocked the physical world. Across the entire Eastern Continent, the ground groaned and buckled in a massive seismic surge. The shockwave tore through the capital, shattering every window for miles and leaving the majestic Omadi Palace in a state of smoldering ruin. The devastation reached the physical world because Nwadimma, sensing the impending cataclysm, had retracted her Domain at the final second to avoid being caught in the backlash of the Law’s collapse.

In the heavy, ringing silence that followed within the overlapped reality, Edward stood over the scorched mark in space where the door had once stood. He searched for any sign of a kill, but there was nothing. No dead body remained, not even a single drop of blood can be found..

He looked around to find that Nwadimma had already vanished, likely retreating to tend to her wounds or secure her kingdom. The other Paragons who had joined the strike exchanged silent, grim glances. With a collective sigh of frustration at their missed target, the powerful figures flickered away one by one.

Using his connection to Amina as an anchor, Osita pulled himself toward her, desperate to keep from being lost to the stars. From the cold expanse of space, a solitary trail of light could be seen plunging rapidly toward the surface of a red planet.

Time seemed to stretch until a violent explosion tore through the silence, kicking up a massive wave of dust that rolled across the red, desolate landscape. At the center of the newly formed crater, Osita’s battered figure lay still, his chest heaving as he fought for every ragged breath.

Fractures webbed across his entire body. From the deep cracks, a brilliant, volatile light leaked out, mingling with the dark blood pooling around him on the shattered earth.

Struggling against the crushing weight of his own body, Osita forced himself up. The movement triggered a violent coughing fit, painting the dust beneath him with fresh blood. Yet, as he finally managed to stand straight, a sudden, uncontrollable laughter bubbled up from his chest, wild, defiant, and echoing across the empty red plains.

He did it. He had finally done it.

After a grueling year of pure misfortune that had relentlessly hounded both him and his wife, she was finally within his grasp. Osita looked down at the fractures webbed across his skin, watching as the glowing cracks slowly began to knit themselves back together. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Every ounce of agony was worth it. It was worth it for the woman who had taught him how to love, the woman who was the mother of his children. Right now, she was safer than she had ever been, entirely severed from the world of Nana.

Whatever sinister scheme Murmur was cooking up in the dark, it could no longer touch her. Not anymore. As long as she remained out of his sight, she was safe. As for Murmur himself, Osita would keep a vigilant watch, waiting patiently for the entity to finally show his hand. He would deal with him when the time came, because he knew a bitter truth, as long as Murmur drew breath, he and his wife would always be viewed as mere pawns in some grand, twisted game.

Lifting his feet from the dust of the crater, Osita began to float upward. As he ascended into the thin air of the red planet, his heightened senses locked onto exactly what he was searching for, the hidden door, concealed waiting for him somewhere on this planet.

He wasn’t in any condition to fly at high speeds, let alone teleport, so he allowed himself to float leisurely toward the coordinates. As he neared the location, the hidden door shimmered into existence, manifesting directly before him. He raised a hand to push it open, but suddenly froze.

Remembering his battered appearance, he paused. With a quick, silent spell, he tidied himself up, stitching his wounds from sight and cloaking his figure in a set of fresh, clean clothes. He didn’t want her to see him like this. Satisfied, he placed his palm against the heavy surface of the door and pushed it open.

Unlike his last visit, where he had been greeted by a void of pitch black emptiness, he was now looking at a fully formed, clear room. It meant someone was now residing in this sector of the Bastion, and the space had shifted to mirror their personal taste.

But the decor meant nothing to Osita. Before his eyes could even process the layout of the room, a sharp, metallic odor hit him.

It was the thick, unmistakable scent of fresh blood.

Panic surging through his veins, Osita burst into the room, his own agonizing injuries entirely forgotten in an instant.

The sight before him made his heart violently clench.

There, leaning heavily against the wall, was the Queen. She was completely unconscious, her face a deathly, translucent pale from severe blood loss. But what struck terror into Osita’s chest was the gruesome, bleeding stump where her foot should have been.

He didn’t hesitate for a single second. Even with his own body fractured and screaming in pain, his reservoir of mana remained strong. Pushing through the agony, he channeled his energy and cast a high-level, sixth-tier healing spell. Instantly, a massive, intricate magic circle manifested, bathing the Queen’s broken body in a brilliant, restorative glow.

The high-tier magic was rapid and potent. Right before his eyes, the torn, jagged flesh of the stump began to knit together and extend. Bone, muscle, and skin rapidly replicated until a perfectly formed new foot took shape. Simultaneously, the life drained color began to recede, and a healthy, warm color rushed back into her cheeks.

Exhausted but relieved, Osita collapsed into a sit nearby. He kept a vigilant watch as the magic finished its work, waiting in the heavy silence until her eyelids finally stirred, and she slowly opened her eyes.

The moment the Queen’s eyes fluttered open, she took in her surroundings. The room was entirely unfamiliar, yet a strange, lingering echo of familiarity vibrated through the walls. Then, her gaze landed on Osita, who sat quietly across from her.

Instinctively, she recoiled, her body tensing to flee. She was no longer in her chambers. Her husband was nowhere in sight. But before sheer panic could paralyze her, she froze, staring intently at Osita’s face. In that fraction of a second, a profound shift occurred within her, the helpless, terrified persona receded, and the fully awoken Queen Taiwo took in the figure before her.