Chapter 2598: Story 2599: The One Who Forbade Choice

The voice beneath the Last World shook the gray heavens.

"Who gave you permission to choose?"

Victoria Kane stood before the millions of newly awakened beings.

Her Dawnblade glowed with steady golden light.

"No one."

The enormous black hand tightened around the edge of the city.

Victoria raised her eyes.

"We don’t need permission."

The ground exploded.

A colossal figure emerged from beneath the Last World.

Its body was covered in ancient black armor.

Its face was hidden behind a smooth mask.

Across its chest burned a single symbol.

A closed circle.

Evelyn stared at it.

"The opposite of the Dawnblade."

Nox’Rath’s wings spread.

"I know that symbol."

Victoria looked at him.

"What is it?"

"The Seal of Finality."

The golden child stepped backward.

"He was created before the First World."

Victoria frowned.

"By whom?"

The child answered quietly.

"The First Author."

The creature’s voice thundered.

"I am the Final Law."

The newly awakened beings fell silent.

"I was created to prevent creation from becoming endless."

Victoria stepped forward.

"And you decided that meant nobody could choose?"

"Choice creates possibility."

The Final Law raised one enormous hand.

"Possibility creates uncertainty."

Black energy spread across the sky.

"Uncertainty creates suffering."

Victoria tightened her grip.

"So you want everything frozen."

"I want everything finished."

The creature slammed its hand into the ground.

A wave of black energy crossed the Last World.

The newly awakened beings began freezing.

Their colors disappeared.

Their faces became blank again.

Lyra cried out.

"They’re losing themselves!"

Victoria charged.

The Dawnblade struck the black wave.

Golden light exploded.

The force pushed Victoria backward.

Dawn caught her.

"You can’t fight it alone."

Victoria looked around.

"I don’t have to."

She turned toward the awakened beings.

"Everyone!"

Millions of faces looked toward her.

"You were never supposed to exist."

The Final Law laughed.

"Exactly."

Victoria raised the Dawnblade.

"But you’re here."

One figure stepped forward.

"I choose to live."

Another raised their hand.

"I choose to remember."

A third shouted,

"I choose to become someone."

Soon the entire city erupted with voices.

"I choose!"

"I choose!"

"I choose!"

Golden light spread through the Last World.

The Final Law staggered.

"Silence!"

Its black energy intensified.

But the voices became louder.

The golden child stepped forward.

"I choose possibility."

The Dawnblade responded.

Its open-circle symbol expanded across the heavens.

The Final Law stared upward.

"Impossible."

Victoria smiled.

"No."

She raised the blade.

"Unfinished."

The Final Law attacked.

A massive black beam struck Victoria.

Lyra and Dawn combined their powers, creating a golden shield.

Cole fired radiant rounds into the creature’s armor.

Evelyn discovered glowing symbols beneath its chest.

"Victoria! Its power comes from the Seal!"

Malachor shouted,

"The closed circle!"

Victoria understood.

"Then we don’t break it."

She looked at the golden child.

"We open it."

The child nodded.

Millions of awakened beings joined hands.

Their lights connected.

The First Possibility flowed through them.

The closed circle on the Final Law began cracking.

The creature screamed.

"If you open possibility, creation will never end!"

Victoria stepped closer.

"Maybe it shouldn’t."

She placed the Dawnblade against the Seal.

"Stories end."

The blade ignited.

"But possibility doesn’t."

The closed circle shattered.

A tremendous wave of golden light crossed the Last World.

The Final Law dissolved into countless silver fragments.

Each fragment became a new possibility.

The city transformed completely.

The gray sky became filled with brilliant colors.

The newly awakened beings looked toward Victoria.

The golden child smiled.

"You passed."

Victoria lowered her blade.

"Passed what?"

The child looked toward the horizon.

"The final choice."

Suddenly, Elias Crow’s journal appeared in Victoria’s hand.

Its black pages turned white.

One final message appeared:

There was never a Last World.

Victoria stared.

The golden child looked toward the infinite horizon.

"There is only the next world."

Then a new golden gateway opened.

Beyond it was something Victoria had never seen before.

A completely empty universe.

Waiting.

And from somewhere beyond the stars came a familiar whisper:

"Now create."