Hidden within the Ledger's blind spot, Elias felt the frantic distress signal Mei Lin had unleashed, a chaotic surge of energy from her Sylvan karmic anchor. He was cut off, unable to respond, helpless. But the knowledge of the First Core, its single, ultimate power, burned in his mind. He knew where he had to go, what he had to do.
Meanwhile, Mei Lin, captured by the Guild enforcers in Veyra's lab, was held in a secure chamber. She could hear the humming of the dozens of Earth Cores, the resonance bomb reaching its final stages. She knew time was running out. She had activated her Sylvan anchor, a desperate cry, but was Elias even out there? Could he even reach her?
She wouldn't wait. Inspired by Juro's sacrifice, and by Elias's own ruthless pragmatism, Mei Lin made her choice. With a surge of raw, determined Prana, she focused on her own Earth Core implant, the one Elias had used to bond them. It was unstable, but it was connected to the ley lines, connected to the Guild's weapon.
With a defiant roar, Mei Lin consciously overloaded her Earth Core, unleashing a controlled, but immensely powerful, surge of raw energy. The surge was precisely aimed at the lab's primary energy conduits, the very lines fueling the bomb's calibration. The chamber erupted in a shower of sparks and crackling Prana, alarms blaring. She had successfully breached the lab, causing a critical malfunction that would temporarily disable the Guild's bomb. But the cost was immense.
The chaotic energy ripped through her, draining her cultivation, shattering her spiritual stability. She collapsed, unconscious, her body wracked by tremors, a lifeless shell infused with residual karmic chaos. She had saved the Realm, for now, but she was dying from karmic drain, her life force rapidly dissipating.
Elias, still a ghost in the Ledger's blind spot, sensed the massive karmic spike, the sudden silence from Veyra's lab, and then Mei Lin's rapidly fading karmic signature. He knew. She had sacrificed herself.
He manifested from the blind spot, appearing in a flash of raw Prana at the heart of the Necropolis of Whispering Souls. His resolve hardened. He dug frantically, desperately, until his hands hit the ancient, cold surface of the First Core. It pulsed with an unimaginable power, a silent, absolute promise.
His choice was clear, agonizing, but inevitable. He had promised to protect Mei Lin. He had pulled her into this, warped her idealism. He would not let her die.
He carried the First Core to Mei Lin's collapsed form, still lying amidst the smoking ruins of Veyra's lab. He cradled her head, her skin cold, her breath shallow. He pressed the First Core against her chest, channeling its immense, single-use power.
"Heal her," Elias commanded the core, his voice raw with emotion. "Restore her. Burn away every wound, every karmic imbalance, every piece of corruption. Bring her back."
The First Core flared with a blinding, incandescent light, its single, ultimate burst of energy erupting into Mei Lin. The chaotic karmic drain ceased. Her tremors subsided. Her breathing deepened, her skin regaining its warmth. The core's light faded, its power entirely burned away. It was now an inert, unremarkable stone.
Mei Lin gasped, her eyes fluttering open. She looked at Elias, then at the inert stone in his hand. She felt the surge of life, the restoration of her Prana, the complete absence of pain. She was whole. More than whole.
But as the First Core's power consumed itself, it did something else. Its ultimate, unbridled energy, meant to restore fundamental karmic truths, ripped through Elias's carefully constructed veils. It didn't just heal Mei Lin; it exposed him. It revealed his entire karmic history to Mei Lin, flooding her mind with every lie, every manipulation, every dark compromise he had ever made. The truth, in its raw, unfiltered entirety, poured into her mind, bypassing all her defenses.
Her eyes, now fully open, stared at him. Not with anger, not with suspicion, but with a profound, terrifying comprehension.