The golden light and black smoke still pulsed faintly in his palms, but Luv did not act immediately.
Not yet.
He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. His breathing slowed until it matched the deep rhythm of his sealed soul.
The curse of the thousand trillion stirred, curious at what he was about to do.
His soul loosened its grip on flesh.
With a faint shimmer, a second Luv — translucent, weightless — stepped out of his seated body. The tether between them was a thin strand of silver light, quivering like a single note held in the air.
The world in soul form was different — colors muted, sounds distant, but the threads… the threads glowed brighter. Komal's thread shimmered far away, its pulse faint, like a candle in the wind.
He followed it.
The streets passed beneath him in silence. Walls did not stop him; locked doors opened like mist. He moved until her presence filled the air — warm, fragile, familiar.
There she was.
Lying on a hospital bed, thin blankets drawn over her frame, chest rising and falling with uneven rhythm. Her hair was spread across the pillow, lips pale, eyes closed in exhausted sleep.
But Luv wasn't here to simply look.
He stepped closer, extending his soul's touch into her being. It wasn't physical — it was a gentle drift of awareness into her essence, reading her like a book written in heartbeat and breath.
First, he searched for magic. None.
Then for curses. None.
No foreign powers clinging to her thread.
Just… fragility.
The truth weighed on him like a stone. Her lungs — scarred, weak, struggling to draw in enough air. Every breath was a battle. Her kidneys — failing, overworked. The quiet verdict of the doctors echoed in his mind: Only surgery can save her.
But even that was no simple answer. The risks were high, the recovery uncertain, and for someone as fragile as her, the outcome was not guaranteed.
He stood beside her, watching her chest rise and fall — too shallow, too slow. Every few breaths came with a faint hitch, as if her body feared it wouldn't find the next one.
Luv's eyes darkened.
So this is what you hid from me, Komal…
He understood now. This wasn't the work of gods, demons, or curses. This was mortality. The kind of quiet, inevitable suffering that came simply from being human.
Mortals were born into fragility — their bodies destined to falter, their days numbered before they even took their first breath. In the great scales of the multiverse, their lives were little more than sparks in a storm. And yet… to him, this single spark meant more than the survival of entire worlds.
He reached out, brushing a ghostly hand across her cheek. She didn't stir.
If this is destiny… then I'll break destiny.
The silver tether between soul and body vibrated, warning him of the strain. He ignored it, letting the glow in his spiritual hands return — the Blessing of the Living Star in one, the Curse of the Hollow Crown in the other.
He could bless her lungs and kidneys, force them to heal, extend her years beyond what fate intended.
Or… he could curse the roots of her suffering — not her body, but perhaps the illnesses themselves, banishing them into nothingness.
Both would take a toll. Both would ripple across the hidden web of fate.
And somewhere, in the deep halls of heaven and the shadowed pits of hell, eyes would feel the disturbance.
He stayed by her side for what felt like hours, watching, thinking, deciding.
Then, slowly, he stepped back. His soul form began to fade, drifting toward his body like a falling leaf.
When his eyes opened again, he was back in his chair. The night outside had deepened, the city grown quieter. His phone still lay dead on the table.
Luv looked at his empty hands. The choice still burned there, invisible but undeniable.
Tomorrow, he would act.
Tomorrow, he would reshape fate.
The night air was cold, but inside Luv's chest burned a heavier chill.
He sat motionless in his chair, eyes on the floor, his mind circling the same truth over and over — changing fate means going against the sky itself.
He let the thought echo, and with it came the weight of what that truly meant. Defying the natural order. Defying the gods. Risking the wrath of every power that watched over the threads of destiny.