Jin froze mid-air, his white blade inches from the Architect's throat . The words felt heavier than any physical blow. Below him, Mi-na was still pressed against the ground, her silver veins pulsing so hard they were starting to crack the pavement. She wasn't just a girl anymore; she was the battery keeping the world from falling into the black hole she had opened .
"He's lying, Jin!" Rin screamed from the sidelines, her fingers blurring over a portable tablet. "He's just trying to desync your attack! If you don't hit him now, the erosion will become permanent!"
The Architect of Ruin chuckled, a sound like dry leaves skittering on a grave . He didn't even look at Jin; he kept his bone staff pointed at Mi-na. "Ask her, Jin. Ask your sister how it feels to be the bridge for the Void. Every second you hesitate, more of her soul is being replaced by the dark."
Jin looked down at Mi-na. Her electric blue eyes were leaking silver data-tears, and for the first time, she looked terrified. She wasn't sarcastic or playful anymore. She was just tired.
"Jin..." she whispered, her voice echoing through the street. "It's okay. I can't hold it much longer anyway. Just... finish it."
Jin's vision turned red—not the red of a system notification, but the red of pure, human rage. He didn't have his "Delete" command, but he had something better: he had a promise.
Suddenly, a golden spear of light slammed into the ground between Jin and the Architect.
"The desert doesn't accept your terms, ghost!" Yassine's voice roared as he and Idir emerged from a swirling sandstorm in the middle of Shinjuku.
Idir raised his wooden staff, the golden symbols glowing with a warmth that made the shadows hiss in pain . "Jin! We will stabilize the girl! You take the head of the serpent!"
As Idir and the Moroccan Guardians surrounded Mi-na, creating a circle of white mana, the Architect of Ruin finally stopped smiling. He raised his bone staff, and the sky over Tokyo split open, revealing a giant eye made of swirling black smoke. "You want to play with the Source? Then let's see how much reality you can handle before you break."