Chapter 86
He knew that if he remained within the First Productivity, the battle against the nine Administrators would only become a one-chapter tragedy that ended far too quickly.
He knew that the Second Paradigm granted the Administrators the ability to rewrite the laws that underpinned this world, allowing a single step from them to crush anything still bound by human limitations.
He knew that the time to survive was growing thinner, that his position as both writer and character in a world inspired by his own work granted him no advantage at all.
All that remained was a struggle against a wave greater than everything.
Even so, he still chose to stand.
'I did give a logical answer earlier—simple enough for anyone to understand, including Aldraya who is under the influence of the Administrator's seed.
But the more I think about it, the clearer its flaw becomes.'
Haaah!
'If I truly cannot open the Second Productivity now, then why am I not trying it this very moment?
In a situation as dire as this, delaying feels more like foolishness.
The method to open the Second Productivity is simple in principle.
Simply channel all my Resolve, Will, Intent, and Ambition into every sword technique I possess.
And shouldn't a situation like this be the strongest trigger to do so?
If Aldraya wanted to overturn my argument, she would have a very solid basis.'
In the pause between awareness and the danger lurking ahead, Theo felt a small pulse of doubt turning at the bottom of his mind.
The answer he had given moments ago was solid, logical, and easily accepted by anyone who understood the vast difference between the First and Second Productivity.
But the more he let that murmur flow through the gaps of his thoughts, the clearer the yawning weakness within his own reasoning became.
A flaw simple yet lethal, a vulnerable point that could be exploited by anyone sharp enough—even by Aldraya, who now carried the Administrator's seed within her.
He understood that if he truly was incapable of entering the Second Productivity, then his reasoning stood.
However, if he simply had not entered it yet, and if the method required only a complete channeling of his Resolve, Will, Intent, and Ambition into his sword techniques, then what was actually stopping him?
The situation swallowing the world was the perfect condition to leap into that depth.
The Administrators had opened the Second Paradigm.
Reality had collapsed into wild ripples.
Death could be waiting just a single step ahead.
All components should have forced a man like Theo Vkytor to break past his limits.
'But if she truly criticizes that point, then I have an answer as sharp as the steel I draw from its scabbard.
How am I supposed to condense my Resolve, Will, Intent, and Ambition into every sword technique I possess when the Administrators stand ready to erase me without giving even a sliver of space to breathe?
To enter the Second Productivity, I need an unshaken Resolve, a firm Will, a focused Intent, and an Ambition that rises above all else.
And that is impossible to achieve when my mind is dragged into the threat encircling every inch of my body.'
Fssssh!
'The Second Productivity is not a door I can simply kick open.
It is a stillness I must step into, and they are not giving me that stillness.'
In an inner current not entirely calm, Theo reconnected the fragments of logic that had slipped from his grasp.
There was indeed a flaw in his argument, but that did not mean he lacked a way to seal it.
The murmur continued turning in his depths, a silent stream flowing without sound, solidifying a reason that had long been tucked beneath urgency.
If Aldraya truly pointed out that weakness, he already knew what to say.
For compressing R W I A into the entirety of his sword techniques was not a simple ritual.
It was not merely an act of focusing one's will, but a spiritual process demanding sharp awareness, absolute calm, and an inner structure uncracked by external threats.
The Second Productivity would never open for someone standing under the direct gaze of nine cosmic entities prepared to annihilate him without granting even a breath.
Before a pressure capable of folding timelines and breaking causality, what human could purify Resolve until it became clear, sharpen Will until it became firm, or hone Ambition until it surpassed the instinct to survive?
In the depths of that murmur, Theo understood that each element of RWIA required specific conditions.
Resolve needed undisturbed stillness.
Will demanded a soul without hesitation.
Intent required space to refine itself.
Ambition could grow only when the mind was free from the shadow of immediate destruction.
And all of that was impossible when nine Administrators, having entered the Second Paradigm, stood like a hierarchy of gods ready to deliver total judgment whenever they wished.
Thus that reason rose firm again within Theo's mind.
To open the Second Productivity, he required not only courage, but also opportunity.
And as long as that opportunity did not exist, he remained trapped within the limits of the First Productivity.
A boundary he could not yet break under a gaze capable of crushing reality.
'She must realize there is no room for refusal or objection.
Let her remain silent while her mind processes it, because I am the one fully steering this discussion.'
Theo ultimately closed every gap before Aldraya could even breathe to reassess the situation, as though he slid an invisible line that forced the flow to continue following his design.
In the silence suspended between them, he seemed to anchor his will into the structure of events, stealing away the room for Aldraya to question the tightly-constructed reasoning.
Not only to defend his logic, but also to test something deeper—something tied to how the Administrator's seed inside Aldraya interpreted pressure, threat, and the cracks shaped by a human who commands narrative.
For behind his seemingly calm demeanor, Theo was observing every reaction Aldraya gave, every possible fracture in her expression that never changed.
He wanted to know whether Aldraya could read the subtle trap he had woven into the offer of cooperation.
An offer that, in essence, could not be refused because its path had been fenced by danger from the beginning.
Theo knew that as long as he lived, Aldraya was safe from the threat of the nine Administrators who saw her as a dangerous anomaly.
But if he died, Aldraya—who carried the Administrator's seed—would become their next target.
Thus the cooperation was not an offer but a lifeline he deliberately left dangling before her, waiting to see whether she would take it or let it fall.
Within himself, Theo felt the tension flowing behind the decision.
He was not constructing a simple strategy, but weaving a fine net of will and intuition, forcing the situation to move according to his intent.
Aldraya might keep her gaze fixed forward, flat and expressionless, but Theo knew that within the body possessed by the Administrator's seed lay another awareness capable of judging danger with frightening precision.
And that was precisely what Theo wished to measure.
He wanted to know whether Aldraya would realize that every word, every tone, every argument he presented was a bait she could not avoid.
In the end, Theo waited.
Silent, yet ready.
For through silence, he could see whether his trap succeeded.
To be continued…