The idea did not leave Ethan's mind.
It rooted there.
If Phase Three would target the Sovereign Anchor…
Then the answer wasn't thicker defenses.
It was redundancy.
But sovereignty wasn't something you simply handed out.
It wasn't a weapon.
It was weight.
He stood in the Frostfire Citadel's core chamber once more. The seven pillars glowed in stable rhythm, the Convergence Node rotating slowly above the central platform like a suspended star.
Kaelith stood across from him.
"You're actually considering it," she said.
"Yes."
"You know what that means."
"I do."
Her shadowflame flickered—controlled, but intense.
"Sharing sovereignty isn't symbolic, Ethan. It's structural. If you miscalculate…"
"The integration destabilizes."
"And the galaxy gets the collapse it's waiting for."
He didn't look away from the rotating Node.
"They're studying whether this world depends on a single consciousness. We already know it does."
The System confirmed silently.
