'Why did this have to happen?'
'Why?'
'Why?'
'Why??'
The questions tore through my consciousness like shards of broken glass as Arthur's body collapsed onto the starlight marble, his mana circuits overloading from the contradiction I had created within him. Around us, chaos erupted as Alastor barked orders, Rachel screamed in panic, and Reika and Kali rushed toward his fallen form with desperate urgency.
'Why was my existence like this?'
'Why was I born like this?'
'Why wasn't I born as a pure qilin?'
'Why was I born special?'
'Why?'
I clung to Arthur's unconscious body, my small hands trembling as I felt the magical balance within him beginning to shatter. The Deepdark was overwhelming his Purelight, consuming him from the inside out like a poison I had unknowingly fed him for years. Every breath he struggled to take was my fault. Every convulsion that wracked his frame was because of what I was.
'An abomination like me should have never been born.'
