Mei Lin was safe, her memories purged, a bitter comfort for Elias. He was now truly alone, but also unburdened by the obligation to protect her from his truths. His mission, however, remained dire. The karmic vortex, contained temporarily by Veyra's final act, still threatened to unravel the Realm. Arthan's endgame loomed, and the primordials' gaze grew ever closer.
He returned to the primordial karmic shard, the cult's terrifying gift, now his only true weapon. He understood its power: it didn't fix karma, it reset it to zero. It was the ultimate eraser, capable of wiping out all cultivation. And Arthan's plan, to reset the Ledger, meant he also intended to strip away cultivation powers, albeit through a controlled collapse.
Elias had a new, final plan, born from desperation and the cold logic of an Accountant forced to balance an impossible ledger. He would take Arthan's goal – the stripping of cultivation powers – and turn it against him, using the shard to avert cosmic destruction.
His gambit: He would use the shard to sever the Ledger's link to the ley lines, cutting off the flow of Prana that powered all cultivation. This would effectively stop the karmic vortex, starving it of the energy it fed on. It would prevent the larger-scale collapse of reality and the consumption by the primordials. But the cost was immense: it would erase all cultivation in Jadeheart, rendering every cultivator powerless. It was a localized, controlled version of Arthan's grand purge, but without the mass death or the primordial reabsorption.
He presented his plan to the cult leaders. Their eyes, already knowing, grew wide with a mixture of reverence and terror.
"This is the way of the ancient ones," the cult leader whispered, examining the shard. "To return power to its source, to unmake what has been made. But know this, wanderer. Such an act… a direct, fundamental alteration of the karmic flow itself… it might summon a primordial."
Elias met the cult leader's gaze, his own resolute. He knew the risk. He knew the ultimate price. He had seen the terrifying gaze of the primordial through Mei Lin's vision. He was no longer afraid of judgment, only of failure.
"Let it come," Elias stated, his voice firm, unwavering. "Let it come. If this is the price for saving what remains, then I will pay it. I will face whatever judgment awaits me."
His plan was set. The final act of the Accountant, a brutal, ultimate calculation to rebalance a broken world. He would use the primordial shard, sacrifice all cultivation, and face the consequences, alone.