Chapter 144: A Way, But Not Yet Known

Julian held his ground as both hollow figures drew back into perfect, synchronized readiness, dread and grim, exhausted calculation both warring hard in his chest.

[Host,] the System said, urgency cutting sharp through its usual clipped tone. [The choice is yours now. This unit cannot determine the correct path with certainty.]

’then give me something,’ Julian thought, desperate and focused all at once, fan held steady despite the trembling exhaustion beginning to pull at his arms. ’anything. what happens if I fight them properly. what happens if I don’t.’

[If host engages both simultaneously with full lethal intent, this unit assesses a viable probability of neutralizing them, though the cost to host’s own reserves would be severe given the ongoing battle’s demands elsewhere. However—]

’however what.’

[Both individuals retain their original physical forms. Their combat memory, muscle patterns, and residual biological structure remain intact despite the loss of independent cognition. This unit theorizes there may exist a method to sever whatever control currently binds them to the entity, restoring some fragment of autonomy, rather than simply destroying what remains of them entirely.]

Julian’s breath caught, something sharp and desperate cutting through the horror still churning in his chest. ’you’re saying they could come back. that this isn’t necessarily permanent.’

[This unit cannot confirm that with certainty,] the System said carefully. [The theory remains unverified. This unit has no established method for actually achieving such a severance, only the hypothesis that one may exist, given that both individuals were, at one point, capable of independent thought and choice before the entity’s intervention.]

’a way, but you don’t know what it is,’ Julian thought, frustration and fragile, desperate hope tangling together painfully.

[Correct. This unit apologizes for the incomplete answer. Given the immediate combat pressure, this unit recommends host make a decision quickly regardless of the uncertainty.]

Julian’s eyes flicked between the two hollow figures, still poised and waiting, patient in a way that carried nothing resembling actual patience, simply mechanical stillness awaiting the next command. He thought of Xavier’s raw, desperate fear the night of his fever, the possessive warmth twisted and cruel but undeniably, complicatedly present. He thought of Ian’s cold, careful calculation, the quiet, uneasy partnership he’d once proposed. Both men had been monsters, in their own ways. Both had also, somewhere beneath the cruelty, been people — grieving, broken, shaped by tragedy neither had ever chosen for themselves.

’I’m not killing them,’ Julian decided, resolve settling hard and absolute despite the risk it clearly carried. ’not if there’s even a fraction of a chance they’re still in there somewhere.’

"Reid," Julian called out, voice sharp with urgency, "I need you to hold the horde back. don’t engage these two directly. whatever happens next, I need space to work."

Reid’s jaw tightened, clearly hating the instruction even as he processed it. "Julian, if they’re not holding back the way you said—"

"I know," Julian said. "I’ll manage it. just buy me the room."

Reid hesitated a fraction of a second longer before nodding sharply, turning to redirect his focus toward the surrounding rogues instead, shouting orders to the nearby Elite Academy Sentinels to reinforce the perimeter around the strange, isolated confrontation.

Julian turned back toward Xavier and Ian, fan lowering slightly despite every instinct screaming against the vulnerability of the gesture. "I don’t know what that thing did to you," he said, voice carrying clear and steady despite the grief still cracking beneath it. "but I don’t believe there’s nothing left. I refuse to believe that."

Neither figure responded, watching him with the same vacant, patient stillness.

Julian closed his eyes briefly, reaching for the same instinct that had summoned the fan, the sword, every strange and vast capability that had settled into him since his own transformation, searching now for something entirely different — not a weapon, but a question, a probe, something that might reach past the entity’s absolute control and find whatever fragile, buried remnant still existed beneath it.

[Host. Unknown function detected activating. This unit did not authorize or anticipate this development.]

’I’m not asking permission,’ Julian thought, focus narrowing entirely onto the two hollow figures now, power gathering slow and deliberate at his fingertips, deep violet-blue light pulsing steady and searching rather than sharp and offensive. ’I’m trying to find them.’

The light extended outward, brushing first against Xavier’s hollow form, and Julian felt something strange and immediate register through the connection — layers upon layers of cold, absolute control, wrapped so thoroughly around whatever remained beneath that finding any actual trace of the man himself felt like searching for a single ember buried under an avalanche of ash.

But it was there. Faint. Buried impossibly deep. But there.

"Xavier," Julian said quietly, pouring every scrap of certainty he could manage into the single word. "I know you’re still in there. somewhere."

The hollow figure’s expression didn’t change, didn’t flicker, didn’t show any sign the words had registered at all. But somewhere beneath the surface, in whatever fragile connection Julian’s strange, searching power had established, something shifted, faint and uncertain, like a single candle flame guttering weak against an overwhelming wind.

"resistance detected," Ian’s hollow voice said suddenly, flat and mechanical, though something in the words carried a new, sharper edge now. "cease immediately."

Julian didn’t stop, pushing harder, pouring more of his rapidly depleting reserves into the fragile, searching connection despite the System’s urgent warnings flashing bright through his mind.

[Host. Reserves dropping rapidly. This unit strongly recommends caution—]

’not yet,’ Julian thought back, desperate and unwavering. ’I felt something. I’m not stopping now.’

Xavier’s hollow form twitched suddenly, violent and unexpected, a low, garbled sound tearing loose from his throat that carried nothing of the flat, mechanical obedience from moments earlier — something raw, something almost pained, buried deep but undeniably, achingly present.

"Julian," the voice managed, cracked and broken and utterly unlike anything the hollow figure had spoken before, "run—"

Then it cut off entirely, Xavier’s expression smoothing back into blank, empty stillness as quickly as the crack had appeared, and both figures surged forward at once, faster and more violent now, the earlier restraint apparently abandoned entirely in the wake of whatever brief, fragile resistance Julian had just managed to provoke.