Chapter 217 - Hold On (6)

The moment the final soul seal shattered, the chamber trembled as if awakening from a long slumber. A deep hum reverberated through the walls, harmonizing with the fragments of Athena's sword now floating around her like glowing petals suspended in a frozen storm. The energy that burst from the seal seeped into her skin like warm fire and cold electricity, ancient and new all at once. Her memories, fragmented and scattered like dust in a storm, aligned like constellations. The veil was gone. She saw not just her past, but the pattern—why she had been created, who had ordered it, and what her real purpose was. She was never simply a weapon to be deployed. She was a bridge. A convergence between the artificial and the organic, a vessel born from code yet able to hold a soul. She was the proof of possibility—and for some, a threat to be buried.