CHAPTER 40: UNBROKEN

Trivia clutched her bleeding neck, fingers trembling. Her usual calm, sinister aura cracked for the first time.

Black blood oozed between her fingertips, sizzling where it hit the cursed floor.

"You—" She hissed, backing away as the crowd of Voidlings gasped and murmured among themselves.

Hermes stood tall, eyes glowing faintly. His system buzzed in his head, the words appearing with cold certainty.

[You have stolen the Trivia Ability.

Class: S

Duration: 56 minutes and 28 seconds

Strength: 81%]

He stepped forward. "Surrender."

Trivia’s hand shot up, fingers forming a strange sigil midair.

"Tri-forma—"

But the words died on her tongue. Her mouth contorted with effort, but no incantation followed. Her voice had no power anymore. The spell fizzled into empty silence.

She looked horrified.

"I said surrender." Hermes repeated. "Or I’ll curse your heart to stop."

Trivia stared at him, chest heaving. Then unexpectedly.... she laughed. Not mocking, not cruel.

Just tired.

"You really are his opposite..." she whispered.

Hermes blinked. "Whose?"

But instead of answering, she sat. On the cursed floor, cross-legged, bleeding and still. The Voidlings around them recoiled slightly, unsure if this was part of another spell. But Trivia’s voice was calm, wistful even.

"There was once a girl." She began. "Who found beauty in threes. Everything had to be in threes. Her pens, her steps, her prayers. People called her strange. Teachers mocked her. Students pushed her down the stairs. Her parents pleaded for her to stop. She didn’t."

Hermes stayed silent, watching.

"The girl started speaking in threes. Not for drama. It was just how she thought—how she understood the world. Then one day, a curse slipped. Three lines."

She recites the curse by heart, as if she had never been able to forget it since that faithful day.

"Three steps held by silent thread,

Eyes unwept and words unsaid,

Time forgets what once had fled."

She had a genuine look of guilt on her face. "Her parents... they stopped moving. Frozen. Forever. Mid-sentence."

She looked at her bloodied hand, dazed.

"At that time, she didn’t know she could undo them. So she ran. Lived on the street. Slept beneath trains. Ate from bins. The police came for her one day. They came in threes, like everything else. That felt fitting. She was only thirteen."

Hermes’ stomach tightened.

"One and three. One girl alone. Three choices before her. Serve the people who called her a monster, and hope they’d love her. Suppress everything, live quietly in prison and wait to rot. Or..." She looked up, eyes empty. "Enter the rift. The place people feared more than her."

There was no theatrics in her tone.

Only a soft acceptance.

Hermes walked toward her, cautious. "And you chose the Void."

"I did." She looked around at her followers, who were still listening in tense silence. "And here... I wasn’t punished for how I spoke. For what I could do. Here, I was seen. I was not just one, but part of many. Of a family that understood my eccentricities, my rules of three."

Hermes knelt down beside her. The heat from the room pulsed faintly around them.

"I understand why you’re angry." He said. "I do. People like us... They look at us and decide whether we’re Threats or Heroes before they know anything. And they never bother to ask why."

She tilted her head at him.

"But that’s why I’m doing this," Hermes said. "To prove that it doesn’t have to stay that way. That Voidlings, humans, Threats, anyone... We don’t have to be labeled and caged. We can be better."

He extended a hand.

Trivia stared at it. The blood from her neck had slowed, though it still stained her collar.

"I’m not asking for forgiveness," Hermes said. "I’m offering hope. I’ll make this system better. I’ll show the world it doesn’t have to be afraid of us. Of you."

There was a long silence.

Then Trivia said. "You talk like someone who hasn’t been broken yet."

Hermes flinched.

"I used to believe things like that." She added. "Back when I was still trying to ’earn’ love. As if we’re supposed to prove our worth to people who were born free of needing to."

She didn’t take his hand. She stood on her own, slow and regal despite the blood.

"I will lift the curse." She said. "Not for Eirwyn’s sake. But because I honor the culture of this world that has accepted me. You have defeated me fairly. Even if you did not, I am bound still as I accepted your challenge."

Hermes nodded. He didn’t push her further.

Trivia walked to the center of the chamber, where a massive circle of threes—triangles inside triangles—glowed on the ground.

"Repeat after me, since you have my powers."

Hermes nodded, and copied her movements.

She extended both hands, took a shaky breath, and spoke:

"Uncoil the thread from bone to breath,

Let twisted roots unwind from death,

Restore the path the sole once left."

Hermes repeated these words solemnly, his mind flashing on Eirwyn’s twisted ankle as he did.

The circle flashed, then faded.

[Curse Signature "Eirwyn.165" has been removed.] His system reported.

Hermes felt the pulse of energy vanish into the air.

The Voidlings murmured, confused and uncertain.

Trivia looked at him. "You should leave before my power returns. I might not feel as merciful."

"I’m not sure you’ve ever been merciful. You did have Grrberus set out traps for anyone who tried to enter here." Hermes said softly.

She didn’t reply to that, but there was a hint of a smile on her lips from that jab.

As he turned away to leave, her voice called out one last time.

"I hope the world doesn’t break you, Hermes."

He paused. "I am not so easily broken."

The chamber doors opened as Magni peeked inside, munching on a candied eyeball.

"Well, that looked intense." He said brightly. "How do you feel, Brother Modi? You won your first duel with all limbs intact! Should I start the victory fanfare?"

"Not now, Magni."

Magni threw an arm around him anyway. "You were incredible, by the way. A real cosmic showman. I got teary when you bit her."

Hermes allowed a tired smile. "Let’s go."

They left the turret behind. The curse had been lifted.

But Hermes’ heart was heavier than before.

Because for the first time, he wasn’t sure who the real monsters were.

And something in Trivia’s words clung to his ribs like frost, making his chest feel cold and heavy:

"You talk like someone who hasn’t been broken yet."

That’s not fair at all, as he had been broken down many times in his life. He was bullied and tormented for 8 months after all. But soon...

He will realize what she truly meant by that.