Beneath the sky of Aethelgard, which was being torn apart by Bael's mass of darkness, a major secret finally shattered. Silas, crawling out from the ruins of the Tower, looked at Rainnes with a gaze filled with profound guilt.
"Forgive me, Anne... Caine..." Silas's voice trembled. "All this time, I let you believe that Rainnes was part of the Vaine bloodline. But she is not your sister."
The Truth About Rainnes Joui
The world seemed to stop spinning for Caine, who was monitoring the data. Rainnes froze, her hand still holding the steam shield slowly lowering.
"She is Project Zero Frequency," Silas continued. "Rainnes was found inside one of The Lesser Key isolation chambers during the first mine expansion. She is a pure entity created by the Ancient Tower to serve as a counterbalance to the 72 demons. Your mother found her and brought her home, gave her the name Joui, and hid her within our family so the Church wouldn't turn her into a weapon."
"So..." Rainnes whispered, tears falling down her cheeks. "I'm not human? I'm not your sister?"
Anne, despite her body shaking from energy depletion, looked at Rainnes with unchanging affection. "You are my sister because I chose you, Rainnes. Not because of blood, but because of a promise."
The Conductor's Sacrifice
Bael roared above, beginning to draw energy from the entire city to open the gates for the other 72 entities. The ground shook violently. The Solomon Protocol began to crack. Caine shouted through the transmission that the system wouldn't hold for more than two minutes without a supply of pure energy.
Anne stood up with the last of her strength. She knew what had to be done.
"Caine, connect every transmission tower directly to my silver circuit nervous system," Anne commanded calmly.
"Anne, don't! It will burn you alive!" Caine fired back in panic. "Your circuits weren't designed to carry the entire electrical and steam load of a city!"
"Only I can be the anchor for Rainnes," Anne replied. She glanced at Rainnes. "Rainnes, you are the balance. If I am the cable, you must be the key. We will close this gate together."
The Final Step
Anne walked toward the resonance center in the palace square. She thrust both her hands into the glowing steam core. Instantly, a blinding gold light exploded, but this time it was mixed with a painful silver hue.
Her hair turned completely white. Her skin began to crack, emitting a brilliant light as if her body were slowly transforming into pure energy.
"Harold! Watch over them!" Anne screamed as her body began to lift into the air, merging with the Solomon Protocol network.
Anne sacrificed her physical existence to become a Living Conductor Grid. She was no longer just a human; she became a part of the machine she had built herself. With Anne acting as an infinite power source, Rainnes felt her power multiply. The "Sister" raised her hands to the sky, emitting a destructive frequency that began to obliterate Bael's darkness from the inside out.