The three remaining demons dragged their extraction chain toward the crater, but the black brand beneath Cessy's chest answered before their bodies moved.
A dark ring appeared through her material skin, carrying the same audit authority that had marked her crossing portion before she reached the Last City.
Vella's gold tightened around Cessy's safe branches, though the new brand formed outside every treatment path beneath the foreign route.
Cessy stared down at the black ring while one demon pulled its chain toward the mark beneath the remaining route.
"It found my return line," she said. "The route wants to use me as its first handle."
Lucan stepped beside her, keeping his damaged throat away from the demon's rebuilt rope while Vella held the nearby treatment branch.
"That brand is the report's proof," he said. "If you destroy it, the Underworld loses the clean road back to your body."
