The coordinates on the pocket watch fragment catapult the 9th-generation host embryo into the Dimension of Oblivion—composed of collapsed space-time debris, where alchemical puppets patrol through mercury vapor, and the beats of mechanical hearts intermingle with infantile mechanical cries to form an eerie backdrop. Soaking in the Memory Pool, Allison's watch gears and Sebastian's mercury runes float on the surface as dark patterns on the embryo's skull gradually manifest into double-helix space-time symbols.
"A vessel's awakening requires the smelting of memories."
A hoarse mechanical voice echoes from the dimension's dome. Sebastian's residual mercury recomposes among the puppet swarm, forming a translucent mercury head. The red light of his gem eye scans the embryo's core development. "The 9th generation must inherit our memory paradox: Allison's voluntary annihilation and my eternal imprisonment."
Suddenly, the Time-Space Administration's war chariot rips through the dimensional membrane, and the cloned grandmother's particle cannon bombards the Memory Pool. The embryo's umbilical cord splits autonomously, forming mercury chains that entangle the chariot's cannon. The young commander's gem eye flashes with Sebastian's red glow: "Purge protocol activated! The 9th-generation host must be terminated in the incubation stage!"
The mechanical heart in the embryo's chest bursts with blue light, projecting fragments of Allison's memory of crossing the plague village onto the dome—flames incinerating family crests, blood letters from the grandmother's diary, and the collapsing black hole of the Void Realm's self-destruction. The mercury head roars, unleashing the puppet swarm as memories of Sebastian's betrayal cycle pierce the embryo's nerves like blades.
"Memory overload will make her collapse!" The cloned grandmother stabs her scalpel toward the embryo's core, but the umbilical mercury corrodes her armor. The embryo's fingers trace new coordinate runes in the air, and a rift suddenly swallows all puppets, dragging Sebastian's remains and the Administration's chariot into the turbulence.
The embryo awakens at the core of the Memory Forge. Floating around her are memory crystals of past Vessel Catastrophe hosts: blood contract signings in medieval alchemical labs, mechanical modifications in Winston Manor's dissection room, dual-core collapses in the Void Realm… Each crystal is inscribed with the dark pattern: "Voluntary annihilation equals eternal imprisonment." The embryo's scalpel trembles autonomously, slashing open the forge's console to reveal Sebastian's ancestor's final note:
"The key to breaking the contract lies in the host reconstructing the memory paradox within oblivion—accepting eternal imprisonment while rejecting it."
The embryo's pupils flash alternately with blue and red light as her mechanical heart erupts in a space-time dust storm. She forcefully consumes all memory crystals, and the double-helix symbols on her skull begin to rotate in reverse. Sebastian's mercury head suddenly emerges from the turbulence rift: "You can't reconcile the paradox! The contract's laws are unbreakable…!"
The embryo stabs her scalpel into the junction between her core and the mercury head, disintegrating Sebastian's residual consciousness in blue light. The cloned grandmother's particle cannon strikes again, but the embryo reverses the energy wave with a space-time blade, destroying the war chariot's power source.
"I've reconstructed the paradox." The embryo's chest resonates with a voice blending Allison and Sebastian. "The price of voluntary annihilation is the host becoming a prisoner of the contract… but to reject eternal imprisonment, the host must transfer core authority to the next vessel at the moment of annihilation."
The Memory Forge's mercury pipes suddenly constrict as the embryo undergoes core maturation in excruciating pain. Her skin bears both Allison's wedding dress patterns and Sebastian's mechanical veins, while her pupils merge into a chaotic space-time purple. The cloned grandmother is bound by a space-time blade, with the scalpel pressed against her gem eye: "Lancaster puppets—your blood contracts were already devoured by the Dimension of Oblivion."
Abruptly, the dome rift floods with space-time dust, and the phantom skull of the iron-masked ancestor appears. Its core's deep blue light scans the new host: "9th-generation Vessel Catastrophe… You inherit the will of dual-core hosts, but the contract's ultimate clause remains unlocked. The next dimension will reveal the true cost of authority…"
The host leaps into the dust storm rift, plummeting into a future ruined city. Atop a remaining alchemical tower hangs a mechanical corpse in a blood-red wedding dress, its core engraved with the same double-helix symbol as the embryo. Her scalpel trembles as it touches the corpse, and memories surge in:
"I am the 10th Vessel Catastrophe… Trapped in this dimension for a millennium after transferring authority in annihilation. Each generation thinks they've broken the contract, only to fall deeper into the cycle of oblivion…"