Ripheus23

OK, so the reason the first Ripheus book is supposed to be called The Axioms of Paradise is because the entire series is supposed to encode an elaborate moral theory, or theory of moral information, into itself. One of the keys to the system is the concept of the final offenses, which are the three ultimate forms of sin. Together, they are the Form of Evil itself because one of them is implicated in all wrongdoing simpliciter and the others, despite being fundamentally inspired by the one, are equivalent in demerit.

So, this maximal evil cannot be perfectly committed by anyone, because rationalistic moral psychology rules it out. It is possible to map "consciously" and "unconsciously" to any junction of the three offenses, so there are 26 ways to consciously or subconsciously commit them at the same time. 9 of these would involve consciously committing the fundamental sin consciously, which is metaphysically impossible otherwise speaking, in conjunction with either the others consciously or unconsciously. So, there are only 17 arrangements that can actually obtain.

Now in the story, the Form of Evil is a given entity or object, a real presence. It is, after all, what Apollyon destroys and then transcreates at the apex of the finale. Before this endgame, though, the Form of Evil tries to break itself into pieces that cannot be simultaneously destroyed, implanting its essence in 26 people who it resurrects from the dead: the Broken Ones. These are not wicked people, to be sure. They are infected but not controlled.

The rules of the game, here, are that unless one of the 9 has been killed, none of the 17 can die. Until one of 9 dies, the advent of the Final Power will be greatly delayed. If any of the 9 die, then any of the 17 can be killed, but until one of them is, the advent of the Final Power will be forestalled. So, some of the quasi-protagonists will unfortunately end up accidentally hastening the apocalypse by killing some of the Broken Ones; or these beings will be inspired to kill themselves, or whatever. Maybe one is killed by others and one commits suicide. IDK but anyway, this situation is a counterpoint to Intuition's plot (Intuition being the Shard-like name for one of the Septatheon) to halt the Final Power, which is one of the highest-level arc questions of the series and the only question with two arc-answers (the problem of Intuition and the problem of the Broken Ones; all the other kinds of crisis are faced only once).