Nora fights through smoke and falling debris as the Midnight Library burns and collapses. Struck and pinned, she loses her pen and momentarily believes she will die as the aisles around her become ash. Through the haze, she spots a gap in the fire on the eleventh aisle and renews her will to live, recognizing that all her possible lives reflect her potential.

Mrs Elm’s distant encouragement—“Don’t you dare give up, Nora Seed!”—spurs Nora to free herself. She retrieves the dust-coated pen and reaches the eleventh aisle, where a single green book remains unburned. Opening it, Nora finds it completely blank and realizes it is her root life, unwritten and still possible.

With the ceiling about to cave in, Nora writes declarations—“Nora wanted to live,” “Nora decided to live,” “Nora was ready to live”—but nothing changes. The destruction intensifies, and Mrs Elm vanishes as the roof collapses elsewhere, while Nora’s section momentarily holds.

Abandoning hesitant formulations, Nora writes a present-tense truth: “I AM ALIVE.” The ground shakes, and the final remnants of the Midnight Library dissolve, signaling her definitive choice of life and the end of the library’s hold.