Now here’s a thought: Mercy was always the first to betray God. Way back when they set up their labs as trials, before leaving the First House, presumably very soon after ascending—John asked them to make the trials so that someday somebody else could follow in their footsteps and Mercy intentionally made hers impossible to complete. It is after all acknowledged by Harrow and Cytherea that the trial is a work of extreme skill and precision, but Palamedes believes it’s impossible and I believe him; it’s hard to imagine Mercy getting the math wrong. If it wasn’t for Gideon’s supernatural resistance to dying, the avulsion trial would bar all who attempt it from the eighth piece of the work and ensure that no lyctors came after. Indeed, it would kill all those who attempted it but I’m sure she considered that a…mercy (boo).