Anton uses remoralization on himself

Anton Gorodetsky's climactic act on the roof is not a display of power against an enemy but a radical, self-directed remoralization—a spell that turns the borrowed joy of strangers into a weapon aimed at his own soul. By using every scrap of energy he had gathered from passersby to cleanse himself of the temptation to act, he chooses the most difficult path for a Light Magician: deliberate, principled inaction.

The Gathering of Power

In the hours before the confrontation, Anton walked through Moscow deliberately drawing power from the happiness of ordinary people—a practice Light Magicians normally avoid because it diminishes the joy they take. He took from a couple parting at the metro entrance, from a child running for ice cream, from an old woman visited by her grandson, from a pregnant woman and her unborn child, from a drunken factory worker slumped in an alley. Each theft was a small act of violence against the very people he was sworn to protect, and he knew that the balance of his account would have to be settled with absolute certainty. The power he accumulated was immense, described as a fountain of rainbow light containing the spectral blossoms of all those stolen joys: scarlet roses, pale-pink peonies, yellow asters, white daisies, and almost black orchids.

The Moment of Choice

On the roof, as a hurricane raged and Svetlana stood poised with the Chalk of Destiny over the Book of Destiny, Anton faced a triple temptation. He could use his gathered power to stop the hurricane, saving thousands of lives—a clear second-level intervention he had been granted the right to perform by Zabulon. He could use it to force Svetlana to abandon her task, or to rewrite Egor's destiny himself. Boris Ignatievich urged him to stop the storm, warning that people would be killed. Zabulon watched with mocking sympathy, having already calculated that any use of the power would serve the Dark Ones' purposes. But Anton understood that every option presented to him was a trap: any intervention, however good, would set in motion consequences he could not foresee and would ultimately serve the game being played above his head.

The Self-Directed Spell

Instead of directing the power outward, Anton raised his hands toward the sky and then slowly, deliberately, turned the fountain of rainbow light toward his own face. He performed a remoralization without any limiting conditions—a spell that normally cleanses others of evil intent, here applied to himself. The act was witnessed by Gesar, who shouted "Don't do that! Don't you dare!" and by Zabulon, whose howl of "No!" drowned out the hurricane. The Dark Magician rushed toward Anton but was blocked by Gesar, who understood too late what was happening. Anton used every last drop of the borrowed power on himself, leaving nothing to stop the storm, nothing to change Egor's destiny, nothing to influence Svetlana's choice.

The Meaning of the Act

Anton's self-remoralization was not a surrender but a refusal to play the game. He had earlier told Svetlana that "sometimes the most important thing isn't to do something. Sometimes it's more important to not do anything." By cleansing himself of the accumulated power, he removed himself as a piece on the chessboard. He could no longer be used by Gesar's grand plan, nor by Zabulon's counter-scheme. The spell left him feeling "incredibly light" and broke the invisible wall that had always separated him from Svetlana. When she asked why he had wasted his second-level magic on himself instead of bringing happiness to thousands, he explained: "In order to avoid making a mistake." The act forced Svetlana to decide for herself, without advice from anyone—and she chose to erase Egor's destiny rather than rewrite it, a decision that ultimately served Olga's secret rehabilitation rather than the public plan.

Thematic Significance

Anton's self-remoralization represents a radical rejection of the utilitarian ethics that govern the Watches. Throughout the novel, both Light and Dark magicians justify terrible acts by appealing to greater goods—the balance of power, the prevention of catastrophe, the advancement of their cause. Anton's choice to do nothing, to use his power only on himself, asserts that the individual's moral integrity matters more than any calculation of outcomes. It is an existential act of authenticity, a refusal to be complicit in the endless cycle of manipulation and sacrifice that defines the war between Light and Darkness. The spell leaves him vulnerable, stripped of borrowed strength, but also free—free to love Svetlana without the burden of destiny, free to face the consequences of his choice without the comfort of having done visible good.