"perseverance" is the standard noun from "persevere," which would be a problem here; the context w/ "unhinged" seems to indicate a (temporarily) pathological behavior, and the continuation provided in #9 corroborates that.
The relevant sense of “perseveration” is defined by OED:
“2. Psychology. The involuntary repetition or continuance of an action, thought, or utterance after the removal or alteration of the stimulus which prompted it, often as a result of brain damage.”
OED’s most recent example sentence defines it in a sense that seems to be indicated in the OP:
“2001 Wired Dec. 181/1 In the diagnostic lexicon, this kind of relentless behavior is called ‘perseveration’.”
That said, though, I’m not convinced it was accidentally switched by a reader into “preservation” (on the other hand, “perseverance” would definitely not have been mistaken for “preservation”!).
But at the end of the day, I think #3 is right: a contrast w/ “destruction.” Precisely its being unhinged is what makes it difficult even for the reader to grasp it in that sense.
(If I were translating this for the market I'd translate "preservation" and add as a marginal query "Or was 'perseveration' intended?")
