"Brace for impact!" Elias screamed, his fingers flying across the glowing tactical console.The hull of the Sun-Spear flagship groaned as a violent shudder ripped through the metal plates beneath their feet. Red warning lights bathed the bridge in a bloody, rhythmic pulse."Forward shields are down to thirty percent!" Aria-Ra called out, her voice taut with a panic she rarely showed. "The fog... it's not just blocking our sensors. It's eating the hull!"Li Xuan gripped the edge of the tactical table, his knuckles turning white. Through the massive reinforced viewing glass, the Andromeda Gate was barely visible, drowned in a thick, swirling violet haze that seemed to swallow the light of the stars."Can we jump?" Li Xuan asked, his voice cutting through the klaxons."No!" Elias shot back, wiping sweat from his forehead. "The gravity wells are fluctuating wildly. If we try to warp now, the drive will turn us into cosmic dust!""We have to try

The mindless footsteps of the corrupted crew suddenly halted in the corridor outside.Before the blank-eyed soldiers could breach the cargo bay doors, a violent, bone-rattling shudder threw Li Xuan sideways, slamming his shoulder against the warped metal wall. The steel plates beneath their boots shrieked as if the ship itself were being torn in half. Instantly, the oppressive, silent fog of the stasis shattered, dispersed by the sudden, harsh wail of red emergency klaxons."Xuan!" Elias’s voice erupted through the comms, breathless and raw with panic. "We are under attack! Multiple massive warp signatures just dropped out of the void right on top of our logistics vessels! They are tearing us apart!"The sudden surge of adrenaline broke the last traces of the Unmaker’s pull. The blankness in the eyes of the approaching crew evaporated, replaced by sudden confusion and fear as they blinked and clutched their heads."Get these men to their stations!" Li Xua

"Hold on!" Li Xuan screamed, slamming his palms against the airlock's emergency manual override.The metal floor buckled beneath them, throwing Elias against the steel bulkhead with a dull clang. The ship's frame shrieked, a high-pitched metallic wail that vibrated right through the soles of their boots."The grav-pull is spiking!" Elias choked out, scrambling to his feet and pulling his heavy helmet off. "We're being dragged backward! Xuan, we have to get to the bridge now!""Keep moving!" Li Xuan yelled, grabbing Elias's arm to steady him. "Don't let the gravity lock pin you down!"They sprinted through the trembling corridors, the walls groaning under immense tidal forces. Sparks showered from the ceiling like dying stars as they burst through the pneumatic doors of the command deck."Aria-Ra! Status!" Li Xuan roared, grabbing the nearest handrail to keep his balance.Aria-Ra didn't an

"It's looking at us," Lin Yue whispered, her hand tightening around Li Xuan's cold fingers as the ship's emergency power began to fade into total darkness.The void outside was a solid, suffocating wall. The colossal eye of the Unmaker remained fixed on them, its silent gaze stripping away their breath, their warmth, and their very thoughts."Elias!" Li Xuan rasped, coughing up a small trace of dark blood. "Tell me we have power.""Working on it!" Elias yelled from across the pitch-black bridge. "The main relays are fried from your blast! I'm bypassing the secondary coupling now!""We need to move," Lin Yue said, her voice shaking as she held Li Xuan up. "The seed's explosion cleared the outer defense grid, but it won't stay open for long.""I know," Li Xuan muttered, clutching his chest. His meridians felt like they were filled with crushed glass, a burning agony that pulsed with every beat of his heart. "Elias, hurry. If they close the gap, we're trapped.""Got it! Come on, you piec

Li Xuan hit the cold deck of the transport shuttle, his breath escaping him in a ragged gasp."Xuan! Hey, look at me!" Elias shouted, his hands slamming onto Li Xuan’s shoulders. "Your heart rate is dropping to thirty! Talk to me!""The oracle..." Li Xuan wheezed, his fingers clawing at his chest. "Long Chen. He’s... he’s in my head, Elias.""The old man? Now?" Elias looked around the cramped, rattling cabin of the transport shuttle as it pulled away from the ruined hull of the Shadow-Claw. "We just cleared the damn path! We don't have time for a cosmic ghost story!""It’s not a story," Li Xuan whispered.Before Elias could reply, the metal walls of the shuttle began to fade. The smell of ozone and burnt wiring evaporated, replaced by a deep, terrifying silence. The physical world dissolved into a vast, empty expanse of fractured silver and gold constellations.Li Xuan stood in the center of the astral void.