The lance of blue energy tore through the tunnel like a verdict delivered by the System itself. Adrian remained on his knees, refusing to look away as the beam raced toward his heart. At the final instant, Quantum Rejection surged in a last, desperate flare. The silver-gray field met the attack with everything he had left, warping the energy just enough to divert its core away from his chest. The beam grazed his shoulder instead, burning a deep channel through muscle and bone. Pain exploded across his body, white-hot and blinding, but he stayed conscious.Elara stood frozen after releasing the strike, her assimilated form trembling as conflicting signals warred inside her. The corruption wave had reached them fully now, swirling around her ankles like living smoke. It fed power directly into her systems, reinforcing Unity’s hold while simultaneously tearing at the last fragments of her original self.Kael phased through the chaos, emerging at Adrian’s side. He dropped to his knees and

The sphere struck Adrian's chest with the force of a collapsing star. For one frozen instant, everything went silent. No sound of battle, no roar of the corruption wave, only the overwhelming pressure of System authority trying to erase him from existence. Quantum Rejection flared in response, but this time it felt different, deeper, more primal. The silver-gray energy didn't just deflect the attack. It absorbed it, pulling the blue-white power into itself like a black hole claiming light.Adrian's body convulsed as the new stage of his ability awakened. Absolute Rejection. The evolution burned through his veins, rewriting limits he didn't know existed. Pain beyond anything he had experienced tore through him, but it came with clarity. He saw the code beneath reality, the invisible strings connecting Elara to Unity, the corruption wave feeding from the distant Eclipse Spire.He pushed back.The sphere reversed direction, exploding outward in a shockwave that hurled Elara backward into

Elara’s hand descended with mechanical certainty, the concentrated point of blue energy aimed directly at Adrian’s heart. The assimilated form showed no hesitation, no flicker of the woman who had once whispered promises in the dark. Only Unity’s cold directive remained, driving her forward like a perfectly calibrated weapon.Adrian watched the strike approach, his body too drained to mount a full defense. Absolute Rejection flickered weakly around him, a dying ember against the overwhelming tide. He did not raise his pipe. Instead, he met her glowing eyes and held her gaze, refusing to look away from what she had become.The energy point pierced his skin just below the collarbone, burning through muscle and scraping against bone. Pain erupted in a white-hot flood, but he remained conscious, his free hand gripping her wrist to slow the thrust. Blood welled around the wound, soaking his shirt further as the corruption tried to spread through the contact.Kael phased through the space b

The sphere hurtled downward like a falling star, its surface crackling with the combined might of the corruption wave and the Eclipse Spire’s distant core. Adrian stood at the center of the conduit chamber, his body a ruin of blood and exhaustion, yet something primal stirred within him. Absolute Rejection Stage 3 awakened not as a shield, but as a storm. The silver-gray energy erupted outward in a violent cascade, meeting the sphere mid-flight. The collision unleashed a shockwave that shattered nearby consoles and sent cracks racing across the chamber walls.Adrian felt the new power tear through him like liquid fire. It absorbed the sphere’s energy, converted it, and redirected it back toward the source. The feedback nearly brought him to his knees, but he held firm, channeling the surge into a focused counter. The redirected blast struck Elara’s assimilated form, lifting her off the ground and slamming her against the far wall. Concrete fractured on impact, but she rose almost imme

The station's outer shields cracked with a sound like breaking ice. Blue energy seeped through the fissures, spreading across the reinforced walls in thin, hungry veins. The corruption wave had found its path, slow but unstoppable, drawn by the residual signal from the distant Spire. Adrian stood at the center of the command area, his body protesting every movement as he helped secure the final barricades. The new stage of Absolute Rejection pulsed unevenly beneath his skin, a volatile force that threatened to consume him if pushed too far.Kael moved along the perimeter, phasing through sections of wall to reinforce weak points from within. “The wave is adapting to the crystalline arrays. We can slow it, but not stop it entirely.”Sylas anchored gravity fields at the main entrance, compressing the air into dense barriers that pushed back the leading edge. Her face showed the strain, lines of fatigue etched deep. “The secondary conduits are holding for now. We have perhaps twenty minu