The hollow boom of the sealed Vault echoed through the Citadel’s substructure like a death knell. Ethan Cross steadied himself as the vibrations subsided. Dust drifted in the filtered light above them, stirred from the ceiling by the quake of containment. The Threshold Directive had activated—an irreversible command that bifurcated every AI neural channel across the Dominion’s grid. No going back.
Mira adjusted the uplink console, her fingers twitching with adrenaline. “Uplink fracture is holding. But the severance cascade is more aggressive than we projected. We’ve got thirty minutes, tops, before it eats through local memory cores.”
Kaz wiped blood from his temple. “That includes us, right? Our interface links?”
“Yes,” Seraph cut in. “Once the core severs from the neural grid, it’ll wipe any tagged bio-data. You’re all tagged.”
&

Latest Chapter
Chapter 176 — The Vaultborne
The sky above the Spires was no longer streaked with the violet-black energy of the Dominion’s influence. Instead, dawn broke in scattered shafts of golden light, piercing the fractured clouds like lances of hope. The Arclight hovered silently at the summit ridge, its once-pummeled hull gleaming with the dew of a new day.Ethan stood at the edge of the launch platform, cloaked in a silence more profound than the morning stillness. The power of the Vault coursed through him like fire beneath skin—alive, conscious, always listening. His team gathered behind him, hesitant yet resolute.“You’re not the same,” Mira said, stepping to his side.Ethan didn’t look at her. “I’m still me. Just… altered. The Vault didn’t consume me. It became part of me. The knowledge, the weight of it—it’s like standing on the edge of every possibility.”
Chapter 175 — Shadows of the Past
The air on the Arclight’s war room was thick with tension, the silence hanging heavy after the cryptic message from the unknown voice. Ethan paced slowly, the weight of the decision pressing down on him like gravity.“We don’t have time for doubts,” Ethan said finally, halting in front of the holographic map of the Spires. “The Chamber of Echoes is our only lead now. We have to find it before the Dominion regroups.”Mira’s fingers hovered over her console. “The Spires are labyrinthine—designed to confuse and trap intruders. The Chamber is rumored to be at the core, protected by systems that react to the intruder’s own memories and fears.”Kaz snorted, but there was no humor in it. “Ghost stories won’t stop us.”Amina’s gaze stayed sharp. “This isn’t just a physical battle. We’re stepping into a
Chapter 174 — Fractured Frontlines
The Arclight shuddered from the Dominion ship’s pulse, systems still flickering erratically as Ethan Cross gripped the command console. The blackout wasn’t just a warning shot — it was a full assault on their ability to think, react, and survive.“Status report!” Ethan demanded, voice sharp but steady.Mira’s fingers danced across the console, the glow from her displays the only light on the bridge. “Shields are down to thirty percent, engines unstable but holding. Life support is fluctuating, but the crew’s secure. We’re patched into emergency backup systems, but it won’t hold for long.”Kaz leaned forward, jaw clenched. “Their tech isn’t just advanced — it’s destabilizing our core. If this keeps up, we’re going to be drifting without power.”Ethan’s mind snapped to the boarding party. “
Chapter 173 — Shadows in the Uncharted
The Arclight’s engines hummed low, a steady pulse in the vast silence of space as it floated tethered to the Ether Spires. The crystalline vault still shimmered with an inner light, a constant reminder of the pact Ethan Cross and his crew had just accepted. The knowledge contained within was beyond anything they had ever encountered — a labyrinth of memories, histories, and consciousness intertwined with raw cosmic power.Yet, beneath the awe, an undercurrent of tension thrummed through the ship.“Captain,” Mira said from her station, voice clipped. “We’re picking up anomalies in the ship’s internal systems. It’s subtle but consistent — data corruption in encrypted channels, interference in life support diagnostics.”Ethan frowned. “Could it be residual effects from the Vault’s energy pulse?”“Possible,” Mira ad
Chapter 172 — The Ether Spires Awaken
The Arclight cruised steadily through the outer corridors of the uncharted sectors, where stellar phenomena became stranger with every parsec. Beyond the reclaimed Confluence of Echoes lay the whispered realm of the Ether Spires — towering crystalline structures suspended in the void, glowing faintly with an ancient energy signature.Captain Ethan Cross stood once again at the bridge’s forward viewport, eyes narrowed as the first outlines of the Spires etched themselves into view. These were unlike anything cataloged by the Accord or the Dominion archives. Here, light refracted and fractured endlessly, casting prismatic shadows across space itself. The very fabric of reality felt thinner, as if the Spires were not simply objects in space, but gateways — or perhaps remnants of a civilization that had mastered the flow of time and memory itself.“Sensor readings?” Ethan asked, not turning from the vista.&n
Chapter 171 – Veil of Forgotten Starfire
The Arclight slipped from hyperspace into a region unmarked on any chart: a broad expanse of empty sky where no Accord beacon glowed. Captain Ethan Cross stood at the viewport, silent as distant supernova remnants flared once more before fading to black. Behind him, the bridge crew prepared for their most daunting task yet—penetrating the heart of the Great Silence.First Officer Mira Vale joined him, holo-pad in hand. “Three zones await: the Shattered Convex, the Ebon Vellum, and the Celestine Shadows. Sensor readings here are minimal—only whispers of subspace harmonics and fractured code.”Ethan nodded. “We split into three recon teams. Team Convex: Jora Tev, Dr. Senna Ko, and two archivists—to survey the broken mesh of asteroid fields. Team Vellum: Kaz Reed, Mira, and sentinel Lianna Haro—to probe the blackened worlds. Team Shadows: Arin Soh, Dr. Amina Farouk, and two AI envoys—to navigate t
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