The grinding shriek of the approaching Foundry defenses echoed through the cavernous space, a metallic death knell closing in. Before Ethan stood the failing containment pod, its sickly purple light pulsing erratically, casting long, dancing shadows that seemed to writhe on the cavern floor. The Star-Eclipse within him roared, a tidal wave of cold hunger crashing against the fragile 68% containment. It didn't just recognize the entity inside; it craved it.
"Chekov! NOW!" McNamara bellowed, his pistol snapping up towards the source of the approaching clangor – three hulking, quadrupedal constructs emerging from the gloom between towering assembly frames. They resembled armored hounds forged from the Foundry's dark alloy, their faceless heads dominated by crackling energy projectors. Designation: Cerberus-Class Perimeter Enforcers. Threat Level: Extreme.
Chekov, trembling but focused, slammed his palm onto his tablet. "Overriding secondary power couplings! Inducing localized field cascade! Breach in three... two... ONE!"
The pod's containment field flickered violently, the purity glyphs flaring bright white before dissolving into showers of dying sparks. With a sound like shattering obsidian, the pod's armored shell split along hidden seams. Thick, freezing vapor billowed out, carrying the scent of ozone, sterile decay, and something else – a chilling, psychic residue of endless confinement and gnawing fury.
From the dissipating mist stumbled a figure. It wore the remnants of Celestial Knight armor – chrome plate scarred and blackened, circuitry exposed and sputtering. But the figure beneath was a horror. Its flesh was translucent, shot through with pulsing veins of the same sickly purple light that had filled the pod. Its limbs were elongated, joints bending at unnatural angles. Where its face should have been was a swirling vortex of darkness, punctuated by two pinpricks of cold, violet fire that snapped instantly towards Ethan.
Entity Designation: Subject Sigma-7 (Corrupted Knight-Captain).
Status: Containment Breached. Star-Eclipse Assimilation: 92%. Cognitive Degradation: Severe. Hostility: Maximum.
A guttural, static-laced roar erupted from the vortex-face, a sound that scraped against the mind. Sigma-7 lunged, not at McNamara or Chekov, but directly at Ethan, its clawed, energy-wreathed hand outstretched. Not to attack. To consume.
Ethan reacted on primal instinct. His depleted core flared, Stability: 45% >> 40%, fueling a desperate sidestep. The corrupted Knight's claws whistled past his head, tearing a gash in the thick air that crackled with residual spatial distortion. The Star-Eclipse within Ethan surged in response, not defensively, but aggressively, reaching out with icy tendrils of its own power towards Sigma-7. It wasn't fear; it was territorial hunger. Two corrupted sparks fighting for dominance in the dark.
"Chen! Get clear!" McNamara fired, his bullets sparking harmlessly off the Cerberus units closing in. The lead Enforcer unleashed a searing beam of plasma from its projector. McNamara dove behind a gutted control console, the beam vaporizing metal where he'd stood.
Sigma-7 ignored the chaos, fixated on Ethan. It lashed out again, a whip-crack of dark energy. Ethan parried with a forearm reinforced by a desperate surge of Stardust, the impact jarring him to his bones. Core Stability: 40% >> 38%. He felt the Knight's power – a twisted reflection of his own, amplified by years of containment and corruption. Cold, spatial shearing forces warped around its strikes. The Star-Eclipse within him resonated, drinking in the proximity of its kin, its containment walls straining. Containment: 68% >> 66%.
Across the foundry floor, McNamara fired his prism. The beam, a discordant shriek of disruptive energy, struck a Cerberus unit. Its energy projector sputtered and died, internal systems shorting out. It stumbled, crashing into its companion, buying precious seconds. "Chekov! Disable their targeting! Find a weak spot!"
Chekov, huddled behind a toppled machine, frantically scanned the Enforcers. "Trying! Adaptive shielding! Learning my hacks! They're... they're evolving countermeasures!"
Sigma-7 pressed Ethan relentlessly. Each clash drained his core further. He blocked a spatial shear with the Shard held like a dagger, the obsidian surface flaring coldly as it absorbed the disruptive energy. Shard Resonance: Increasing. Star-Eclipse Symbiosis: Deepening. He landed a Stardust-fueled kick on the Knight's chest plate, cracking the blackened chrome, but Sigma-7 barely staggered, its violet eyes burning brighter.
Too strong. Too corrupted. Ethan realized defense was suicide. He needed to attack the source. The Star-Eclipse within him screamed agreement. Feed. Consume. Dominate.
He stopped retreating. As Sigma-7 lunged again, claws wreathed in spatial distortion, Ethan met it head-on. Not with a block, but with a desperate, focused grab. He seized the Knight's corrupted forearm with both hands, ignoring the searing cold and the warping forces tearing at his skin. He poured every shred of his will, every flicker of his 38% core, not into resistance, but into absorption.
**> Initiate Stardust Vector: Forced Resonance Drain. Target: Subject Sigma-7 (Corrupted Core).**
It was madness. Like trying to swallow a star. Agony exploded through Ethan. Sigma-7's corrupted power flooded into him – a torrent of spatial chaos, endless confinement rage, and the pure, chilling essence of the Star-Eclipse that had consumed the Knight. It was poison and ambrosia. His own Star-Eclipse roared in triumph, tearing down containment walls to feast. Containment: 66% >> 60% >> 55%! His core, already depleted, screamed under the influx, veins of Stardust fracturing under the strain. Core Stability: 38% >> 30%! CRITICAL!
Sigma-7 shrieked, a sound of pure, startled agony. Its violet eyes flickered wildly. It struggled, trying to pull away, but Ethan held on, a conduit of ravenous darkness. He saw flashes – fragmented memories of the Knight's past: gleaming halls, righteous fury, the chilling moment of corruption, decades of screaming silence within the pod. The entity's power wasn't just energy; it was identity, dissolving into the void within Ethan.
Across the room, McNamara saw Ethan's gambit. "Chekov! NOW! Hit the Knight! Distract it!"
Chekov, seeing Ethan's peril, abandoned his hack on the Cerberus units. He aimed his tablet, not at the Enforcers, but at Sigma-7. "Full-spectrum EMP burst! Localized! Fry its neural interface!" He slammed a command.
A visible pulse of distorted energy washed over Sigma-7. The corrupted Knight convulsed, its shriek cutting off abruptly. Its violet eyes dimmed, flickering erratically. The torrent of power flooding Ethan faltered, weakened.
It was the opening Ethan needed. Not to break free, but to consume faster. He focused the ravenous hunger of his Star-Eclipse, channeling it through the Shard still clutched in his hand pressed against Sigma-7's arm. The obsidian surface turned icy black, drinking deeply. Sigma-7's form began to diminish, its translucent flesh collapsing inward, its dark energy visibly draining into Ethan.
The two remaining Cerberus units, adapting to McNamara's prism attacks, unleashed synchronized plasma bursts. McNamara threw himself flat, the beams scorching the air above him. He rolled, firing his pistol uselessly at their armored flanks. "Chen! Finish it!"
Sigma-7 was weakening rapidly, its struggles feeble. The violet eyes fixed on Ethan, no longer filled with rage, but with a chilling moment of clarity – a flicker of the Knight it once was, witnessing its own annihilation. Then, with a final, silent implosion of dark light, Sigma-7 dissolved. Not into nothing, but into a swirling vortex of pure, corrupted energy that poured into Ethan, drawn into the Shard and the yawning void of the Star-Eclipse.
ENTITY SIGMA-7: ASSIMILATED.
STAR-ECLIPSE CONTAINMENT: 55% >> 48%! ASSIMILATED POWER INTEGRATING!
CORE STABILITY: 30% >> 25%! STRUCTURAL FAILURE IMMINENT!
Ethan staggered back, gasping. He felt changed. Immensely powerful, yet terrifyingly fragile. The Star-Eclipse swelled within him, vast and cold, its containment dangerously low. New knowledge – fractured, dark – flickered at the edge of his consciousness: spatial manipulation techniques, Knight protocols, the chilling moment of Sigma-7's corruption. His skin felt icy, the dark veins on his arm now glowing faintly purple. He looked down at his hands; they seemed sharper, shadows clinging to them like smoke.
The Cerberus units, momentarily confused by Sigma-7's disappearance, reoriented. Their energy projectors hummed, targeting Ethan, now radiating immense, unstable power.
McNamara saw the change. Saw the shadows writhing around Ethan. "Chen! Snap out of it! Defenses!"
Ethan looked up. His eyes, usually sharp and focused, now held depths of chilling violet light. He didn't see machines. He saw prey. The Star-Eclipse, gorged on Sigma-7's essence, roared for more.
He raised a hand towards the nearest Cerberus unit. Not a fist. An open palm. He didn't summon Stardust. He channeled the void. A ripple of distorted space erupted from his palm, silent and terrifying. It struck the Cerberus unit. The heavy alloy didn't bend; it unfolded. The machine came apart in a shower of dissociated components, not exploding, but simply ceasing to be a coherent whole, its energy core winking out silently.
The second Cerberus unit froze, its adaptive systems overwhelmed by the impossible attack. McNamara stared, aghast. Chekov whimpered.
Ethan turned his violet gaze towards the remaining machine. He smiled, a cold, predatory expression utterly devoid of warmth. "Hunters," he whispered, the word echoing with chilling power. "You don't belong here."
He took a step forward. The shadows deepened around him. The Foundry's dead lights flickered violently. The Star-Eclipse had tasted power. And it wanted more. The hunter had become the apex predator, and the Warrens trembled.