The descent into Europa's ice was like diving into a cracked sapphire. Pressure groaned against the hull. Bioluminescent tendrils pulsed deep below – vast, buried organisms.
[DETECTING ARTIFICIAL STRUCTURE: 12 KM BELOW ICE SHELL]
[ENERGY SIGNATURE: DORMANT… CORRUPTED]
The Keeper outpost was a cathedral of frozen metal, half-collapsed, fused with the ice. Alien machinery, sleek and organic, lay dormant under millennia of frost. Symbols matched those in Tomb-01.
"Outpost Theta," Silas breathed, running a hand over frozen hieroglyphs. "A monitoring station. For them." He pointed upwards, towards Jupiter's swirling mass. "The Gas Giants… they're not natural. They're containment fields."
Wu Gen's sword flared, cutting a path through ice-sealed doors. Inside, darkness. And cold deeper than space.
[LIFE SIGNS: NULL]
[VOID SEED RESONANCE: DETECTED (SECTOR 7)]
They found it in a shattered chamber – a Void Seed fragment, smaller than Lin Mo's, embedded in the chest cavity of a frozen Keeper soldier. Its armor was rent open, crystal growths erupting from within.
[CAUSE OF DEATH: VOID SEED IMPLANT MALFUNCTION - CORRUPTION]
As Lin Mo approached, the frozen fragment glowed. His ring pulsed in response.
The ice around the dead Keeper exploded. Not thawing. Reforming. Into a towering, jagged golem of ice, with the Void Seed fragment burning like a cold blue heart in its chest.
[ENTITY: VOID GLACIER]
[THREAT: ABSORBS KINETIC/ENERGY ATTACKS TO GROW LARGER]
It swung a fist of super-dense ice. Wu Gen's sword met it. SHING! Ice shattered, but instantly reformed, larger.
"Don't hit it!" Wu Gen yelled, dodging. "It feeds!"
The golem lunged for Yu.