Wu Gen saw the beam descend. He didn't dodge. He planted his feet, raised his rusted sword above his head, and screamed. Not in fear. In defiance. Raw ki, amplified by desperation and Keeper tech, poured into the blade. It glowed white-hot.
He didn't cut the beam. He cut space above it.
SHIIIIIIING-KRAKOOOOOM!
A colossal Void Cut tore open, intersecting the erasure beam. Reality buckled. The beam fragmented, shunted into chaotic dimensional rifts, tearing Phobos apart but sparing the chamber core.
Wu Gen collapsed, his sword shattered halfway down its length, his arm a mangled ruin.
[WU GEN: LIFE SIGNS CRITICAL]
Lin Mo, reeling from the fragment's synthesis and Wu Gen's sacrifice, grabbed the old swordsman. He triggered the drop-pod's emergency recall.
The Dawn's Edge caught them as Phobos shattered behind them. Tomb-01, its purpose thwarted, vanished into FTL. The Revenant was gone, likely fleeing the destruction.
Silas worked frantically on Wu Gen. "Neural shock! Massive ki depletion! He's burning out!"
Yu pushed past him. She placed her hands on Wu Gen's chest. Her Catalyst glow intensified, pure gold. The mangled flesh knitted, slowly, agonizingly. The neural storm in Wu Gen's eyes calmed.
[BIOMANTIC HEALING: STABILIZING]
[YU ENERGY SIGNATURE FLARE DETECTED BY: TOMB-01 (LOGGED)]
"He'll live," Yu whispered, collapsing. "But his sword…"
The broken blade lay on the deck. Its remaining half hummed faintly. [ELDER TECH CORE INTACT: VOID-CUTTING PROTOCOL]
"He needs a new one," Lin Mo said, looking at the Graveyard coordinate on the star map. "And we need the last fragment."