The completed Void Seed pulsed on Lin Mo's finger like a second heart made of collapsed stars. Power thrummed through him – the potential to warp gravity, snuff suns, step between dimensions. Tomb-01's silhouette filled the viewscreen, dwarfing Jupiter itself.
[TOMB-01 PRIMARY WEAPON CHARGING: 98%... 99%...]
[TARGET LOCK: DAWN'S EDGE]
"Evasive maneuvers won't matter," Baylor rasped, hands white on the controls. "That thing'll erase this sector."
Lin Mo felt the Seed's hunger. [OPTION: VOID FOLD (FTL ESCAPE)] [COST: 15% VOID SEED INTEGRITY | RISK: UNCONTROLLED DISPLACEMENT] He could flee. Save Yu. Condemn billions.
"No running," Wu Gen growled, leaning heavily on his crutch, eyes fixed on the broken hilt of his sword. "That's what it wants. Show it why Keys are dangerous."
Lin Mo closed his eyes. Not on the Seed's power. On Yu's still face beside him. Normal. Safe. The Seed's whispers of infinite power quieted. His purpose crystallized: Protect her. Protect the chance for normal.
He raised his hand. Not in surrender. In defiance.
[VOID SHELL: PLANETARY SCALE - 30% INTEGRITY]
A shimmering sphere of distorted reality, miles wide, enveloped the Dawn's Edge.
Tomb-01 fired.
A beam of pure unmaking struck the Void Shell.
Silence. No explosion. No light. Space itself screamed as erasure met negation. The Void Shell buckled, fissures of raw chaos spiderwebbing across its surface. Lin Mo felt the strain – not physical, but existential. The Seed devoured the energy, but the conceptual weight of unmaking pressed on his soul.
[VOID SHELL INTEGRITY: 7%]
[VOID SEED STABILITY: 92%]
The beam ceased. Tomb-01 shifted. Not retreating. Reassessing.
"It… hesitated?" Li Na breathed.
"It felt the Key," Silas whispered, his cyborg eye whirring. "Pure. Complete. And resisting."