The battle for Titan was a massacre. Pagoda Remnant ships – salvaged cruisers, retrofitted freighters – hurled themselves at Tomb-01's phased hull. Energy weapons sputtered against its reality-warping skin. Gravity shears tore ships apart.
Elara's command shuttle weaved through the chaos. "Target the phase conduits! Disrupt the merge!"
It was futile. Tomb-01 absorbed the attacks, its obsidian mass flowing deeper into Titan, swallowing the Builder mountain range. The Sanctum portal flickered violently.
Inside the Crucible, instability spiked.
[RECONFIGURATION: 72% - WARNING: EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE]
[CRUCIBLE INTEGRITY FALTERING]
Lin Mo felt the intrusion – Tomb-01's cold, alien intelligence scraping against the Sanctum. The Crucible's light dimmed. The half-reformed Seed bucked in his grasp, its old hunger surging.
["THE CAGE SEEKS THE KEY. RESIST."] The Echoes strained.
Yu cried out. Tomb-01's presence was a physical weight on her Catalyst power. The cleansing flow stuttered. Corrupting darkness seeped back into the Seed.
[RECONFIGURATION: 65%] [REGRESSION DETECTED]
Li Na's essence flared – pure intellect, unyielding focus. [MIND INTEGRATION: ENGAGED]
She didn't offer power. She offered clarity. Complex energy matrices bloomed in Lin Mo's mind, blueprints for reinforcing the Crucible against Tomb-01's resonance.
[UTILIZE ELDER RESONATOR (EXTERNAL) - FREQUENCY ADJUSTMENT: THETA-9]
Lin Mo acted. He projected the frequency through the Seed, through the portal, towards Elara's shuttle.