The deck trembled. Lights shattered. Every screen aboard Aurora's Spear bled static as Kaelen's blade ignited with a brilliance that seemed to tear the darkness apart.
The Harbinger's Hand faltered, tilting its head as if in confusion. "Impossible… you were not chosen."
Kaelen moved—faster than thought. One moment he stood beside Lyra, the next he was behind the assassin, driving his phaseblade through its void-forged chest. The creature convulsed, tendrils of shadow trying to escape his grip, but Kaelen's aura held them fast, burning them to ash.
The others froze. Even Ceyra—the Architect's voice inside her wavering—stepped back. "What… are you?"
Kaelen turned slowly, his eyes no longer their normal shade, but blazing silver, threaded with fractal patterns like the Infinity Seed itself. "I don't know," he said, his voice resonating like a chorus of echoes, "but I'm done running."
Lyra, barely conscious, whispered, "Kaelen… you're… connected."
Before anyone could react, the ship lurched violently. The Aurora's Spear's hull had been breached; a rift tore through space outside as an Echo-Lord warform emerged—massive, serpentine, and crowned with obsidian spires.
"ALL HANDS!" Veilara shouted, regaining her composure. "We're being boarded on every deck!"
"Too late," Ceyra hissed. "The Architect comes."
Her body arched unnaturally as black veins spread across her skin. The Architect's presence surged through her like a tidal wave.
Kaelen stepped forward, energy radiating from him in waves that bent the air. "Then let it."
The Harbinger's Hand screeched, reforming into a massive silhouette of living voidlight, and hurled itself at him. Kaelen met it head-on. The collision unleashed a shockwave that tore through the ship, blowing out entire walls and hurling everyone else to the ground.
In that moment, the ship's comms crackled to life with a transmission from the outer fleets:
"This is Admiral Veyric—all factions are falling! The wormhole nexus has collapsed into a singularity! If you have a way out, take it NOW!"
Kaelen didn't hear. Or maybe he didn't care. All that existed was the fight—the power coursing through him, and the entity that had threatened Lyra one time too many.
Outside, the rift expanded. Reality itself was tearing. And through it… a colossal eye opened, gazing upon the galaxy.
The Architect was coming.